Showing posts with label Julia Wright. Show all posts

Friday, November 14, 2025

Desert Landscape in progress

Hi and welcome 😊 I hope that you've had a good week. I'm sorry that I'm a day late - I hope you'll link up below! This week I didn't have as much time to stitch as I thought, but I did have a wonderful week thanks to my brother and his family. There will be more about that in a future post. This week I almost have a finish!

A desert landscape

I have been doing more landscape art with coiling. I'm on my third piece and it's still fun. 😀 That's unusual for this gal who gets bored so easily. I think because it's relatively simple, quick and so full of possibilities. I even have my next one planned!

This piece is based on a picture I took in 2016 in one of the National Parks we visited around Nevada. Maybe because hubby and I are from the forests and lakes of the Cambrian Shield, we find deserts fascinating.

Desert Landscape - almost finished

The original photo of a desert landscape

I remember taking this photo because the fine sand at the forefront was actually unusual in the parks we visited. It's amazing how different the landscapes are, even if they are all considered deserts.

This piece is tiny - it's in a 4" embroidery hoop. That was part of the challenge that I gave myself. I wanted to see how different it would be to work on a much smaller scale. After making the drawing of the photo within a circle, I didn't colour it but did mark instructions about the colours that I wanted in each area.

Drawing of the image with colour instructions

Marking the areas directly on the background fabric

Getting lots of stitching done. Sorry about the dark photo.

Here's a final photo of Desert Landscape in progress.

All that's left is the bright blue of the sky

What I learned

Working in a smaller hoop was fun! I used narrower strips of fabric - about 1". As long as all of the strips are roughly the same width, the coils look uniform. Of course, if you want something to stand out, you can used wider fabric which makes a wider coil!
I also used shorter coils, especially for the mountains and the sky around them.
Different coloured coils were used underneath the mountains to ensure a strong contrast between the desert, the trees and the mountains.
I also used two different batik fabrics for the mountains to get different colours in the mountains.
I used a FriXion pen to mark the pattern on the background fabric. You can see on the earlier progress picture that I just cross out the lines that I don't want to use. In theory I could use any pen but I don't want to get into that habit...and then use the wrong pen by mistake!
My next hoop will be 5 or 6 inches. I want to add embroidery on top of some of the coils. We'll see how that goes!😊

Related links

Sunset over water, November 06, 2025
Pink Turtlehead Flowers Finished, October 22, 2025
Julia Wright, website, Instagram, Artist interview in TextileArtist.org

Linking parties

I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. You may want to check some out, after you've linked up below! Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Sew & Tell, Patchwork & Quilts, 15 Minutes to Stitch 2025, Slow Sunday Stitching, Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday,

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 557 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting.

Preeti of Sew Preeti Quilts made a gorgeous quilt, Sulaxi, for the Timeless Traditions Blog Hop.

Sulaxi by Preeti

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts made a lovely Tossed Leaves and Pumpkin runner with 2 placemat panels. She quilted this with a diagonal around the small squares while she FMQ around the pumpkins and leaves.

Tossed Leaves and Pumpkin runner

Kat used a serpentine stitch grid for this string baby quilt that was made from donations from the quilting community. It will also be donated to a good organisation.

Baby quilt made by a community for a good cause.

Deb the Scrappy Quilter made this very lovely water coloured quilt. After struggling, she was able to FMQ a water ripple design on it.

Deb's lovely quilt FMQ with a water ripple design

Gwyned Trefethen finished her thread painting demo, A Dance Among the Flowers. She stippled the background and will be wrapping it around an 8" x 8" canvas.

A Dance Among the Flowers by Gwyned

Brenda of Songbird Designs made Sedona Starburst for the Timeless Traditions blog hop. What a beauty! You'll want to visit her post to see more of her FMQ! Here's the quilt and a peak at the FMQ and ruler work.

Sedona Starburst made by Brenda

Brenda FMQ Sedona Starburst

More FMQ by Brenda on Sedona Starburst

Frédérique of Patchwork & Quilts presented BB quilts that will be donated. These were made by her friend Maribé. Here is one that was quilted with hearts!

BB quilts quilted with a heart design by Maribé

It's now your turn😍

Wednesday, October 22, 2025

Pink Turtlehead Flowers Finished

Allô and welcome😍 I'm so happy to share with you my finished coiled art piece. It was so much fun to make and I'm trying not to make another, simpler one because I have so many other things to do. But you know that "Resistance is futile", right? 😉

Pink Turtlehead Flowers coiled piece finished

I finished the piece shortly after publishing my previous post. Although the coiling and stitching part was finished, I still needed to attach it to the canvas. That's a job that I don't love because it demands more precision than I can usually manage. It came out OK. I stretched it as best as I could and then stappled it down to the canvas. I did learn a lesson which I'll share below.

