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For your first landscape quilti
ng project,
you only have to work with a f
ew fabrics.
Natalie, "October Evening" has
only four fabrics in here.
Right.
And that includes the background.
It's a very simple scene.
Great for beginners because
you learn all the techniques of lan
dscape quilting
without a very complicated scene.
There's no ground cover.
Mm-hmm.
And we found these wonderful trees.
We used a photo for inspiration,
but we left the photo behind very s
oon
because we did find some of these
wonderful leaves,
of course, much closer up
than the photo.
Now, you saw
from the inspirational photo that w
e used
that it had a day, it was taken d
uring the day.
I took the photo, I know,
but Natalie did it beautifully in
an evening scene.
And you can change your scene
just because of the fabrics you
used for the background.
There are so many choices.
There are wonderful batiks that mak
e good backgrounds,
and those are readily available ev
erywhere.
Here, this is a batik.
I'm sorry... got that mixed up.
Yes, and then there are these wond
erful hand dyes
that are now more easy to find.
Mm-hmm.
And more people are dyeing fabric,
and it's a great background.
The dappling of light really does
half the work for you.
Yes, it does, it does.
Now, the trees, we're concentr
ating on a dark
colored tree, and we usually don'
t use one fabric for trees.
Often it's very nice to use, makes
a shading by using
lots of different colors on the tre
e trunk.
These are some choices of tree fab
ric that are wonderful
if you cut them the right way.
Speaking of cutting, we're using
raw edge appliqué,
and Natalie's going to show you
a messy cutting technique.
Yes, never use a rotary cutter
when you're making a landscape quil
t because it's too straight
and everything will look like a tel
ephone pole.
So, what I like to do
is cut with just a scissors
and starting with a sort of fat bot
tom
and working my way up to--
So, I'm not careful because trees
have
a lot of irregularities in them.
They have a lot of character.
Yes, they do.
And this is easy to do and fun.
And you just have to give yourself
permission
that you can cut poorly.
Yes.
Messy cutting is the key to landsca
pe quilting.
Here's a tree that looks like a mes
s
[Nancy laughs]
but when we get it on the scene,
it will look just fine.
A glue stick, paper glue stick
is the key next to pin,
not literally, but baste it dow
n into place.
Right.
And, Natalie, you have your basti
ng station
next to the table,
and you're going to glue the back
.
Right, I'll start with one of these
trees
that I've messy cut,
and I'm going to glue the back.
Now, on a batik like this,
the back and the front are exactly
the same.
So, it doesn't matter which side.
And I have a glue stick right here
.
Glue sticks will not gum up your
needle.
We get asked that question all
the time.
Yes. It dries clear.
Think of it as a stabilizer.
It's just fine.
It's the kind of glue stick
you can buy at a drug store
or an office supply store.
It's just a paper glue stick.
And while Natalie's gluing, I'
m just going to
roughly put up some tree trunks
.
Natalie, I don't know if I'm foll
owing your design.
Oh, it doesn't really matter.
We can convey the idea easily.
And it's nice to put a little wiggl
e in the tree.
Sure. Just a little bit.
A little gnarly. Yeah.
Sometimes, I do admit,
that I pin it up just to make sur
e
I like what I'm doing
or where I have it positioned.
So, I don't have any glue here,
but then go back and do some glui
ng.
Right.
After I get it down.
Now, these trees, as you can see,
have darker areas.
So, we used a darker fabric.
And cut little...
And cut little slivers...
Mm-hmm.
...to shade the tree.
And I'll put these on here.
Okay, you do that.
We're going to do some tag-tea
ming.
As Natalie is doing some positio
ning
to give it shading, to give it
depth,
I'm going to cut
this great leaf fabric that Nat
alie found,
and it's a little bit larger than
maybe
the leaves need to be.
So, you can cut the leaves down,
make them smaller.
This is raw edge.
We're going to eventually,
in the third program in the serie
s,
show how we stitch this down.
Right now, this is the designin
g process.
And we'll stitch them down
but right now we'll just posit
ion them.
And, Natalie, you're getting some
shape there.
It's looking quite interesting.
Oh, good.
And I'm going to cluster some leave
s.
We don't have a branch there y
et,
but we'd add a branch
and cluster some leaves down.
Let's put a branch in there.
Okay, good.
And you can kind of see how th
is process,
you're building the way you se
e it,
and there we go.
I'm just going to stick some o
n here.
You don't want to have it even
ly spread out because--
Here we have a falling leaf.
We have another falling leaf.
It's almost fall.
Yeah, they're falling down.
Well, as we're working on this,
we'd like to show you two other
images
that we've created, or Natalie
's created.
One called "Windy."
Right.
"Windy" is a very simple quilt.
I fell in love with the fabric.
It's gorgeous leaves, and I simply
put them on...
I just put them on wonderful back
ground fabric,
and that was a landscape quilt.
