Seeds: Part 3

Seeds: Part 3

71" x 71"

Here is the full view.  Perhaps you can see the hand quilting which alludes to the design on the back. The back is called Bloom! Which then reveals the inspiration of the quilt.  

I plant a lot of seeds as a parent, carefully cultivating and nurturing them, but I never know which of the seeds will take hold and bloom. When I see my adult kids 'blooming', I can't help but wonder how they came to be such incredibly wonderful and gifted individuals!

This quilt was originally scheduled to open at my solo exhibit in Houston this fall, Both Sides Now.  The exhibit is a collection of two-sided quilts that I have made over the last 5 years or so.  Then the pandemic hit.  The Houston Quilt Festival was cancelled.  I did not think my exhibit would look good on-line because I really wanted the viewer to be able to walk back and forth between the front and the back sides and see them full sized in real life.  So, I will try again for next year and keep my fingers crossed. 

I will start posting photos of the back next week, but for now, some of the quilting process photos. This is a close up of my sewing machine.  Perhaps you can see the white arrow? It is a piece of index card which was taped to a popsicle stick and then taped to my walking foot.  The shadow follows the previous quilting line which allows me to sew a 1" space grid. It is not perfect, but I have always been a fan of the slightly less than perfect and more organic feel of straight line quilting.  

It was an interesting process to decide how to quilt this project, because the back was so different from the front, and because I wanted the quilting lines to be meaningful from both sides.  I choose to quilt a grid from the front side because seeds are planted in a grid.  On the back side, the grid would allude to the origins of the "bloom".  I also decided to hand quilt from the back side, to show on the front side, so that the future of the seeds would be referenced.  I will share more of those photos when I post about the other side.  Thanks for stopping by!