Pink Turtlehead Flower

Now I need to add the hanging wire to the back - another of my least favourite parts. If I wasn't showing it, I would just leave it as is since I hang these light canvases on a thumb tack or small nail.

The piece will be for sale at the Fall Fibre Fling coming up this weekend. I'm not sure that I want it to sell, so I won't be sad if it doesn't...but if it does, I'll just have to make more 😁

Pink Turtlehead Flower reaching for the sky

Pink Turtlehead Flower among my favourite yard decorations

Pink Turtlehead Flower - photographed outside

Fall Fibre Fling 2025

Piece at Fall Fibre Fling

What I learned

When I was putting the piece onto the canvas, I wish that I had cut the excess fabric a little. That would be best done while the piece is attached to the canvas with thumbtacks. It would probably have been a little more even.
I used the pinking sheers to trim the fabric. As I mentioned, from the back, it's not great but OK. At least it looks good from the front!
It would be nice to make a smaller landscape piece - this is what Julia, our teacher, was demonstrating. I have 5" and 6" embroidery hoops that would be perfect. I eventually plan to make the piece withing the hoop and then leave it there. It's really easy to paint the hoops if necessary - even I can handle that! 😀
This technique is perfect for travelling - all you need is enough strips, lots of thread, a background fabric (possibly in a hoop), scissors and needles. That's about as easy and compact as it gets!
I've also discovered another technique from TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club that I'm making obsessively - weaving on paper. Another easy, small technique with infinite possibilities. If you have Instagram, you can check out my first pieces here.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 554 of Free Motion Mavericks! It was a very productive week! Thanks to everyone who linked up. Here are the projects from last week that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting

Gwyned Trefethen is getting ready for her Open Studio tour. I'm sure that it's going to be wonderful! She has finished FMQ and squaring up her 2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt. What an amazing finish! We're looking forward to seeing closeups once it's bound.

Gwyned's FMQ and squared off
2024 Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts has finished a lovely panel wall hanging Kat FMQ lightly around and in all of the elements and borders without adding a filler in the cream background. We're also looking forward to seeing the complimentary runner!

Kat's Tossed Leaves wall hanging

Vicki of Vicki's Crafts and Quilting has been very productive with her lovely Christmas Cardinals wall hanging. She has also made more holiday runners. You'll want to check out her post.

Vicki's Christmas Cardinals panel wall hanging

Details of the quilting on Vicki's Christmas Cardinals

FMQ Turkey runner done by Vicki

Denise from Quiltery made two gorgeous bags ByAnnie. The large one was both quilted and then machine embroidered. Check out her post for more pictures and info!

Denise's lovely quilted and embroidered bags ByAnnie

Sandra Walker of mmm quilts shared with us her Tropical Twist quilt. It's a gorgeous finish and you'll want to check out her post for more yummy photos and closeups!

Sandra's lovely Tropical Twist

Details of Sandra's FMQ on her Tropical Twist quilt

It's now your turn!😊

Thursday, October 09, 2025

More of the Pink Turtlehead Flowers

Allô and welcome 😊 I hope that you've had a good week. In Ottawa, we had lots of sun, even humidity, but after yesterday's poring rain, fall seems to be here. It looks like the trees changed drastically overnight. 🍁 The cold to freezing night temperatures may have something to do with it. It's all very beautiful.

The pink turtlehead flowers art piece

Last week you saw the beginning of the pink turtlehead flowers art piece. I was able to work on it a little. I like it much better and it's coming along nicely. I'm even looking forward to my next piece using fabric coils. Here's what it looks like now.

Pink turtlehead flowers

Before it got dark outside, I pinned the fabric to the canvas and took some pictures outside. It makes such a difference in the colours. It was also good to see how it's coming along at the edges after being pinned to the canvas. As I had mentioned, I had used a running stitch to very loosely mark the sides. Now I'll be able to use this photo to ensure that the sides are nicely covered.

Here's another photo that I took of the pink turtlehead flowers while on another walk. I guess what I love about this flower is the contrast in the greens of the leaves and flower, and those gorgeous pink petals.

Pink turtlehead flowers

I don't have much more to share, so here is another photo of the art piece.

Pink turtlehead flowers - photo taken in the back yard

Last but not least, Poppy chilling on the couch as I work on the piece.

Poppy chilling

What I learned

Once I unstitched the coils from the top left side, it became obvious that I just needed to add more leaves to the piece.
I've been making the fabric coils as I watch TV - it's the perfect place to do these, now that it's cooler outside. When I stitch the coils onto the background fabric, I listen to a podcast or an audiobook.
I haven't had much time to work on this piece but it will be finished for the Out Of The Box (OOTB) Fibre Artist's Fall Fling sale.

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 552 of Free Motion Mavericks! Thanks for linking up. Since I missed a few weeks, I've decided to feature projects from the last two weeks that included FMQ, ruler work or walking foot quilting. I'll start with the most recent.

