Banner Quilt

I had a comment from Lori (A Creative Kick) asking about the process I did for my banner picture using the metal. So I thought I'd post the full picture and explain some of what I think I did! Keep in mind I did this back in November of 2007 for a fiber guild challenge! I have to look at this piece to refresh my memory and no guarantees on that even! I don't remember what I had for dinner last night!

The picture above is the piece which measures 14" x 18" and it's attached to a piece of foam board using my version of a gallery wrap! The black you see on the sides is from the background where we took the picture and I'm too lazy to crop for you. You get the idea!

I had both the background and border shibori pieces in my 'stash' and I did reverse applique for the branches. For the metal leaves, I honestly don't remember which weight of metal foil I used. It was either Maid-o-Metal decorator foil (36 or 38 gauge) or the foil you can purchase from Michael's. I have lots of these metal rolls in my workroom so it's just a guess as to what I used. I'm thinking it was the Maid-o-Metal...

I had and still have this cool leaf pattern that I use lots..so I traced each leaf, scored some veins, cut each leaf out and just put some black, green, brown paints on top. Knowing me I would have just grabbed acrylic or even fabric paints..whatever I had on hand at the time. I wiped the paints off before they dried, I do remember that. Then I just stitched each leaf onto my quilted background. Again, whatever old needle I had I would use. I have two Bernina's and they each sew just great through anything! Trust me on this! Usually, I will look for a 80 or 90 old needle and use that on my metal. I only use Sharps when I do any quilting so that would be again what type I used.

You can't see it very well in these pictures but I also made a freezer paper stencil of the leaf and using my Shiva Paint stick in black, colored under some of the leaves to give a shadow. I think on the larger picture you can see some of the shadow on the upper left and right leaves (bottom of each leaf). I like that you can bend the metal leaves which is fun for this piece. It actually hangs in our living room.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it! Speaking of story! Someone asked me about books I read...these are the ones I've just finished:

The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen - pretty good mystery

Look again by Lisa Scottoline - good mystery

Caught by Harlan Coben - good mystery

Still Alice [sound recording] Lisa Genova - I'm still listening to this one..about a woman @ 50 who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - I'm reading this one and it's quite good!

Quite warm here in good old Michigan! Feels like August weather so the air is running lots. We didn't get the bad storms last night some areas did but we could use some rain.