Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Celtic Bubbles as Background


I have been practicing Celtic Bubbles around a flower I quilted several years ago to see if I liked making this design smaller to use as a background, rather than as a design in itself with the lines spaced farther apart in each spiral.  

Here you see how the design nestles around the large simple shapes of the flower, and it wasn't too hard to do.  The ruler gives you a guide as to the size of the quilting, the flower, and the background spacing which is a scant 1/8".  It is time consuming, but then so are tiny bubbles or pebbles, stippling, little bananas, any closely spaced background technique.  

When I taught this design I always suggested beginning with a scant 1/4" spacing, something your brain is so good at estimating from doing piecing, and continue with this spacing until you have mastered the technique.  It is by far the easiest spacing for almost everyone, and the easiest to do on a home machine with limited space.  

When you feel confident, then try some bubbles with decreased spacing, or make them larger, whatever is your inclination.  Keep in mind it is far easier to quilt large circles, with more space between the lines of stitching, on a longarm machine than a home machine.  It is easier for me to go smaller on my home machine than bigger, always.  So keep that in mind.  However, some quilters naturally tend towards larger designs and spacing, some do better small scale.

What I like about doing these spirals is they begin in the center and are so controlled as you quilt.  I never felt like things were getting away from me, but I could go fairly fast too the bigger the spiral became.  Doing the same shape/technique over and over really helps you improve quickly and gain confidence.  It goes faster than you would think and stays interesting for you, never boring.



One reason I find it fun to do is that each spiral shape has to bump into something already quilted and you have to resolve the design so it looks layered, looks as if it is peeking out from behind the flower, feather, another spiral, etc.  It isn't hard to do this, but takes control to slow down as you approach a line of stitching, stitch over it to get to the point where the next round of the spiral should appear.  

This control makes the design look very precise and intricate, gives it the "wow" factor.  If you are sloppy and just mush things in or miss your travel stitching the design becomes just lines and stitches and you lose the clarity of the floating spirals all layered in the background.

For the tutorial on Celtic Bubbles please see this earlier blog post.

Some things I discovered:
  • If there are little nooks and crannies, long skinny spaces, odd spaces where it would be exceedingly difficult to add arcs or continue the spiral design, simply fill these with echo quilting, small bubbles or pebbles, tiny stippling.  As I echo the focal point quilting (here, the flower) I filled in some of these odd areas as I went.  The last echo of the design will be with the color thread used for the Celtic Bubbles so traveling will not show.
  • Begin at the center of each spiral, being careful not to start too far from another bubble or something you'll bump into.  If you do start too far away, the spiral will become very large indeed, and more difficult to do, and will stand out from the others.  However if you want larger and fewer spirals, the farther away you start one from a completed one, the bigger it will become.
  • Speed is important to keep your control.  I begin with a nice even slower speed to establish the circle shape, then speed up the machine to keep up with my hands as they go faster to keep the big smooth circles going well.  If you speed up your hands to make the larger arcs, the stitches will get way too big if you don't speed the machine too.  If stitches start out very small and get very large by the last circle it means your machine was not keeping up with your hands.  Work on it and it will become natural to speed up the machine to keep up with your hand movement so you get smooth spirals from the center all the way out.
  • I seem to do my Celtic Bubbles counterclockwise.  I don't know what that means......!  But, it just feels natural.
  • You can gradate the sizing of these and begin with larger ones, with greater spacing, then slowly decrease their size and the spacing.  This would give you a more artistic effect, perfect for pictorial quilts or art quilts.  Experiment!  Try different thread colors on your fabric to see what looks best before you commit.
I hope you give these a try and learn to love doing them as I do.  I wouldn't fill vast spaces with tiny ones, but these work so well in a small area to set off quilting or applique.  

It's a sunny cold day here in Wisconsin, with more snow from overnight, and Oliver is sleeping on the bed near me with spiked fur on the top of his head from the faucet water running off his head as he drank.  I usually remember to smooth it down, but it has dried into hard spikes, the punk cat look.  He is such a sweetie.

Keep quilting!  A little bit every day is a very good thing.
Diane


11 comments:

Tomomi McElwee said...

Thank you for the great post. I am reading your blog with great interest. and so glad to hear you back again.

Norma said...

Diane, So good to have you back! I will be trying the Celtic Circles very soon. Your tutorials are really easy to follow. I have felt that since I am not a longarm quilter, my quilting wasn't as "good". But you have given me confidence with my domestic machine and I have grown to love it. Thank you so much!

Laura T said...

Thanks for the posting. I always look forward to seeing your posts:-)
LauraT

Gini Ewers said...

Thanks, Diane. I love the look. Do you break the thread and start at the center of each spiral? Do you bury your thread ends? Thanks.
Gini

Diane Gaudynski said...

Gini, yes I do cut the thread very close to the quilt at the center (see my original tutorial) after doing a few rounds, and at the end too, usually after overlapping my stitching for a short distance. I find that doing these individually gives your brain just a tiny amount of time to "refresh" and my consistency and quality is better than if this were a continuous design. It's also easier to establish the shape of a small circle in the center rather than try and quilt from outside in, and easier on your eyes to take that quick break between each spiral. Because I use very fine #100 silk thread, I can take tiny stitches that lock the line of quilting nicely, but if you use heavier threads, then you are better off burying them, which would be a huge job for this non-continuous design. HTH!
Diane

margaret said...

It's wonderful to see you stitching again! Of course, you have taken the circle to a whole new level. The tiny scale is incredible. Thank you for sharing!

QuiltShopGal said...

Oh my, this definitely has a WOW factor. Absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for all the tips and tutorial. I definitely want to give this a try. #CreativeGoodness

Oliver sounds cute with his punk dew.

QuiltShopGal
www.quiltshopgal.com

Anonymous said...

HELLO,just loved this post!I'm just beginning FMQing and your writing gives me much needed confidence that I can do this!
A FAN of yours, ♥ Linda

msstitcher1214@gmail.com

Linda E in NM said...

It's so great to see you are "back in the saddle" again. I'm sure you will quickly regain your skills, and it's good to hear that muscle memory kicks in so readily.

Unknown said...

Love your quilting! What type of batting do you use?

Diane Gaudynski said...

Thanks Cindy! Since 2001 I've used wool batting primarily. I started with Hobbs Heirloom wool, and have also recently used Pellon Legacy wool. It's best if you get it from a bolt, no folds and more even consistency, but the newer Hobbs wool folded in packages is good too. I like it because it has natural loft where it is not quilted, in the designs.

It is very easy to quilt closely and flatten the loft in backgrounds, and it doesn't get as stiff and cumbersome as cotton and blends will when machine quilted.

It's easier to grip and move in a home machine, it hangs straight and flat, and I no longer use trapunto which was killing my hands.

Get a small one to try out and see; it's very very different from every other batt I've used, and I really like it. It's also lighter in weight, so when I shipped quilts frequently or traveled with them for teaching it made a huge improvement over the cotton ones.
HTH! Diane