Blocking and Finishing Underway

After completing the hand stitching, the next step is to block the quilt.

Blocking consists of pinning quilt to a padded surface with consistent tension across the entire quilt. The pinning removes any torsion that may have been established with the quilting.

I use yellow headed pins to do this and pin it down onto carpet. Once pinned, I thoroughly steam it with a steam iron held just over the surface about 1/2 inch until it is thoroughly moist throughout. Then it will need to dry for 2 days before removing the pins. At this point, the piece will have the low relief sculptural finish that I designed.

The next step is cutting it to size and putting on the bindings.

It gets exciting to be this close to the finish line!

Nancy

Hand Stitching Completed on Commission

Love incorporating details in the leaves. This first photo shows the sky through a hole in the leaf.

I used a variegated thread that had a warm tone to it to outline the area of the leaf eaten out, to move the color of the Kousa berry around the surface of the quilt.



This second photo is of a couple of other leaf holes and show another leaf in the background. A bit of shadow is seen on the leaf below.


I love the little eaten areas on leaves, showing that the leaf has served something well.

This bottom photo is of some subtle stitching to convey the connective lines between the larger leaf veins. On the leaf they are very subtle and can only be seen when holding the leaf up to bright light.

The hand stitches can convey a whole additional level of detail in the work.

Next comes blocking the piece and finishing. It is coming together.


Nancy