Illumination: The Making of a Reverse Applique Quilt

 As I was editing the pictures today, I realized that I don't have pictures of exactly EVERY step, but I think you all are smart enough, that you'll figure things out.  You can find my reveal post *here* which also includes the links from the other participants in Four-In-Art.

Reverse applique, instead of cutting out and applying a bunch of small individual pieces of fabric, you cut out one large piece of fabric and lay it over another piece of fabric and applique it down.  In this case I laid it over many smaller pieces of fabric.  You'll see.

First I found my image and printed it out.  Bigger than a standard 8.5" x 11" paper, so some cutting and piecing going on here.

Then using a light box I trace the image, IN REVERSE, onto the paper side of Wonder Under 805.  Next I fused the whole thing to a piece of black fabric.

TIP #1  I used a black batik fabric. Hoffman batiks, raven.  Why? Because a batik is more tightly woven and less prone to fraying when used for raw edge applique.

Now we are cutting out the pieces that I want to "show through" i.e. not be black.

 You want to use very sharp scissors for this.  Scissors that are sharp all the way to the point. I used my little stork Gingher brand scissors. 

 TIP #2.  Leave the large pieces that will be cut to the end.  This helps stabalize the whole piece while you are cutting out the little fussy pieces.

 TIP #3.  I actually debated about sharing this, but thought maybe there are people who would like to know.  To begin cutting inside of an area, I fold the fabric and make a cut across the fold.  Then begin the cutting from there. I do not cut on the line, or it won't be straight and I do not punch holes with the tips of my scissors.

 Above you can see the cut slit in the shape next to the moon.

 Once everything is cut out, you can start trying out the fabrics in the "windows".  I knew that I would be using the gold lame somewhere, ultimately I used it in the letter itself.

 Then I started rough cutting fabric shapes to fill up each window area, trimming to fit.  This was rather fiddly in smaller areas.

 Even though there was Wonder Under on the back, I couldn't stop and iron all the time, so I ended up using stick glue to hold the fabric pieces in place.

Once all the fabric was line up, trimmed and glued in place, I fused the whole thing together on top of a piece of fusible fleece.  You could probably use any fusible batting, that it what I happened to have immediately available.

 I used clear Poly in a zig-zag around the edges of the R, since they were much larger pieces.  The rest of the black was also the clear poly in random FMQ.  In hindsight, I probably could have quilted in black, but then the mistakes would be more apparent, too. 

And of course, the back.  A completely unrelated piece of fabric, but I do love using things I already have.  Unfortunately, I was in such a hurry to finish, I never even thought to put a sleeve or pockets in, and I definitely thing this one will get hung for a while.  This was one of the latest quilts for Four-In-Art that I ever finished, staying up very late to be done.  Really pretty happy with it.

Now to get all of them out, photographed, labeled and I'll write up a review post of these last five years.

Four-In-Art: Q4: Light: Illumination

Today is the last reveal for Four-In-Art.  Last in all the ways.  Last in the year and last in the five year adventure that I've been pleased and lucky to have been a part of.

I plan on some retrospective posts on the previous years and quilts, but today is all about

Illumination

My mind immediately went in two directions when I saw the challenge for this quarter.  The first was the way the sky was illuminated just after sunset, almost like a reverse rainbow.  And I could have done that and probably been pretty happy with it.  But what I really wanted to do was make an illuminated letter.  Medieval style.


Enter the William Morris R

I searched online for an illuminated R that I liked that was copy right free.  I came across the image below.

It is one in a series of letters that William Morris of England designed in the 1800s.  You should read about him.  He apparently started the Arts and Crafts movement in England.  He was also very interested in illuminated medieval style lettering and printing.

The quilt itself is reverse applique, and to describe all the time and the technique I will devote a maker post to this quilt in the next couple of days.

The gold is a lame, the rest are quilting cottons.  The black is a batik.  The whole thing is quilted with Superior's invisible poly on top and black Aurifil on the bottom.

