"It's Just a Sample"

I've been working on Activities 4 and 5 of my C&G program (Module 7) this week -- experimenting with stitches for the edges of fused shapes, thinking about thread weight and colour, work by hand or by machine...etc.  Having chosen to go with the second composition, I began to put it together.

First, I fused down the shapes.  Then I began to stitch.  Assignment 4 requires that we use blanket stitch, and that we first explore what our machine can do in this area.  Here's my wee sample from my Husqvarna Lily:

I find I'm partial to the default stitch length (0.4), but slightly larger width -- a 3.0 or 3.5 instead of the default (2.0).

So...then, what colour of thread?  I wanted to keep it subtle, but didn't have enough of the right colour to match the shapes I was going to stitch down (the rectangles -- a turquoise would have matched)...so I went with what I had that matched the background instead: a deep pink Gutermann 100% polyester from my stash (the shops around here sell a lot of Gutermann.  I've been a fan of both Mettler Silk Finish and Sulky (poly, metallic, and "Blendables"), but can't always get them at my LQ Shops.)  The weight isn't marked on the spool, but I think from the look of it, it's 40 or 50 wt.  Here's my sample with satin stitch around the rectangles, FMQ to highlight the leaves on the right, and FMQ leaves in a motif at the bottom.

The next stitch to play with?  Blanket stitch.  First I tried it around the negative bottle shape (left rectangle), again in the Gutermann pink, and it essentially disappeared into the background.  It was also tricky to do a negative shape by machine.  I decided I'd try hand-stitching around the edge of the other bottle:

For this I decided to continue to match the background colour, and found some hand-dyed floss from Gentle Art threads in my stash, in the colour 'Pomegranate', left over from some long-ago project.  I found this worked quite nicely to give it definition without being 'in your face', so to speak.  

Next, the quilting.  At first I was loathe to do much -- afraid of detracting from the motifs.  I began, however, with free-motion in curvy lines to echo the leaves on the right border.  Getting into the process, I hit on the idea to use the rectangles as a quilting shape, so created what I call 'random rectangles' over most of the rest of the background -- dense from the top most of the way down, but sparser as I drew closer to the quilted leaf designs on the bottom.

Then what?  Those little leaf shapes look very bland now!  I decided to experiment with my red InkTense pencil, and this is how it turned out:

Now they look very red, don't they?  I have no purple, but there is a blue pencil in the set, so I think I'm going to gather my nerve and over-colour, just to see what happens.  It might even be terrific!  And if not...well, as teacher Anna Hergert so often says, "It's just a sample".  :-)

Untitled?

I like to title things.  Titles usually come pretty easily to me, based on the subject matter.  I like to play with words, too, as those of you who follow my ramblings know.  This means that my titles are often a hint of the contents or a play on words of some sort.  Today I had two to choose from, and I wasn't sure...

TAST Weeks 14 & 15 - Satin & Stem

"Plain Jane"?  I have a cyber-friend named Jane, and she's anything but.  Would such a title discomfit her?

"Less is More"?  Or is that too cliche?  I just couldn't use either of these.

I had great plans for this crazy patch block, too -- hence the wide desert of fine-count linen you see stretched across the centre, with little to show for it.  I had visions of tiny satin stitch triangles dancing inside the larger one, which is outlined in stem stitch.  Alas, I lost my taste for the work.  For now, it remains "as is" in my stack of crazy quilt squares, and I'm going to move on.  This week's stitch: the fun, funky and sometimes frustrating French Knot!

Back to titles for a moment...


and a question, which generated much discussion on the SAQA Yahoo group this past week.  My SAQA colleague, Jean Judd -- a very talented and much-exhibited artist -- wondered about how artists title their work, and whether or not the title of a piece can turn off a potential purchaser.  Take a look at her work, including her latest series (here), and see what you think.  Thoughts?