And your oak design: really stately
trees
strong with a lot of shading
and different colors of fabric
in the middle.
Yeah, it was fun to make the tree t
runk.
I have a lot of oak trees around m
y house,
and they were my model.
So, you get a hint of what we're
doing.
We're applying, gluing down th
e fabric,
adding some shading with the fab
ric.
Natalie added a branch.
We'll show you later how to shade
the branches,
cluster some leaves, but you can
see
from a very short time period
how you can create a beginner l
andscape quilt.
When you'd like to create a
landscape featuring
white birch or aspen trees like
Natalie's design, "Old Friends,"
some of the same designing princi
ples apply,
along with a few new tricks.
In this design, we'll detail
how to create depth and shape
and also how to improvise when
you can't find
the exact leaf fabric you'd li
ke.
Now, Natalie, this is a work i
n progress.
Yes.
You haven't stippled it yet
but, oh, the designing is perfe
ct,
and the white trees,
the birch scene, summer scene
is impressionistic and inviting
.
Oh, thank you, Nancy.
It was a fun one to do,
and I found wonderful birch fabric
s.
I can show them.
It doesn't say birch fabric on t
he selvage, but wow!
I think it's meant to be storm, bu
t if you cut it...
Sure.
You can see how easily it can look
like a birch.
Now, there are other options that y
ou can choose.
Right.
Remember that when you're using bir
ch fabrics,
you have to make horizontal lines.
So, make sure you cut this directio
n, not that direction.
Mm-hmm, so that the little lines
that are in the birch trees--
Right.
Now, this actually
is supposed to be snow fabric,
I think.
I know, we've used this for snow a
lot.
but it also would make a nice birc
h
if you look carefully at what the
little lines show you.
So, you don't have to get thin
gs exact.
It doesn't have to--
We're not technically correct
in this series.
No.
We're just giving the illusion
of pretty nature.
Right. Right.
And the design is summer.
Natalie has chosen a hand-dyed
fabric.
In the second program,
we're going to learn about grou
nd cover,
but we just put some up there
for the look.
And because here's our inspiratio
nal scene.
Right.
Two trees, nice summer day,
and we've made the design much l
ike it
with putting two trees down, and,
Natalie, branches.
We'd like to show our viewers
how you shape.
We cut a skinny, skinny piece.
Mm-hmm.
And we're going to just put it--
Do you want a little glue on t
here?
Yeah, that's a good idea.
Yeah, here, we'll just put a li
ttle dab of glue.
Usually we do a little bit more,
but not today.
So, just have it
go here and run off.
Make sure you've got curves, and ha
ve it...
It can run right off the fabric the
re.
Now I think we need to shade our t
rees.
We do, and shading
is really important.
We're using markers, permanent ma
rkers.
All available at office supply sto
res.
Yes.
Permanent, make sure, so it do
esn't run.
And we're going to make believe
that the sun and light
is coming from Natalie's side of
the quilt.
So, we'll shade on dark on thi
s side.
Right, Natalie?
Right.
It makes a huge difference.
It adds such depth and dimension
when you do some shading.
A few lines are good too.
It rounds it off right away.
I'm just going to darken
this branch here to show
it's a little gnarly in there.
Oh, good. Yes, yes, excellent.
And we want to define between the
trees here.
It doesn't take much
to give some shape.
I think we're going to go on the b
ottom
of the branch to shade it.
Yes.
Next time, I'll glue that down
a little bit better.
And we're going to stitch this
down later on,
don't get me wrong.
But in this temporary time perio
d,
we're just going to hold it do
wn like that.
And then we have black
and we also have some gray.
Sometimes, if you want a little
bit more gray,
you can use a silver permanent
pen.
But then...
the magic happens when you do
some drawing.
Drawing of the fine leaves.
Yes. Natalie is the master.
This is a little scary for beginner
s
but let me show you how easy it is
.
You take your pen in your hand,
I use the black first, and you wigg
le it.
Just give it a wiggle.
And...
start branching out.
And Natalie's branches always l
ook better than mine,
but I'm working on it.
[both laugh]
And then, you can highlight th
em
to give them depth with the sil
ver pen on top.
Isn't that rig
ht, Natalie? Yes.
That gives a lot of definition.
These little markers here are
just wonderful for making the bran
ch look realistic.
That's the magic of beginning
landscape quilting.
Now, for impressionistic leaves,
Natalie chose
a batik fabric, and then, this
yellow fabric.
Oh, my goodness!
Not your normal landscape quil
ting fabric.
Nice cluster of bananas.
And while Natalie is cutting tha
t,
I'm just going to quickly glue
up
some shapes.
You used bananas because of the s
hading.
The shading is wonderful.
Uh-huh.
And so, I just cut a leaf.
I'm going to stick it right here.
If we look back at the original,
you can see how she's clustere
d these
and they're not evenly dispers
ed.
