Living This Creative Life

I have two favorite quotes. The first one is by Emile Zola, "If you asked me what I came into this world to do, I would tell you that I came to live out loud". I don't know who the second one is by, but it goes like this, "If you're not living on the edge then you might as well jump". Both of these sentiments sum up my personal philosophy of this experience we call life on earth. Enjoy!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Block #81 In the Machine Quilting Challenge


Good Morning All,

There is a fine layer of snow on the ground here in my central Denver neighborhood and the promise of more to come today. It's a perfect time to get some work done in my studio.

Here is another new design. I call it Swirly Suns. It is unusual for me, in that, the designs are not linked and no stitching is done in the negative space. So, there is a lot of knotting off. When doing a design like this where each motif is separate, "traveling" is required. To travel, end a design by knotting off but don't clip the threads, rather, lift up the needle and presser foot and move the quilt to where you want to begin the next motif. Put down the foot and needle then stitch out the motif and knot off. Next, lift up the needle and presser foot and move the quilt to where you want to stitch the next motif and stitch, knot off and travel.

The sun is a relatively easy design. Mine are about the size of a silver dollar. Begin with a swirl, starting in the center and swirl out. Once the swirl is the size you want it (mine are about the size of a quarter), close the swirl and begin making the suns rays which are just small triangles stitched around the perimeter of the swirl. Strive to make each sun approximately the same size and leave about the same amount of negative space between them all. Remember to knot off at the beginning and end of each motif. Once all of the designs have been stitched, go in and clip all of the threads in between them.

Hope you enjoy this design,

Till next time,

Heather

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