Seams French

"La Porte d'un Jardin de Colibri"      Remember this little boutis hummingbird ( "colibri" ) from a long way back ? Well, she finally found a happy home behind a silk gate of free motion quilting that opens to her peaceful boutis flower garden. She was accepted into the juried exhibit of Quilt Canada, which was held here in Vancouver last weekend, and came home with the ribbon for "Excellence for Work of a First Time Exhibitor". The finished quilt is 30 7/8" x 25 3/4": wall hanging size As I was designing the border, I wanted the flow of the boutis to continue into the border. The boutis is set into the centre of the quilt using reverse applique. The photo below shows the circular pattern around the hummingbird being extended to the border and completing the circle by piecing in some white silk. Following are some close-ups of the quilt. The top of the wall hanging. Detail of a machine quilted hummingbird that ...

The door of her cage has been opened. She is free to fly off and find her destiny. After many months of hand stitching and then many more months of cording, my little "colibri" is ready to set off on her own. As this was my first attempt at designing so large a boutis piece, it was a learning curve. All of the tight swirls, curls and circles are a great deal more difficult and time consuming to cord then are the longer more gentle channels. Maintaining an even tension is absolutely necessary throughout the process, so patience comes in very handy when doing the cording. The process of stitching and cording a work of boutis subjects the fabric to a lot of handling and manipulation that can distort the design. For this reason, once all of the stitching and cording is complete, the boutis must be washed, blocked and squared.  The first step of washing is to remove all traces of the marking pencil as well as any soil that may have collected over the many months of working w...

This hummingbird is the first in a series of boutis pieces featuring birds that I am currently in the process of designing. As with most of my quilting designs, the hummingbird has evolved in the construction process, and may change some more before the final stitch is sewn. The centre of the piece has already been stitched and I hope to get a lot more work done as we make our way back to Vancouver. Tomorrow morning we lock up our little place in the sun and will spend a few weeks on the road touring northern Germany, Belgium and France before heading home. Train travel is a good place to do some stitching, so ever the optomist, I expect to get at least a little work done en route. I'll report when we are settled back in Vancouver, sometime towards the end of October. Until then, enjoy the colours of autumn wherever you are, and Happy Thanksgiving to Canadians, where Thanksgiving will be celebrated on Monday, Octob...