Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Blue Circles

Blue Circles
I was just playing with different tools to easily stamp out big circles in batik.  This is one piece that I did as an experiment, and I was looking for something to practice quilting to get back into the swing of things.  I had already done this one.  And since I showed the beginning of this project on this post, I thought I would update it's progress. The first was completed so quickly that I thought it would be fun to do another one (and it was!).  So many of my projects are rather big and intricate.  Sometimes, it is nice to do something quick and simple.
Here is the initial layout of fabrics:  I like the way it looks so natural with several of my Urban Landscapes fabrics!
 And then I layered it, and machine quilted.  Then added some hand stitching.

Not today, and probably not tomorrow, but some day I will either put a binding on it, or make it into a nice big pillow.  I just can't decide!  I do love the texture of the hand quilting with embroidery floss though!

7 comments:

Vivien Zepf said...

I really like the hand stitching you're adding to your recent projects. I'm drawn to the contrasting colors and the "randomness" of lots of circles here and not so many there in this piece.

Unknown said...

Wow, Kathy. I'm in constant awe of how quilt artists can turn something so simply like a circle into something so warm and wonderful and colorful! Well done!

Lynn Douglass said...

I love that, Kathy! You've taken something simple and made it fabulous! I have to remind myself not to over-complicate things.

Kathy York said...

Vivien, that's what I like too, that you can superimpose a randomness on top of a grid and completely change the look!
Judi and Lynn, Thanks! Simplicity is hard for me. Quite often, it goes the other way! lol!

verobirdie said...

Thanks for the three pictures, they illustrate very well the difference the hand stitching makes. At the first pic, I thought "so what?" at the last I said "wow!"

Kathy York said...

Thanks! I couldn't agree with you more! I was pretty ambivalent about the center piece, it really was just a practice piece. But then my sewing machine broke, and I had to learn to quilt on my other machine. It feels very different. So I pulled this out to practice learning to quilt. That went pretty well, maybe because the piece is small. I couldn't resist putting the hand stitching on it. AND the texture is so yummy, it lures me in. I really like it now, and it definitely evokes more in person than in the pictures I posted. Surprising what a little hand stitching can do!

Elizabeth said...

The hand stitching with the red and oranges adds a wonderful extra dimension to your already wonderful work!!!