No. 27

No. 27

65" x 33"

 

This work in my relationship series is about avoidance, or possibly mutual avoidance? I find this one very personal. As I try to show up and face the good and the bad, I find it frustrating when I am faced with avoidance. As I get older, I realize that it is a self protection strategy, and I have become a lot more forgiving. And while looking for insight, I have discovered that I also have used avoidance in sticky situations. I am also very astutely aware that timing and kindness play big roles in conflict resolution. 

 

After sewing the half square triangle blocks for the background, it is fun to change directions and work on the applique shapes. I like to use gradients to show movement. I grabbed a color palette from my stash, and then carefully selected choices for the stripes in this piece.

 

After piecing the stripes, I press the edges under, and hand baste. Then they are ready for applique.

Then the hand quilting. I usually wait until they are appliqued on the piece before thinking about the design elements of the hand stitching. I might play with the masking tape on the quilt to try out different ideas, or possibly sketch some ideas. This one took about 15 sketches before I arrived on one that I really liked.

It is frustrating to make such wonderful selections of thread choices, in this case, another gradient, and then have it barely show up. For this piece, the thread gradient looks better in real life than in my photos of it. Yet another reason to see fiber art in person!

 

Next, the binding. It is machine stitched to the front, wrapped around the edge and then hand stitched to the back. I love these little clips for holding it in place while I hand stitch it.  

It also feels FINISHED when I get to this point, but it's not. It still needs a hanging tube and a label on the back. And it is truly finished when I take the photos and post it here! I ran out of backing fabric to use for the hanging tube, so I opted to use up some of my hand dyed batiks that I made a long time ago.

Here's a view of the entire tube section:

No. 26

No. 26

60.5" x 42.5"

Affectionately known as "pursuit". 

The background palette:

This one had a lot of design challenges. To determine the size of quilt I will need, I usually lay out the pieces on the floor or sometimes on top of another quilt that has the half square triangles for the background. Then I know the relative scale of the piece and how many blocks I will need. In this case, I used the humps and some blue painter's tape.

The original idea began with 4 quadrants like this:

...which was fine, but not great. This set of fabric choices in this array made me astutely aware of the lower right corner. It looked too dark to me. I tried rearranging the pieces, it was still not good. And it may not be obvious, but at this point, the blocks are only sewn into long strips, so I rearranged them vertically.

Ooooh, I liked this a lot better! It did require some "unsewing", and "resewing", but the results made it worth it. 

Then I drew my paper templates, cut them out and arranged them on the background. I will arrange, and rearrange the pieces until I see what I like, taking photos along the way to compare the options.

This was the original idea.... And, it is also nice, but it does not convey the feeling I am trying to evoke with this piece. The subtle directions of the 'humps' makes a big difference in the conceptual content. This one reads as "swimming along together". Also, a nice sentiment, but not what I was aiming for. 

Once I switched the top and bottom, it worked a LOT better. 

Like the others, the quilt was quilted, then the shapes were appliqued on top, and then more quilting. I love this 1/2 inch masking tape to help mark the lines I will sew.

A few shots of the hand quilting:

 

It is interesting to me, to start with a vague idea, and then watch it evolve as I make the quilt. Things change, ideas get threshed out, until everything is perfect!

Love how this looks in my aqua room!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No. 25

No. 25

35" x 54.5" 

 

This piece is a reminder that the relationship I have with myself, affects the relationships I have with others. Working towards self knowledge and acceptance helps to center me and ground me. This one also reminds me of the expression, "bloom where you are". 

 

The quilt.

Every time I look at this, the top half feels smaller than the bottom half. I have foolishly counted the blocks multiple times to confirm that they are the same size. And, so, I learn more about colors and their relative weights....

 

A closeup of the quilting:

If you look closely, you can see that the quilting threads are different colors in different directions. I always worry a lot about what color of quilting thread to use. And, I usually find that it doesn't really make too much difference....perhaps I am wrong about that?

 

The handquilting:

I tend to pull the quilting thread too tight, which causes massive tension problems. And so, I use the hoop to keep the tension even. As for circles, one of my favorite ways to mark them is to draw them on freezer paper and iron to the surface of the quilt. After quilting, they peel right off, and then I can cut it to the next smaller size, and iron it on again. The hand quilting is probably my favorite part of this process and I am always sad when I finish it.

 

The path not taken.

