Monarch Larvae Quilt

     Here is the Monarch Larvae quilt completed today.  The colors of the monarch larvae are quite striking which is what has inspired this small work.  The color of the larvae are more of a chartreuse than a yellow but this is my rendition.  The monarch butterfly is a migratory animal traveling from Florida, Texas and as far south as Mexico from North America.  A trip can be a long as 3,000 miles.  They only eat milkweed and are therefore poisonous to most would be predators even in the larvae stage.  As colorful and beautiful as the larvae are the adult butterfly is spectacular with it's orange and black colors.
    This art quilt was made using foundation piecing method.  The pattern was drawn out on a large piece of paper.  Each piece of fabric was ironed down after being stitched in place.  Three strips were constructed, then the three lengths were stitched together. Originally I had planned to add a little bit of yellow-green with some stitching but have decided to leave it as is for the time being.  Probably the most difficult and frustrating part of this quilt was NOT letting the black show through from the back where the black and white are stitched together.  These are manufactured fabrics and not from my stash of hand dyed fabrics.

Two More Projects Begun

These are the cotton fabrics being used in the Larvae Quilt project.  The palette is limited to these three colors.  More color will be added with stitching once the quilt is pieced.

This past weekend a set of very colorful solid fabrics were gathered for the kayak quilt project.  This one may be a bit smaller than the last one.  The plan is to use fusing materials to construct it, then go over it with stitching.  Using only what I needed, having a plan, and a time line should keep me on track.
Also the larva quilt project is already underway and partly constructed.  Utilizing only three colors of fabric, there are three lengths so far that are an arms length..  The colors are shown above.  It is very simple, using no pattern and alternating colors for the pattern.  A fourth color may be introduced via thread so that it won't look so flat when it is completed.
Both of these projects will have a layer of cotton batting or possibly cotton flannel as the middle portion of the sandwich.  And as usual, I have more to say than to show at this point.  I will post pictures of the fabrics for both projects sometime this week and maybe even some of the drawings that I prepared with.  So check back during the week, maybe even (most likely) into the weekend, for postings here for the images.

"Thus" a music blog

 Take a look at this music blog. While you are there take a listen, some good music there.

http://thusmusic.blogspot.com/2011/03/thus-ii-journey.html

Stitched Striations - A New Name

This was intended to be the back of this piece - however I got a little carried away with stitching that I ended up concentrating on the back which is now the front!

Edge detail

At first I was not going to stitch the green sections - but they need to be brought into the fold so they will now be stitched to give a bit of continuity.

Just a wider view

This is the "new" back!  All of these fabrics are older Hoffman prints from about 10 years ago.  I just cut them up into rectangles and randomly stitched them together into panels separated by black cotton fabric.  So now there is texture rather than stitch detail that is more evident  on this side.  Though I like these fabrics, the opposite side is my favorite.

Here it is all finished, except for the binding which will take no time at all as it will also be stitched.  Formerly named the "Quicky Quilt" now has a new title - Stitched Striations.  I didn't really like the cutesy first name.  So anyhow you can see all the stitching in various colors and threads.  I let the needle lead the way here, so the stitching is intentionally uneven and the stitched design is random.  If you click on the picture you can see more detail.  This started out as a small project to use up some bits of fabric (bottom picture).  All the fabric is manufactured - not dyed by me.

A wee bit late ....

The stitching is done!   Now the binding on the edges is next and possibly a sleeve to hang it with.  The "back" has now become the front.  This piece is heavily hand stitched with an array of meandering colorful lines.  I am going to attempt to take some photos today that accurately show this Quickie Quilt off, wish me luck on that.  My goal of finishing it by the end of Feb was not met but I have finished it none the less in short order - so I won't beat myself up about it as my overall goal is to finish a few projects that have been neglected for a bit of time.  Now on to the next project ... hmm what will that be.  Come back soon to see what I have decided.