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Janine http://www.rainbowhare.com
This quarter's Four In Art theme is Purple Passion.
We've owned 3 purple sofas. Here are a couple of photos of #2 purple sofa.
Our townhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Four generation photo after our first daughter, Claire, was born.
The sofa looks more red here due to poor lighting.
I used to wear a lot of purple, we've owned 3 purple sofas,
but I really hadn't quilted in purple before. I thought it was time to experiment.
I decided to draw some lines on a piece of paper.
I then cut it into strips on the diagonal and taped it together.
Then I cut on the diagonal from the opposite direction and taped again.
This is the final mock up, mind you I did this in bed at 11pm,
and my husband couldn't understand why I was doing 'crafts' in bed.
I was doing this in bed because at the time,
I thought I had a bright idea.
I used some PURPLE silk from one of Claire's semi formals,
I added some equally vibrant orange for balance.
I chopped and sewed....
and copped and sewed....
and chopped and sewed.
I stopped chopping at this point and spray glued it on a gray background.
I was afraid the spray due would show through on the silk,
lucky me I won the quilting lottery today and
the spray glue didn't show through.
I decided to leave all the raw edges exposed.
I started quilting my chopped up purple silk with straight lines.
Then I quilted a bunch of circles that matched the orange fabric.
A good artist knows when to stop. Well....
I kept going thinking more is better. I forgot that less is more.
I was fine with the quilted wavy lines, straight lines and circles.
Remember how I said a good artist knows when to stop?
Well... after I stippled the word PURPLE I knew that
I would NOT be quilting any words onto my next quilt.
I decided to leave the edges raw since the silk edges are raw and this is an experiment
At the end of the process this was a great experiment to be part of.
I wouldn't mind chopping a bunch of fabric up again,
but I'm not going to be stippling any words or letters on a quilt anytime soon.
Not all ideas are brilliant, they are just ideas.
I think the stippled 'Purple' is a brilliant idea. I loved seeing all your chopping and sewing and experimenting and I think the final result looks fab :)
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I love the idea of you doing crafts in bed. If I did that I'd never get to sleep. Love the concept of sewing and chopping and resewing. It can produce such interesting results. The purple paired with orange is a great combination, especially with the little bits of white that appear here and there. The raw edges was a good call too. Nicely done.
ReplyDeleteThis post made me laugh! Even starting with the title. I can't ever imagine owning a purple sofa, good for you! I think this quilt turned out wonderfully. It's fun to see how close it is to your original concept drawing. I think the raw edges on the silk are a great idea, gives the purple another texture. Don't beat yourself up too much about the word, you could always "chop" them off.
ReplyDeleteI love that you have great ideas and see them through and the thought of you chopping and sticking in bed made me laugh with admiration. I think you are a creative genius:-) I agree about the words but there is so much else to take away from this experiment.
ReplyDeleteI love that you experimented with this! It seems your playtime was highly successful and fun! The contrast between the silk and linen is lovely!
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas. All of the chopping really paid off and it looks wonderful. Love the lettering on it too.
ReplyDeleteCrafts in bed?? You do crack me up. I love all your experiments and your chopping and your sewing and your quilting and your spraying and your raw edges and your fearlessness, and of course, that great picture when Claire was a baby and you are perched on the edge of the sofa and life as a young Mom, saying "bring it on," just like you did with this quilt. You are my hero. (But please, for us old quilters--give us bigger images! I want to really SEE your fun stuff!) Another home run, Simone. You rock!
ReplyDeleteI really like the way this grew improvisationally! I think it's really effective. I'm so pleased to see someone else who tries stuff that doesn't always work but is relaxed about being able to learn what works and what doesn't and take it in our stride. The best piece of design advice I've heard is: if you love something do it again (scale it up or scale it down or further play) and if you don't love something do it again. I'd love to see this again in a Mark II version??!
ReplyDeleteMy first thought when I saw this was "Rad - Totally" and then "how cool"!!!! Silk lends itself to wonderful options and always cooperates and pairing it, chopped, with the red piece is so perfect and a great counterbalance. Safe to say you nailed this challenge!!
ReplyDelete