Jacaranda Tree - Take Two

I got another one of those midnight inspirations, but I'm not the type of person to leap up and work on it right then since I have to get up and go to work in the morning. So, the next night I rushed home and stitched this out. It's my shed stitched on white 100% cotton, with Warm and Natural as the stabilizer, stitched in 30 wt sulky midnight rayon (I was out of black, but it's close!). I don't prefer Sulky threads, either, but it's what I had on hand. I went back and added extra shading with a pigma pen.


Over the top of it I placed a layer of 100% polyester organza. I wanted a very subtle sky look, so I covered the organza with Misty Fuse, then sprinkled chopped up tulle in two shades of light blue on top and fused it down (parchment in between the iron and fabric, of course). You can sort of see the effect. I liked it! I could have painted it, but I was in a hurry and didn't want to wait for something to dry. I then I fused down the tree trunk which is backed with Wonder Under (for stability, since it was a complicated piece to cut out).

Then I put down a second layer of the organza, another layer of Misty Fuse, and sprinkled randomly cut bits of a bali fabric that had just the right colors. The final layer is sheer net, so the colors come through a bit.


Have you seen the book Landscape in Contemporary Quilts by Ineke Berlyn? It's fabulous, and gave me the inspiration to try some hand embroidery embellishment. Here I'm using one of Elin Noble's hand-dyed perle cottons.

I plan to add more stitching for the whole piece. I'll keep you posted on my progress!