Free motion Embroidery

The Importance of Backing Up: Looking before You Leap

| ellenanneeddy

There’s nothing like being on a roll with a piece. You’re sewing away. You have one more bit to do, or maybe three or maybe five. It’s a bit questionable but you push through because it’s so good to be done.

By now I should be prescient about that. That’s a ledge with a chasm right by it. And I should know I’m likely to fall. I did that this week.

three fish

I had that green heron quilt ready to go. Got the heron on. Looked at the fish and decided I needed an odd number. Three was a bit empty. So I decided on five.

five fish

Did I look? Actually I did. Did I think? Perhaps that’s the problem. My brain knows that odd numbers work better than even ones. My eye knew the fifth fish just didn’t fit in. I listened to my brain. Not so smart.

Theories don’t always work. If your eye tells you it’s wrong, then it’s wrong. Had I listened I would have saved myself three hours with a mustache trimmer and seam ripper. And a ruined fish.

Design is important. So is color. So is drawing. But in the end, it’s how the piece balances and flows when it’s all done. This is the part you can foul up with everything else right. And the answer is simple. You need to look at it.

Not just put it up and see. Put it where you can really analyze whether it balances and flows and whether there’s stuff.

I’m bad at this. That moment when I get that urge to finish…. it gets me every time I follow it.

So how do we look at a quilt differently?

Old school is to just back away far enough from it to see it. It’s not enough to see it laid on the table. You need to hang it to see it. I used to hang really large pieces off the porch and walked down the alley to really see it.

I’ve also used a a wide angle viewer. These let you view a big quilt in a small space. They are very valuable.

Another old school method is a ruby beholder, or a color evaluator. It’s a red or green piece of plastic where you can see the values in your quilt as opposed to the colors. It’s a huge help.

All of that steps back to a digital camera. And yes, your cell phone will probably do that.

Just get far enough back to photo the whole piece. And then, changed the photo to black and white. You can see the movement, whether something needs to be put over slightly to one side. Whether you’ve just got a hole or it’s too cluttered. Whether something disappears. It will also show you if you’ve got a value problem.

My bird is a bit subtle here. But I don’t think I mind that. He’s hunting after all, so he needs to be.

Leaves in place

It’s always better to do that before you sew things down. You would think I would learn. Experience is the best teacher, and some fools will have no other.

I’ll Be Feathered: Creating Feathers in Thread

| ellenanneeddy
Green heron

Feathers are perfect subjects for thread. Birds too, but there are many kinds of feathers, defined as always by the angle of the zigzag stitch.

I’ve been working on two birds this couple of weeks: a green heron and a goldfinch.

Goldfinch

It starts with a drawing. This is a drawing on Totally Stable. It goes on the back of the sandwich so it’s my pattern.

The head and underbody of the bid are soft overall feathers. These can be made with a back and forth zigzag stitch done side to side. Layer after layer of thread blends the colors.

Underbelly and leg
Head
top section of wings

The upper part of the wing follows the arc of the feather, shaded with the side to side zigzag The feathers are lined with gold and soft yellow to define them.

Pinions

The pinion feather stitching is made with angled stitches down the feather with a curved arc at the end.

The streak

These feathers have a streak of yellow defining the quill.

Quills do

All in all the stitching separates the kinds of feathers. And creates a bird made strictly of thread and stitchery.

The Miracle of Cheesecloth: Not Just for Turkey Anymore

| ellenanneeddy

I love sheers! I love the ability to have my background peak through the sheers to create the connection between background and an object.

But most sheers don’t paint or dye well. They are poly or nylon. They come in bright colors, but they have other problems. You can paint them in pastels. They don’t dye with fiber reactive dyes at all. And if you get your iron temperature wrong, they melt.

But cheesecloth does all that well! It’s all cotton, and woven loosely. And you can iron it on fry and it behaves like cotton.

You know cheesecloth. You just aren’t used to it in the sewing room. It’s an airy woven cotton people used to use to make cheese (hence the name). Or on turkies to keep the breast moist. You may have used it to make Halloween ghosts or Christmas angels.

But dyed, it can be any color in the universe. I include it in a regular dye batch and it dyes like a champ with fiber reactive dyes. And it washes out easily in your regular washer in a nylon lingerie bag.

It makes amazing leaves! The weave in the cheesecloth looks like the cells of the leaves and the stitching defines the color.

My favorite thing to do with cheesecloth is to make mushrooms. Child of the 60s that I am, they are a flora that fascinates me. And they are an excuse for eye popping color.

I do make them in batches. I’ll line up a set of mushrooms on a piece of felt, using Steam a Seam 2, pull out my brightest polyester embroidery thread and stitch up batches of mushrooms at a time, that I’ll use in many different quilts. The bright colors and zigzag stitch pop the the colors to a peak intensity. Now, who doesn’t want that?

What I did differently, is I made some smaller ones for pins and patches for my friend, Sherrill Newman who owns the South Shore Market in Porter, Indiana.

South Shor Market in Porter IN

I almost never make these available to people except as finished quilts. But she talked me into it. I made a small batch for her store. Some of the left overs I’ve put on sale on Etsy. They have pins backs on them, but if you wished to use them as a patch, it would be a matter of a moment to remove that with a seam ripper.

