Daily Archives: February 8, 2006

This is TINY applique, tiny tiny crazy cutting. A miniature prototype, a practice piece for BIG ONE

Last night I got a crazy urge to try out the design for the dredger quilt in fabric, using the image I printed out on an A4 piece of paper as a template. I nearly abandoned the whole idea after an hour or so of cutting, but I persevered with it again tonight and then got hooked in and had to finish it. Did you hear that?? FINISHED!!

I used some of the techniques Melody has been talking about on her blog, namely fusing everything and finishing using her escape hatch technique.

A few comments:

Fusing.

I’ve fused before and I love that I can achieve very crisp images and everything stays put whilst stitching. The negative part is that my work ends up very stiff and very FLAT.

I like texture and I love texture caused when lines of stitching interact together. When I’m dealing with at least two layers of fusible web things stay pretty flat. I will say that the quilting on this piece is very straight line/linear and that is adding to to stiff feel and appearance.

Escape Hatch Finish

I LOVE IT!!! Just got to practice making sure the backing fabric doesn’t show at the front. Thanks Melody.

Regarding the detailed design for the BIG DREDGER QUILT. I’ve changed my mind about introducing detail to the trusses. No need to over complicate my first big art quilt, I’ve decided to let the rather complex shapes stand as they are. I like the introduction of shapes in the quilting on the prototype and I think I’ll explore that idea a bit more.

You may be able to tell I’ve added some accent/orange stitching along the two main diagonal trusses, I’m thinking of taking this further in the BIG DREDGER QUILT… perhaps more on that later.

In other news: You may be wondering what is going on with my plans to improve my drawing skills. In an effort to keep myself inspired to draw, I’ve joined the Every Day Matters Yahoo Group.

Below is my attempt to draw my dog Reuben (he is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel). I was very wary attempting this challenge considering just how hairy Reubs is.

The Challenge: Draw a Dog.

I have discovered that my sweet doggie does not like me staring at him, he started deliberately facing away from me to avoid my sketching ‘eagle eye’, so I had to draw fast!

To Do Tommorow
Dye Fabric for BIG DREDGER QUILT
Do two Drawings on my pre-prepared drawing paper.
Get to bed by 10:30pm (like I was going to tonight, but I just realised it’s midnight)
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