Designing a Quilting Plan for Impermanence

I have a lot of work planned for this week - namely, sharing with you some new designs I worked on with Patricia Ritter at Urban Elementz - and working on two quilts from my wonderful award winning client Darlene...but that won't start until Tuesday.  :)

   Over what is "my" weekend - Sunday and Monday - I have been working on a design plan for Impermanence.  I agonized about thread for this quilt...I do love piecing and appliqué, but I love the quilting process more.  I decided not to add anymore appliqué to this quilt and instead create visual impact with thread and quilting texture.  I sure hope this turns out well!  

 

   Of course, I don't want to give it all away, but here is a quarter shot of what I think may be the quilting plan.  Ignore the colors - it is just so I can see what I drew.  I did however purchase several cones of metallic thread in royal blue and black from Superior Threads.  I also discovered YLI carries a fine metallic thread - though I had already ordered thread from Superior I went ahead and ordered 2 very small spools of this fine metallic to try out.  What I am excited about the YLI thread for is that because it is fine, I am hoping it will add subtle sparkle without the buildup that metallics can acquire.  

   I am still not sure what will be quilted in what color thread.  I know I want to use small amounts of blue - but it really just depends on how much it shows against the black fabric.  I want to break up all the open negative space with more than just black texture.  There really aren't a lot of examples of quilting with metallic or blue metallic online either in the colors I plan on using so it's very hard to gauge what it will look like ahead of time.  This will be quite an experiment!  

   I ordered two yards of black Hobbs 80/20  which should be enough to double the batting for this.  I wanted to put wool on top but I think I want to keep with the black so that any needle holes don't show white batting through the top.  

   The other idea I'm toying with is adding royal blue piping along the inside of the binding when this is complete.  We will have to see.  This entire project has been good for me - a lesson in holding back.  I think it can be hard to learn when to add more and when to hold back.  I LOVE to play - but sometimes I can just get carried away.  I hope that this turns out as beautiful in reality as it does in my head.  I'm so excited I can barely stand it! 

   Today is a family day - but I'm hoping to pick up new backing fabric and order crystals for this.  I had purchased 5 yards of an aqua blue fabric when I planned on doing black high contrast quilting...but since the quilting plan is now to be more subtle and elegant I think black is the only appropriate color for the backing.  Wish me luck!

Quilting Design with a Tablet and Quilt Progress

My Husband and I recently celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary, and as a gift he bought me a Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet to help me create my quilting plans.  If you are a machine quilter you may have heard of this neat gizmo.  I believe it was originally intended as a graphic design tool, but quilters are incredibly good and finding new and creative ways to do things.I first learned about using one of these tablets from Carla Barrett from Feathered Fibers, but recently the idea has really seemed to catch on.

Using a graphic design tool like the tablet really appealed to me as I do have some experience using Paint Shop Pro and other graphic design software.  Paint Shop Pro is almost like a paint program but with very advanced features - it would allow you to create layers with different elements that can be added or deleted as you go - or merged into one solid graphic.  I used to use this for amateur website design just for fun, but it has been years since I had the program and I had been really looking for something inexpensive that would aid me in my quilting design.  The Bamboo tablet came with a Corel drawing program that works specifically with the tablet - it is wonderful!

The tablet itself is really a drawing space - it comes with a pen that is used with the tablet and you can draw on a blank canvas or directly onto pictures.  This is amazing for someone like me so that I can actually draw a quilting design out onto a photo of your quilt to get an idea of what the quilting will look like.  Before, I was using paint with my computer mouse.  Having the tablet and pen cuts the drawing time down immensely, and also the software that came with it allows me the layers I had wanted so I can add and delete elements as I choose without starting a whole new session.

Loads of fun!  I love this little gadget for thinking up new designs and testing out quilting plans.  I used it recently to work up a plan for my "show" quilt.  Oh I cannot wait to share!!  This is the most intense quilting I will have done to date and I cannot wait to get started.

I have made a significant dent in the applique for my quilt - though the real kicker is the paper piecing that I haven't even touched yet.  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  Still contemplating whether I will hand applique these or machine applique these down.  I like hand applique - but I have a LOT of work left to do.

So that's my show and share for today!  Hope everyone is doing well out there in blogland!  :)