I have a love/hate relationship with machine quilting. I remember one of my communications professors in grad school telling the class, “There is no joy in writing. There is joy in having written.” That is how I feel about machine quilting.
For nearly a year I have been working on machine quilting a large composition titled “Secret Garden.” I wrote about this same piece in an earlier blog “Getting Unstuck.” At last I am done! This piece took longer than usual for a variety of reasons, one of which was I made many more thread color changes. Every time you start and stop a thread you have four knots to sink in-between the layers of the quilt. Obviously this is more time consuming, but the overall affect I achieved was worth my effort.
Quilting is the last layer of design. It is almost like sculpting into the surface of the flat fabric creating a bas-relief. It makes the surface of the quilt come alive. Look below at my work in progress. You can see the contrast. There is such an opportunity to take your work to an even higher level with thoughtful quilting design.
Detail of “Secret Garden” vine leaves, work in progress March 2021
I will share another secret. I get bored easily. With each figure I try to come up with new quilting designs. In the figure below I tried using a thinner thread (aurifil) to create the little cells in-between the veins on the leaves. As an artist I think it is important to continue exploring new materials in my work.
Detail “Secret Garden” hosta A, work in progress March 2021
Even closer detail “Secret Garden” hosta A, work in progress March 2021
Detail “Secret Garden” hosta B, work in progress March 2021
You can see tails of threads that need to be knotted and sunk.
I am thrilled to have finally finished quilting this major work. I still have more knots to sink, and I need to wash and block it before binding the piece, but in essence it is done. There is JOY in having quilted!
How are you exploring new materials in your work? How much do you invest in your quilting? How does your quilting enhance/support your overall design?