Lavender Tulips ~

I finished another small quilt this past weekend.  Periwinkle blue, lavender, and mauvey pinks, make their presence known on this little quilted collage:

Lots of white was added via screen printing through thermofax screens.  These particular designs were created by Margaret Applin, which I purchased from her Etsy store.  I’ve been a “frequent flyer” as they say!!  I used several different parts of screens in this piece, as well as one of Margaret’s new heart stencils, produced by Stencil Girl Products.

I’m still happily crazy about the effects of combining my FW acrylic inks, as a highlight to using my Inktense blocks, too!  It’s a great time experimenting with the effects, and applying those gorgeous accents to the tulip screenprint.

I achieved the ‘periwinkle’ color tone by adding the blue inktense crayon, to a  hand-dyed piece of fabric I purchased from Chris Daly of “Dye Candy” ~ another favorite Etsy shop I love visiting!  The base fabric is a pink-mauve tone.  By adding a blue color, which was a royal blue color of the inktense block, I made it more periwinkle.  I applied it with a watercolor style brush, directly to the fabric.

The majority of this piece is quilted in white thread, with the exception of the heart.  Love the texture, shine, and serene feel to this piece ~ rather wintery, with a hint of spring.  How true it is!

The ‘flower words’ are also from the first screen I ever purchased from Margaret.  I lost it in my studio for awhile… can you imagine?  But ~ the lost is found!   

For the stitching around the heart, I do what I call “free motion applique” around the outside edges of the heart, using a zig zag stitch, and a variegated, polyester thread.

The word “tulip” I quilted just for kicks and giggles, and to achieve another, different lettering ‘style’ ala carte ~  “McNeil” writing font!

A little splash of orange adds a dash of unexpected bright color in this mostly monochromatic style. 

A fun little ‘faux piping’ technique {for lack of a better description} is achieved by adding fabric to the back, stitching around the perimeter, right sides together.  I slash the back fabric in the center, and turn.  By pressing that back fabric to the outside edges, I can achieve a “piping look.”   On the front side, I edge-stitched in the ditch, just to keep it laying nice. On the front, the faux piping pops out in only a couple places on the sides, as this piece was cut to have curvy side edges.  Because that piping is a turquoise blue color, it contrasts, but also helps to ‘frame’ this piece a bit more, without overpowering it {or so I think}.

What do you think of my ‘monochromatic’ and piping style?

EnJOY~
xo
Leslie