 Just a fun birdhouse print on the back.  Great for hiding stitches.....  A label is coming, I promise.  The batting is actually a fusible fleece.  I'll go into detail in my maker post.

Finished size: 14"x 15"

Please visit everyone else in this delightful group:

Blog Address

https://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2

http://www.knottedcotton.com

http://www.opquilt.com

http://www.rainbowhare.com

http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com

http://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com

http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com

Four-in-Art Q3 Reveal: Light: Colored Shadows

Colored Shadows.  A mini quilt made for my Four-in-Art Group.
This Quarters theme was light: Stained Glass Shadows

I started out with a tiling of neutrals.  This was pieced, washed in hot and dried to strip any sizing or chemicals from the fabric.

For attempt number one I tried to put tissue paper that I wetted down and then ironed, covered with a sheet of parchment paper.  I think the paper picked up more color than the fabric!

 So then I re-wet the whole thing and pulled out some water color paints.

 I confess that I wish it had stayed more like this, more vibrant, but with time....and water,

 It ended up more muted.  My inspiration was the way the sun shines in through a stained glass window onto the floor tiles of some ancient cathedral.

 Just a fun teapot print for the back.
This mini finished up at 11.5" x 12.5"

Please visit my fellow Four-in-Art collaborators.  I'm sure their quilts will be more inspiring than mine.
We have just one more reveal to go.  November 1.

Betty Ayers	https://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2
Catherine Chisholm	http://www.knottedcotton.com
Elizabeth Eastmond	http://www.opquilt.com
Janine Green	http://www.rainbowhare.com
Nancy Myers	http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com
Rachel Riley	http://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com
Simone Bradford	http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com

Our Group blog:                            https://fourinart.blogspot.com/

Triquetra: A making of the quilt

This particular quilt wasn't a huge stretch for me as far as design or materials.  I did use a gold lame, which presents certain difficulties, such as fraying and not taking an iron.  The construction wasn't too hard, but I'll take you through the process, anyway.

First I found a image that I wanted to use and printed it out at a good size.

I traced the image onto Wonder Under.  I do actually buy this stuff by the bolt.

I loosely cut the image and then fused it to black Kona Cotton.
I then cut out all the pieces.  Leaving one whole piece of black that outlined the knot.

This was fused to the lame.  You can work with lame as long as you use a pressing cloth.  I tend to grab one of my kitchen flour sack drying towels.  (a clean one)

I then cut out of the lame the sections that I wanted to be open to the green (which is also a Kona, but I didn't look at the color name when I bought it)  Totally loving it at this point.

Back Shot.

To apply this mess to the green fabric, I sprayed it with a spray glue and pressed it down with my fingers

I then sewed along the edge with a straight stitch in black to applique the whole thing to the green.  It actually worked out that I could do the applique around shapes, so the starting and stopping wasn't too bad.

Once everything was appliqued, I layered as usual, and quilted with spirals. I seriously was getting dizzy doing this, so I would have to stop and take a break occasionally.

I was super smart and planned ahead to print out the Pangur Ban poem in Gaelic, and two English versions, along with the song from the movie and all my label information ahead of time and pieced it into the back of the quilt. I wanted a good remembrance of why I made this quilt at this time.

The binding was all done by machine.  You can find the instructions *here*.  The binding is one piece and gives a faux piping look.  I was pretty pleased at the result.  It did take me three tries to get the seams to line up at the end, though!

After it was all quilted I sprayed the whole thing down with water.  I find that if I do that and let it dry, it gets a bit of "poof" or texture.

The back has a split hanging sleeve.  I was afraid that it might be too big for the corner triangles, but is really nice to hang a quilt with a middle loop and nail, so the split sleeve it is.

Four-In-Art Quarter 2: Light in the Darkness: Triquetra

This quarter's Four-In-Art quilt is more about the symbolism than the art.

