After all the fusing was complete, next came the detail on the cup and saucer. Instead of adding a tea bag with a string and tag, I opted for just a simple decorative stitch on the saucer and cup, to give it a hint of roundness. After several tries, I was pleased with the lemon slice which I embroidered with lots of yellow thread.
I covered the chocolate chips with dark brown thread and added circles around each chip to make the tasty lumpy look to the surface. About this time, I went out and purchased a bag of chocolate chip cookies and shared them with my husband!
The stems of the daffodils were next, with just a light touch up of green thread.I used monofilament thread to lightly zigzag the the edges of the vase. Last of all, it was time to embroider the flower heads. I saved the best for last. This embroidery was done in no time it all. It took much longer to draw each blossom, choose the fabrics then cut out and fuse all the little parts for each.
A view of the wrong side of the bouquet, will give you a good look at how much stitching was on the flowers. I use The Bottom Line thread in the bobbin, a light weight thread, great for the bobbin, that comes in lots of colors. It is possible to pack lots of yardage in the bobbin.
Last of all came the quilting. This is the part where I feel I'm dancing on the surface. I used lots of little loops and flowers in the background. I have several variegated blue Rainbow threads that were perfect for the upper portion. My favorite variegated thread created lots of leaves, flowers and stars in the red background. The only unquilted part remaining was the cup and saucer. How should I quilt it? The first thing that came to mind was concentric circles around both pieces. Somehow, that didn't feel right. So I doodled with a pencil on paper, and decided to use radiating lines instead. This was the right solution, they look great.
I used a black/blue stripe and a red with yellow stripe fabric for the binding--and I'm done. Hope you'll enjoy it. Can you smell the warm chocolate chip cookies?
You may also go to my website for another look in my Salmagundi Gallery
Ann
