Daisy Meadow - Thermofax Screens for Fusible Applique

Last month Sue completed a piece for the Backyard Escape exhibit being curated by Sacred Threads.  There will be several groups of traveling exhibits that will be shown at hospitals and quilt shows beginning in May 2020, and then will come together at Sacred Threads in July 2021.  The "backyard escape" theme was to showcase something that brings you peace and tranquility in your backyard, that could do the same for patients and families in a hospital setting.  All the works are to be for sale, so there is also a fund raising aspect for the hospitals involved.

Sue's "Daisy Meadow" combines a background technique by Terry Kramzar which she also used last year in a piece called Balloon Flowers, along with fusible applique created from screen prints. This is the finished quilt, but we also want to share the technique for the Thermofax printed flowers.

But first, the background. The 4" finished background squares are made from an assortment of batiks and are layered with fusible batting, then quilted prior to assembly.

After quilting, they are trimmed and then ready for the center squares which are also from a variety of batiks.  Terry's special ruler makes trimming and placement of the squares easy.

Then the squares were arranged with darker values at the bottom and lighter values at the top.

After the squares were sewn together, it was time to create the flowers and stems.  Sue chose our "lazy daisy" screen in 3 sizes to print with black acrylic paint on yellow fabric.

These need to be backed with a fusible product before cutting out.  Sue used MistyFuse, but you could also use Wonder Under or Steam-a-Seam2 Lite, or another favorite fusible, as long as it is fairly thin.  You don't want to add stiffness or something that might gum up on your needle when stitching. After fusing, cut them out, then you are ready to create your arrangement on the background.

Play with the arrangement until you are satisfied.  Consideration was also given to where the stems would go and what needed to go underneath what.

Here's the arrangement with stems and leaves added.  The stems & leaves were fused and stitched before the flowers were fused in place. To maintain your arrangement, take a picture for reference and you can also lay them out on another surface the same way you want them on the quilt.

The flowers were all edge stitched in black along the printing lines, and then the petals have some accent stitching in yellow.

And finally, a close up detail shot.  We have a number of screens in the shop that work well for this fusible applique technique, including various flowers, leaves, a bird, butterflies. If you have a photo of an item, you can turn it into a screen - all of those items mentioned started out as photos we took. And like the flowers, when they are digital, you can create various sizes.  What photos do you have that would make great appliques?

Balloon Flowers

Last week Sue shared pictures from a Whisper Challenge.  If you followed along on Facebook, Barbara Wise guessed  Sue's quilt to be the Balloon Flowers.  So today we are sharing some process photos.  This is the inspiration photo that Sue used in creating her quilt.

The technique used for the background is one developed by Terry Kramzar.  It has the look of square in a square blocks but without any seams.  The blocks are backed with fusible batting, quilted, then the  small squares are appliqued on.  If you look at her website, you'll see this technique as a background for many of her quilts.

She also has her own ruler to make placement of the square easy.

After completing the background, the stems and leaves for the flowers were added.

The flowers were cut from gradient fabric that came from Colorways by Vicki Welsh. After cutting out the shapes, details were added with Inktense pencils.

The stems and leaves were stitched first, then the flowers were placed and stitched.

Here's what the back looked like after all the stitching before the backing was added.

The final quilting is stitch in the ditch between all the squares.  Below is the finished quilt.

The process made this a fun quilt to make.  Check out Terry's website for examples of how she uses this technique in her work.

Guild Retreat

Three weeks ago Sue spent a long weekend at her local guild retreat.  However with all the activity of April she somehow missed writing about it.  On Friday of the retreat we had a 1 day workshop with Terry Kramzar of Pennsylvania.  She led a workshop called "pieced quilting in layers". 

Sue had seen her work in a Quilt Odyssey show a few years ago and was eager to learn her technique.  Terry was an excellent instructor and really nice.  Her technique involves layering squares of the background fabric with fusible batting and quilting those two layers.

Various piecing techniques can be added next including an appliqued center square, adding triangles, and inserting strips.  Then the squares are joined into rows and then the rows are seamed to create the finished piece.

It's a very simple but effective technique, and low stress sewing.  No matching seams or points.

We had 19 people in the workshop.  Below are some of the projects the group worked on.

This is Sue's 5 x 5 grid of squares sewn together.

In addition to the class, Sue worked on a few other projects.

This fat quarter pop up, with the pieces previously cut out, was a quick starter.

Sue added the flower petals to 4 of these "free wheeling single girl" blocks to make into preemie quilts. 

And she started the quilting on this portrait from the Hollis Chatelain class at the beginning of April. It was a fun and productive weekend!

Fiber Artist Terry Kramzar

Terry Kramzar of Kennett Square, PA, was the featured speaker last night at Sue's Quilters Unlimited guild meeting.  Terry has exhibited widely in shows and her work is in private and corporate collections.  She is inspired by adventure as well as her deep connection to nature.  An avid hiker and traveler, many of her quilts feature wildflowers.  Another source of inspiration is Longwood Gardens which is within walking distance of her home. The quilt below is based on a photo from Longwood.

Sue first saw Terry's work at a Quilt Odyssey show in Hershey, PA.  She remembers being intrigued by her design method that consisted of 4 inch squares, with a smaller inset center square, with elements of the design pieced into the squares as well.  It appears more complex than it actually is.

Above are some small sample quilts.  The tulip quilt uses the square in a square technique with pieced design elements.

This sunflower and ravens quilt also uses the square in square design.  The sunflowers and ravens are appliqued on top of the background.

And here is another in the same vein.

Here is a modern quilt interpretation, still inspired by nature. 

This one (I think) is of a flower called Sweet Water Blood Root.  Though harder to see, it also uses the square in a square technique in the background.

The sunflower and raven quilt above combines traditional piecing and applique.  Sometimes she does needle turned applique and other times it is fusible raw-edge.

Terry has been fortunate to have two Artist in Residence experiences in national parks - one in Everglades National Park in Florida, and the other at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  These experiences allowed her to combine her love of hiking and adventure with her love of creating fiber art.  Terry's work shows a masterful use of color and design, both representational and abstract. Find more information about Terry on her website.