I love this color palette! I tried inserting these into the blue hump shape and it looked terrible. It was so terrible, and so wrong, and yet the colors are so pretty. It surprised me by taking a different tone than I wanted for the piece. So, they did not get used. I did save them, perhaps for a future quilt?

No. 24

No. 24

60" x 35"

Affectionately known as Rainbow Sherbet, because of the colors, ha ha!

Conceptually, this one is about moving forward together, the joy of being together, walking hand in hand, side by side. Forces in the universe propelling forward two individuals into We. Community or family often starts with just two people.

A few images of the construction:

I don't usually stack the rows while waiting to press the seams, but this time I did. I found the vaguely architectural vibe really interesting!

After the top is finished, it is time to baste the backing and batting layers together to make the quilt sandwich. I found this cute "love letters" fabric for the backing and just knew it was perfect for this quilt! I did not realize that it had this lovely message on the selvage, really perfect!

Next up, the machine quilting. I planned to do much denser quilting on this one, but when I saw this emerge from the beginnings of the quilting, it felt complete to me, so I stopped. Sometimes more does not mean better....(note: many quilt judges will disagree with me on this point).

Either before or after quilting, I will check my paper template on the background. I do this to both check for scale, and to check the placement. There is still time to make my paper templates larger or smaller, or opt for a larger background by adding another row or column of blocks. 

The paper I use for the templates comes in a big roll from a home construction store. It is a little bit thick and I usually press the paper first in order to make it lie flat while drawing and cutting the shapes. The neat part is that the paper give me a nice edge to use while pressing under the 1/4" seam to make the shape ready for applique. 

Here are two of the humps, edges pressed under and basted, and pinned in place.

I like these flower head pins to hold the large applique shapes in place mostly because the pieces will lie flat together while hand sewing. My FAVORITE applique pins are the super tiny ones. Unfortunately, those are incredibly hard to use when pinning the applique to an already quilted quilt. It is too thick and too many layers for those tiny pins.

They are also very sharp and pokey while hand sewing. A lot of care is needed to avoid small stabs...

The last step is the hand quilting. I had significant difficulty with the thread choices on this quilt. I picked the perfect colors, and then after quilting, they mostly and unexpectedly disappeared. So I pulled them all out and tried white thread, which also did not show up. Ultimately, the black thread was the only thread that I could still see after quilting. It is interesting that even when I make the best choices, I am still wrong sometimes. Sigh... However, with the black thread, I noticed the option to make a less obvious choice for the binding fabric, which I loved!! (look back at the first photo!).

This is also the first quilt in this series where the hand quilting lines extend beyond the appliqued shapes. I kinda dig it!!

No. 23

No. 23

70" x 34.5"

This one is an exploration of distance in a relationship. It sits on a field of yellow and green, both fear and growth. How do healthy relationships manage distance? What are the forces in the universe that cause two people to run in opposite directions?  For me, it asks the question, "How do I deal with distance in relationships?"

It reminds me of the quote from Kahlil Gibran, "let there be spaces in your togetherness". Such a powerful concept of love.

And, I love conceptual work that asks questions, vs. giving answers. 

The construction of this one follows all the same steps as the previous, so I did not take very many process photos.  Here are a few for you.

Selecting thread from my thread box.  I LOVE the variegated thread hand-dyed by Laura Wasilowski. 

Here is the 1/4" tape applied in wavy curves for the hand stitching. 

And, a close up of the finished project.  It is subtle, but there are three hand stitched lines of each color thread as they slowly get darker towards the 'stem' on the right. 

And the last one, which conceptually, I also love, is the quilt turned upright.

Because the lower half is darker, it looks vaguely like a reflection. And so the meaning of distance in a relationship could apply to the distance you have in relationship with your self. How well do I know myself? 

No. 22

No. 22

69.5" x 35"

Something has happened. All of this HST series work has led to a narrowing of the direction of the work...I am exploring one element of a complicated topic, relationships. I have been thinking a lot about relationships as we navigate through this ever evolving political dynamic of hate and fear mongering and increasing hostilities and violence to those who are different than us. When this is over (if that is possible), what will be left of our relationships? Do we cut ties to loved ones because of their egregious beliefs? Or do we stay engaged in conversations and find a way towards mutual understanding and forgiveness?  Each piece will explore relationship dynamics in general and will be left open to interpretation.

