Sticks and Stones

I am trying to get some things caught up in my studio. Last week I wrote about my Ocean Blue piece for the A4 challenge group.  I was late with that piece, but am on time (I think!) with this theme. Sticks and Stones.

Threads everywhere!

I decided to do a piece using the phrase "Smile stone". The full story of the Smile stone is on the A4 blog post, I won't repeat it here. I decided to use trapunto to poof out the letters. After layering with a batting and backing I went around each letter with black thread to highlight the letters.

All tucked in

I am a thread tucker. I feel that it makes a more polished finish to quilting threads.

Stones

I am not very skilled at free motion quilting, but I can do pebbles!  I was pleased to see the letters pop after quilting the background.

Finished!

I did a line of stitching then rough trimmed the piece. I soaked it to remove the wash away thread I had used in the trapunto letters. I laid it out flat to dry and went off on errands. I was pleased to see how the soaking had improved the texture of the piece. At that point I came up with a wonderful idea to "bind" the piece using sticks!

Check out the A4 Challenge blog to read the full story of my smile stone. Also take a look at the wonderful challenge pieces the group has posted.

This is my off the wall post for this week.