Monthly Archives: March 2013

It’s Easy to Change Things Up

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house2You may recognize this house from my Craftsy Class, Hand-Stitched Collage Quilts. When filming the class I made several stages or step-outs of the House in the Valley project. There must be 6 of them floating around my studio!

house3To change up this version of the House in the Valley project, I add different elements. This is the miracle of fusing. You can always add more.

houseinthevalley4

House in the Valley #4 by Laura Wasilowski

The shape of this quilt is different too. I’ve cut the top into an arched shape. The quilt has Timtex behind the batting so it holds this shape. See the orange flowers from yesterday’s blog? Not sure if they are about to attack the house or just pay a visit.

Evolution of a Flower

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flower5This simple little flower turned up on my quilt top recently. Not sure what it’s called but seems to be in the orange family.

flower6Stitching begins with a favorite color combination: orange and turquoise. a few Lazy Daisies and Straight Stitches using a Size 8 Aquamarine thread and the orange flower quickly changes personality.

flower7A row of French Knots across the flower top look like jewels in a crown. Or at least thready beads. Or maybe hair rollers.

flower8The versatile Straight Stitch adds spikes to the flower tips and more definition to the body of the flower. Size 12 thread makes the spikes look delicate yet fetching.

flower10A final set of really long Straight Stitches applied to the base of the flower add more texture and finish to our lovely bud. Stay tuned tomorrow when I introduce you to the quilt sharing these delightful flowers.

When to Call It Quits

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feltflowerCan you add too many hand embroidery stitches to your design? Do you think I have gone too far when stitching the felt dots above? Sometimes the thread overwhelms the fabric shapes and blurs the edges. It may be the size of the threads or colors or the stitch chosen. This time I think I over did it.

Next time I’ll keep in mind that embroidery is there to help define and enhance the design not to overwhelm it.