Life Intervenes

It has been way too long since I posted to this blog.  Amazing how life interferes with your best intentions.  Whether work gets in the way, or a sick pet, or a family emergency or just all the little things that take up your time day to day, we need to make the time to do the things we love.
So today was great for me because I got back to quilting the red maple leaves panel that I had Spoonflower print from one of my photos.

Stage one was to layer the sandwich.  I used backing (muslin), a flat batting (warm and white) and a wool batting (Hobbs wool) for my sandwich.  I actually pieced the wool as there will be lots and lots of quilting (stitching) on top and this is unlikely to get washed often.


This is the sandwich pin basted and the red thread I decided to use for stage two.  Stage two was to stabilize the sandwich by outlining the red leaves and stitching the veins.


Right away the stitching gives more definition to the piece.  Here is a close-up shot of this stage to illustrate the amount of texture it is possible to get when using this double batting method.


Stage three was to outline the green leaves and stitch their veins. 


Again, this gives more definition to the piece. 


Still lots of stitching to go but this is what I had time for today.


Here's an overall picture. 

Now that the piece has been stabilized, I can go in and do more detail, including some very heavy quilting in the darkest areas, so that they recede.  It is important not to do that very heavy stitching until the outlining is done to keep the piece from drawing up, too much.

This thread painting technique usually cannot be done without having to break thread several times.  However, with some care, those thread breaks can be kept to a reasonable number.  And the end result is truly worth the effort.

As I continue to work on this panel I will post more pictures of it in process.

BJ Chadwick, Queen of Remnants
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