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: