Send in the Clones

I could use a few extra hands!  I am working like crazy to finish up a few new pieces to hang in my World of Beauty exhibit October 14-18 at Mrs. Pugsley's Emporium.  I have four more teeny, tiny blocks to piece before this miniature can be assembled:

I scrolled back through my blog posts and see I started these in June...when I thought I had all kinds of time to finish.  The blocks are very small (these fan sections are 2" x 3") and pieced in silk.  It isn't patchwork which can be hurried as the silk is very unforgiving.  There is no ripping out as it leaves holes so it's important to work carefully.

Because I've had a successful morning it feels my patience needs to be rewarded. I am off to Mrs. Pugsley's to check out an Oriental collection I've had my eye on. :)

Cecropia 2 (or is that 3?)

Here's part two of the moth story, continued from yesterday.  The Cecropia moth moved from the door frame down onto the deck to continue his rest. Sorry Mr. Moth, that's not a good idea around here!  My hubby looked around to find a higher, less vulnerable-to-cats location when his eye fell on two more of these beautiful moths on the cupola of our baby barn!

He picked up our friend, who gave no objection to his touch. Hubby has a gentle hand and often carries his bees back to safety when they go astray.

When he came down, I scrambled up the ladder to take pictures.  The top two appear to be a male/female pair;  there is significant difference in their antennae which is how one determines moth gender (the larger feathers belong to the male). They didn't object to having their friend join them and the three amigos snoozed the day away in safety.

By nightfall they had gone.

Cecropia

This morning a little before 6, hubby called me to the back door to greet a visitor who had arrived during the night.  We weren't expecting anyone so this was a total surprise.  See who it is?   A Google search identifies him as a Cecropia Moth belonging to the family of giant silk moths.

He's a big fellow!  I got a shot of the lock and door knob for comparison.

Stats list his wing span as 5-6" and that sounds about right.  He was pretty massive when he flipped his wings up.

 His body is very colourful;  the regular pattern of dots on his abdomen is amazing.

 His antennae are feathers!  We think from the size of them he is a male.

It's 9:30 am as I write, and he is still snoozing away on the door frame.  My big concern for his safety is Polly, so she is staying inside while he naps.

If he is a giant silk moth...do you suppose he was attracted by my boxes and boxes of silk stash?  Or maybe it's just that the porch light was on last night, welcoming his presence...

A wee hold up

The quilting has gone ok on the silk antependium - not perfect, but I wasn't shooting for perfect.  The scheme has been revised a bit and I've decided not to add multiple lines of cross hatching in the centre, but rather a single diagonal line.  In reality, there's only  2" of space there so this allows a bit of dimension to the surface.

As much as I was hoping to have this finished up by the end of the week, I have run short of fabric for the binding so will need a trip out of town to find some more white silk. (Imagine: an excuse to buy fabric...and as you will see in the next post, I`ve already added to my stash this week)

DWR Appliqué

Making it up as you go along means you have to be open to "let's try this and see it if works."  So far so good.  Having never made a Double Wedding Ring (DWR) before I was unsure if it would be tricky to line up the rings for easy matching.  I decided that logically the rings would meet at a 45° angle in the corner.

It was a snap to put them together (sometimes that's not a good sign!)  It took three full days to appliqué the rings onto the squares;  working with silk is very slow...and slippery!

After the rings were appliquéd, I held my breath and began to join the blocks into rows.  Thankfully, the rings matched up easily.

These seams will all be pressed open with a damp press cloth and then the rows will be joined together.  It's exciting when it starts to come together!

Linking Rings

In addition to gold, there are three other shades of silk being used to form the design on the pure white background:  champagne, cream and ivory (no hubby, those words don't all mean the same thing *-). The colours are pale at the edge and intensify towards the centre.   It's slow going but the process is enjoyable.

Wedding Antependium Begun

In the past I didn't show pictures of the paraments as they were being sewn, waiting instead until the congregation had seen them.  As this one is for weddings, I don't think that's really a consideration anymore as it won't be presented as a beginning to a new church season.  I hope I am not breaking any rules!

Because the design is based on a traditional double wedding ring block, there were lots of choices to be made about how best to approach the construction.  Generally the blocks are pieced, but appliquéing the rings is also an option and that's the method I chose.  Within that discipline, I also had to consider if I would appliqué individual blocks or simply do the rings on a wholecloth background.  I decided to do individual blocks;  this way will allow me to combine patchwork and appliqué in the construction...and also help define my space for quilting.  I began by applying a featherweight fusible interfacing to the back of the silk habotai. The antependium needs to hang straight on the pulpit so having the piece a bit stiff is an advantage.

These are new silk pins so they are nice and sharp;  notice the pins only go in the seam allowance.  They can leave holes in the delicate silk.

I also bought new scissors and they are awesomely sharp!  They are identical to my old ones, so a special thank you to Lesley who gave me the cute little scissors fob. It makes it easy to see which pair to pick up.

I cut freezer paper templates with the seam allowance removed, ironed them to the back of the interfaced silk and using a glue stick, folded the edges under.  I clipped the concave curve so it will turn smoothly but not the convex one which turns neatly without encouragement.

The rings fit nicely on the 6" blocks.

I printed out another full sized pattern to make it easy to check the placement of the rings as I go.

 The big trick will be hiding the pattern from Polly...

Antependia Interruptus

It's raining outside, the hubby is home, the cats are restless...and I have an antependium to make.  This is a wedding parament and the design will be very traditional.  I've had my sketches drawn since November and bought the silk in January...and that's as far as I got.

I've been dragging my feet on this project for no good reason;  I just can't seem to get started.  To help nudge me along, I printed out my sketch full-sized thinking that might provide impetus.  It took 16 tabloid sheets which I taped together and then laid on the floor to measure.  The few minutes of attention that the paper got didn't sit well with Polly, who immediately claimed the paper as hers.  Squatter's Rights.  She was guarding her new territory fiercely when her tail started giving her grief.  Oh oh.  We knew what was coming, so I went for the camera...

 

(Don't be alarmed by the sirens, hubby is watching TV)

After a full 10 minutes of this, there isn't much left of my pattern.  Sigh...I hope it stops raining soon so the cats can go outside...