One final FMQ design for 2017 – Water and Hibiscuses (a mini tutorial)
As we rapidly approach the end of the year, I am trying to get the Vanuatu Turtle Quilt done and dusted. One less UFO to carry over to the New Year!
Vanuatu Turtle Quilt top finished at our last check in
So I have used my free time this week, such as it was(!) to piece a backing for this quilt, layer and pin it up and design the quilting.
The backing I pieced for the Vanuatu Turtle QuiltI don’t normally pin at this density….. but some of the fabrics in this quilt are not quilting cottons and have some stretch. I wanted everything to be super secure.
To complete this quilt, I knew I wanted to quilt something curvy……. waves or such like to contrast with the geometric black and white piecing and to evoke thoughts of water. But it needed to be subtle. The black and white graduation in the piecing and the red turtle appliqué are enough major design elements for one quilt. So, quilt something curvy in lightweight grey thread……
I was originally thinking spirals of some description, but as I was piecing the backing, I decided that the hibiscuses on the back were simple enough to become FMQ designs.
The hibiscus motif that is repeated continuously in the main black and white fabric used in the backing.
Working up the Hibiscus FMQ design
My first attempts at drawing the hibiscuses out with a pencil were appalling…..
Not good….. misshapen clover leaves, anyone?Repeated attempts became better…. better petals, better stamens, better line flow.Eventually I got a formula for a single line hibiscus that I liked. Here it is traced out.
At this stage I was still thinking to pair this hibiscus FMQ with swirls, when I decided that perhaps that was going to get complicated and busy, when I expressly wanted simple. So I opted to go with a design I do relatively often which is kind of a sideways elongated stipple…… and looks a bit like the gentle wavy surface of slowly moving water. I’m sure many of you do it too. Like this……
Water and Hibiscus FMQ design
I have started quilting this design onto the Vanuatu Turtle quilt. It is hard to photograph though, as it recedes into the quilt. Only to be observed by the most up-close and observant users. As per the original plan. 🙂
Hibiscus FMQ designHibiscus FMQ with “water”
So, if you would like to try this hibiscus FMQ design, here it is broken down into steps for you.
Step 1
Quilt into an open space. Double back to quilt a heart shape. Do not quite close the shape.
Step 2
Repeat the heart shape to create four more petals. The petal shapes can be fairly uneven, as long as they adhere to the rough heart shape and return almost but not right to the centre. The five points at the bases of the petals should sit in a small ring formation.
Step 3
Quilt a hooked stamen into the space defined by the first petal.
Step 4
Create one or two more hooked stamens in the second petal and some flatter stamens in the lower petals. Exit the flower between any two petals.
You can download all the steps on a one page pdf here: hibiscus.
I hope you enjoy trying the Water and Hibiscus FMQ motifs at some point, perhaps in 2018. And I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and happy Christmas holiday.
From the Sewing Room: Vanuatu Turtle Quilt Progress
At last check-in
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve updated you on the quilt that I am doing for the Splash of Color Quilt Along at Busy Hands Quilts. I have been slightly distracted with the homemade ornament blog hop and a few other small projects. They’ve been lots of fun, but I must admit, it’s really nice to get back to quilt making again.
In a nutshell, my plan is to make a quilt with fabrics predominately from Vanuatu. The intention is that this quilt will be a memento of our family’s visit there earlier this year. It will also double as a TV snuggle rug and protection for the couch from the cat. This is roughly what I’m aiming for:
My Vanuatu Turtle Quilt design for the Black and White and Splash of Color QAL
So, the progress report….
Now I have all the components prepared for my quilt top. I have sewn the centre blocks from my last check-in together.
And I have sewn up four border strips.
It would have been quicker and simpler without the assistance……
You can’t prove anything…..
Now all that remains is to combine these pieces with a red strip border to create the flimsy. And then it will be time to add the appliqué. 🙂
Short and sweet this week!
