The Quilt Skipper

quilting makes me skip for joy

Jenny K Lyon

Quilting makes me skip for joy

Detour

I’ve had a bit of a run of things that have taken me away from my quilting-all of them good! But upon my return, I see a sea of work that I do not like:

Back: Wrong color choice on the front side
Back: Wrong color choice on the front side

It’s not that I don’t like the stitching, it’s just that I chose a thread color on the front of this piece that just fades- I need to change the color. And…

Just to give you an idea of the scale...
Just to give you an idea of the scale…

you can see that the stitches are tiny, tiny and it’s going to take a long time to rip out a whole area of this. Ugh.

One of my recent diversions was a delightful class on Wednesday with Susan Else on 3-D Fabric Sculpture! I took the class through my local guild, the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild and the workshop was packed out with 20 eager students.

Class Project-Susan Else Workshop-not quite done
Class Project-Susan Else Workshop-not quite done

Thankfully, she kitted the class so that we didn’t have to gather all the odd materials it takes to make one of these. We had a blast in class and it was very inspiring.

Detail-Class Project-Susan Else Workshop
Detail-Class Project-Susan Else Workshop

You can see that the “tree” I made is pretty whimsical. Susan’s work is both thoughtful and whimsical.

She generously brought a ton of her work to share for the lecture on Tues evening. We were blown away.

Susan Else: "Dreaming of Rivers"
Susan Else: “Dreaming of Rivers”

This is just a small sample of her work-it was so inspiring. I just could not sleep that night! I don’t know what I will do with the knowledge I gained in her class, but I know I want to work in 3-D sometime in the future-after I’ve ripped out a sea of stitching….

Comments

  2. I would never have the patience to unpick all those tiny stitches, Jenny! Remember that time you quilted with washaway bobbin thread by mistake? You know, if you often find yourself regretting the choice of quilting thread once you’ve begun, you could try starting out with the washaway basting thread as you quilt just enough to “preview.” Or you could test your thread on a sample of your fabric and batting. That would be a “do as I say, not as I do” for sure! ;-)

    • Ya know, I just have to see it sometimes before I can decide and this decision wasn’t obvious until I was waaaay down the road-that’s just me!

  3. Wow, I love that 3-d tree! As you know I’ve been working 3-d this year too. I’m curious what she used as the substrate/stiffener?

  4. We used normal fabric and stuffing and used a knitting needle for the trunk. This 3-D is fun!