Mt. Hood

On a clear day, I can see Mt. Hood from my home. When I was a kid, I lived in the central part of Oregon. I would watch the sun set on several mountains in the Central Cascade Mountain Range every evening. It was spectacular. Now, I live in the western part of the state and I get to watch the sun rise on one mountain. Sunrise is my favorite part of the day. JoJo over at Through My Hands, had a Mt. Hood project.

Mt. Hood ready for stitching

Some day, I might not be able to view the mountain so I thought, why not make this wall hanging? Selecting fabrics is the most challenging part of the process for me! Over a few weeks, I chose fabrics from my stash. A friend and I spent a session together and we cut out our pieces. 

I was surprised at how painless it was to cut and prepare the fabrics for stitching. I had all the fabrics but the snow reflection in my stash. My friend, Pat, gave me her piece when she decided her snow reflection was too light. It was the perfect choice here! Thank you Pat!

Blossoms auditioned

The "snow", tree line and tree line reflection are fused. The mountain and mountain reflection have a turned edge. I appliquéd the pieces, as JoJo suggested, with a narrow zigzag. She used a stabilizer. I found that I didn't need a stabilizer. That part of the process was painless too!

Next, it was time to figure out what fabrics I would be using for the blooming tree branch and what thread I would be using for the tree bark. This was a challenge. I'm trying to use what I have. I first thought that I'd broderie prerse the blossoms; but, I either didn't have appropriate sized flowers or I didn't have a print that had enough flowers in the same colors.

I settled on a batik fabric that I fused to some stabilizer. If it looks familiar, it is because I used that same fabric in my QAYG project that I've blogged while it was a BOM (Block of the Month). Cutting more than 50 blossoms took some time!

Cutting the shapes

JoJo used paint and embroidery to add more depth to her blossoms. I tried paint and embroidery too! I was disappointed at first that the white paint didn't show as much as I had hoped; but, it did give the illusion of depth which was the effect that I wanted.

In the end, I found the white paint to have added just the right effect. Next, I added some gold metallic paint which I applied a little differently on each flower. Sometimes, I added a lot and sometimes I added a little. I liked how painting different amounts of paint and painting in different areas of the blossoms added so much depth to the blossoms.

Shapes painted and drying

Auditioning the flowering branches

Then, like JoJo, I added some hand embroidery stitches. The first day, I completed seven. At that pace it took me a little over a week to complete that step. I used some floss that has been in my floss box since I was in college! Okay. . . that was in the late 70's! I'll report that the "preserved" floss worked great!

For layout purposes, I used a bit of ribbon so I could get an idea of the shape of the branch. Next, I laid out the finished shapes until I found a pleasing design. I'm happy that I stepped outside my box and tried JoJo's technique with these flowers. That paint made them just sparkle! I also learned that I like painting!

Next, I fused the shapes to the background. Then I added a heavy chain embroidery stitch to represent the tree branches. I'm a big fan of Mary Corbet's Needle and Thread blog. Mary is generous about sharing designs and tutorials.

Paint for the mountain top

Painted mountain top

I used a JP Coats crosheen type embroidery thread for the branches which came from my grandmother's stash.

I visited JoJo as she offered me use of her paint stash. The photo represents the paint I used on my project. The Setacolor paints left the hand of the fabric just as soft as when I started so those were my favorite. At the time I was doing the painting, local sources of the colors that I wanted were out and even the couple companies I checked out for an online order had these on backorder.

Branches with a little stem stitch accent

JoJo also provided moral support and helpful hints as I painted details on the mountain and mountain reflection. Isn't it amazing how much the paint added to the mountain? I'm liking those stems. I decided to add some light to the branches.

This is the branch after adding a stem stitch with a gold sparkle embroidery thread made in Japan. This thread stitches beautifully. A special friend gave me this to me. I liked it so well that I have my eye out to purchase more locally!

Now, I'm thinking that I need more blossoms. I struggled for days trying to figure out where to put them! Then JoJo came over and gave me some feedback.

Using a zig zag to stitch the blossoms

I fused the blossoms and then began the process to stitch each blossom to the background. I decided I needed a little bling so I added metallic thread to the blossoms. I also decided to pad the blossoms with wool batting. The appliqué and trapunto happened in one step.

I hope that the trapunto effect will give the blossoms a little "pop" and make them appear closer when I finish the piece.

The metallic thread wasn't easy to use on this project.

Places where I had layers of fusible, were spots where the metallic thread shredded. In the end, I had a few more starts and stops in those areas! 😀

Batting trimmed

I trimmed away the batting so that the trapunto effect would be maximized as much as possible. Yes, this step took time and no, I didn't cut the front while I was trimming. . . .WHEW!

Ready for layering

As I was clearing a mini pile off my work table, I found a few more blossoms. I decided that the blossoms should be part of the project so I added them to the top.
Now, to layer and baste the top for quilting. I do have a back fabric selected and I am planning to face this wall hanging too and I think I will have enough back fabric for the facing. I will need a different fabric for the sleeve which I am thinking about. As for the quilting, I'm planning my stitching will be enough to provide definition for the sky, mountain and water. I'm not planning to quilt it as densely as I'm quilting the chicken! Surely, I can quilt this project faster than I have quilted the last three quilts that I've finished!