The simple act of walking home on a beautiful Autumn day can strike inspiration for creativity. And isn’t that a wonderful thing? In fact, last November I was walking home with a friend when I came upon four ginkgo trees on the side walk. The abundance of leaves on the trees and on the ground was breath taking – the colors vivid and inviting. I whipped out my camera and stood under the tree.
Then I looked down around the base of the tree. And there it was – an incredible single leaf, the size and shape of it unique, as they all are, but on steroids with uniqueness.
Do you see it? Right there in the middle, on top of the pile of leaves? I snatched it up and brought it home. I pressed it flat in a book and then I scanned it to create a pattern. The leaf became dry during the pressing and a couple tips broke but that didn’t stop me from getting a great pattern from it. This leaf is a generous 4 inches from stem bottom to leaf tip and from side to side.
I love the fact that the scanning caught all the color of the leaf, not to mention the tiny lines that run vertically throughout. It’s hard to improve upon Mother Nature. I knew on that November day last year that I needed to use this unique leaf in another Precious Metals quilt.
I chose a scrap of 100% cotton Italian upholstery fabric – a leftover from reupholstering our love seat several years ago.
I must digress here for a moment to address the issue of placing the leaf patterns within a circle. I wanted them to be spaced perfectly — yikes, a math issue – trisecting a circle. In fact, a geometry issue and I didn’t take geometry in school. Naturally, I went to the internet to find the answer. I got straightforward, easy-to-understand instructions here. Now you have a go-to spot for solving this problem.
Back to construction: The ginkgo leaves are thread painted in metallic thread: Superior copper #56, an unknown brand of silver and Stickma gold (a spool I bought from an instructor many years ago). Tulle in coordinating colors was used on top of the fabric and behind the fabric for color and stability. After thread painting the leaves I stitched around the outer edge of each leaf to create more definition. Center ‘bubbles’ were quilted with YLI 100-weight silk #239. This simple pattern echoes the leaves in a circle and unifies the center design. I love simple. Concentric circles spaced 1/4″ apart around the outside of the leaf design complete the quilting.
Beads! Glorious beads from two Hoffman ‘bead gravy’ collections were used for the beading. And I found the perfect striped fabric for the binding. I’ve used this fabric before and thought it was gone. Lucky me!
Here is Precious Metals III hot off the needle.
And a detail.
My obsession with ginkgo leaves is on-going. You can read about the beginning of my precious metals series here. Precious Metals II is here and here .
This piece is 12″ x 12″. As soon as I get the sleeve and label on it, it goes to its new home — it is sold! Whoop!
Love your design and of course the leaves. I did not realize the ginkgo grew that big. Mine is in a pot and love it. Beautiful. great idea with the beads.
We have young ginkgo trees in front of our buildings and the leaves are fairly uniform in size — the small side. I think the trees I discovered in the heart of the Pearl District must be much older. They showed much more variety in shape and size on the leaves. A good thing to know. Thanks for the kudos Vivian.
Another great design executed perfectly! Thanks for sharing your process.
Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I appreciate it Gay.
Gorgeous! Oh, how I love your ginkgo quilts! Mine (Spring Ginkgos) is as lovely as the day it arrived here to live with me. 😀
I’m so glad you are enjoying that piece. Those were the early days and you’ve seen many ginkgos since then! And thanks for the kudos.
Your work is beautiful and exquisite!
Glad your creative juices are flowing.
Would love to get together for coffee or art walk or something soon
Thank you Toni! I’m glad to be working again too.
Really pretty, Franki! I can’t see the tulle but maybe that is a good thing.
Jeanie and I spent several hours in San Jose today, helping hang the Shifting Tides show. Are you coming to the SAQA Conference in San Jose at the end of the month? Would be fun to see you.
Thank you Aileyn. Yes, not noticing the tulle is a good thing.
Perfect. I love simple, too, especially when you do it so masterfully.
Thank you Sherry, you are so generous.
Just simply gorgeous Franki! Loved to hear the evolution your process. Bravo.
Thank you Jenny. Like you, I think it’s a good thing to share the design thinking and technical execution of my work. Paying it forward is a good thing.