Hibiscus Quilted Wall Hanging - Progress

Well, part two of my hibiscus wall hanging project is almost, nearly, not quite totally, but pretty darn close to being ready, and I am pleased with how it looks at this point.

The yellow stickie in the top left corner has a note to remind me to add the stamen and pistil parts. The leaf in the upper right corner is there because I'm still working on the bottom section. You can see what is left of my pattern. As I indicated in a previous post, I do tape each piece back in place because I never know whether I will want to make changes or not.

I have been tweaking this piece for the last few days. I thought that late on Wednesday or Thursday I had it the way I wanted, but the next morning I made changes. I'm most creative late at night when there a fewer distractions. When I was in college many, many, many years ago, I wrote the majority of my essays between 12:00 and 4:00 am. I still like working that way. Emma is asleep, there are no errands to run or things to do, so I like to work then though I usually make myself quit by 2:00am.  When I am in the midst of a project, I tend to get a tiny bit obsessed.

I have not done any stitching yet as I am still making changes. It's currently in my dining room resting on a batting covered piece of fiber board. As I walk through the room, I glance at it and may decide to make a change or two.

It won't reach my sewing machine for another week or so as I like to live with it at this stage for awhile. Once I am satisfied, I will do a skinny zigzag around all of the raw edges of each piece.  Then I'm thinking that I will do some thread painting as I have purchased some luscious variegated threads that should work well on this piece. I'll want to practice thread painting on a smaller piece first.

The yellow and the orange  fabrics on the outer edges were pieces of fabric that I painted. I wrote about that process here. I also used this batik fabric. When I see fabric such as this that I think I might use at some point, I will buy a half yard or more.

This is what it looks like now . . . swiss cheese . . .  but there is still plenty to work with at another time. :-) [I became aware of using fabrics such as this after taking a wonderful class with Esterita Austin ten years ago. She is a terrific teacher and the workshop involved an absolutely incredible week in Tuscany!!!]

Here's hoping that you have a wonderful, colorful, lovely week.

Hibiscus Quilted Wallhanging - Part Two

It was back on April 6th and 7th of this year that I first discussed my plan to create a quilted wall hanging based on a hibiscus photo that I had seen on another blogger's site. She was gracious enough to grant me permission to use her photo. If you click here, you can see all of the preliminary steps in the process.  After that preparation, the project got put on hold until this morning when I began working on it in earnest. 

I thought I would document the process in hopes that you might find it interesting.  Also, who am I kidding . . . I'm hoping it keeps me focused and working on this project. :-) :-)

I added one more step by adding a vinyl overlay. (I purchased the lightweight vinyl in the home decorating section of Joanne's.) It is a duplicate of my original pattern design.
 

 

As you click on any of these images, you will be able to see a larger version.  Each individual section is labeled with the color to be used on that piece and each separate blossom part is numbered.

I use an 18mm rotary cutter and a Fiskus finger rotary cutter which I really like to remove each individual piece. I work on only one piece at a time. My fusible of choice is Misty Fuse as it doesn't change the hand of the fabric. After putting the cut fabric shape in place, I tape the paper pattern section back into the master pattern.

I slip the cut shape in place then roll the vinyl overlay out of the way. I use a small Clover iron to glue the piece in place being careful at this point to only touch the iron to the middle of the piece. Since it is only tacked in one small area, it is easy to remove the piece if I want to make changes, and I have already done that several times so far.

So here is the start. It's difficult to see clearly at this point with the vinyl overlay. Next time I will remember to roll it out of the way before photographing my progress.

Wish me luck . . . :-)