Landscapes & Seascapes




The seascape quilt is on the machine :) I didn't get any further than that with the quilt, but I'll try to get some quilting started on it today. My goal is to get it completely quilted and bound by Tuesday next week so I can give it to my sister. We'll just have to see how the work goes and how many interruptions I have.


I've also been working on piecing some landscape/seascape quilts. I have 2 on the design wall right now waiting for more inspiration. I'm not sure if I need to add more applique to them or let them breathe the way they are and add more details with quilting. I'm leaning towards breathing and adding quilted details.

Yesterday morning I added some DSM (domestic sewing machine) embroidery to the first seascape (the one with the purple sky) in the palm tree leaves and really love the effect, but it's so hard for me to do that on my DSM. I guess I'm too used to the free movement I get from my Gammill.
The tree in the quilt with the orange sky is pinned in place waiting to be hand or machine appliqued on. I ran out of fusible web and didn't want to run to the store last night, so I made templates from freezer paper and ironed them to the right side of the fabric, then cut out the tree trunk and leaves. Then I glued under the seam allowance and heat set them with a hot iron, removed the freezer paper and the shapes are ready for applique.
This quilt on the right is made from mostly hand-dyed fabrics except for 2 of the water fabrics, the palm tree fabrics, and the sand fabric. I use 2 different types of dyes for my hand-dyed fabrics: Procion Fiber reactive dyes and Rit dyes. Most quilters don't like Rit dyes, but I like the ease of use they give me since I don't need to add other chemicals to the process. And since I steam the fabrics to cure the dye, they are color fast.
The sky fabrics, the medium blue water fabric, and the light purple hills are made with Rit Dyes. The dark purple hills are made with Procion Fiber Reactive Dyes.
This morning I got busy and cut out 4 more landscape quilts. These are from patterns from Valerie Hearder's book "Points of View". I'll be hand-appliquing them next week. I chose to make these to keep my hands busy while I recovering from surgery. I have to have thyroid surgery next week and am supposed to be resting for a week. Since I don't "rest" well, I have to keep busy with something that will keep me relatively still. Sitting in the recliner and hand appliqueing sounds like a good solution :D Come to think of it, I had better get busy cutting out a couple more patterns if I'm to keep busy for 7 days!
Susan

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