More Trillium Patches

I've become enamored! There are two more trillium textile art quilts that I finished and delivered to the Cliff Dwellers Gallery in Gatlinburg this past weekend.

 Trillium Patch #2

 Trillium Patch #3

Both of these began with my dividing one of the pieces of fabric on which I had made rubbings of huge leaves that were collected along the Mississippi River with gold and silver oil paint sticks back in 2008.

Here are both of them with the first layer of bits and pieces of scrap fabrics, thread ravels, roving, and skeleton leaves

... before they were trapped with a layer of yellow tulle netting. I then machine quilted around the outside edges as well as the shapes and lines.

Here you can see I've added leaves, stems, and grasses that were shaped from fabric scraps and disassembled "silk flowers" (collected from thrift shops) to the quilted foundation piece on the right in the picture above.

The next step was to trap those pieces with green tulle by quilting around their shapes. The excess tulle was trimmed away between the leaves so as not to "muddy" the background.

The border fabric is linen that I discharged a number of years ago. Real fern fronds were scattered across it and then a strong bleach solution was spritzed over all. The bleaching action was stopped by immersing the fabric in a bucket of vinegar and water. At that time I discharged all the yardage I had of this linen with various patterns, some of which was used in "Come With Me to Kasbah" and "Fading Memories". I love the copper color of the bleached areas. I had gone back to the store to purchase more, but it was GONE.

The first hanging, "Trillium Patch #1" sold before it was finished to one of my blogging friends. There are two more foundations using another of those pounded big leaf fabrics layered and laid out to make numbers 4 & 5.

Happy May Day!

 "Trillium Patch" 18"x 18"

It's finished except for the hand-stitching of sleeves and pockets for the hanging apparatus. I like the contrast of the dry ashy colors in the border with the warm ones in the coming to life area. The contrast of scale between the border print and the trillium patch, as well as the contrast of the clean edge on the outside versus the fuzzy organic around the focal piece pleases me, too.

Another Quilting Gallery Show & Contest

This weeks theme is wall hangings. My "Bear Lake" is one of 67 entries from 9 countries, 4 provinces, and 22 states.

"Bear Lake" 45"x 34"

Viewers get to vote for 6 favorites this time. I rarely find choosing my favorites easy so it's nice to get so many choices. Go here to vote for the ones you like before Monday at 6pm.

I find it amusing that so very many people have pinned the tutorial I wrote when I made those shrubby trees in the foreground.

In fact, 49 people have visited my blog just today to read that post. Over the years I've used a number of different ways to make trees. The technique I came up for creating these is easy and most effective.

To read the story behind this quilt go here.

Trillium Patch

My little trillium patch is complete ...

The stamen are embroidered. I used several shades of yellow floss in the 6-ply strand to stitch a variation of the bullion knot. I opted for irregularity in those stitches to reflect reality of perspective and nature. Also, the trillium leaves have been highlighted with oil stick pastels as well as shaded around the edges with a dark blue water color pencil.

Now to decide on the finishing. I'm excited by this idea ...

This afternoon I'll be playing with the placement of the trillium piece over the yardage of batik that has the effect of discharged leaves. I'll consider making my own discharged leaf fabric if I change my mind about the scale of this one. Right now my thought is those large "dead" leaves in the border complement the focus piece and add to the story. After all, old dried leaves are what I saw most on my recent woodland hike ...

Trillium

I'm liking this piece a lot!

However there were moments I considered scrapping it ... which means eventually cutting the woodland floor background into pieces for something else. My problem was that every color of tulle I placed over it to hold the sprouting plants in place "killed" the woodland floor hues. The whole piece just "died."

The solution was to choose the tulle color that enhanced the new growth parts ... that one is the bright yellowish green one...

It was pinned to cover the whole top. I stitched/quilted around the greenery then trimmed the tulle away from the woodland floor sections.

Well, most of it. I see that some more needs to be cut away. Do you see how the color is lost in the upper left corner in the above photo? Think I'll be trimming that away. Pieces of white tulle were placed over the blossoms, then the excess trimmed away after free-motion stitching around the petals. That stitching also anchors the calyx pieces which are loose on the surface. Some new growth pieces float on the surface as well.

Now I'm really excited about this piece. Next the yellow stamen will get embroidered and I have an idea about framing to pursue.