Block Printed & Stitched: Flora Fiesta

 

I am absolutely loving this exciting new direction in my fiber art as it combines my favorite materials and techniques, plus it is so meditative! You can learn more about Peace & Parcheesi and Emerald Gardens in previous blog posts. Read on to learn about my latest piece made as part of this Block Printed & Stitched series of art quilts...

The Evolon was faux dyed along with the two other squares used for the previous pieces. I absolutely love this blue green color, so I was disappointed when there was a slight misalignment during the block printing phase which you can see just above the triangle block facing east.

I wasn't about to let this 1/8" misprint derail this from finishing. In fact, I challenged myself to stitch it differently than the previous designs, despite the similar block prints used. During the free-motion quilting phase, a metallic green thread was used and I purposely left more areas unquilted in order to make room for hand embroidery

Here is nearly every yellow, gold, orange, and red-orange Perle cotton thread I own ready to be auditioned for use with the hand embroidery...

It was at this point that I recognized that my drawer of Perle cotton threads was in need of some serious reorganization, so here is the newly tidied up drawer with space reserved for all the yellow/orange spools.

I am really surprising myself by how much I am enjoying the meditative nature of hand embroidery plus how much I am able to accomplish while multitasking during Zoom presentations, pushing through afternoon lunch comas, and while watching TV in the evenings. Stitch by stitch my block-printed square was transformed with color and whimsical patterns!

As I was challenging myself to stitch this one differently, there were a few motifs I attempted which did not work. Thankfully these were quick discoveries and I was able to easily remove the stitches before I realized I should have taken a photo first. I did revisit a few successful stitches from previous designs including the large stitches around the peace sign and around the mandala borders as they create incredible depth and texture!

Another stitching learning curve occurred along the arch border prints. They initially stumped me as I did not want the stitching to detract from the grid print. I absolutely loved stitching the lazy daisy stitch to create the leaves at the base of each of the printed circles, and that inspired me to carry the floral inspiration out to the borders using more lazy daisy stitch to create small 4-petal flowers. I did a quick sketch on the block printed templates I used to audition different combinations. Just as I started stitching, I got the idea to stitch a couple of colonial knots on either side of the flower, which were almost immediately removed as I preferred the simplicty of the single flower.

The hand embroidery was done over the course of 6 days, so finishing it was certainly a bittersweet moment. This milestone was certainly worth of celebrating the front and back side of my quilt sandwich.

It was then fused with a layer of Pellon 70 Ultrafirm Stabilizer and backing fabric with a minimal amount of stitching through all 4 layers. Despite taking care to avoid stitching over the hand embroidered details, my open toe foot definitely snagged two of the big stitches, but thankfully they were easy enough to smooth back into place...phew! Once the edges were stitched, I was able to carefully trim along the scallops and finish the edges with Tulip puffy paint/dimensional fabric paint in orange for a small pop of color from certain angles.

Here is a photo of the blocks, threads, and paint used to create this piece.

Wowza--I absolutely love the finished piece! My eyes keep moving around to the different block printed and stitched areas. The thread colors sparkle against the teal/black background and thanks to the repeat floral elements (sequins, circle flower heads with stems & leaves, and flowers along the border), I titled this Flora Fiesta. 

"Flora Fiesta" Finishes 12" x 12"

And I'm just getting started as I've got more block printed & stitched designs in mind using these faux-dyed squares of Evolon!