Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Warmth

I just finished a quilt in which I had to do all the flowers in cool colors because the background fabric was red.  I love it and I enjoyed working on it, but I definitely am having fun picking out warm colored fabrics now.


The center orange and yellow print is part of a rose fabric.  It had a shape similar to the piece I had to cut out so I wanted to try it.  It's really high contrast, but the shapes in the fabric add movement which I like.  The inner dark orange petals went nicely and added some more dynamics to the block.  I used a lighter orange thread to blanket-stitch those petals so that they stood out.  Again, I found that the large dot had to be the darkest fabric.

Since I wanted to outline the large dot in red, I also chose an orange for the inner red and orange petals because I have found that I don't like it when two pieces right next to each other are blanket-stitched in the same color thread.  If they're different their is more definition and separation between each piece.

I used the following threads:

  • Outer yellow petals - Madiera Polyneon 40.  This polyester thread has a lot of sheen, but not as much as I expected; almost as much sheen as glide, but not quite.  It's very smooth and silky and was wonderful to work with.
  • Inner red and orange petals - Gutermann Polyester thread.  I use a size 80 Microtex needle and I had a hard time getting this thread through the needle.  If I were to use it again I would definitely use a larger size 90 needle.  I did like that it was a thicker thread with little sheen.  I didn't want the thread on this busy fabric to take away from it so I was looking for something quiet with little sheen.
  • Inner orange frame outline - Isacord machine embroidery thread.  In comparison to the Madeira Polyneon it definitely has less sheen.  This might be useful when trying to add sheen to accent something, but not as much as a focal point.
  • Yellow and orange print - Deco-bob by Wonderfil Threads.  This thread is easy to use and definitely has a nice sheen to it.  I was trying to find a thread that matched the lightest orange in the fabric so that I could accent that color instead of the darker red.
  • Large red dot - Fufu embroidery thread.  I must admit that I love the way this looks.  This thread has a ton of sheen, almost like metallic thread without all the peskiness that metallic requires....but that's another story for later.  I definitely want this thread in more colors! 
  • Small orange dot - Isacord machine embroidery thread.  Again, little sheen, but that's okay because it's not what I wanted to accent in the block.
I must admit that sometimes I end up using a thread simply because it's the only one I have that is the right color.  That's okay too.  What I'm discovering is that different types of thread are adding more dimension to my blocks and I am truly happy with that.


It's also interesting to compare this block to the other one I did in red and yellow.  They have similar colors, but that pink dot definitely makes a statement.  It's also interesting to note where the lights and darks are in each block.  I think I like their placement in the top block better than in the bottom block, but I am unsure why.  Something to think about.



Suzy

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