BEES - LIQUID GOLD

Each year, Lilydale Show has a theme.    Last year it was bees.  So I studied bees, their hives, their lives - they are fascinating little critters - and I set to work to create Liquid Gold.     I wanted metallics, glitter, crystals.   I wanted it to be subtle, but with my penchant for sparkle!   I do love some sparkle.    

Fabric was painted with metallic paints for the honeycomb, assorted tulles, laces and any glittery fabrics I could find were auditioned.    A black background seemed harsh, so a golden lace was overlaid.    Next came the honeycomb.    

 Holographic tulle was chopped and appliqued to represent pollen.    Bees were digitized - some fixed wing, some free standing for a 3d effect.   

 The queen, the largest of them was positioned followed by the drones and the smaller worker bees.

Flower layouts were trialled.

And then it was done!

Sue xxx    

AT THE DROP OFF (4)

I have been using a bit of 'dance' type fabrics in my last few pieces.    They have a nice floaty feel for seaweed and wings and fins.   Most of the leaves  on this quilt were two layers of organza or the like, bonded together with vlisofix .    They work really well.   You can also layer colours to get different shades.      This piece of sea grass was appliqued into position directly, trimmed and finished off on the embroidery machine.   I digitized them so they didn't have a satin stitch edging, just a few rounds of straight and zigzag to hold them in place.     

 I worked from the back to the front.    To give a more 'far away' look, after all the blue distance pieces where in place and some of the fish, I put down a layer of blue tulle.  More fish and weed where added to the middle ground covered by a layer of black tulle.   You need to audition tulle colours.   Surprisingly, blue had a deadening effect, whilst the black made them stand out.   More fish were added to this last layer for the close up fish effect.

A bit of silver thread was couched to create a bit of 'current'.   

Again, for perspective, some of the sea weed was stitched on last - only stitched down the centres - to try and give a look of moving in the currents.   

I did all of the stitching without a backing in place.   I put the back on when I was ready to finish the quilting and the couching of the silver.     

As you can see, I couldnt leave the back alone either.    I had that octopus and I was going to get him in there somewhere!!! 

The fish were printed on to fabric with heat and bond - the heavy duty, no sewing one.  

 They all looked a bit stark so a few layers of paint were thrown about with gay abandon.

The edging is a mix of cotton gauze, tulle, fancy yarn and a heavy silver thread.   It required big needles and pliers and few naughty words to stitch through the lot.   

  I digitized these anemones for a fluffy effect.....they were glued on at the end.   Not a cat in hells chance I was getting a needle through them!!

'The final result won prizes at the Lilydale Show and more recently at the Quilt Showcase in July.   A beautiful Madeira Thread Chest.   

She's now up for sale, so if you are interested email me at suzann@bigpond.com.au.

Sue xxx