When I first started thinking seriously about Light in the Darkness I first thought of a train tunnel and then since Easter was approaching I also thought of the image of the empty tomb of Jesus.

Also during this time my daughter's favorite movie has become "The Secret of Kells".  A movie that loosely tells the story of making the famous Illuminated Manuscript The Book of Kells.  There are many references in that movie of bringing light into the darkness.
The Gospels bring Light to the people.
Jesus Christ is the Light of The World.  John 8:12

At the end of the movie - the older monk tells the younger "You must take the book to the people to light the way in these dark days of the Northmen"

The movie was made in Ireland and while it is a cartoon, it is visually stunning and was nominated for an Oscar.  It is filled with Celtic/Irish symbolism - both Christian and Pagan.

There is a cat character called Pangur Ban  (rhymes with Anger Pawn) who plays a key role.  I looked up the meaning of the name and discovered that it was from an old poem written in Gaelic at a monastery in the 9th century at or around Reichenau Abbey.  The last line of the poem translated into English is:

Master of the death of mice,

He keeps in daily practice,

I too, making dark things clear,

Am of my trade a master.

or:

He loves: Pangur, never idle

Day or night

Hunts mice; I hunt each riddle

From dark to light.

You can find the two translations *here*  The poem is pretty long.

I really truly thought of making the cat into a quilt.  I refrained.  

Instead, I give you Triquetra, which is the fancy name of the Celtic Knot of the Trinity.

This Celtic knot represents the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  This version also has the ring which represents eternity.

The gold is lame - to embrace and reflect the light.

The quilting is swirls - more of the Celtic symbolism.  The lame is extended to a flange binding.

On the back I printed the Gaelic version of the Pangur Ban Poem, and the two English translations I found.  I also printed the song and translation from the movie - along with all my label information.

I am in Florida! While you all are reading this.  Please take the time to check out the other members of Four-in-Art and their quilts.  I will update my links when I can.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2

http://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/

http://www.knottedcotton.com

http://www.opquilt.com

http://www.rainbowhare.com

http://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com

http://quiltalicious.blogspot.com

Kaleidescopeep: A Mini Quilt Challenge

Seems like all I've been doing is mini quilts lately.....
Anyway, I waited to share this finish in the hopes I would have fabulous gifts and prizes to tell you about.  Alas, I do not, but I still love this little quilt.

Some background first: One of our local museums: The Racine Art Museum has been holding an annual Peep art contest for 8 years now.  Last year they started included quilt blocks (I had no idea), but this year I heard about it and decided to participate.

 We could either use the fabric we were given, or have a Peep represented in the quilt.

 I decided to do a Mariner's compass block with the fabric and quickly realized I would need more.  An Etsy shop helped me out with that.

 I did English paper piecing.

 Occasionally making mistakes!

 So here we are all put together: Do you see the problem? Not a circle.  Sigh.  I appliqued the center pink circle, and that went really well.

 But, the edges of the circle didn't work out well.  Below, it is appliqued to the pink background.

 If I did something like this again, I think I would leave the edges of the circle unbasted and applique the pink onto the circle for a better edge.  Live and learn.

 I outlined all the shapes with white embroidery floss.  Just through the batting layer.

 Then, to help cover up the uneven edge, I couched whit yarn with a zig-zag stitch.

 Grr.  It helped, but still one bumpy spot!  Finish is 12.5" square.

 The back. Pocket corners and one white one as a label.

 The show originally started that you had to make items out of the Peeps marshmallow candies.  The Peepcock above and Pink Pig below were a couple of my favorites.

 Now you just have to at least represent the Peep.  Here's a link to the Museum's Peeps Exhibit. (my name's even listed as an artist!)

 A couple of shots of the wall of quilt blocks.  That blue bunny looking over the fence was the winner. "Peeping Tom"

You can see many more pictures at this Facebook link of our local Lighthouse Quilters Guild. (You could even like it, if you wanted to...)