Thread, Thread, Thread...

Thread... I think just about every 'art' quilter or fiber artist or quilter or whatever we call ourselves have a love affair with thread. We have cotton thread, rayon thread, polyester thread, wool thread, metallic thread and silk thread. Thread with sheen, thread that is thick and thread that is thin. Thread made by Isacord or Sulky or Madiera or Gutterman or Aurifil or Superior or YLI or Coats & Clark, or... or... or....

I for one, have some of every type, every brand above, plus some. I think I love my thread as much as I love my fabric. Well almost :-)... But one thing that I have noticed as I started really using my Bernina 830, is that thread that was almost lint free on my old Viking throws off tons of lint on the Bernina. Some, so much so, that I have to clean the machine in between bobbin changes. On my Viking, using the same assortment of threads, I almost never saw a buildup of lint. In fact, I could go two full quilts before I realized... OOPS!, I haven't cleaned the machine since I worked on that other project.

I wonder why that is? I know many of you have multiple machines. Do you see a difference in the lint build-up on one type vs another? Or even on one model vs another?

Yes, those same inquiring minds want to know...... Oh, but wait, no one had a thought on the last question this inquiring blogger posted. Oh well... I guess I will just have to ponder this thought on my own for awhile.

Dye Candy's having a give away...

Hi everyone... Candy over at Dye Candy is having a give away over on her blog. Her fabrics are to DYE for :-).


Hop on over and leave a comment for an opportunity to win.

Inquiring minds want to know....

As I am working on my DD's piece I am at the stage where I just want the thread play of the ribbons to be over (actually I only have 2 more to go...woohooo...). So my mind has started to wander on to the next stage.... what decorative accents should I use in the center... applique, thread applique, couching, etc... and what type of quilting will I do. Hmmmm...

My head is overflowing with ideas.... this is for a Miami apartment. Do I add circles to represent beach balls... do I add stars, for the movie stars Raven meets in her job (she's met Sienfield, Vanessa Williams, Bernadette Peters and a few others).... or what. And what about the quilting??? Normally I stay within the boundaries of each section... you know one design per wave. But I am thinking of going free and letting my stitching change as I feel it, vs as the quilt top is constructed. I think I like the freedom of that.... just go wherever it takes me. But even once I get that worked out, I still have to think about thread... variegated, one solid, or many different solids??? I do know that I don't want the quilting to take over the piece, it is bold enough on it's own.

So, I was wondering... do you design your quilting as you design your quilt top? Or do you finish your top and let it speak to you?

If you read this, please post a short comment and share your quilting design practices.

Inquiring minds want to know....

Oh, I forgot....

Take a peak at some of the quilting doodles I played with while watching one of those baseball games. I did do something :-). Remember they say, practice, practice, practice...


















Actually, I think I may take some of the new water color pencils I brought at retreat last month and color some of it in. It might make a nice piece to donate to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. Who knows.... we'll see....

I am still here...

I have been so busy lately, that I haven't had much time to blog. Between, work, the American Leaque Championship and the World Series, baseball and my YANKEES!! have kept me busy. That's right 27 World Series... WooHoo!!!

But I need to focus... After my Celestial Enlightenment piece, my dear daughter has asked for a Thread Play Triptych for her Miami apartment to hang over her 80" sofa. While I had creative block for awhile and then went into a real funk after traveling for almost 3 solid weeks, I finally got going.

Miami is so different than NY where we live or Phili where she went to school and it has definitely influenced her, because she sent me paint colors to match that I would never have expected my brown/blue/black loving daughter to pick.... Mexican Chili, Mint Majestry, Honeydew and Botanical Tint. This is a glimpse of the project as it has progressed...

It took almost a full weekend to create the wavy background. All curves were cut freehand using a rotary cutter. The trick was to keep them all on a 45 degree angle. I then used a zigzag stitch to sew it together. Once the top was complete the fun began.

Here I am transferring the ribbon design from freezer paper to the top using water soluble thread. It was a bit of a job, as the top is quite big for a wall hanging :-).


Here is a shot of the top with most of the paper removed. All except inside the ribbon....

Here I have completed the thread play on the ribbon and am adding the highlight in a darker color thread.
This is where I am as of today. The top is a bit wrinkled... all the stuffing and heaving under the arm of the machine. I still have two different colors to do the highlighting on. Each of the 30 ribbon sections take about 40 minutes of thread play to complete, so it is indeed very time consuming, but I think I am enjoying how it is coming out. Oh, did I say that all of the fabric came from my stash... maybe my love of brights is rubbing off on my daughter :-).


The next stage will be to decide what type of embellishment to do in the center of the piece. Remember the top will be cut into 3 after the quilting is done, so placement is critical. Hmphh???