"Homeward Flight" - My 2014 SAQA Auction Donation Quilt

"Homeward Flight" (12" x 12")

The background for this quilt was made by using a method I discovered for applying liquid Rit dye directly to wet fabric.  For details of that method, check out my January, 2013 blog entry.  The circle was cut from a piece of monoprinted fabric that I created from left over paint from another project.  It was then used as a second background. 

Painted Flower Shapes

The flowers shapes were under-painted with opaque, white, Setacolor fabric paint that I ordered through Dharma Trading Company.

Patterns for Circles and Appliqued Flower Petals

I had just gone grocery shopping so I used the paper bag to cut patterns.  The outside edge of the circle that looks like a ring was used to cut a circle from the monoprinted fabric.  It needed to be bigger than the circle in the background because it needed to fit under that circle.

Monoprinted Circle Auditioned Under Background Circle

Slit in Background Fabric...

I had previously cut a circle out of the background fabric to use in another quilt and, fortunately, did not discard the remaining fabric.  I didn't know at that time that I would want to use it for this quilt, but it was perfect for what I was envisioning, so I had to figure a way to obscure the slit.

Petal Leaf Patterns

 When I auditioned the petal shapes, one of the petals was long enough to obscure the slit and after I fused the petals to the quilt, the slit no longer existed.

Adding a Flying Crane

I chose an area to place the crane figure and drew the image onto the fabric with a fine brush and black, opaque Setacolor fabric paint but the body and wings of the bird needed a little help in defining it.  Once again I used Setacolor opaque white fabric paint to define the body and wings.  I only painted white in certain areas because I wanted the monoprint to show through in certain areas of the bird's body.

Cropped Image to Show Close-up of White Paint

I traced around the petal shapes on Mistyfuse backed, white fabric  and "painted" them with Derwent Intense pencils that I ordered from Dick Blick art supplies.  These are great, watercolor pencils.  Color is applied dry and then dampened with a paint brush to make colors behave like watercolor.  Bonus!   They become permanent when dry.   After I colored the petals I cut them out and fused them to the composition.

Petals Fused to Composition

 It was now time to start stitching, but before I could do that, I needed to make a "pillowcase" type sandwich because I didn't want to define the edge with a binding.  Once that was accomplished, I could put the pedal to the metal and start stitching.  I used monofilament thread with a narrow zigzag stitch to connect the inner circle to the background and free motion stitched around each painted flower and over the outline of the crane.  Then came thread sketching on each appliqued flower petal.  Finally, I satin stitched around the monoprinted circle and around each fused and appliqued flower petal.

 

Stitching Around Each Shape

Next came thread sketching on each appliqued flower petal.  Finally, I satin stitched around the monoprinted circle and around each fused and appliqued flower petal.

Thread Sketching and Satin Stitching

 And there you have it...my 2014 SAQA Auction Donation

And always remember, never fear to experiment.  

Sometimes wonderful things happen.

©2014 Linda Friedman - All rights reserved.