Seams French

Stitch by Stitch and Line by Line When I started the first rough sketches for a quilt for our bed back in 2013, I had no idea it would take this long to finally get the quilt to the quilting stage. As the ideas came and went, and we came and went to and from France every six months, the designs got altered, rejected, put on hold and restarted many times. Staying at home for the last few years, progress was actually possible. Thanks to Autocad and my husband's input, the design finally came together early this year.  Whew! The quilt is now well on it's way, with a hoped for finish before 2019. (Fingers crossed!) Most of the outline got quilted before the chalk lines disappeared. All major design lines are outlined with 1/2" channels. Using a quilting ruler (in this case Kelly Cline's straight edge ruler ) is very helpful for accuracy. I love these rulers and am getting pretty comfortable with the ones used for stitching straight lines. On my next p...

No sunscreen required. Hand stitched and corded boutis has been reverse-appliqued into dupioni silk. Batting and a backing have been added, and the whole frame has then been finished with machine quilting. The backing is attached with reverse applique as well. When backlit, the light shines through the boutis, highlighting the design. Another suncatcher catching a few rays. And voila, the boutis comes alive with the light.

In preparation for quilting my large bed quilt , auditioning stitching patterns and thread colours and weights has been an ongoing side project for the last several months. Some of the questions I considered: - Where is the focal point of the quilt? Is there more than one? - How can I create relief around the motif to be highlighted? - Which background filler is the most effective? - Should contrast be created by the colour of the threads or by using varying weights of thread?  Or maybe a combination of both? The 3 samples below are exploring the possibilities. Sample 1 is stitched using the same colours and materials that are in the quilt: teal silk dupioni that has been stabilized, 1 layer of wool batting and a cotton backing. All of the samples are using design elements from the quilt itself. In this first sample I tried my hand at thread painting with a contrasting colour. I used Magnifico, Superior's 40 wt. poly for the outline of the motif, and a 100 wt. silk for ...

"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 ...

This saffron window shade is the second version of my Parisian rose window boutis. As in the first wall hanging, this one is also framed with free motion quilting. When I originally designed the pattern, I made two versions of it. One on a white batiste, which became a wall hanging , and the second on this ochre coloured batiste. Using the same technique of reverse applique for finishing, I framed it with a 1/2 inch brown border before being setting into the background. Because this piece will be illuminated from behind, to do it justice I felt it should have another section of boutis, where light from the window could work it's magic. I made a smaller version of the same pattern, using only the center  rosette. This was also framed with the brown border. This done, I felt it needed even more definition so I added another saffron border before placing it into the lighter yellow background fabric which would be finished with machine quilting. With the top compl...

A Fine "Feathered" Friend On my current "to do" list is a new bed quilt for my husband and myself. When I design a quilt I try to choose symbols and motifs that have significance to the recipient, in this case, my husband and me. This ceramic butterfly has been with us since before we were married. It's image, in one form or another, will be the focal point of the quilt. The quilt will be whole cloth and free motion machine stitched. Right now I am auditioning different design concepts, and experimenting with different fabrics, threads and battings. The first sample shows my stitched interpretation of this butterfly using cotton sateen fabric on the top and bottom, with Heirloom Hobbs cotton batting. For all of these samples, I used a variety of very fine threads (#100). In all cases, the bobbin thread is "Superior Bottom Line". Here the top thread is a rayon machine embroidery thread . The next sample shows the same design using silk d...