Curves continued

I have finished quilting my curvy project. I sketched out several quilting ideas on paper before I started, and I am glad I did. I ended up doing something completely different than what I had in my head to start with. I used rayon thread in the top and a variegated cotton thread in the bobbin. This caused lots of tension problems, because the cotton was so heavy and the rayon so slippery. I matched the rayon thread color to the fabric, so there were a lot of thread changes. First I sewed all the raw edges to the background, I use a back and forth stitch pattern, so each edge has three rows of stitching securing it. Then I went back and pebble quilted the fabric circles, and used a matching thread to do the other circles.

The background areas, I wanted to recede, so I did a small stipple in those areas. I was worried that it would hide/blend the hand dyed variations, but the color and texture came out well. Looking at it as a whole, I probably should have done a photo so I could see the value changes better. I put it together very randomly, trying to separate hot and cool colors in a balance. But I did not double check on the values, one end is definitely darker than the other. I'm not sure the photos really did the colors justice, I tried to adjust the color a little bit in Photoshop, I'm not sure it made it any better.

To finish off the quilting I used a walking foot to add a 1/4" echo quilted line on the curvi-licious sections, changing thread colors again with each fabric. Good thing my machine has an easy thread feature. I think it adds definition to the shapes and keeps them from being too puffy.

For the backing fabric I pieced the remainder of the large piece of muslin we drip dyed this summer. That is why I used the variegated thread. If I have enough fabric left, I'll use it for the binding too. It is quiet long, almost 6 feet, I hung it on the curtain rod of the doorway curtain to take the picture. Maybe my sewing room door will be it's permanent home. I'll put a sleeve on it so it can be hung either vertical or horizontal. Now, to come up with a name for it. The shape brings to mind handrail spindles or balustrades. Any ideas?

I'll be linking this to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Friday" click on the badge in the right hand column to see what other talented textile artists have done this week.