Rain(bow) Drop - Project Quilting

"Rain(bow) Drop," art is 4" x 5" in a 5.5" x 6.5" (exterior measurements) frame, made by Pam Geisel for Project Quilting, Season 9, Challenge 4: Mellow Yellow, Feb. 2018 in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Challenge recap for "Mellow Yellow":

"Yellow is a color that frightens many quilters. It's true, yellow sometimes can overpower a design. But it's also a happy color, so focus on that this week."

Personally I'm not afraid of the color yellow...I live in Yellow Springs after all. But I did learn in my graphic design years that yellow doesn't have a lot of shades to it like the other colors so it doesn't have as much contrast and you can only make it so dark.

For this project I painted some drops of color in a tear drop or egg shape (subconsciously thinking of the drink Mello Yello or it's competitor Mountain "Dew"?) 

I fused this to a yellow background then quilted around the raw edges with white thread then free motion quilted in the white spaces between the colors.

I added 11 seed beads in matching rainbow colors going across the drops. I put it in a small black frame which has an easel back and can go both horizontal or vertical.

One interesting note about quilting with the color yellow: I no longer buy any yellow thread. If I have a yellow fabric and I want to quilt with a similar color on top of it, I use my tan thread which will look yellow enough.

More about Rain(bow) Drop

= = =

Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To read more about Project Quilting, go here.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Mellow Yellow link up.

Shine - Project Quilting

"Shine," art is 4" x 5" in a 5" x 6" (exterior measurements) frame, made by Pam Geisel for Project Quilting, Season 9, Challenge 3: Bold and Brave, Feb. 2018 in Yellow Springs, Ohio

Challenge recap for "Bold and Brave":

Your project should be about bravery: Try a new technique! Honor someone's courage! Conquer your own fears!

Being a graphic designer, when I think of "Bold" I think of typefaces. I did a Google search and there are many inspirational memes encouraging people to "Be Bold." I decided to use the word "Shine" but instead of making in a bold typeface, I chose a script typeface.

To play up the bold theme, I painted some fabric with a boldly colored rainbow splotch then embroidered the word on top of it. I don't do embroidery and my sewing machine doesn't do embroidery so this was the brave part: I did it with the sewing machine by free motion. 

I printed the word out the size I wanted it then traced it in reverse on to the back of the fabric and using my free motion foot, I went over the outline several times with a white thread. When that didn't show up enough I did it, this time from the front, with a varigated shiny blue and green thread. This also didn't show up enough so I did one single layer with navy thread, so you could still see the other colored thread behind it.

I fussy cut the whole thing around the rainbow shape, fused it to a hand-painted navy fabric with stars on it, machine quilted some lines shining from the rainbow cloud, added some subtle shine by hand sewing blue sequins to the background, then I put it into the frame.

More about Shine

= = =

Click on any of the photos to see larger images.

To read more about Project Quilting, go here.

To see other entries for this challenge, visit the Bold & Brave link up.