Added a few lines through the
leaves
to get them more realistic.
It's just playing with fabric.
Playing with markers.
Tremendous fun.
Yeah, it is.
We have some showcases to show yo
u.
"The First Day of Summer"
features one big tree as a foc
al point.
A lot of shading on this with gray
and black markers.
And then I also did a scene ca
lled "Blue Birches."
That fabric is-- Birch trees aren
't always blue,
but it's a winter scene.
Well, it depends on the light and
that makes a tree blue.
So, we've taught you just some ba
sic principles
of shading with markers, drawing in
branches.
You can cut fabric that isn't m
eant to be leaves,
to resemble leaves,
baste them down,
and you have the beginning of a
great design.
Winter landscape scenes pose n
ew design opportunities.
"River Birch Trees in the Snow"
by Natalie showcases
the stark contrast between snow
and trees.
We think you'll be slightly su
rprised to learn
all the fabric options when you
r inspiration
comes from snow-covered ground.
We'd like to show you landscape
scenes
in various stages.
And, Natalie, you've finished desig
ning this,
but it hasn't been stippled or la
yered.
Or layered. Right.
And the scene or the inspiration ca
me from a snapshot
after a winter stormy day.
And here you can see some river b
irch trees
and how the snow drifts up at t
he trunk at the base,
and you will show our viewers
how to do the same.
But first, let's just talk abo
ut tree fabric
because you're not going to go to
the fabric store and say,
"Where is your tree fabric?"
Right.
Because you're not going to find
what you need.
And this is what you found.
And it is exactly what you neede
d.
And I didn't know that when I bough
t it.
I just thought it was an interesti
ng piece.
But when you look at it carefully
and put your hands like this, you
can see that a tree emerges.
And it could be various shapes o
f trees.
Right, right.
So, that was a real find.
And then, I just found this the oth
er day.
What a nice oak tree this will make
.
You can see my hands going.
The bark is so much like an oak.
And that light
and dark... Right.
The dapple shading
and you can use this fabric fo
r the two distant trees.
Right.
And this really is a natural.
I won't need to shade this much at
all.
Mm-hmm.
Because you can see from the origi
nal,
it makes a perfect tree,
and I used these to show a little d
istance.
We should say something about the
snow.
Yes.
This is a hand dye and notice that
it isn't white.
Mm-hmm.
It's got a lot of shading
of light and dark and blue snow,
which is really more realistic.
But it does read as winter.
There's no doubt about that.
Right.
We thought it was important to d
o shading again.
Because we just gave you a taste
of it,
and it's so crucial
in beginning landscape quilting,
or advanced landscape quilting
as far as that goes.
And the light, we're going to h
ave the light
come from your side, Natalie?
Okay, good.
Light from my side.
We're going to shade this side with
--
We're using black markers,
the kind you buy at an office suppl
y store.
They're permanent so you don't ha
ve to worry about--
Once they're on, they're on forever
.
And then, you know, we can do some
lines,
like Nancy's doing right there.
The fabric, whoops,
the fabric helps
do that,
but we can add a little more.
And the shading, this is a lot of
fun.
I hate to say this, but, boy,
I just--
Some people relax by reading.
I shade trees. [laughs]
Shading trees is very scary.
I've been teaching for a long time,
and I know that shading
is probably the scariest thing for
beginners.
But look how easy it is.
Now, it's winter so in our scene
we had,
I think we had in our scene so
me snow gathering
in the crux of the elbow of the bra
nches.
Right.
And I was careful not to find a sn
ow that was snow white.
This has lots of shading in it.
Sure.
So, what we're going to do is put a
little piece
right here.
And we glued this down, I have
to say.
But we're just kind of putting it
in there.
Yeah, we do glue.
But you can see the look there
.
And then, we'll quickly do some
drawing.
Right.
How about I do the brush
and you do the background trees, Na
talie?
Okay.
It's just like the branches.
Only we will make it look like
the shrubbery
that is left barren.
And here, we're going to have dist
ant trees.
I'm using a little bit of a silver,
and then, I'm going to use the bla
ck.
And at home, I'd take a little
bit more time in this,
but you get the concept.
You can just draw right on thi
s area.
Now, we have two more scenes,
winter scenes to share
with you, and the first one
is a joint project that we did t
ogether.
Natalie found this snapshot or
this photo in a newspaper.
Right. Right.
Three basic trees, a man walkin
g away,
and then we created
"January."
And we did it in 45 minutes becaus
e it is such
a simple tree, simple scene.
I couldn't make the man, but that
's Dick, Natalie's husband,
walking away, and I think it's
just a great scene
and the fabric makes you shiver
.
Doesn't it?
Now, the inspiration that you se
e next is from summer.
It's a stately tree.
Yes.
I had a lot of fun
painting and designing and marking
up that tree.
But you made it not in a summer s
cene but in 10 below.