Hand dyed cheesecloth might just be the sheer you’ve been longing for. Bright, cotton, and beautifully texturized, it makes great flowers, leaves and ‘shrooms.

Serieous Work: Dancing Trees: If I Can’t Move That Way, They Can

| ellenanneeddy
Fall Fanfair
Fall Fanfair

My mother gave me dancing trees. We were in a train at Christmas time watching out the window when she told me, “Look Ellen, they’re dancing.”

690Fall Fanfair detail

I’ve never gotten over that. They’re still dancing.

Dancing is its own miracle. Life is a dance, and hopefully, we learn to move in it.

Not all of us do. I was taught not to move. Sitting very quietly was much safer. Instead, I lived in my head and my hands.

But it was in high school that I learned not to dance. It seems people’s mores disappear on the dance floor. It was worse than not being asked. It involved being thrown in to the bleachers. Too humiliating to try again. I’m told I should get over that. I have and I haven’t.

MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

My friends, Donna and Roy Hinman gave me back dancing. They ran a contra dance party once a month. Contra is a gentle Ring around the Rosie game for grownups. It was wonderful to move with everyone and be a part of it. Slowly they coaxed me back into the dance.

A life time of not moving is hard to translate into a life of movement. I was able to dance at my wedding. I move in my water aerobic classes. I’m limited by age, wear and tear. But if I can’t always dance, my trees can.

Owled: More Serieous Work

| ellenanneeddy
Hunter’s Moon 2

I can’t explain my fascination with owls! I only know I want to fly with them. In general, I think it’s the silent, swift explosive movements they make. I only wish I could move that way.

Or it just could be a need to occasionally work with browns. Owls will do that for you.

Or the desire to live in the light of the moon. I don’t do them often, but I love it when I do.

Indigo Blues
Hunters Moon 2
Hunters Moon 3
Owl faces

Or their faces, wise and feral, and all seeing. I would very much like to be an owl.

Sometimes its a wonderful thing when a quilt doesn’t work. I did an attempt of a quilt with 3 owls in it that was awful. I never got the background to work. But the owls… Three owls. Just doing nothing.

Hunters Moon 2 detail

Here is the first owl in Hunters Moon 2

I’m working with the second owl now in Owl at Sunset. It will be in process for a while, but I thought you might like to see some of it’s bits.

Woo knows what will happen with the third one. Aren’t you glad that first quilt didn’t work. I am.

owl with background
split light source to give her more room
thread choices for moths
moth embroidered for lunch
trimmed and ready moths
Angelina Sunset
angelina sunset detail
cut rocks
The owl so far
sun and rocks added

Come back and I’ll show you more as I get there. It can’t get more serieous.

And check out these other Serieous Blogs!

Ladybug Series
Fish in the Stream Series

New Year Directions: Sometimes God Just Kicks Your But. Punchline: I’ve Just Been Given A Studio

| ellenanneeddy

719 Lady Mantis

You haven’t heard much from me as a  quilter lately. I really try to subscribe to a no whine policy online. Everyone has their hard days, their dry times, their desert experiences. I’m not sure it’s better to be public about it.  Misery is not lighter for sharing it. It’s more like  lightly smearing a huge spill with a paper towel so it covers a larger space.Over the last four years, my major occupations have been negotiating two knee surgeries and figuring out dinner for two.

The surgeries are over. My rehab continues, but that’s life long. I would say I was on my knees grateful, but I can’t get on my knees. So I’m standing grateful and that’s a lot.

Collage gone amuck.

I’ve been wondering where my art has gone in that time. We never stop being artists. It’s a birthright in our genome, not a gift. But it is a practiced and oiled skill. I’ve worked on digital collage,  bizarre crochet, tatting and book design. All things that don’t require walking.  But would I go back to quilting? I wasn’t sure. I’ve moved a 2 car 2 level studio into 1 room and found I couldn’t find my own ass, never mind the thread and fabric I bought yesterday.

 

 

So I was blasted out of my chair when Don asked me if I would like a studio? Would I like a studio? Do I need to breathe? Still trying to figure out how to do that after he offered me his old house, a perfect small house, for studio space.

Now if God picks you up and puts you in a new work space, what do you say? What can you say other than to mutter “Thank you” over and over and over until you fall over. And then start to pack. God kicked my but. All of my buts are irrelevant.

The new studio is in Galesburg on Seminary Street. We’re shoveling it out as we speak.

Of course I’m going to need some help. Not just moving but sorting and organizing and packing and unpacking. So for anyone who lives near by, or who fancies a visit and would like to run their hands through a lot of fabric, I NEED SOME HELP! I can’t pay back in money, but I will offer studio privilege and private study for anyone willing to help me. I’ll match you time for time for your assistance. If you can offer a teenager who can lift and carry, I’ll feed them pizza till their eyes bug out and offer you studio privilege and private study, your choice.  I’ll also offer some stash raiding (and I have a wild stash).

I don’t intend to teach in the studio in general. Or set up a store in any way. I will be dyeing fabric and I will sell it, but not in a venued way. What I hope for is a space for my work that I can share with people at will.

Current studio. One room is not enough.

I’m going back down the rabbit hole and stuff things in boxes. If you can come visit, or lend support call me at 219-617-2021.  Or email me at ellenanneeddy@gmail.com. I’ll be somewhere under the table but I can still find the phone.