Thursday, January 26, 2006

Quilting

I played around with various scenarios on how to preserve that shadowing with different types of stitching. I tried defining the overlaps with zig zag stitching and also just stitching shapes that mimicked the overlaps and nothing looked good. I made up a couple of sample pieces that I could stitch on and try out my ideas without doing it on the quilt and having to rip out stuff I didn't like. Here is one of the samples with lots of different stitching on it.



I finally decided to echo sort of the crosshatch stitching by going back and forth and making another layer of rectangular shapes. It's sort of like Lisa's stitching except I'm not following the underlying shapes and it's not so close together. Tried several different threads and finally settled on a heavy weight variegated cotton, yellows for the center, and red for the outside parts. I'm about 2/3 of the way finished quilting.

I want to preserve the uneven edges so I'm going to try pillowcasing this. I'm only quilting with the top and batting. When that's done, I'll trim the batting to the edges and stitch the backing, then turn it and do enough more quilting to hold it together. Hope it works.

I ordered 25 lbs of soy wax today so I can play with that in earnest. And on Saturday I'm going to Joanie's opening at the library. Can hardly wait to see the work installed!