Starting to Quilt the Hummingbird

Friday was the perfect day to start quilting the hummingbird quilt.   I had decided to put an extra layer of batting behind the circle of tumblers.  That donut shaped piece of batting is 100% Wool from Hobbs Batting.  My thought was to make it a raised frame for the image of the humming bird and flower.   But how do you layer something like that???  After thinking a while, I decided to use some MistyFuse fusible web to attached the donut of batting to the top.  That way it wouldn't shift between the top and the rest of the batting.
It worked just great!  I cut small strips of MistyFuse and put a strip at each seam between tumblers.

Then I layered and spray basted the backing to the batting. Finally I laid the top with its trapunto batting attached on top and spray basted that in place.  I did some quilting stitches around the outside of the binding circle and then a line around the outside of the quilt.  That made it quite secure and I can quilt wherever I want -in any order.

I started by putting a ring of pebbles on the binding strip. (I'll show that at the end.)  Then I quilted between each tumbler and around the inside of the circle. 

Now for the fun part!  I did a lot of tight texture stitching  on the hand dyed fabric behind the bird.  I wanted that part to be pushed way back.

I was planning to add a lot of thread painting on the bird and the flower.  But, now, I see how it pops forward against that background and I am changing my plan.  I think I will do  some simple stitching on the fused appliqué for the bird and flower to secure it but try to keep that dimensional effect that I have now. I may do some thread painting on the flower as it needs a bit of definition.  I just don't want to push it back too far.

The outlined tumblers are nicely raised but I may add a bit more quilting on them as I go on.

Oh, yes, here is a photo of some of those pebbles on the binding strip.

Don't you love the hand-dyed fabric the tumblers are made of?  That is some very special "waste" fabric that I got from Vicki Welsh. I love her hand dyes.  The bird and flower are also made of other fabrics that I got from Vicki's shop.

I am excited to get this piece finished and hanging.  I may take down a painting in my bedroom and rotate this into that spot.

Until Next Time,  

Stay Creative 

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