Saturday, September 16, 2006

'Wait' - Latest quilt from my longarm


I've spent the day slaving over the longarm. I know I should take things slowly, have breaks and all the good stuff, but once I started I could see it was going to work and I just had to finish it. You might have to click on the picture to be able to really see the quilting. The applique itself is quilted to enhances the contours of the body. On the three lighter colours I used a light thread, on the three darker, a dark thread. I like to use the thread to help blend the colours of the fabrics together. Now my machine is behaving itself I can use really quite thin cotton threads with it. So I get the subtle quilting I am looking for. On the applique the quilting lines are very close together and I don't want too much thread build up.

The black is quilted using masterpiece thread in black. This is my first serious ruler work. It was a bit nerve wracking learning on a real quilt, but I never seem to get a technique if I just practice it on test pieces. It isn't perfect, but I am happy with it and don't feel I need to take it out and try again, so I call that a win. The lines are about quarter of an inch apart, not something I think I wiil be doing in a hurry on a larger quilt.

I am however having problems with this wadding and the black fabric. I am finding the wadding migrates very badly. I am going to be spending several hours with tweezers making the quilt less fluffy. I am sure it isn't a needle problem. I've tried several of different sizes and brands, it doesn't make any difference. I think I just have to accept that the slightly loose weave on this black fabric and this rather tricky wadding don't mix.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ferret, Once again an awesome piece. Love your work....... you are very talented.

Dormouse said...

Nah, breaks are for wimps and the seriously uninspired. When the juices are flowing you just need to run with it.

I still really love this one. It is beautiful. The diagonals are very dramatic and give it a nice feeling of movement against the very still figure. It must have been a hell of a job doing them all though. :)

Which wadding were you having so much trouble with?

Beverly said...

Gorgeous work, Ferret- I would love to see it in person.

By the way, I've wondered if you had made anything using the silk fibers to make smoke- have you posted anything?

Ferret said...

Hi Beverly, I have the picture prepared that I will be using the silk on but is keeps getting bumped down my list of things to de because I don't have a show lined up for it. I think it will end up in a show, but when the deadlines come up I tend to drop everything to get stuff ready.

I will make sure you hear about it when I get it done though. It is such a clever idea.