Making Leaves

I am making leaves for a collaborative project. What fun, each is a unique teeny, tiny, mini art quilt! I'm using a technique that I learned from the super talented Barb Forrister.

First I fused several layers of fabric together with fuseable web.  In the spirit of FIFO (first in, first out), I tried using some unknown ancient fusable in my stash.   What a disaster!  It gummed up several needles (even the needle eye!) before I learned my lesson, threw the unknown stuff away and pulled out the Misty Fuse.

After fusing, I stitched around the leaves and added detail with varigated threads.   Then before cutting out the leaves, I painted around the edges of each leaf with Stewart Gill metallic paints. The paint adds an additional design detail and keeps the edges of the fabric from fraying. Be sure and apply the paint on the front and back sides of the leaves.

After the paint is dry cut the leaves and apply a little paint to the cut edge of each leaf. This project does come with a warning though; everything starts to look like a leaf, even tortilla chips at lunch!

Fabric Leaves and Orbit Gum

I am experimenting with fabric leaves for my Deep Summer Shade quilt.  I was very inspired by Maggi's willow leaves.  I bought a few quarter yards of sheer fabric at the local Hancock's Fabric.  I did not even change thread color I just started sewing.  I zigzaged leaf shapes and then cut them out.  They ripple and curl sightly whcih gives them a nice dimensional quality. I'll probably combine the sheer leaves with ones made from batik. 

I plan to add a black wavy inner border to the quilt, it needs more organic lines. I ordered a bunch of threads from Superior Threads for quilting and cannot wait to see how they work with the other elements. 

Speaking of quilting, I was inspired by the lines in my Orbit gum package!  Although this quilt will have a branch and leaf quilting lines. I will find some other quilt to use a circle pattern similar to the design on the package and gum wrappers.  You never know where you will find inspiration.