For example: This first piece in a series about relationships is about closeness, standing face to face. Is this the 'leaning in' for the first kiss? Is it standing face to face and shouting deeply held convictions and standing up for what one believes at a protest? 

I am using half square triangles for the background as a nod to traditional quiltmaking and the comfort that the idea of a quilt brings. I am using color schemes to communicate mood, and color gradients to communicate movement. The motif of a hump symbolizes a motivational/energetic hump to represent the resistance to change. What holds us back or propels us forward? Each piece will capture a moment in time of a constantly changing dynamic. 

Piecing the background. When I selected these cheerful yellows and subdued muted greens, I thought there would be more contrast.  However when pieced into HST's, they look so similar. Maybe that is better? Hard to get the colors right for the online photos, so this will be one of those, looks better in person kind of quilts....

To make the humps, I cut out the broad shapes, and then slice them vertically first. The color strips are 1" wide, so when pieced, they become 1/2" in width, which also maintains the shape of the hump. It doesn't grow or shrink with this sized of an insert. 

Then they are cut in the other direction and a new set of color strips are inserted.

The same process is used with the 'stems'.

Then I turn under the edges and hand baste them to stay in place.

Now that all the pieces are made, I am ready to start quilting the quilt. Here are the thread colors I used for this one. Sometimes I really like to use a lot of thread colors, and no it does not bother me to change the colors. 

You might be surprised that changing the quilting thread really has very little effect on the overall look of the quilt. Here's a close up, and you do have to look closely to see that there are different colors in the quilting threads...

An overall photo of the quilt while I was quilting it. You can see that half of the quilt still has the pins used to baste the quilt sandwich together. The humps have been casually placed, just to see what they look like. They have not been attached to the quilt yet. I choose not to piece the humps into the background (like I did on No. 9), because I have to make a LOT of starts and stops of the quilting lines and subsequent thread tucking. I really like the way it looks for the quilting threads to go UNDER the motifs. This requires the motifs to be appliqued after all the quilting is done. It is more difficult to hold everything while doing the hand applique, but I like the effect better...

After the humps and stems are hand appliqued, I add a layer of hand quilting with embroidery floss. In the photo below, I am marking my stitching lines with 1/4" masking tape. It is reasonably easy to apply in curves, easy to remove if the line is wrong and replace, and I can reuse it multiple times, if I don't have to clip the curves. I like how well this tape shows what the quilting lines will look like when I am finished. I also selected a gradient of embroidery floss colors for the hand quilting. 

And when I see these juicy beautiful colors and texture and lines, I practically swoon and fall in love with the work. Yes, you can laugh at me now! Ha!

Here's a close up for you.

This is also the part where I feel like I have finished the piece! Unfortunately it's similar to a false summit. I still have to apply the binding, then the hanging tube, an identifying label to the back, the photography, and eventually the blog post. I also make a quilt statement with the quilt description and artist statement, so if I want to enter it into a venue, all that information is readily available. Done!

No. 21

No. 21

32" x 23"

What is it about a simple repeating pattern that is just so intrinsically appealing? I also love the organic nature of the little arches. I wanted them to look like individuals and not carbon copies of each other. I think it does that.

I started with making some blocks. Although this is a photo of the blocks for the background, I started with smaller ones to make the pieced HST arches. I wanted to see if I could make them into an arch shape by varying the width of the seam when joining them. It worked! Which meant that I could proceed with the rest of the quilt. I love looking at the blocks when they are chain stitched together!

I worked simultaneously on creating the background.....and....

Making all the arches: The black ones were hand drawn onto freezer paper, cut out (with a seam allowance), and then edges turned under and hand basted. The black ones were significantly easier to make than the orange and pink ones! All those seams of the HST blocks had to be turned under to prepare for appliqueing. 

Once I had all the arches ready for applique, I finished piecing the background, and prepared it for quilting. I remembered some old fabric I had that I thought would be perfect for the backing! It is from my brief stint as a fabric designer.

I love the simplicity of the straight line quilting. Here is my first arch after it has been hand appliqued in place, and the basting stitches have been removed. Ahhh! Satisfying! Now repeat 15 more times!

A view from the side of the finished quilt. 

Great texture! I love how the arch shapes sit on top of the fabric. I did not want to quilt them because that would flatten them. 

The last part was choosing to use a facing instead of a binding. This allowed the design to flow to the edge of the work. It was a good choice for this piece. 

Thanks for stopping by!