Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Spring CQ...Dame's Rocket...Embellisher Experiment #10

With all the rain we continue to get, there is not much for it but to work on the textile garden inside...the outdoor garden is too muddy... ;-(

My little stem of Dame's Rocket went on quite quickly, and it was fun to do....
Here are the steps I took:

You don't think I have forgotten about my Embellisher, do you?
I decided to try out the water soluble stabilizer that Catherine gave me when she visited last month, so I could create my own "fabric" for the petals. This is silk and soy silk going under the felting needles on top of the stabilizer.

All felted down, this piece is ready for its bath. I hope those little holes go away.

It took about 5 minutes for the stabilizer to dissolve.

Hmm....interesting.
But could I wait for it to dry? Heck no, I ironed it.

This is stiff and flat, not too thick. The holes are mostly gone, and this doesn't have the fuzzy surface that so much embellishment-type work has. I did not want fuzzy; Dame's Rocket petals are smooth.

The edges of the petals are nice and sharp and will not shred when I tack these onto the quilt.

And here we are! Couched stems and burnt-edge leaves will be a recurring theme, no doubt...
I like it when the stems follow the seam lines in crazy patching, as they do here.

There are two varieties of Helianthemum out in the garden, occasionally opening their petals when the rain stops, as here a few days ago....

I plan on doing a stylized version of these next....

9 comments :

Anonymous said...

I really like the way this quilt is developing - i love the idea of making your own petals with the embellisher, tyou are inspiring an embellisher purchase over here

Threadspider said...

What an ingenious method of making the petals-they look fabulous on the quilt.

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness!! Your flowers are lovely!!!!

Stephanie said...

Awesome Allie! I bet that fabric would go through a die cutter easy! How does this compare to making fabric using the fibers and textile medium? Do you leave some of the stabelizer in the fabric or make sure you rinse it all out? Think I need to play with this a bit. Thanks for the inspriation!

CJ STITCHING AND BLOOMS said...

Hello Allie, Great job of creating your own wool fabric. Love the Dame's Rocket. Your CQ is looking super. Judy

Anonymous said...

Allie, you do such beautiful work! Your ability to translate petals to fabric and beads is amazing. Oh...and I got a kick out of your hubby's opinion of what should be at the very centre of the piece! LOL! :-)

Gerry said...

The quilt is coming along so nicely. Great idea with the flowers.

Anonymous said...

O, Allie how wonderfull those petals have become! I'm going to sit behind my embellisher and try this, too, if you don't mind! Thank you for the inspiration!

Judy S. said...

Very nice, Allie. The petals on your quilt look a different color than the cut ones...is that just the photography? What is the Latin name of Dame Rocket? Does it have another common name? How about some lupine? Ours is just starting to blossom....there are so many beautiful flowers now despite the rain!