Art Quilts by Kathy York

No. 9

79" x 39"

As I work my way through my grief by quilting, it seems natural that prominent themes and events of my life invade the work that was only going to be about abstract sewing. The HST series was a distraction, a way to work without thinking too much. Or so I thought. Now the emotions are creeping in.

This piece is about my first Thanksgiving without my mother who died last year. My family size continues to shrink with her death, and with people emotionally drifting away. The empty chairs are evidence of the unexpected reality of shifting family dynamics.

The process of making:

I began by selecting a color palette and cutting out strips of colors for the background. All the colors are different and I tried to make it a gradient. I really struggle with gradients because I tend to get more interested in the tint of the color than the value of the color. Maybe it needs both to be a successful gradient? I sewed the background in sections because the smaller parts were easier to handle until the last seam was sewn.

Slicing and inserting the color strips. 

The completed top for the background. This is before I cut out the shapes for the arcs and humps. 

This work was sketched first onto some heavy weight paper for the pattern.

Here it is on my dining table, using a few "weights" from the kitchen.  Ha ha!

Here are the shapes cut out and placed on the background.This is the back side of the background piece. I traced the shapes with colored pencils onto the back side fabric. The slightly thick paper made it easy to trace the shapes. Then I cut on the inside of each pencil line by 1/4" for the seam allowance. Note: I only cut one at a time and then inserted the HST hump before trying the next one. I was worried that the seams would start coming unsewn before the piecing was complete, so I stay-stitched each line that I cut out. 

The construction of this work felt like making two different quilts, and then combining them. I will show the rest of the process on the next post.