Approaching Mott Bridge

 This is a photograph of my Bridges Exhibit entry, "Approaching Mott Bridge", at the IQF Long Beach Show. We were not allowed to publish photos of these before the show. But, since it has now been weeks since the show is over, I think I am safe!

The theme of the exhibits was Bridges, so I created a fiber art piece based on my experiences on the North Umpqua River in Oregon. This river has a famous bridge - Mott Bridge, and is known for legendary steelhead fishing. I have included a steelhead jumping a waterfall and a depiction of Mott Bridge in the background.

This quilt is now traveling with the Bridges Exhibit. I believe it will be at the Pennsylvania National Quilt Show in September.

Batik Vase Embellishing

I added some beads and buttons to this piece and I think that helps it quite a bit. I am going to call it done as far as embellishing is concerned.

Here it is done, except for the facing I will put on it. Next it goes to the inspector...

...and here is the inspector, asleep on the job again! What are you going to do!

Batik Vases - some progress

This is one of the Batik vases pieces I am working on. I added some Angelina fibers to the base of the flowers and it is staring to look better. Next I am going to sew some beads on.

This is a close up showing the machine quilting pattern I used on the other Batik Vase piece. I tried to emphasize the batik pattern in the fabric, and just kind of traveled around the background. The white flowers on the vase are parts of some lace that I had. I love to use lace on my fiber art pieces!

Thread Lock

Starts and stops for machine quilting can be problematic. If you stitch too many times back and forth is it too obvious. If you stitch too many times in one place it makes a "tag" on the back. If you do too little, your stitching can come out.

This is what I have found works for me:

I go back and forth with a short stitch once or twice. Then, on the back I put just a touch of thread knot glue at the start or stop. I use a small, inexpensive paint brush to dap the knot glue on the threads. I have found this to work very well.

The thread knot glue I use is made by Dritz and it is called "Thread End Glue". I purchased it at Joanne's. I do not wash my fiber art pieces, so I can't tell you how the glue holds up if you put it in the washer.  If you have trouble with starts and stops, you might give this a try.