Look, Ma - No Hands!

Well, I do use my hands to guide the fabric ... and with this set-up I get to use both hands for that job.
Since posting the tutorial for how I machine couch yarns to fabric, I've devised a set-up for the yarn to feed "hands-free".
A container for the yarn is placed out of the way to the rear of my machine. I use the contraption made to feed thread wound on a cone for domestic machines to feed the yarn from the container.

This set-up works only for couching yarn to the surface of fabric. The yarn still needs to be held and guided by hand to successfully couch it for an edge finish.

The quilt in the photos is the one featuring the leaves I pounded in the Smoky Mountains last fall. You'll see more of what is being doing on it pretty soon.

This method was used to couch the yarn to the frame bordering the "Our Biosphere Reserve" featuring the Smoky Mountains.

"Our Biosphere Reserve"

This is the result of my "playing" with all those scraps.

Our Biosphere Reserve - 40"x 31"

The Smoky Mountains National Park is designated as an International Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations in observance of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 2009. This international recognition represents the Smokies' importance to the planet. The purpose of this United Nations' program is to recognize and encourage preservation of the world's great cultural and biological areas.

This art piece features my interpretation of the view from "Morton's Overlook". In the spirit of conserving our biosphere's resources this quilt is made from recycled or repurposed materials. The picture part is composed of fabric scrap bits and pieces from previous projects, both mine and other peoples. The foundation structure features an old blanket as the batting and upholstery fabric leftover from a friends project is the backing.

It took concentrated effort to meet the deadline of presenting it at the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild meeting last night. This was one of twenty-one quilts competing for inclusion in the SMQ Guild's entry for the Ultimate Guild Challenge in the AQS summer show. The theme chosen by our guild for its entry was "Go Green", which was open to interpretation by each participating member. Leah Marcum-Estes, director of the Oak Ridge Art Center, was invited to be the juror to select the eight quilts for this entry. We certainly presented her with a challenge to choose only eight from so many wonderful quilts. I'm pleased my quilt was one of those selected to represent the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild.

The SMQ Guild has won awards in three previous AQS Ultimate Guild Challenges. To see the quilts for the year we won the Grand Champion Award ($5000) go here. To see my quilt contributions for the other two award winning years go here and here.

Busy Quilting and Coloring

For several days I've been machine quilting ...
and coloring in with oil stick pastels to enhance, correct, and highlight various sections of the quilt ...

It Began A Few Days Ago

These four bags full of scraps were dumped on the floor ...
bits and pieces found their way onto this surface ...
and got pinned down ...

Onto the Next Project

This yarn has transformed ...
this subtly striped upholstery fabric ...
to this richly textured fabric for my next project ...