If it’s part of your heritage, I hope you had a special Thanksgiving. And wishing everyone a great week ahead as we enter Advent. My kids are eagerly anticipating the hanging of the Advent quilt (aka the candy-pockets quilt)! Do you have any Advent or Christmas quilts that will be making their seasonal appearance soon? I’d love to hear from you!
Vanuatu Turtle Quilt: Design process, warts and all.
In the last few days I have finally had a chance to get back into the sewing room. And I have to admit it was very therapeutic. I have missed sewing. So has our cat. I swear he is addicted as I am!
My goal this week was to design and sew the blocks for my black, white and red Vanuatu Turtle quilt for the Splash of Color Quilt Along. I started with this basic plan…
And these fabrics…..
If you wish, you can read more about the what and why of my original plans, and see my turtle appliqué pieces all cut, waiting for a quilt top.
So, on Thursday, I started on the quilt top. I looked at my plan. I cut six 6½ squares. And I went off script.
That might be a record, even for me!
Changing my mind….
Firstly, I decided that I wanted to add in a very dark, plain fabric behind the bulk of the turtle appliqué. Plainer than any fabric I have brought home from Vanuatu. I did actually look for a mostly black fabric in Vanuatu, but there wasn’t any to be had.
So, I went hunting among my scraps here at home and found an Australian Aboriginal print in black called Sand Dunes. The Sand Dunes scraps are leftover from the backing of a dear friend’s quilt. It is very soft and colourfast – an amazing piece of fabric to work with. So I added it to the mix. I also found some black 2½” pre-cut strips inherited from another friend. Perfect for extra darkness behind the appliqué.
Dark corner for the turtle appliqué background. Sand Dunes is the black with the dotted wavy lines through it.
Changing my mind, again…
Although I had a 5×5 grid drawn up for my colour gradient in the quick diagram above, I had actually intended to do an 8×8 grid of 6″ squares. Some fussy cut whole squares and some pieced squares to get a black and white gradient. That is why I started by cutting 6½ squares of each Vanuatu fabric.
However, I quickly realised that 6″ squares of pinwheels and HSTs in these prints is going to result in a very. busy. quilt. Which would be fine, except that this was supposed to be the background for my appliquéd turtle. And it was also going to take waaaay too long to construct.
So, I decided that my mockup was trying to tell me something – that I should have 5×5 8″ finished blocks. I cut some new 8½” squares, and recycled the 6½” squares into 8½ squares by adding 2½” strips on two sides. This had the added bonus of being an easy way to graduate through colour values and tie the blocks together visually.
Building up the Vanuatu Turtle Quilt
And again…
As I started on the more intricately pieced blocks, I decided that I needed some more solid or solid-like fabrics. Specifically in the grey range. Somewhere for the eyes to rest from the prints. I had already included a blue-grey hand-dye and a white solid in my original fabric choices. Now I added two grey Shadow Play fabrics from my scraps. I only had enough of the dark grey Shadow Play for 4 pieces. But that is half the fun, making do. 🙂
More progress on the turtle quilt
And again…
At this point it was time for me to head out to the South Australian Quilters’ Guild evening meeting. I’m glad I got this far before I had to go, because I was beginning to heed the little voice that said I needed to add a nearly white fabric. There were no nearly white fabrics in Vanuatu, just as there were no nearly black ones. I had thought that I might get by with fussy cutting. Or using the reverse side of a fabric. But…
At the Guild meetings there is always a shop stall, and in the end I picked up something to round out my fabric choices. Actually I picked up two somethings. One was a white fabric with a fine black print. It had slightly more black than I wanted, but it was the best pick available. I was happy at least that the swirls on the print are consistent with the patterns already in my quilt. 🙂 The second purchase was a fat quarter of a dark blue-grey Grunge that happens to be the exact same colour as the blue grey on two of the Vanuatu fabrics. Score!
Finishing off the design
A little more playing and switching fabrics around and I settled on this layout (with a few more tweaks as I sewed).
Nearly finished. You can probably guess who disturbed my nice tidy layout…..Somebody who thinks he is invisible siiting here…..
And now I have finished sewing up the 8½” blocks for my Vanuatu Turtle quilt. They are ready to be assembled into a quilt top and have borders attached.
