sewing Saturday Two finishes and two starts!

 

LOTS of pretty fabric work done this week... maybe the smoke from 4 wildfires kept me inside?

This is #6 in my pink flower series of 12" challenge quilts. The final stitches went on this week while listening to the audio book by Ellery Adams (secret book and scone society series)

When you see a finished quilt, you don't always realize all the hundreds of decisions made while constructing it... 

 

It started with my tiny 2" watercolor squares on the design wall...then sewing those together matching corners and keeping them oriented correctly

how to quilt it and finish the edges. This time I sewed a tiny strip all around and pulled the top to the back in a facing. But it needed more definition, so I got out a specialty thread that looks like beads when couched (appliqued) down 

To emphasize the flower idea, I used hand dyed thick embroidery thread from ArtFabric to do a large chain stitch on the surface in petal shapes...

when I put it on the wall and stood back I realized the stitching needed definition so I took a darker hand dyed thread, and, after breaking a needle trying to outline the stitching through the peltex, decided to do a half hitch knot around some areas of the chain stitch... 

and it worked! Of course I only did this to some of the stitching, to lead the viewer to notice the blossom but leave some of it less distinct where they could fill in the blanks themselves. I think this is one reason we like impressionism, because it encourages us to put ourselves into the artwork.

Please look back now at the finished piece at the top, and see what I mean...

I also finished the bonus HST piece started last week... if you look at last Sat's post you'll see I chose the off center design for this month's purple HST's that were cut off making the lozenge blocks

Again, lots of decisions... I sewed the tiny 1.5" squares into the bullseye first. It was 7" X 10" and needed more,

since the handpainted  fabric with flowers was on the design wall, I realized it would look fun with this... so the challenge was in letting myself cut it up! Better on a finished piece than in a drawer, right?

Here it is quilted in, with iron on rhinestone diamonds and baugettes! So cute showing the words Imagine and create!

 

It was a big decision about a border fabric too... but the gradated purple flower scrap in the drawer was nice along the edge

 fussy cut to match on both sides.              The quilting was pretty simple, with purple sulky bumpy metallic thread turquose halogram thread, and the sulky mostly behaved itself, I did have to rip out one section after seeing the weird tension on the back...but I used up the old sulky and that is very satisfying!

I couched a metallic purple braid along one line for definition and sparkle, bound it in a tiny black line and am quite satisfied with it! Here is a photo of four of the little bonus HST pieces done this year... a good design project for me

The design wall is wonderfully full at the moment. I decided to stop everything and try Joy's little 4" amazing star blocks, with some Halloween scraps, 

Which gets me working on this year's Halloween quilt!

In looking for borders for the purple piece, I pulled this lovely fabric and might make a simple applique piece with it. That painted heart is also calling my name to work on... 

 

 Like my purple piece says... remember to Play!

 Linking to

wendysquiltsandmore peacock party (quilts)
off the wall Fridays 
http://busyhandsquilts.blogspot.com/
can I get a whoop whoop Fridays 
tgiffriday

http://www.inquiringquilter.com/ Wednesday wait loss
Midweek makers wednesdays

design wall Mondays at smallquiltsanddollquilts
lovelaughquilt.mondays

http://www.sewcando.com/ 

patchwork Sunday                    
oh Scrap Sundays 

 scrap happy Saturdays