Mariscal Canyon - Part 1

Way back in 1995, I had the pleasure of canoeing the Rio Grande River with a group of friends.  One of the highlights of the trip was camping in Mariscal Canyon.  Although I didn't have a camera, several members of the group did and were kind enough to send copies of their photos to the rest of the group.  One of those photos was this striking shot of Mariscal Canyon.






In 2009, I created a postcard from the photo.  I was really pleased with the colors, but felt the quilting could be improved upon.   I hoped to some day do a larger rendering of the canyon and improve the quilted details.  Someday has at long last arrived.  I decided to make this attempt 8"x9".  



Here's what I have so far.

I originally thought I would bring the mountain at the very back to life by using a vibrant variegated thread, but I think it may take more than just thread to achieve the glowing effect.  I have two choices.  I can either try removing that piece of material (it's only fused to the adjoining pieces along the edges) or I can use my Shiva Oil Sticks to impart the glow that makes that mountain look like it is made of gold.

At this point, the pieces are only fused to each other.  I haven't decided whether to fuse them all to a piece of muslin or to a piece of heavy stabilizer.  In the meantime, I have been trying to come up with a way to quilt the mountains.  I've done dozens of sketches with paper and pencil, and I've quilted them out three times on fabric.

First attempt - I didn't have a clue.

Second attempt - I knew I wanted a layered effect on the furthest mountain and something different for the remaining four mountains and the shadow cast by the tall mountain on the left.

Third attempt - I used variegated thread for the back mountain.  (It's definitely going to take more than some lines of quilting to make that mountain glow.)  For everything else, I used dark green to match the felt I was quilting.

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Some Free Motion Quilting Tips

Practice Using Felt:  The only way to get good is to practice.  I had been making quilt sandwiches to practice on, but it's a rather tedious process and uses up a lot of my Dritz Spray Adhesive.  Then I came across a great suggestion.  Instead of making quilt sandwiches, just use two layers of felt.  I was extremely fortunate that my husband had a roll of felt that he was willing to donate for my FM practice.  But even if I had to buy the felt, I'd come out ahead since the felt requires no basting and no batting.

Thread:  I used up a 1000 yd spool of Coats and Clark quilting thread.  C&C is fine for quilting an actual project, but for practicing, it is just too darn linty.  I ordered a 5000 yd spool of Isacord polyester thread (this is the stuff that Leah Day uses for most of her quilting).  It's working great, so I ordered an Isacord color chart and two smaller spools for my Mariscal Canyon quilt from United Thread.

Bobbin Thread:  Leah Day and many other quilting guru's recommend using bobbin thread.  I had some Sulky polyester bobbin thread so I used that for about three or four bobbins with the Isacord thread.  Then I decided to see if I could use the Isacord thread in the bobbin since I really don't feel like purchasing extra thread to match my top thread unless I absolutely have to.  It seems to work just fine.  I even used it in the bobbin with two other brands of polyester thread.