After much thought and debate with myself about how to interpret "Green" I knew I had to go with an environmental / recycling / re-purposing approach. Every part of this small quilt has been recycled / repurposed from things I have in the studio, except for the limey-green mottled fabric on the top that I found at the Boys and Girls Club Thrift Shop here in Gatesville, TX. The fab was in 4 small pieces, so I re-cut and squared them up, then stitched them together at right angles to each other to make the top.
After sandwiching the top fab with batting and backing (recycled from other projects), I cross-hatched the quilt with a very heavy (10 weight) olive green Madeira "Decor" thread.
There's no way to get that heavy thread through the needle, so I "couched" the thread onto the quilt using the Bernina No. 21 Cordonnet (or couching) foot. Madeira monofilament (60 wt.) was in my bobbin, and I used a lime-green Madeira "Neon" thread (40 wt.) in my needle to zig-zag over the heavy-weight Madeira Decor.
On the back of the quilt, I used a piece of fab I'd rust-dyed in Alaska that actually speaks the entire message of this quit: "Don't trash the Earth" "Save Our Planet" "Energy Efficient" "Eco-Friendly"
And last, but not least........ "THINK GREEN !"
Such a soothing green quilt. I love the overall lattice design and SO feel your pain when it comes to hand sewing beads, but worth it when complete!
ReplyDeleteTHINK GREEN was probably the most important direction to go. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteI love to hand sew beads and stitches but for the first time my hand started cramping so I went to a store for a supportive glove. Haven't tried it out. Eager here to continue to applique. I love it every time you say Gatesville since Mother, as a child, had such good times there where her father was a minister....way back!
Kathy, this a a lovely quilt. The recycled fabric is beautiful, and your stitching and beading are exquisite. I can easily see that the beading took many, many hours. When you "click to enlarge," you can appreciate the precision of your machine quilting. And as Linda says, yes, "thinking green" is important for all of us and I'm so delighted to see that direction being taken now by several of our Mavens!
ReplyDeleteSo peaceful, and lovely. Great workmanship. IT was fun to work with what I had, as well on mine. Gets the juices flowing.
ReplyDeleteI'm very impressed at you mavens who took "green" to heart and recycled to create your quilts. I love the lime green and your stitching and beading are spectacular!! I guess I'm weird - I love to bead!
ReplyDeleteThe lattice design adds so much and the beads - unlike Andrea, I love putting beads into my work. The whole piece flows together quite nicely.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy for this "think green" quilt. I can't believe you hand sewed all those tiny green beads! Your perfect stitching and beading just set it off!
ReplyDeleteThe lattice work and beading are just the right effect for the green background. Good job incorporating recycling and repurposing in your quilt.
ReplyDeleteYour lattice work is so impressively precise and the bead work really added so much to the piece. Makes me think about beading my quilts
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Kathy! Hope we Waco area Mavens get to see it in person Monday night at guild.
ReplyDeleteAs you know Kathy, 'thinking green' and beading are two of my favorite reoccurring quilting applications. I'm proud of you for doing both in one quilt. :D Simple yet effective - your green quilt is peaceful and precise in conveying "Think Green".
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