Central Park

Central Park
56" x 53"
or How I Spent My Summer Vacation!

I am posting about my newest creation today!  Another 3D quilt, which is funny because after the last one, I didn't think I would make another one!  It was a labor of love though.  I felt really inspired to create this piece because of the feelings I get of being rejuvenated from hiking in a park.  Nature does it for me every time! Balance, grounded, happy.  And I get the same feelings when I stand in front of this piece.  I am immersed in greens and blues.  It is an evocative piece for me, which I am quite confident is not fully expressed through a tiny photo on a website.  I am still hoping to find a venue where it can be experienced in person and I can hopefully pass on the inspiration to you.

full view of Central Park

3D view of Central Park

wholecloth background fabric, shibori tied before dyeing

I must also admit some frustration with my posting.  I now have 3 computers at home, and none of the monitors show the color the same.  So, there is no way for me to have any idea of how your monitor is displaying the color.  And not dismissing the importance of design and construction, for me the biggest part is about the color.  So, I apologize if the greens look funky to you.  In real life these color are a rich blend of comfort and harmony.

And as you scroll down through the photos, you will get an idea of how the quilt was constructed.  I actually started this piece last spring and worked through the summer.  This was my entry for Quilt National, but it was sadly not selected.  I can tell you that just by having a deadline as a goal really helped me to complete this quilt.  The logistics were overwhelming from time to time, with over 5000 French knots to sew on 500 buildings to make and hand applique on.  The quilting of the background also took an unexpectedly long time, about a month.  It was hard to quilt around all those circles, lots of starts and stops, and threads to bury or clip.  In retrospect, I wish I had quilted it first before adding the circles for the trees. 

blue fabric from buildings made from commercial cottons batiked in stripes, bleach discharged and then overdyed turquoise, navy, periwinkle, and cobalt blue

machine piecing the buildings into their 3D shapes

piles of buildings, will there ever be enough???

stuffing the buildings with cubes of ethafoam

hand dyed silk organza which was cut into circles for the trees

Park layout before quilting and before embroidery of the gardens

selecting threads for the gardens

French knots in the gardens, there are over 5000 French knots.  Click on picture to see a closeup

Closeup of quilting lines by the baseball fields