Vanuatu Turtle quilt blocks finished and ready for assemblyHappy with my pile of blocks
So, how am I feeling? Well, I really love this quilt top so far. I think the design is actually quite effective as it is. A small part of me even thinks that I should claim the grey-blue as my “Splash of Color” and leave it really simple. Because there is a whisper of a question in my head as to whether it will marry well with my appliqué. Despite all the changes I have made, it is still very busy.
But the whole point of this quilt is the turtle appliqué….. And if I stop now this quilt top will be too small to be particularly useful, and my turtle appliqué will be orphaned. So I will push on. If, in the end, it isn’t as fantastic as I envisioned, then I won’t mind it going on the couch, right?! And there is always something to be learned in quilts that don’t quite make it to awesome. Fingers crossed that I am just over analysing things and it will be just fine!
If you are also participating in the Splash of Color Quilt Along I hope that you are pleased with your progress so far. If you like black and white quilts and haven’t been over and checked out the progress of the other projects yet, be sure to do that. Everyone has chosen their own project, so this QAL is very interesting, even as a spectator sport. 🙂
P.S. Colour Inspiration Tuesday resumes here tomorrow! Yay!
G’day! Today is the last day of the 2017 Fall Art with Fabric blog hop, hosted by Alida at Tweety Loves Quilting. I hope you are here because you have been following along all week. But if not, the good news is that you have a lot of fun art quilt exploring to catch up on. Either way, I am so excited that you are here!
The parameters for the Art with Fabric blog hop are pretty broad…. posts all feature an original art work done in fabric, inspired by a “more conventional” form of artwork (for example a painting, sculpture, etc). The blog hop also has a secondary theme. All works are to celebrate Mother Earth in some way. When I heard about this blog hop, I knew immediately which artist I wanted to use as my inspiration. Thanks for including me Alida!
Inspired by the work of Kim Toft
As my muse, I chose an Australian artist whom I have long admired. Her name is Kim Michelle Toft, and she is a silk painter who illustrates books. She resides in Brisbane and is an active advocate for environmental protection, especially of the Great Barrier Reef and the world’s oceans.
I first discovered Kim’s work when I rescued one of her books from a local library’s excess book disposal sale. I bought it “for my children” but it was the bright flowing pictures that attracted me, and the book has spent most of its time since on my resource/inspiration shelf in my sewing room. 🙂 Her art appeals to me in a similar way to my love for batik fabrics.
My slightly worn copy of Reef Superstar by Lesley Killingbeck and Kim Toft.
The book is called “Reef Superstar” and is about a talent show amongst the creatures found on a coral reef. It is written by Lesley Killingbeck, illustrated by Kim Toft and published by Brolly Books (2005). The text is cute (even though a few rhymes are slightly forced), but the illustrations are superb. It is out of print.
A fraction of one double page of Reef Superstar. Every single page is a riot of colour and activity like this one.
You can find Kim Toft’s website here. She has published lots of books since this story, all with excellent illustrations. Please note, several attempts to get into contact with Kim about this blog hop have been unsuccessful, so this post in no way represents her opinions or endorsement. But I hope this will not stop you popping over to her website to have a look. She is very talented.
The background to my Fabric Art piece
In 2015, our family did a 3-month road trip around Eastern Australia. Thousands and thousands of km in the car with two small children and a camper caravan. It could have been awful. But we loved it. One of the many highlights was the ReefHQ Great Barrier Reef Aquarium in Townsville. Here I fell in love with the Pacific Cleaner Shrimp. Amazing, shy little guys that help keep reefs healthy.
Pacific Cleaner Shrimp in a tank at the ReefHQ in Townsville 2015
Ever since then, I have wanted to have a go at depicting these creatures on a piece of fabric art. They are bright red on top, with white “speed stripes” and are just fascinating. Pacific Cleaner Shrimp eat refuse and clean up the reef, keeping it clean. They also remove parasites from client reef fish, such as parrotfish.
