I pulled fabrics out of my Island Batik bin that looked at home in a mountain landscape. I started with Hobbs Thermore batting layered over Island Batik solid white for the backing. I laid down a strip of sky, cut gentle improve mountain range curves into one piece at a time, working from light (far away) to dark (closer). I pressed the curves so I would not being sewing raw edges. Here's an in processes shot and you can see I've laid out my best Aurifil thread matches.
And here is the completed mountain scene. Each layer of mountains has been stitched in a corresponding Aurifil thread but there is just that one line of stitching in each section.
I mentioned that got several books of Art Quilts from my local library. The book that I found the most inspiration was Small Art Quilts by Deborah O'Hare. She had quite a few landscape style quilts that helped me get an idea of what I wanted to do.
I noticed that in her landscape quilts, she tends to quilt straight lines across the horizon even if the landscape is not straight. I thought about it a lot, but decided I wanted to follow the curve of each mountain section in the quilting. This was much more work (and created a ton of threads to bury) but I like the results. I also left a few a few mountain ranges unquilted to give some textural variety. For both the sky and the ground, I deliberately quilted straight lines to contrast with the curve of the mountain ranges.
Here's the back at this point so you can see the stitching. I used Aurifil 50 weight color 2000 in the bobbin for the entire project.
Fairly early in this process, I realized I didn't have a good Aurifil thread match for all my mountain sections. I've heard that Aurifil monofilament is the best monofilament out there and this seemed like a good time to see for myself. So I ordered both clear and smoke monofilament. Which technically gives me three weights of thread at this point.
I was always planning to add an element on top, because I got this fantastic variegated 12 weight thread from Aurifil. And it looked like birch trees!
The colors of birch trees! |
I was worried that a binding would detract from the look of the landscape so I decided to do a faced binding. I have not done a faced binding before, but several of my fellow Ambassadors used faced binding in June as part of trying a new technique. Several mentioned using this tutorial by former Island Batik Ambassador Carole Lyles Shaw. Since Carole recommends 2 1/2" strips for the faced binding, I used the 2 1/2" strip die with my Accuquilt cutter--I had all four strips cut in one go!
I took the finished quilt on a recent hiking trip to the mountains. I tried to get the mountains in the background. I do feel like this photo demonstrates how great a match the ground fabric is, as I can barely tell what is background and what is ground in the quilt!
Here's a list of all the Auriful threads used in this project:
50 Weight
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28 weight
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12 weight
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monofilament
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2000
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2568
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4666
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smoke
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2710
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2465
|
|
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1128
|
|
|
|
2780
|
|
|
|
2783
|
|
|
|
While I was intimidated by the Artsy Fartsy theme, I absolutely LOVE the finished project! I do love how these Island Batik challenges push me out of my comfort zone and produce beautiful quilts that I am proud of. This was #3 on my list of Q3 goals for the globally hosted Finish Along.
That is wonderful! I think you made the right choices in your quilting.
ReplyDeleteYour photo taken in front of the mountain shows you nailed this. Fabulous job!
ReplyDeleteOoooh it is so pretty, Great placements of the fabric. What needle did you use for the 12wt?
ReplyDeleteThis is just lovely! You really did well on this challenge. I'm curious like Vicki -- what needle did you use for the 12 wt, and did you have to adjust your tension? How was it sewing with the monafilament too; did you have to adjust tension for that as well?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very cool art quilt! I love the techniques you used.
ReplyDeleteThat is one amazing art piece...love it
ReplyDeleteFor not being artsy, your artsy quilt turned out fabulous, Emily!!! I love the thread you used on the trees.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great quilt and you are so right about the colors outside and the mountains. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely beautiful!
ReplyDeleteEmily, I love this! I need a little more artsy fartsy quilting in my life. This is an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful beyond any words I can find. Smoky grey monofilament works well for me with any batiks that I raw edge applique. This is Artsy Fartsy to the TOP.
ReplyDelete