Joanne's Fabric Art: Square Spiral

Details:

Dimensions: 43" x 43"
Design, Assembly and Hand Quilting/Embroidery: Joanne Grimes
Design Software: Electric Quilt 7
Fabrics: Varieties from local thrift stores see Fabric Reveal
Quilting/Embroidering Threads: 3 Strand Embroidery & Punch Embroidery Yarn
Embroidering Stitches: Stem, Quilt Stitch and French Knot see Square Spiral closeup images

I guess I'm in the mood for modern art at the moment. This doesn't happen very often. Uh oh the galleries will be uneven...aaagh! Ok enough drama. On to the next quilt project.

Click on a day to see progress:
Nov 5, 2014 Nov 4, 2014 Nov 3, 2014 Oct 31, 2014 Oct 30, 2014	Oct 29, 2014 Oct 28, 2014 Oct 27, 2014 Oct 26, 2014 Oct 25, 2014	Oct 24, 2014 Oct 23, 2014 Oct 22, 2014 Oct 21, 2014 Oct 20, 2014	Oct 19, 2014 Oct 18, 2014 Oct 17, 2014 Oct 15, 2014 Oct 14, 2014	Oct 13, 2014 Oct 12, 2014 Oct 11, 2014 Oct 10, 2014 Oct 9, 2014

Oct 9

Of course I must contemplate which design to do. As I said before I must be in a modern art mood. I'm going to do another square style design. This one is in a spiral. I designed it on EQ7. I did do a search to see if this design had been done by anyone. I thought for sure it had to have been done before. It is such an easy concept, but I couldn't find any examples. If you find one please let me know.

Just a little closeup of the drawing. The circled numbers and letters are the piece label. Each label is written in the adjacent piece so I know where to connect each piece. This is all straight lines and there are only 34 pieces, I think.

Oct 10

This is the full layout. This is basically a square divided into 8 triangles originating from the center. Then each triangle is divided up into 3 or 4 pieces to complete the design

It didn't take long to sew all the sections. The top is done.

Fabric: cotton mix
Fabric: t-shirt
Fabric: loose weave table cloth
Fabric: cotton mix
Fabric: cotton mix
Thread: 3 strand variegated embroidery floss with rainbow colors
Fabric: cotton mix
Thread: 3 strand Yellow embroidery floss
Fabric: cotton mix meant for light blouse
Thread: purple punch embroidery thread
Fabric: light cotton mix pattern
Thread: 3 strand dark green embroidery floss
Fabric: cotton/spandex/mix from woman's casual blouse
Thread: 3 strand dark purple embroidery floss
Fabric: washable shower curtain
Thread: shiny punch embroidery thread
Fabric: cotton mix
Thread: punch embroidery thread
Fabric: cotton mix
Thread: 3 strand light blue embroidery floss
Fabric: cotton mix
Thread: punch embroidery thread
Fabric: heavy drapery
Thread: 3 strand dark blue embroidery floss
Thread for spiral: shiny punch embroidery thread

Thanks to my Aunt Jan for letting me go through her stash. Most of the floss and fabrics listed here are from her stuff.

The freezer paper template pieces are ironed and traced onto the fabric.

One of the 8 triangles sewn together. There were 4 pieces in this particular section.

So after reading Chris Kirsch's latest blog entry on facing quilts, I decided to forgo the traditional binding and try it albeit with my own twist. I don't cut my pieces with the standard ¹/₄ edge, so I just sewed the the corners at a 45 degree angle to the outside edge.

The result. It's pretty simple I guess.

Here's the front of the quilt, more or less faced, sandwiched and backing pinned. Now for the fabric and thread reveal.

Oct 11

Since I will be hand quilting, I free hand drew some nice flower-ish designs in the plain blocks.

Here's one of the filler designs. These look like open roses with exaggerated leaves and stems.

The hand quilting begins...I may have changed my mind about a thread selection since the Fabric and Thread reveal, but that's how I work. I make things up as I go. I'm comfortable with it. It makes the art that much more fun.

Oct 12

Hand quilting is so much fun. Can I say that with sarcasm? I love the finished look of hand quilting, but I'm not too fond of doing it. It must be done for the good of the art...ha. I did have some good entertainment today so it wasn't quite so tedious. The red spiral keeps going round and round.

Oct 13

Oct 14

Oct 15

Oct 17

Oct 18

Oct 19

Oct 20

Oct 21

Oct 22

Oct 23

Oct 24

Oct 25

Oct 26

So here's closeups of what I've been working on the last couple days. I'm basically embroidering the top. I worked on the blue roses with exaggerated leaves today.

Oct 27

Oct 28

Oct 29

Oct 30

Oct 31

Nov 3

I took a couple days off to enjoy some Halloween fun. I got done quilting the top today. I think the embroidered flowers and leaves look pretty. The back doesn't look half bad either.

Nov 4

I stitched the back down and did some minor fixes. It's in the dryer now after being washed. I fluff dry my show or hanging quilts just in case some of the elements shrink or something. I don't prewash the embroidery threads.

Nov 5

Today was the final day. I managed to get pics before it started raining. Here are a bunch of close ups of the embroidered top quilting.