'Intersections'

Size: 12 ¾” x 14 ¼”

I'm pleased with this little piece.  Despite taking all summer to stew over, it really didn't take that much time.  The hardest part was coming up with an idea for the quilting design.  Decided against trees for this one!

 

I’ve been exploring some new techniques this summer using combinations of paint and burnings, and journal quilts are a perfect way for me to document my trials. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried this technique, but I’m working out some bugs… I normally do my journal quilts at 12 x 12, but this one I forgot to cut down before quilting and I couldn’t bring myself to cut it afterwards. I would have ended up cutting off some of the leaves that I really liked.

I started with the scrap pile that sits behind my sewing machine, and sorted out some greens and blues. After piecing them together in a random fashion I wasn’t too pleased with the results. The range of hues and values was just too large, and made no design sense at all. So I toned the whole piece with some acrylic lime green, leaving fabric colours showing through the paint.

After drying I layered on a piece of sheer polyester in a burgundy colour. This was stitched down using a burgundy cotton thread in a free motion design of stylised hydrangea blossoms and leaves. The background I filled in with pebbles.

Next I took the heat gun to the piece and burned away the highlights of the sheer, leaving the fabric showing through.

Sometimes I’ve painted again overtop of the burning, but I will leave this one alone. I’m pleased with the layered effect and I like the seam line ‘Intersections’ showing through.

Next I would like to try using different colours of sheers and threads on the top layer for new effects. We’ll see! I would also like to piece the background like crazy roses, and then stitch roses on top.

Here is a close up: