Flights Of Fancy

I didn't really set out to make this quilt, it just happened.  I have an idea in my mind at the moment, for a quilt that just needs a lot of free time to play around with.  To fill my time until I could start on it, I started playing around with stitching animals, and before you know it, this parrot just, well spoke to me!

I took a picture of a parrot and cropped it, transferred it onto fabric and then using fabric paints, coloured it in.  This wasn't the quickest way to do it, I was just having fun playing around with stuff.

I stitched over the parrot painting, using both variegated and single colour thread.  I layered the single colour threads with other colours to give some depth and variation.

The parrot's beak is made up of three colours.  In some sections it is a layer of black thread, followed by red thread, followed by black thread again.  In other parts of the beak I used grey instead of red.  I have to say, this was a lot of fun to do, especially as I hadn't really got a plan in my head for the finished piece.

 

Although I liked the look of just the head on the backing fabric, I decided to quilt on some flying parrots.  If you look at the main quilt, you will notice stitched parrots in amongst the glitzy ones.  Then I spotted my Angelina fibres, and tried them out on the quilt.  

If you don't know Angelina, it is basically (and very non-technically), fibres that come in many colours.  By gently heating them with an iron (and using a protective teflon sheet), they bond together to form a glitzy fabric.  You can do loads of things with them, they are just a fun thing to play with.  There are two types of Angelina, so if inspired to rush our and buy some, make sure you get Hot Fix Angelina.  

I mixed up various colours of Angelina, which I bonded at the same time to steam-a-seam fusible web. I cut out my parrots and very gently (and using the teflon sheet) pressed them into place.  You have to be very careful with Angelina, as the more heat you use and the longer you heat it for, changes the texture and colour.  You can very rapidly overcook it.

Finally I stitched them into place using metallic thread.  What I love about the Angelina is that the colour of it looks slightly different, depending on where you stand.

 I called the quilt Flights of Fancy as I have yet to see a metallic parrot flying through the air!