Wednesday 3 October 2012

Diary of a very quick quilt

To be fair - I do always work quite fast - I find it helps me to get out of my own way when creating. But even by my standards, this next one is a quickie. Luckily, it is basically an enlargement of a journal quilt I made a couple of years ago, so I have a very good map to guide me. So here we are at the beginning - journal quilt on wall and nice blank felt for me to work on - I love being at this point - it is SO exciting! Put Abba on ipod


About 30 minutes later and I have got the bare bones down. I placed the photos much as they were in the JQ and then tried to let instinct guide me as I added some largish chunks of fabric to fill in around them - looking OK so far


At this point I do slow down a bit and start looking hard and working out what I like and what I don't. So here is the next stage and I've filled in some of the large plain areas and added some darkish strips to move the eye around the piece. I'm trying to pick up on the tones and shapes I am seeing in the photos


At this point I lightly ironed the piece to 'tack' everything down and get it up on to the design wall so I can really see what is what


and I feel it now needs some of those edges softening a bit and that big beige space at top left need attention ... out with the lace - brilliant at this stage 



Much better to my mind now, just a couple of quibbles: Still need to break those skies up some more - all the lines are too straight and I would like to get a tiny bit of darker fabric top left, just to keep the eye moving up there ... and here is that done, using some scrim and a couple of narrow strips of fabric


I like this now, although I will want to work into it with crayons and possibly paint later, to blend those photos some more. But the next job is to get it all secure - so on to the sewing machine. I'll report back on progress - Hilary x

10 comments:

  1. Really interesting to see the progress and your thought processes.

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    1. Thanks Maggi - I always enjoy seeing how others create -- fascinating as we are all so different

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  2. I can't beleive you really posted this at 04.21 in the morning - that's the time recorded...
    Still, looks fantastic, much more open than the JQ because you have the space - this adds to the sense of sky and isolation - love it!

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    1. Of course I was up at 4.20 Gilli!! - OK - I wasn't ... there is something funny about the times given on here - apparently you replied at 05.16! Clearly we are in a differnt time zone on blogger. It is always interesting to see how a JQ enlarges .. and glad you like it!

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  3. Great post on your methods. Looking forward to the next instalment.

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    1. Thanks Amanda (she of many names) - on with sticthing today - will try an dpost progress tonight

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  4. Fascinating to follow your progress like this, looking forward to the next stage. Making something larger from a JQ is something I'm always meaning to do, but never have....yet! I have a feeling this may inspire me at last!

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  5. Hi Cath - nice to meet you although of course I recognise the name .... I have found my JQ's to be brilliant inspiration for larger piecs - I have used at least 50% of them that way. It's like a really detailed sample I suppose, with a lot of the groundwork composition already done. I've had a peek at your JQ's and can see a rich seam for you there!

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  6. Great to see how the piece developed and I particularly admire your focus in analysing exactly what it needed; or, if you deny that, at least you remembered most of your decisions, which is more than I can manage on both counts! Sx

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  7. I can only remember them if I do the blog on the same day as taking the photos Steph ... otherwise I look at the images and wonder what on earth I was trying to show. Of course analysis and focus are trump suits of mine (not) - I have found analysis though, to be an unexpected by product of teaching ... when I am demonstrating making a collage, I talk through the process and what I am thinking (sometimes even swear I'm afraid) - and I have been surprised at how logical my seemingly random instinct is! xx

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