Cynthia St. Charles Store

Friday, February 8, 2008

For the Birds


What a difference the finishing touches make! I am pleased with the final result on this piece - which is actually a trial for a much larger piece.

This piece was under threat of being sent to the scrap bin, but I decided to try and salvage it.

By sewing a single line of stitching around the screen printed birds, the birds kind of puff up and appear to be appliqued. I find I love the effect of the stamping on the background fabric and the way the shadow of that texture is revealed through the screen printed bird images. I really like the juxtaposition of the abstract representation of the branches and twigs via the stamped fabric in the background contrasted with the very realistic silhouettes of the birds - which are in fact, screens made from photos I took of the birds at my birdfeeder.

While I was quilting, I had the idea of adding some beads on the branches to indicate frost or snow. Not sure I will do that now. Beads might seem too glitzy for this very subdued color palate - unless I can track down some tiny clear faceted beads that will reflect light but not add color.

The quilt measures 27 x 40".

6 comments:

Karen said...

Cynthia,
I have really been enjoying the creation of this bird piece, I think you are on to something and I hope you keep going with it

Sue Reno said...

This is wonderful, the composition flows gracefully and the restrained colors work well to highlight the birds. Nice job!

Anonymous said...

looks terrific. This has been very interesting to watch come together, thanks.

QuiltingFitzy said...

This is just stunning. Goodness, it's definately not worthy of the scrap bin, I LOVE IT.

I vote no on the embellishment. It's simple and doesn't need one more thing.

Anonymous said...

This quilt is beautiful Cynthia. If it was mine, I would not put beads on, it is perfect right now!

Thanks for showing us,

Regina, Sint Maarten DWI

Anonymous said...

I saw some opalescent sequins the other day that pick up the colors of fabric. They were at one of the craft stores and at the time I thought they were very snow-like. Might be just the thing for adding a tiny bit of light. Check the sequins at your paper arts places and Michaels.