Budgies Uncaged, the latest work in my Flying Colours series, has been selected as a finalist in the Australasian Quilt Convention 2013 challenge – FREE that will be on exhibition in Melbourne 18-21 April before going on tour.
Although the conditions of entry did not expressly prohibit works that had previously been exhibited or published, I deliberately refrained from sharing photos along the way apart from this scrap tease on Australia Day:This is because I like keep an element of surprise for an exhibition debut; it makes it more special somehow. Also, I wanted to keep my options open in case the work was not selected as finalist. However, I did keep a record of my time and lots of work-in-progress photos. So today I will review the process of creating this work.
When the organisers of the Australasian Quilt Convention announced that the theme for the 2013 challenge is FREE and all challenge works must be 125x125cm, I was excited. The theme and size was perfectly aligned with the body of work that I am endeavouring to create.
My Flying Colours series is inspired by the colour and movement of Australian parrots. In late 2012, astonishing images of a massive swarm of budgies in Central Australia appeared online. A budgie swarm is evocatively named as a “murmuration” and I knew I wanted my textile work to capture a riot of colour.
I made some rough concept designs using a photo editing program and cropped details of my earlier work Lorikeet Circus:
Next I made some sample blocks and auditioned green and blue central strips to denote the body of the budgie. Although the blue created a higher contrast, I decided to proceed with a variety of greens in keeping with the true colours of the budgies:
I also briefly experimented with a kind of “on point” setting before reverting to a square layout. (I may return to other angles and orientations in future works.)
Once I was happy with the general approach, I created my own “murmuration” of budgie blocks:
One of the challenges of making a work to a prescribed size, in this case 125x125cm (49x49in), is trying to factor in how much the work will contract with quilting. I made my outside blocks (the ones marked with a dot) slightly bigger so that I had some wriggle room.
According to my records, using Harvest time keeping software that comes with a two project/unlimited subtasks “FREE FOREVER Plan”, it took me 40 hours to complete the top layer and another 80-100 hours to quilt and finish the work. This doesn’t include the evening hours in front of TV burying my quilting threads.
I quilted each strip of colour in a matching thread with intense, linear stitching. Up-turn-down, turn-up-turn, down-turn-up, turn down turn – repeat as required.
You do get into a rhythm but, with short strips, and changing out colours, it wasn’t always soothing. There were times that I would have preferred to be at the beach but I did appreciate the wider working space on my new machine.
As I got further along, the work got heavier and heavier. From recollection, it weighed over 1.6kg (3 1/2lb). That’s the size of a small baby!
But I think the final effect is worth it!
Of course, quilting is not the end of the process. I then had to square up the work to the prescribed size. As it turned out, I didn’t need the extra allowance around the outside but it was easy to trim off. I then made a combined velcro-hanging sleeve and a label in accordance with my Printed Quilt Label Tutorial:
So, if you thought my blog was quiet in January, this explains why!
Flying Colours: Budgies Uncaged: In some parts of the world, budgies are caged as family pets. In Central Australia, tens of thousands of budgies fly free in murmurations creating a spectacle as they swoop through the air.
Come along to the Australasian Quilt Convention, 18-21 April 2013 to see the exhibition. If you can’t make it to Melbourne, you can view the other finalists online in the Australasian Quilt Convention 2013 challenge – FREE Gallery.
Sue Dennis says
Great to see the step by step Brenda. Good luck in the comp.
Kathleen Wilson says
Wow! What a beautiful quilt. Congratulations on your acceptance in the show.
Elizabeth Hoadley-Maidment says
This is really beautiful! When I lived in Australia many years ago I was really impressed with the brightly coloured birds as I was from NZ where native birds tend to be much darker in colour. I am particularly fond of galahs (sp?) as a result of this. You have captured the budgies perfectly.
Brenda Gael Smith says
Thanks for stopping by Elizabeth. Australian birds may be more colourful but NZ birds are much more tuneful! I miss the sound of tuis.
Norma Schlager says
Absolutely love it! It was worth every minute of your hard work. Congrats on getting into the show.
Robin says
This is so fresh and beautiful! When you say you matched each strip with a quilting thread color, does that mean you rethreaded your machine for each little segment of color?
Brenda Gael Smith says
To prevent distortion and puckering, I started in the middle and quilted a block or small section at a time. I would stitch all the lime green bits in that area; the swap to chartreuse; other greens, greys, yellow and blue until the section was filled in. Then I would move outwards to another block or section and start all over again. Keep in mind, I had long thread tails for the beginning and end of each strip that needed to be buried later on. It was a LOOOONG process!
Cindy Grisdela says
Congratulations on getting into the show–this piece is just wonderful! Great use of color and texture.
Diane says
Brenda, this is stunning… A wonderful addition to your series!
Sherry Kleinman says
Great post on your creation process….LOVE the piece —what a good addition to your series…you capture the essence of birds so well. BRAVO!
Regina B Dunn says
What a gorgeous quilt. Thank you for taking the time to photo and post the in-process work. Two more things: I love Australia; I spent 6 months there driving around the country in a used Holden (Put 11,000 miles on it) and I met my husband there. While planning the design of my new studio, I came across photos of yours and said “You’ve got to be kidding! This amazing, picture postcard is someone’s studio” Lucky you. 🙂
marsha says
This quilt is stunning and well worth all your efforts.
April Sproule says
Gorgeous work. Congratulations on your acceptance. You deserve a big celebratory hug.
Mary Ritter says
This is beautiful. It is whimsical and the colors are so full of spirit. Did you quilt all the same color pieces at once and then change thread colors, or did it require that you re-thread for each little piece.
Brenda Gael Smith says
I didn’t rethread for every single little strip but there was still lots of rethreading.
To prevent distortion and puckering, I started in the middle and quilted a block or small section at a time. I would stitch all the lime green bits in that area; the swap to chartreuse; other greens, greys, yellow and blue until the section was filled in. Then I would move outwards to another block or section and start all over again. Keep in mind, I had long thread tails for the beginning and end of each strip that needed to be buried later on. It was a LOOOONG process!
Susan S says
Thank you for sharing your work and work process. I love the colors. The view from your studio is fantastic and inspirational. Did you uise the walking foot to guage the distances between the lines of quilting?
Brenda Gael Smith says
I use an open-toed “Accufeed” foot on my machine and line up my stitching with the inside edge of this foot. I really liked the walking foot on my old Bernina that had other markings that I could use with different widths of quilting.
The features of the walking foot are a key factor in determining what sewing machines I use.
Frieda Anderson says
Thank you for sharing your process. It turned out wonderful.
Betty Brewster says
This is truly amazing. I love it and I am sure so will the folks at the event.
Pat says
Just stunning work. Congratulations on your acceptance as a finalist.
Beth Miller says
Congratulations on your acceptance. Your quilt is stunning. I enjoyed reading the progression of your quilt from the inspiration to the finished piece.