Missouri Spring #2 Finished!!!

I am excited to share with you my finished piece, Missouri Spring #2!  I first shared my process of this piece on this blog post here. 

So I wanted to share a few of the additional things I did to finish the piece and then let you know how you can possibly own it.

First off, I created the Lilac Leaf Small Border Design, You can find the free tutorial using this link. 

Then I used various threads to quilt the background elements.  I have found that if I want to heavily quilt a feature on a quilt, I try to stabilize the surrounding areas with quilting first, especially on small pieces.  Then I can thread sketch/paint the featured item. I chose to outline quilt a few of the lilacs and the leaves.  This would allow the photo transfer to shine through, but not detract from the butterfly.

Once all the background was quilted, the fun began with the butterfly.  I liken this process to coloring in a coloring book, only using thread and a sewing machine! I used a light, medium and dark yellow-orange and thread sketched/painted the body parts.  I would travel to the next segment since I had planned on covering all traveling stitches with the black of the butterfly.

Next I add the orange and dusty blue marks to the butterfly. Then I outlined the wings and body with the black.  Finally, I used a dark brown to create the texture and highlight the thorax of the butterfly.

Now that the quilting was finished, I added a simple label created by diagonally folding a square piece of fabric.  I then baste the raw edges of the triangle to a lower corner of the quilt. These edges are then enclosed in the binding.

This gives me a spot to write the quilt label information and a small pocket to include my postcard or business card.  

Then I create 2 small sleeves and baste them by machine on the top of the piece.  I tack the bottom edges down by hand.  Once the binding is on, I can slip a dowel inside the sleeves and hang the quilt with just one nail in the wall.

This is what it looked like once it was finished.  I did add two rings to the back for those who prefer to hang the piece that way.

The finished piece is 12" x 12".  It is a donation quilt that I made to help support SAQA-Studio Art Quilt Associates. Funds are used to help provide venues to share, educate and display studio art quilts. This piece along with 442 others will be up for an online auction that starts on September 30-October 6, 2019. You can view all the quilts available by using this link.

Look for this banner to find out more about the auction.

This is where you can find my quilt and the others that are available, use the link above to go there.

This is a great way to support an organization that supports studio art quilts and to possibly own work from your favorite artist!  

Just giving you a heads up about the auction and what you might want to bid on!