365: Day 32 Quest for a Pirate Song

I love Sulky black metallic thread!! Thread painting with this stuff was so much fun that I didn't want to stop. Luckily I have lots left over to play with for another day! Here is a close up of the metallic thread and how I used it underneath the cheesecloth to add a bit of sparkly mystery and drama to the quilt.

Check out my Dead Parrot Pirate now! He is so cool. This picture also shows the button eye I will be using as well as a metal button on the Pirate's skull cap. Can you see the black metallic thread beneath the cheesecloth? The picture doesn't show it as nicely as it looks, but it is there in 3 places surrounding the pearl/orb.

Here is an unobstructed view of the thread painting using the metallic thread. I pulled the cheesecloth back so you could see what I had done.

I decided to print a pirate's code, or song or map on the backside of the art quilt. The cream colored fabric below was too white, so I dyed it with tea bags and now it is ready to print the text on. I might add some inks or try burning the edges for a better effect. Please leave me a comment if you have any suggested pirate songs or codes I should use. 

Oh ya, the black fabric is for the back of the quilt as well as final border to the front. Oooh almost forgot. See that cord on the right side of the head? That was from my daughter's sailor bracelet that finally broke. It looks really good on the quilt...so that is going on there too.

365: Day 30 Dead Pirate Comes to Life

Post for Sunday, February 13th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!)


Watching the Pirate come to life is so much fun. This project has been so enjoyable. Today I spent several hours doing some hand embroidery.

Although I did spend sometime Googling embroidery stitches. I wanted to try something different, however the basic stitches seemed to fit the quilt best. I used the blanket stitch to outline the wing bones, eye and tongue and the outline stitch (stem stitch) for the claw. 

Close up of blanket stitch on wing bones

Embroidery around eye and tongue

Outline stitch for claws and blanket stitch on bone

Outlining the claw with light gold and dark gray makes the pearl (orb) seem like it is glowing. I am really happy with the way this portion turned out. Credit goes to my daughter for suggesting the idea. She is brilliant. 

365: Day 24 Redraw

Time to redraw the Dead Parrot Pirate. There were portions of the parrot that needed refining in addition to deciding it's final size. Including a 2" border the finished size will be approximately 13"x19". 

Part of the process is to trace the image onto tracing paper. Knowing that I wanted to shorten an arm bone and move his hand father from the beak, I traced those parts of the parrot as well as the head onto 3 different pieces of tracing paper. When it came to tracing my subject, I just moved the different pieces of paper around until his parts looked right. This was much easier and far less time consuming than trying to redraw the whole image at once.

Having purchased the main fabric for my Dead Parrot Pirate art quilt, I needed to pick out coordinating fabric from my stash. It's a somewhat muted collection of fabric. I will be making blackened cheese cloth to use for his tattered rags. I think the purple fabric will be combined with the brown to make 2" wide stripes for the backing of the quilt. Not sure what fabrics will be for the borders. Might need to do a little more shopping.

Sparrow was a great help. She sat in the bags of fabric to make sure none had walked away. Good kitty. Do you think I can get her to wash up the fabric for me?

365: Day 17 Dead Parrot Pirate

Yesterday I mentioned a drawing I completed that continued the theme of Dia de los Muertos in animal form. First there was the Dead Vibrant Cat and then the Dead Vibrant Dog. Well here is a look at my sketch for the Dead Parrot Pirate.

I plan to do this as a quilted work ..maybe as a pillow or a wall hanging. I haven't decided yet.This dead critter is definitely larger than the other two. Parrot Pirate needs some adjustments particularly in the way the claw grasps at the pearl. 

Dyed cheese cloth might look really great for the torn fabric that hangs off his bony wing. Being able to see through the torn cloth to the images beneath could be really mysterious.

I am also thinking about using satin floss in whites, grays, peaches and pinks to embroider the pearl and then go over that with some rainbow transparent thread. This is going to be fun and challenging to create. I sense a fabric shopping trip in the near future.