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Tuesday 4 August 2020

Lana Lemur Continued - Almost Half Way

As explained in my last post, I am trying out Claudia Pfeil's method of filling up a background as demonstrated in her DVD 'Claudia's (P)Fillers'. Essentially this is a mix and match approach starting with some bigger circles strewn across the quilt and then freemotion quilting from one to the other using different designs. The idea is to create sufficient contrast between the designs to make the whole thing visually pleasing.

Easier said than done!

I started out with the following designs, combining straight lines with stacking shells and pebbles

Felt that it needed something more and decided to mix in a meandering box design to create contrast to those round organic looking designs. Also wanted to loosen it up a bit as I do not want the whole quilt too tightly quilted.

That looked alright however I was not entirely happy with my boxy meander. I did, for a bit of extra fun, try that box design with a ruler in another section...basically just to see how annoying this would be. Never really considered doing this with a ruler and always thought that this would be incredibly tedious.

Wow, to my surprise that went like a treat. All I had to do was to flick the ruler around my box...I did not meticulously align the ruler, just eyeballed its straightness because I was sure that visually, the eye would view its straightness and assume that the lines were all properly aligned at the correct angle. In addition, I used the Capri stitch regulator for this exercise which made it look even more formal. This was exactly the contrast I was after. It looks straighter, more formal and mixes in well with the surrounding lines.


If you compare the two pictures above you can see the difference (yes, I un-did my organic box meander). While the more organic, freehand method is fine when it stands alone as an overall design, for this exercise I really wanted a sharp, crisp contrast to the curves and circles. Really happy with how this is turning out.

I almost finished all the circles for about half the quilt. Quilting the straight lines in sections 'eats' up a fair amount of space and the filling tends to become more manageable that way. Running out of ideas on what to put in the circles and will have to recycle a few designs.

The Capri 18 is behaving like a dream...no tension issues (I am using Aurifil Mako 50/2 on top and Deco bob in the bobbin) and the stitch regulator is my best friend for all those straight lines.

I am joining Cheeky Cognoscenti for her very first Long Arm Learning Linky Party.Check it out! The linky party will run weekly and is open every Tuesday through to Friday.  
Karin


10 comments:

  1. Your quilting is just gorgeous. I am linking up from Cheeky's new linky. Your quilting also reminds me of Krista Withers who dropped out of the scene a few years ago.

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  2. I've wanted to do something like this, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Your explanation is fabulous, now I feel confident that I can do it. I'm glad you enjoy your Capri. It's a great machine. Love your quilting, too!

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  3. Your quilting is phenomenal!!! You seem to have fully embraced the lessons learned from Cladia. I had an opportunity to take a class with her, but didn't feel my longarming was up to the task. Maybe next time!

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  4. I love everything about this wow!! That boxy meander is fabulous! So much to look at!

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  5. Karin, your quilting is amazing!!! Great plan of attack. Interesting that the boxy meander was easy to adjust to with a ruler.

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  6. This is looking amazing Karin. Love Claudias DVD's.

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  7. That is so cool, Karin! I’ve never been happy with my freehand boxy meander either and had never considered trying it with a ruler. Yours looks FANTASTIC, and it’s encouraging to read that the ruler didn’t slow you down. I like the way you’ve divided up space for this piece, too, with those great big circles and the heavy right angle creating smaller zones for different fills. Thank you SO MUCH for linking up with Long Arm Learning! :-)

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    1. I wanted to chime in on the boxy meander! While not on a LA, I haven't been happy with my attempts either via freehand or with a ruler. With the ruler, I was taking too much time trying to measure perfectly so it became quite tedious. I like the idea of eye-balling it and letting the eye naturally do some correcting. Thank you! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  8. I love all the variety of this......so fantastic!

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  9. Hi Karin! What an intriguing project. Seeing all of that open space causes me palpitations, and to think that is the point! I really love the crisp points you obtained with your rulerwork and it definitely does its job of highlighting the best features of both the circles as well as the straight lines. I look forward to reading more about this in the future (I'm visiting from Rebecca's linky). ~smile~ Roseanne

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