Adding Found Objects to Your Quilt Designs

Coming from a background of traditional quilting, I clearly remember the first time I heard the term found object and I was like, "What is that?" And my friend said, "It's something that you find, and then you wanna put it on your quilt." And I thought, "Okay, that sounds interesting." Well, now I use found objects all the time. And one of the biggest challenges or joys is trying to figure out how to stitch or stick, or get that found object to stay on the surface of your quilt. Here my found objects on this wonderful, little neutral piece happened to be rocks that I found on the Oregon coast. And I wanted to put them on this piece here. And so I decided to stitch them on with embroidery floss. And I have two different flosses: one is just a plain cotton floss, and the other one is a very fancy metallic floss. And as you look at all of these river rocks there's a couple that had holes, and so I could use those holes to hold them down with. But as you use, look at the rest, they're basically wrapped with stitching, and it's that wrapping that's important. You also see the wrapping from behind so keep that in mind. These days, judges don't really take off for that as long as it's done neat and tidily. So make sure that it looks good on the back too. We wanna wrap that found object so that it stays in place. So I'm gonna go ahead and stitch a little rock right here. And as you can see, these rocks all have different type of stitching on them because that stitching is gonna add that visual interest. I really like this one, that's radiating out of that hole, and this one that's going through the hole but not going through the others and other places. Now, if you wanna make sure that these don't fall off, you can always glue them down first. But make sure they're good and dry before you go to stitch them on. Generally speaking though, if you cross over the found object somewhere near the middle, it's going to stay. So I'm gonna come up from behind and then cross over the middle in one direction and pull down firmly. Then I'm gonna come up from behind and cross across the middle in the opposite direction and pull down firmly. And then I know that rock is probably gonna stay in place. Then if I wanna do some more decorative stitching in between, I can. So I'm gonna go ahead and stitch across here and then come over here and stitch across in the opposite direction. And I've got a kind of a spiral effect that I don't have on any of the rocks around it. So it's different from what's happening elsewhere. I'm gonna tie a knot and then clip that thread to that knot, close or bury the thread and then clip it. So I'm gonna bury it by going into the batting and then clip that thread. And it's that easy to sew on a found object. Sew it on so that it stays, and sew it on so that it adds interest to the piece and makes it much more beautiful. So try finding some really cool objects and sewing them on your next little art piece. I think you'll enjoy it and have fun while you do it.