Elements of Design - Line

This year the Waverley Art Quilters are continuing the study of the book by Sandra Meech called Connecting Design to Stitch.

This year we are concentrating on the Elements of Design which are the things within the design that help complete it and make it a success. The Elements are the visual tools used to compose a piece of work.

This month was all about Line.

A line can be a path or mark that can direct attention to an important point. A line can also join up to itself to make a shape, which is what we will study next time.

Lines can be straight (static), curved (flow), diagonal (adds energy). A contrast between horizontal and vertical lines can create tension. A horizontal seascape can suggest calm. When you start to look you can see lines everywhere.

I had been admiring the quilts of Carol Ann Waugh lately and decided to use her idea of making a quilt using lines of programmed stitches in my sewing machine.

First I couched some braids and wool and then I added some programmed stitches that are on my Bernina 820 sewing machine.

Here is what the work looked like before I quilted it.

I was going to stick with an underwater theme for my art quilts this year and thought this could represent reeds under water. I don't think it was very successful. It might have been better if I had stuck to one colour.

Quilts always look better when they are quilted and this was the easiest quilting I have ever done. It was just lines of quilting between the lines of stitches.

If you click on the photos they appear larger.

This little quilt didn't take long to make and I learnt a bit more about my sewing machine which is always a bonus.
I never use the programmed stitches on my machine and thought I didn't have many anyway. It turns out that whenever I pressed one of the stitch buttons another screen opened with a page of more stitches. It turns out that my machine has many fancy stitches. I also learnt about the pattern end and button begin button and learnt how to make a stitch larger and still keep the integrity of the stitch.

I love learning new things about my machine.

Bye for now,
Linda