Donnalee finished two lovely pumpkin placemats. Aren't they cute? We may be seeing a few more of these soon!

Donnalee's pumpkin placemat

Another of Donnalee's pumpkin placemat

Gwyned Trefethen has been busy learning how to use her new Bernina 990. She used it to embroider 3 practice pieces. She then put those pieces together to make a runner.

Gwyned's runner

Here is one of the practice blocks that she embroidered and then FMQ. She quilted around the leaves and flowers, then micro quilted in tiny loops.

Gwyned FMQ around the leaves and flowers
then micro quilted in tiny loops.

Kat of Scrapbox Quilts finished three lovely Lil bear hug quilts. The quilt tops were donated and she finished and then quilted them.

Quilted by Kat with a diagonal crosshatch

Quilted with a double diagonal crosshatch by Kat

Kat quilted this one with an overall spiral circle

Gail of Quilting Gail made this gorgeous quilt using Island Batik fabric line, Splish Splash. Gail "used Silly Moon’s 4″ Beanie to create the orange peel flowers in the neutral squares. Each short and each long strip was quilted differently" with rulers and FMQ. "There are swirls, loops, circles, feathers, flowers, hearts, squares, ribbons and many many more." You'll want to check out her post for the closeup photos.

Gail's quilt using Splish Splash fabric line

Closeup of the FMQ by Gail - as seen from the back

Melva took one of her first quilts from the cedar chest to place on the guest room bed. It was a cross-stitched wild rose quilt, made with 7 cross-stitched panels. Melva quilted it as a quilt-as-you-go, long before she knew what that was.

Melva's first quilt - a cross-stitched wild rose quilt

A closeup of the cross-stitched panel by Melva

It's now your turn! 😊Sorry for the mix up - I managed to put 12 pm as opening instead of 12 am. It's all fixed. Let's party!🎈🎉🥳

Friday, October 03, 2025

Textured Pink Turtlehead Flowers

Hi and welcome! 😍 I'm so grateful that you kept the linking party going without me. I'm way behind on reading, commenting and replying but I will get there. 😊 Here's what I've been working on since I've been back. I watched the latest TextileArtist.org Stitch Club workshop and quickly got hooked. Our teacher, Julia Wright, makes textured and sculptured landscape fragments with strips of coiled fabric.

Pink Turtlehead Flower

As I walked Poppy this summer, I started taking pictures of interesting flowers in the neighbourhood gardens. The pink turtlehead flower intrigued me and I thought that it would make an interesting art project some day. After watching Julia Wright's workshop, I decided to give this flower a try.

Pink turtlehead flowers

This is the flower part of my piece. You can see the fabric coils that make up the image - it is a bit abstracted but the flowers, pods, leaves and stem are all there. I worked this part in a 12" embroidery hoop until it got too large. I'm working to cover an 8" x 8" canvas.

The flower part of the piece

After that, it becomes more difficult - how to cover the fabric with coils and still make some sense. This is what it looked like when I first started this post. After considering it overnight, I decided to remove the green coils on the side. I think that the flowers are curved and that the almost straight green coils didn't fit in.

The flowers so far - with outline of leaves to be filled in

I've kept the leaves and the flower buds that are underneath. At this time, I'm thinking that more leafy shapes would be best....we'll see!

The latest photo of the piece

You can see around part of the piece the running stitch that outlines how large it needs to be. It's a very rough outline and there will be coils sticking out over the frame.

Making the Fabric Coils

The process of making the art starts with creating coils. I went through my scrappy strips for fabric that could be wound into these coils. Here are a few photos to give you an idea of the process.

I started off with a scrap of fabric (it's actually green). I ripped it up into strips, but only about a half inch from the edge. I did this for the whole piece of fabric. After that, I coiled the fabric with sewing and hand-quilting thread that I probably won't use to quilt with. Using irregular fabric strips creates bumps in the coils that add texture to the piece.

Fabric scrap

Fabric scrap ripped into sections

Rolling up the fabric into coils using thread

Coil of fabric, bound with
thread

What I learned

Julia Wright uses this technique to make abstract landscapes. I'm not sure how my piece will end up - there are a lot more details than there would be in a more linear landscape.
The background fabric, where I removed the coils, is a bit messy, but it'll be covered again with coils, just in different shapes.
At first I found it difficult to use scrappy strips to make the coils - as a quilter I want to sew them together! But I've gotten over it - I still have so many 😉
Making coils to then use in the art is time consuming but it is very meditative and enjoyable. I've been making most of my coils outside in the back yard while keeping an eye on Poppy.

Poppy keeping the yard free of animals!

Free Motion Mavericks

Welcome to week 551 of Free Motion Mavericks! I'm back home but getting over a cold and have no energy. I intended to feature your projects this week but I'm already very late in posting. Things should be back to normal next week.

Since I was late to post, the party will be open until the Wednesday night 😍

It's your turn!