Nellie"s Needles

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Quilting the Lake

Determining a quilt pattern for the lake was the most difficult for me. I didn't wish to lose the wind wave patterns created by the crayon rubbing, but I could see no way to accent them. So, I just did ripple patterns. Now that it's finished, I see that the quilting does not obscure those crayoned patterns.
I began at the far shoreline with a small scale free-motion ripple pattern using a dark variegated blue King Tut thread. The water's edge is shaded with watercolor pencils (my first experience with them).
Then I switched to a medium value variegated blue K.T. thread and free-motion quilted a larger scale of the same ripple pattern in the foreground.
The middle of the lake reflects the light sky and is stitched with a light value variegated blue K.T. thread with a medium sized ripple pattern.
I don't know how excess top fabric got in the middle of this lake, but it did. Thankfully, it ended up there where wind waves do occur rather than on either bank. Although if I had worked sequentially across the lake from the far bank, I could've tucked the wrinkles behind the rocks. The lake is a bit more "sculptural" than I had intended.

The scrubby trees and flowering weeds came next.
The back sides of the individual pieces were sprayed with a temporary fabric adhesive to hold them in place between and behind rocks. I cut over-sized pieces of aqua tulle netting for each "grouping" and pinned it in place to do the quilting. Free-motion stitching along the stems and branches was done with a beige variegated K.T. I used a variegated K.T. green for the leafy areas. The excess tulle outside the quilted areas was trimmed away.

I wish to thank Anne for suggesting the tulle layer so that a minimum of quilting would suffice. It's amazing how difficult it is to see the tulle layer. The aqua color blends into the color of the lake between the foliage.

Next is the border.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is looking fantastic. I am pleased you admitted the excess fabric on the lake wasnt interntional. I had assumed it was part of the plan to make the lake look ripply , but its nice to know that clever quilters like you can make 'mistakes' and still incorporate them into the piece. Ive been enjoying following your progress on this quilt.

Doreen G said...

Absolutely beautiful Nellie --so much detail.

Deborah M. said...

Nellie, this is just beautiful. I really want to try something like this. I've not been very happy with my free motion quilting, though I expect it would get better with practice. Lovely work!

jenclair said...

Wow! The detail in this is amazing, Nellie. Love the shimmery water and those trees.

Micki said...

This is so wonderful, Nellie. Thanks so much for sharing the quilting process with us.

Lise said...

Beautiful Nellie! I like the way you quilted the lake. Thanks for sharing!

Nadia said...

mi tufferei nei tuoi laghi!

Teodo said...

MERAVIGLIOSO ( amazing) Nellie! the bushes, the stones, the lake, the trees, the mountain all is wonderful.
ciao ciao

Kay said...

This really is lovely. The quilting has added so much, and it's helpful to hear how you did it. Enjoy your vacation.

Anonymous said...

Just found my way here via nichobella--I love this work, especially the mountain pieces.