Art quilt -- down to the wire!

[Cath P.]

Susan Carlson is GREAT! She wrote Free-Style Quilts and Serendipity Quilts, and she just answered my e-mail! I hope I can get this done in time! It's so hard with the 4-year-old and 16-month-old at home.

On May 4, 2011, at 8:12 AM, Heidi Dewey wrote:

Dear Susan,

I'm trying your technique on a peacock quilt for a guild challenge, which is due this Saturday -- down to the wire, yes – I hope you might be able to respond early today.

I have a question about the quilting. How do you keep your raw edges from shredding when you straight-stitch quilt just inside the edge of the fabric? I’m using a #75 Quilting needle, and the batting is a thin bamboo/cotton blend with a thin scrim (by Polyfil, I think). Most of the fabric in the quilt top is cotton, and I’ve also used some dupioni silk (under which I did use some fusible web to control fraying), some tulle and some Angelina fibers. I’m most concerned with the small pieces on the face of the peacock – especially the tiny white bit near the beak. (See attached photos) I’m a little worried they’ll move out of place, too, as I get the needle near them. Any suggestions?

Thank you so much,
Heidi Dewey
Country Piecemakers Quilt Guild
http://www.countrypiecemakers.org


From: Susan Carlson [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 10:45 AM
To: Heidi Dewey
Subject: Re: raw-edge quilting question

Hi Heidi,

Very nice work! Did you glue the edges down? If I don't use tulle overall (and usually not), I'm sure to catch ALL the edges with glue. I get some glue on my fingertip and run it along the underside edges. Mostly to secure so the quilting foot doesn't slide under as I quilt, but the added benefit is that it seals the raw edges so there's not so much fraying. Any that does happen I can neaten up later if I want. The extra gluing takes more time than you'd think, but I find it well worth it.

Hope that helps. Good luck - it already looks great!
--Susan

11:35

Oh, thank you, Susan. I didn’t realize you put glue on all the edges. I’d used just enough to hold the pieces in place. I’ll do some extra gluing now.

Thank you so much for your quick response! I’ll send you photos of the finished quilt when I get it done.

By the way, my guild has done a challenge like this for the past two years. You can see the finished quilts from 2010 and 2009 by clicking on “Archives” and selecting “2009 If I Were a Flower Challenge” and “2010 Music, Beautiful Music Challenge.” There aren’t too many – we’re a small guild. The first year I did an iris using needle-turn appliqué and fabric paint, and last year a collage using photos printed on silk organza. I love to challenge myself with new techniques! (But, unfortunately, I’m a terrible procrastinator and rarely leave myself enough time to relax and enjoy the work, plus I have three young children.) I really enjoyed your book, Free-Style Quilts. Your technique is very freeing. I hope to add more depth to the peacock body with more tulle, but I find it difficult to work with, and there will be no fabric overlapping it, so gluing it is a challenge. But we’ll see…

Many thanks,
Heidi

[Cath P.]

Please be sure to post pictures when your Peacock is finished ~ it's beautiful! I'm not usually drawn to art quilts but the peacock is very regal looking and the colors are wonderfully accurate. Nice work !!

Georgia

[Cath P.]

Thanks, Georgia! Will do!

[Cath P.]

Very nice Heidi!

[Margo C.]

Beautiful, Heidi! And thanks for sharing your correspondence with Susan with us!

[Margo C.]

I love peacocks and yours is beautiful, Heidi!
Nicely done.

Kathy

[Margo C.]

What a fabulous project Heidi!! Can't wait to see it all finished!

Hugs,

Darce

[Margo C.]

Heidi--This is a great teaser. Waiting to see the finish.

[Margo C.]

At long last -- the peacock quilt is finished! (...mostly)

For the Country Piecemakers "Animal Challenge" 2011

I'm calling it "Queen Bird", to commemorate my son's first trip to the zoo when he was three years old. I really stretched myself with the techniques on this one! Photos without flash show the texture, but the color is truer with flash. I'll have to get some outdoor photos of it to try to capture both. One thing the photos can't seem to capture is how the quilt shimmers. There are several elements that catch the light and throw it around as the viewer moves even slightly. I think this is my best work so far! I like it a lot!

I can post progress photos to document the evolution of the piece if anyone is interested. (By the way, is there a way to post more than one photo at a time?)

Thank you so much for the support and encouragement!!!

[Margo C.]

That's awesome Heidi!!!!

[Lotti D.]

fantastic - really beautiful

[Lotti D.]

Absolutely fantastic!!!!!!

[Lotti D.]

Heidi,

WOW, what a wonderful piece, it's fantastic!

BarbCA

[Betty J.]

At long last -- the peacock quilt is finished! (...mostly)

For the Country Piecemakers "Animal Challenge" 2011

I'm calling it "Queen Bird", to commemorate my son's first trip to the zoo when he was three years old. I really stretched myself with the techniques on this one! Photos without flash show the texture, but the color is truer with flash. I'll have to get some outdoor photos of it to try to capture both. One thing the photos can't seem to capture is how the quilt shimmers. There are several elements that catch the light and throw it around as the viewer moves even slightly. I think this is my best work so far! I like it a lot!

I can post progress photos to document the evolution of the piece if anyone is interested. (By the way, is there a way to post more than one photo at a time?)

Thank you so much for the support and encouragement!!!

Oh this is wonderful!! I would really like to see the photos of the evolution of the piece. Cheers,

[Betty J.]

It's such a beautiful wall hanging. Great job!