Parrotfish meets Pacific Cleaner Shrimp
So without further ado, I give you my fabric art piece. It is called “Remember to thank the Cleaner (Shrimp)”.
On one level my art piece is a celebration of the colours and life on a coral reef…. and hence the link to the Mother Earth theme and Kim Toft. But it is also a statement piece about being grateful for the people in your life who do the less glamorous jobs that you couldn’t live without. The hospital orderlies, the garbage collectors, street sweepers, office cleaners and other “sanitation engineers”. The reality is that these people are indispensable to healthy communities, but are too often taken for granted.
The Details
The Pacific Cleaner Shrimp is thread painted over appliqué and has a little black bead to give him a goggly eye. He is oversized, because for today at least he is being recognised for his importance.
Pacific Cleaner Shrimp, thread painted, detail
The background is improvised patchwork and appliqué using batik and solid snippets from my scrap bins and is lightly quilted.
Remember to thank the Cleaner (Shrimp), background.
Over the background I have appliquéd coral and anemones inspired in the style of Kim Toft. The reef creatures are more sparse than in the illustrations of “Reef Superstar”, because the reef we snorkelled at the Great Barrier Reef was disjointed, with large stretches of sand and rock between coral growths. So this reflects more my personal experience.
Kin Toft-inspired reef creatures.
I drew the reef creatures onto batik fabrics with black permanent fabric pen and added extra colour with wax crayons. The glitter on the pink coral was already embedded in the wax of the crayon, and on ironing, became very firmly stuck to the fabric. This was more a lucky discovery than a ensured outcome. Sometimes it pays to experiment! I then cut the shapes out and attached them to the collage with quilting.
The parrotfish is purposely partly obscured because he is not the star of this piece. The parrotfish is derived from Kim Toft’s book illustrations, although we did see (and hear) parrotfish while we were snorkelling. (Parrotfish scrape the reef with their beaks for food, and it’s quite audible!) To create this fish I combined wax crayon colouring with dense thread painting.
Parrotfish detail
Fabric art, not a quilt
To finish the piece I stretched it over a painting canvas. I display in my dining room it on this art stand.
Remember to thank the Cleaner (Shrimp) on display in my home.
I hope you have enjoyed my fabric art, and will visit the other contributors to this blog hop. You can find the schedule and direct links for all the blog posts at the bottom of this post.
I like using wax crayons on fabric. They are so vivid and easy to use. Have you used them to decorate a piece of fabric art? If so, what did you make? – I’d love to know. Or would you like a tutorial on how I get this result from wax crayons on fabric? Happy to schedule one if people are interested.
Fabric with Art Blog Hop – say hello to the other fabric art bloggers on the hop list:
P.S. Today’s post also doubles as part of my 31 Days of Finding Quilt Inspiration in the Everyday series. Day 13 to be precise. By the time this publishes, I will be on the first of several airplanes home, so I hope you will agree that is fair!
Anyway, two good sources of inspiration you can use for your own quilt designs are represented here: picture books and animals in your local aquarium/zoo/wildlife park. You can certainly learn a lot about capturing the essence of your quilt subject by studying illustrations in picture books.
I hope you enjoy(ed) the Art with Fabric Blog hop!
Dandelion Shadows: How to Shadow Trapunto with Felt.
Did you know there are an amazing number ways of achieving the stuffed quilting known as trapunto? When I was at school we were only taught one method. Snip the back of your work after stitching the trapunto outlines, stuff in some extra padding and sew the hole back up again. Of all the trapunto methods I now know, this would be my least recommended!
Trapunto quilting can be achieved by hand or machine. If you want to do trapunto by hand, read this fabulous article by Quilts A Lot and watch this video she recommends. This is a much nicer method than the slit and stitch I was taught. I would like to give it a go, “one day”.
