Golden Autumn

I have done a number of quilted marbled pieces over the years...this is a more recent one that was part of the NC Arboretum Exhibit in July. This piece was a sample for the marbling book I wrote eons ago. I never did anything with it although I really liked the sample. I decided to finish it for the show; I used free motion quilting following the lines of the marbling pattern and then mounted it on a pre-stretched canvas.

 This was a more difficult technique as I used a mask  of contact paper in the shape of a leaf and laid it on the white silk before marbling. The marbling being a quick process did not loosen the contact paper shape so when removed I had some white leaves in the center of some pretty marbling. I then painted the leaf using silk paint.

 I wanted the leaves to pop so I put an extra layer of batting behind the leaf. Next came a full layer of batting covered with "soil separator cloth" from Home Depot; this "fabric" found in the plumbing dept. is similar to pattern duplicating material and much lighter than a traditional backing fabric and it would never show.

 I wanted decorative threads for the quilting and decided on 2 different ones - a rayon for the overall quilting and Burmilana to outline the leaves. Burmilana, think it's been shortened to just Lama is a wool acrylic thread that can be used through the top of your machine with a topstitch #16 needle. It has a wonderful presence although it does create a lot of fuzz underneath the throatplate area and should be cleaned often.

 I quilted the leaves first and then went onto the background - a mighty tedious job but the piece was small so it didn't take forever.

And the finished piece - "Golden Autumn".