FFAC

We were out and about this morning. It's the quilt show at Ingliston this weekend. I am spending the afternoon in my studio working on the Fast Friday challenge. Details of the challenge went live on Friday and we have until Thursday to post out journal sized quilts to the gallery. "Fall" is the theme. I have been struggling NOT to do leaves but as my friend said why fight it just do it. All the talk of leaves this past few days hasn't helped. It's like saying don't think of a pink elephant - now what are you thinking about? So you know what I mean.

I wanted some dimensional leaves and so I layered up black felt, a hand dyed piece of scrim and a lovely piece of silk organza.

I wanted to do some bobbin work with a lovely sparkly Ricky Timms thread from his Razzle Dazzle range. I thought the purple variegated would look good on the organge. I do have rather a nice dark orange but I wanted more contrast. Since my free motion leaves would be pretty awful first off I decided to use a technique I learned from Libby Lehman when I was in Lake Tahoe. I used a piece of Glad Press'n'Seal on the back of my work. It sticks nicely to the fabric although it doesn't leave any residue. (I can't get Press'n'Seal in the UK so brought a few packs home with me on my last visit to the US).

You can just see the leaves that I drew on the back of the piece. I know that once I have stitched a few I won't need the drawings but at least it gives me an idea of size and how many I can get from the piece of fabrics. I have tried this technique for quilting but you have to be careful not to stitch on the drawn line as it will leave a mark on your work. As long as you stitch either inside or outside the drawn line you will be fine. It's just a guide after all. Saves all that marking.

I then did some bobbin work (thicker thread in the bobbin and worked with the piece upside down). I cut a couple of leaves out to make sure they were what I wanted before I moved on.
Once I was happy with the way it looked I changed threads and free motion embroidered the inside of the leaves. It has given good dimension to the leaves don't you think? Now I just have to cut them out and apply them to the background piece.