I sewed a huge crumb patchwork piece. I used all of the combat colored remnants from my previous works. I sewed using a strip piecing method and sewing with leaders and enders as well for minimum wastage of thread and ease of creation. I explain here in great detail how I sew with leaders and enders.
I used many small pieces and kept sewing and sewing.
I ended up with a large pile of elements for my landscape piece. At this stage I would normally iron all the elements flat, but this time chose not to. I want the landscape to have a rugged, rough uneven look.
All the elements are sorted in piles of similar sized pieces and now to design.
The placement of the pieces is not random. I am painting and want the different colors to flow through the piece. I don't want to see one color clustered in a section but to be spread out all over the landscape. It takes a while. I place a few pieces down, step back, look at the piece, take some pieces off, rearrange them until I feel that the look is right. My right, the look that I am striving for.
I then sew all the pieces together.
I had originally thought to create one abstract piece but as usual I got carried away and with the fabric scraps I managed to create 2 large pieces.
I have a large selection of threads. Sometimes I find the exact color that I need, other times I have to be creative. I won't purchase more threads so it is ocassionally a challenge
I was not sure how to quilt them so I created a third smaller piece to experiment with the quilting on that.
I quilt with a straight stitch machine and don't use a walking foot even though I have 2. My creations are usually samples for classes that I teach. I assume that most of my students only have domestic sewing machines and most of them only have a straight stitch. I also don't want my students to have to purchase special supplies or equipment in order to create with my techniques. So I develop my techniques using mostly a domestic straight stitch sewing machine. If someone has an industrial machine that is good but one can create with a domestic.
The first large piece will be an abstract piece and I will quilt the second one and applique a floral arrangement on it. I am going to create using Anemone's - Kalaniot - which are Israel's National Flower and they grow profusely down South in Israel.
I always enjoy finding ways to use up all of the remnants and scrap pieces when working on a project. I don't throw anything away. Here I see beads or parts of a fabric flower.
For those that want to learn how I create my crumb quilted pieces and sort my colors and fabrics there is this: 25 page PDF Download Tutorial
The tutorial can be found here on the site
and here on Etsy
Amazing how neutrals become a story when you use so many of them. Nicely done.