Contemplating Backgrounds

How much time do you spend contemplating the background fabric for your projects? 

Setting the stage for showing off your designs and quilting, 

the background can become a major player in your quilt.

I auditioned many backgrounds for my project. 

Should I go dark? 

Dark is always dramatic.

What about a totally white background? 

That would certainly show off my quilting.

 What about a neutral?

  A neutral grey, certainly not my first choice, became my best choice. 

Another instance that proves to me that I shouldn't be shortsighted 

and try even the "wrong" fabrics. 

This blue/grey batik shows off my design fabrics without competing with them. 

It seems to suit better than the stark contrast of a black or white fabric.

But, now I am questioning...

Is it a bit too boring?

Should I do something to make this background become a bit more interesting?

I pieced together strips of similar fabrics and 

placed them over my batik.

Will this up the look of my background

without becoming overpowering?

Should I cut my background and 

insert the pieced sections?

Time for a bit of contemplating..........

Linked to Off the Wall Friday

Working on Enlarging My Shrunken World

Many years ago, I made a lovely pair of black wool pants that I wore with pride. Then one day, they accidentally got mixed in with other laundry and were put into the washing machine. Opps! It was a sad day. My pants came out 6" shorter and were never worn again.

Since that time, I have moved on from tailoring into quilting, and now found new possibilities for wool that has been agitated and spun into a much smaller, felted life.  Recently, my sister gave me an old wool sweater to "play" with. Into the washer it went. It came out reduced from extra-large to mini and had a wonderful, soft hand.

Because there was small holes right in the center of the front, I cut a piece out and added subtle color. Now where would I go next?

Instead of trying to mend the holes, I emphasized them by adding stitching around the edges.

The wool really played off the blue of this piece of batik. And the path continues..........

Inspired by the beaded work of Mary Stori and others, I am now in the process of adding beads and stitching to my wool piece.

So this week, I have two hand projects going. When I am tired of hand-quilting my star quilt, I can take a creative break and add more stitching and beading to my small wool piece.

By the way, does anyone have an idea for a sweater with a large hole in the tummy?  Maybe a giant quilt block appliqued on the front???

Linked to Off the Wall Fridays

I Said I Would Never Do It Again

A few years ago, I had seen all the stippling I had ever wanted to see. As quilters learned to machine quilt, it seemed to be the most popular option. Or if quilters didn't want to or couldn't make a decision about the quilting, it became "just stipple it". (Most times they really meant just large meandering lines around the quilt.)

I said I would never stipple a quilt again. There were too many other options out there to try. I had just scratched the surface of all that could be done.

Today, I sat at my machine stippling, yes, stippling a section of my newest quilt. And, yes again, chewing on those words.

In this case, I felt it was the right thing to do. The quilting compressed this section highlighting some areas and adding a delightful texture to the light blue batik fabric.

Are you a fan of stippling or not? 

Have you ever fallen back and done a technique that you said you would not do again? 

Am I the only, lonely, one?

Serging and Flouncing About a Bit More

Climbing Roses
23" x 10"
Sharon V. Rotz








As you can see, for this project I decided to use my serged flounce on the binding edge of the wallhanging. It would make a wonderful pillow edge as well. (We could consider this a flat pillow.)

This wallhanging combines units of string piecing, a fun and creative use for small scraps of fabric, with three dimensional applique. The leaves were folded wrong sides together and overlock-serged on the curved open edge. The top edge of a red batik fabric strip was serged with a rolled edge. The strip of fabric was then formed into the roses and hand stitched onto the background.

This project gave me a chance to explore more options for using my serger as a quilting tool. Now, new images of serged flounces are creeping into my brain. How could I incorporate a flounce into the center of a project? maybe between rows of blocks, hmmm.

For more quilting ideas using your serger, please refer to my latest book, Serge and Merge Quilts.

Completion of "Dancing Trees"

I had a fun time quilting this project. I added stitching on the trees and some of the leaves. The contrast between the quilted leaves and the unstitched leaves gives a feeling of depth. The ground was enhanced with quilted "grass". The batik bottom border was finished with diagonal lines. Additional quilting was needed in the sky area. The brown border was quilted with vertical lines.

We all admire a quilt that lays flat and hang smoothly on the wall with no wobbles along the edge. One of the keys to that flat quilt is an equal amount of quilting over the surface. Intense quilting in only selected areas of the project will draw the fabric together and you will see the fabric pulling to that area. Often borders are insufficiently quilted resulting in a quilt that refuses to lay smooth. I've found that quilting that crosses that borders (i.e. crosshatching or vertical lines) helps to draw up the edge and straight line quilting that follows the length of the border tends to stretch the edge.

What are your favorite solutions to the perfect quilt?

"Untitled"

I am up to the point of searching through my fabrics for a border option. I pulled out a colorful batik fabric which reflected the purples and yellows of the background. This could be a perfect solution to enhance the quilt. Unfortunately, no matter how well it matched, the batik was too powerful to use on all four sides as borders but it did add a lot when used only on the bottom of the quilt.

There are times when we may become too attached to a fabric that we love. The batik is so wonderful, it is hard not to overuse it. A bit will serve the purpose. I will force myself to use it correctly for the quilt and save the remainder for another day. (Unable to be ignored, the batik did push itself into the main part of the quilt. Small squares were added to the brown squares in the ground.)

Now on to the quest of finding the best border solution.

Remember to send your choices for names for "Untitled". Every quilt wants a name.

I'll be looking for your ideas.