Saturday, January 13, 2007

And so.....




















This very pretty little banksia ( though the tree is getting mighty large) has the prettiest flowers- very dainty with little "pearls" at the end of the stamens. My favourite banksia is ericafolia because of the colour of the candles - which are a rich terracotta colour with yellow and orange.















So I am making another banksia quilt- they always sell well, and some of what I make is driven by the need to sell. However I like doing these as I have many banksias in my garden and they flower in the winter- adding colour to the drabness of winter.




















Arranging the appliques and then stitching. I straight stitch around the edge- have done so for about 14 years now. Helen asked what gold paint I used- I used Jacquard Textile ink, only because that is all I had and I found it a bit too runny, I prefer to use the Texcraft Golden Lustre Textile Ink i get form Kraft Kolour.
And no I didn't double thread Gilgamesh rug as the silk was too fine to take the heaviness of the double thread- though I did go round several times on the outside of the circles. And yes you use only one bobbin thread.It also allows you to run a yellow and organge thread for greater colour texture. Or as I am doing on the banksia leaves- a lime green and a soft moss green sort of colour- it really does give more interest and I prefer it to variegated threads.

Now to embroider the flowers and a lot of the texture in this piece will come from the quilting. And when does quilting become embroidery? I often use quilting in much the same way as you embroider- with colours and texture.

5 comments:

Helen said...

Thanks for the information. That's a really clear photo of your stitching. That lovely open-toed foot must help a lot. I have an Elna and I don't think they have a nice metal foot like yours available. The free motion foot is plastic which makes visibility hard. Even the Janome open-toed foot (which fits the Elna) is still plastic. I find the plastic distorts what you are looking at.

The Banksias are lovely

Joyce said...

The Banksias are lovely as is your quilt. I may try the double thread when I start quilting the project I am working on right now. Thanks for the info.

Anonymous said...

Dijanne,

Even without the quilting this is looking lovely with possibilities cant wait to see it finished.

Judy.

Shirley Goodwin said...

Always that need to make things that sell! If only we didn't have to....but your fabric is lovely.

I love the effect of painted leaves in the earlier post - we'll be doing some of that at symposium. Thanks for your good wishes.

smarcoux said...

Hi Dijanne
As usual your banksia quilts are so lovely .. I shall have to buy one from you sometime .. as you know its my favourite.
Hope things are going well... I have been househunting (renting ) shesh .. it takes its toll ... speak soon as I can get a computer up and running at home. S