Monday, April 22, 2013

The Sentinel/ Sacred Threads



The Sentinel

I'm so thrilled, I just got news that  The Sentinel was juried into Sacred Threads, an art quilt exhibit. This will be my third time participating in this show. All of the work must have a spiritual theme. 

The Sentinel is an allegorical piece, the cypress symbolic of a guardian angel. I love cypress trees they are so enduring, living more than 1000 years and virtually indestructible. They don't even rot under water! 

I had very mixed feelings about this piece as I was making it since it is different than what I usually do. I didn't like it much at all but kept going. I've gotten very positive feed back since it's been finished and now like it very much.

The center background is an original abstract digital image, borders are acrylic paint on fabric, stamped, and monoprinted. The tree trunk is raw edged strips free motion quilted, the canopy is polyester and silk organza. Some of the organza is colored with alcohol inks. I heavily free motion quilted the branches over the organza to give them definition using 5 or 6 different green threads. My son, who is my best critique source suggested I use some black thread in the branches as well. It made all the difference! I also used some of my dyed fabrics.

Here is a link the the Sacred Threads website with all the details of the show. I hope you'll be able to see the exhibit; based on the artists that are showing work, it should be outstanding.

http://sacredthreadsquilts.com/

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Summer Harvest-construction tips



SUMMER HARVEST--pattern cover shot, pattern # 14 from MO and MIKE.















This is the finished piece, it measures 11 1/4"w x 13"h.



















This shows how the various pieces fit together. The freezer paper has not been removed at this stage. You can see the margins along the outer and inner edges. The open area in the center is where the photo goes.  The edges of the freezer paper should butt up to their neighbors.

Notice that the outer edges are not square. It is more important that the individual pieces fit together at this stage.










The piece has been quilted and is ready to be trimmed. Using the photo as a guide, the edges should be straight and parallel and the corners square. I have taken this screen shot in Photoshop Elements to show how this process looks. The working size is generous to allow for a nice background size. The sample background size is 2 1/2".

The piece was finished with a facing. There is a tutorial on the blog in the archives from Sept. 2011.