Actually, even if you don’t want to do trapunto/french boutis by hand, these links are worth a look. The trapunto wedding rings quilt of Quilts A Lot is amazing, and the more techniques you know about, the more idea resources you’ll have to use in all your designs. 🙂
Machine Trapunto
Probably the most common method of trapunto I see these days is created by machine free-motion stitching onto fabric layered over polyester wadding. The wadding is then clipped to the trapunto shape before a quilt sandwich is made. There are many experts out there on this, including Geta Grama. I am not one of them, but I have given this type of trapunto a go recently on my Dream Big mini quilt. Now I am playing with shadow trapunto.
Shadow Trapunto
Shadow trapunto is when the top fabric and clipped wadding is laid directly over a second fabric rather than straight onto the quilt batting. The fabric between the polyester wadding and the quilt batting is expected to show through the top layer, except where the trapunto lies. Here the wadding obscures the fabric design underneath, creating a “shadow”. Thus the trapunto design has even more visual impact than ordinary trapunto.
Cross-section through a shadow trapunto quilt sandwich
The remainder of this blog post is a description of how I did the Dandelion Shadows trapunto with felt.
Felt Shadow Trapunto Cushion Project: materials
What you need: which fabrics to choose
The first step of a shadow trapunto project is to choose the top fabric and the feature fabric. The main requirement for the top fabric is that it needs to be partially see-through. You can use very transparent fabrics like tulle, or more opaque fabrics, like cotton lawn. Choose white or a very pale colour. For this project I wanted a subtle effect, so I choose white cotton lawn for its partially opaque nature.
The most important requirement for the feature fabric for shadow trapunto is that there is good contrast within the print. Light coloured prints often perform very well. Saturated prints that look bright but have low colour value contrast do not give very pleasing results. If in doubt, lay your top fabric over potential feature fabrics until you find one that shows through as you would like.
The feature fabric for my Dandelion Shadows project practically chose itself. While I was out shopping I noticed this hexagon print fabric, and it sparked an idea. It is “Grecian Bath House Tiles” by Emma & Mila.
Grecian Bath House Tiles fabric by Emma and Mila
Don’t forget, of course, that you’ll also need quilt batting and a backing for your project, seperate from the trapunto supplies.
What you need: which trapunto stuffing to choose
Finally, you need a material for the trapunto stuffing. To do a project with the method I am describing here, you will need a thick non-fraying fabric that you can cut into shapes without stitching it down first. I used felt, but thick fleece or similar would also work. The result is a much flatter trapunto effect than the traditional method…. perhaps it is “modern trapunto”. I like both effects…. but I would use them in different contexts. Choose a colour that works with your feature and top fabrics, because the idea is that you will partially see the trapunto stuffing through the top layer.
How much of everything you will need:
For this cushion (about 42cm square) I used:
– 50cm WOF of the feature fabric, cut into 2x 50cm² pieces.
– 50cm² white cotton lawn
– scraps of yellow and white felt
– 50cm² low-loft polyester batting
I didn’t use a backing because I intended to make a cushion out of the trapunto piece, so a backing would just be hidden inside the cushion. However, if you wish to back your trapunto, by all means do so.
My furry helper approving materials for the shadow trapunto.Time to do something else for a while. These materials are taken!
Felt Shadow Trapunto Cushion Project: creating the trapunto quilt sandwich
How to create your trapunto shapes:
Once you have chosen your trapunto materials (and rescued them from your furry quilting friends), the next job is to produce the felt shapes to make the trapunto design. I chose to overlay the printed hexagons on the feature fabric with felt hexagons of the same size. You could exploit any medium or large scale fabric print in the same way. Or you can create any original design that you are willing to cut out and glue down onto your feature fabric. Either draw your design in reverse onto the back of your felt, or trace your reversed design onto freezer paper and use these templates to cut out your felt pieces.
Freezer paper adheres really well to felt…. who knew?!
I used freezer paper. This was actually a bit of an experiment, because I thought that the freezer paper would not stick to felt more than once, due to the great amount of fluff that remains on the freezer paper once the felt is peeled away. But I got at least 4 re-uses out of each freezer paper template, and it would have been more, but I didn’t require any more felt hexagons.
Attaching the felt to the feature fabric:
Elmer’s glue works well to tack the felt shapes down, but use it sparingly.
