Making progress on the twisted palm landscape quilt to be a wedding gift for a couple getting married in October in Jamaica. The twinned palms are representative of the logo for the resort they are getting married at. It's my first attempt at a landscape quilt.
I used a combination of methods. The "background" consisting of sky, water, two points of land at each end of the bay, and sand were all placed on muslin using Nancy Zieman/Natalie Sewell method of glue sticking the fabric down then using Sulky polyester invisible thread stitching the edges of the fabric to the muslin.
After the background was done and sewn in place, I taped several pieces of regular copy paper together and hand drew the shapes for the twinned palms. I then cut the pieces out (4 in total) and again using a glue stick, placed my fabric pieces onto the paper. I then stitched them again (leaving paper in place) using invisible thread, then removed the paper.
I was lucky enough to have in my stash a fabric that very closlely mimicked the segmented trunk of the palm tree. Matching the curves, I would fussy cut along certain lines to make a smooth transition from straight trunk to curved, and back again.
Looking at it when it was done though, I didn't see enough definition between where the trunks crossed and I needed to show the light (sunny) side and the dark (shady) side of the trunk. I tried several different strips of fabric from my stash and nothing appealed to me.
For the sunny side I painted on (with very thin paint brush) bleach - delicately. Rinsed it well, then patted dry then iron dry. For the dark side I used my Tsukineko black ink and painted on the shady parts. Let that dry then ironed it to 'set' the ink. Of course I tested the method on a scrap first and liked it.
Once it's down, I have a few pieces of "sand" bits that I want to place over the bottom of the trunk so it's not so blunt and pointy.
Now I can start the palm fronds. I have SO many nice fabrics for these - can't wait!!
Here's a few pics of the progress.
Background finished
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Reverse of "paper pieced" palm part
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Twisted palms laid out on background
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Close up of sunny side and dark side (bleach - ink)
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