To get the felt accurately attached to the feature fabric I used a very thin smear of Elmer’s school glue (available in Officeworks here in Australia) to position the pieces. Once the glue was tacky enough that the pieces couldn’t shift, I flipped the project over and hot ironed from the back. This sets the glue hard so it cannot damage my sewing machine. However, if I want to re-position any pieces, they just gently peel off. Elmer’s glue is so fantastic!
Take care to use just a little so it doesn’t soak through to the front of the felt, especially if you are using a highly transparent top fabric…. but if it does, Elmer’s glue washes out, so as long as you can wash your project, it shouldn’t matter.
Once the pieces are securely attached and ironed dry, layer your work over the quilt batting and backing (optional for cushions). Then layer the top fabric (cotton lawn) over the top of everything else.
Cotton lawn laid over my felt shapes glued to my feature fabric, and the quilt batting.
Secure all layers with your favourite basting method (in my case, quilting pins).
Dandelion Shadows trapunto pin-basted
Felt Shadow Trapunto Cushion Project: quilting
Now it is time to quilt. I chose to quilt around the trapunto with a pebble, spiral and feathers design I saw on Karen Miller’s work posted in the Free Motion Quilting Frenzy facebook group (if you are into FMQ – join this group!!). There was no particular reason to use this FMQ design, except that I really wanted to try it. Any dense fill you like will do.
I densely quilted the background around the trapunto to help the feature fabric show throughClose-up of the FMQThe pebble quilting is easier to see from the back
I finished off the quilting by adding some stems and leaves to the trapunto flowers and dandelion clock. These are quilted in a very pale grey-green. The idea is that they don’t detract from the trapunto and are only really noticeable if you are closely looking at the piece. Ghost details, if you wish.
Felt Shadow Trapunto Cushion Project: finishing off the cushion cover construction
Once I was happy with my trapunto piece, I squared up the sides. I cut the remaining piece of my feature fabric in half and hemmed one long edge on both pieces. I then sewed these pieces to the sides of the trapunto sample.
Dandelion Shadows trapunto with fabric attached for cushion envelope.
I then folded the flaps over the trapunto piece, right sides together, so that the cushion backing pieces overlapped by 3-4 inches. I then sewed up the top and bottom of the quilt cover and trimmed the excess from the seams.
Envelope Cushion cover ready to sew.
Here is the back once it was turned right sides out and filled with a pillow form.
And the finished cushion 🙂
I hope these instructions are clear enough. If you have been following my blog lately, you’ll know that I am writing things in a bigger hurry than usual. If you have any questions, please ask and I’ll endeavour to answer and/or edit to clear things up.
Shadow trapunto with felt is a lot faster and less stressful than the more traditional kind. No risk of accidentally snipping fabric or stitches. But it does give a different effect, so it’s not a replacement for stuffed trapunto. I really like the effect this gives. I will be doing this again, for sure.
What do you think? Are you going to give this a go? Have you already done trapunto using this method? I’d love to know what you made.
Now, I’m going to have to love and leave you….. we have a family day in between all the work we are doing here in Vanuatu. Going to see an active volcano!!!!!! I am hoping tomorrow’s “everyday” quilt inspiration slot will be anything but! xx
P.S. I was honoured to have a guest post on Days Filled with Joy this week. Joy did a marvellous job with her 12 Days of last minute Christmas gift ideas series, including this glittery bauble variation of the couched thread ornaments we looked at here earlier in December. If you liked the bell, tree and star ornaments, you might like to read about the bauble guest post too.
P.P.S. There has been a marvellous response so far to the Monthly Color Challenge running at Patterns by Jen and the appliqué version that we will be doing right here at Clever Chameleon. If you missed the Beary Colourful BOM news this time last week you can find it here.
Fabric Art and the Art of being Grateful
I hope you have enjoyed my fabric art, and will visit the other contributors to this blog hop. You can find the schedule and direct links for all the blog posts at the bottom of this post. 
Dandelion Shadows: How to Shadow Trapunto with Felt.
