Saturday, March 3, 2012

BLUEGRASS POSTAGE STAMP QUILT - PART 1

The 2012 PTA - Professional Textile Artists Challenge theme is 'postage stamp' wall quilts.

Our rules are simple:

- Goal - create a wall quilt to resemble a postage stamp.  It must be an original design, not a copy of an existing design
- Size - 32" x 42" - give or take an inch - orientation either vertical or horizontal
- Outside border - dark fabric - perforated design on one side
- Country of origin and value (which can include "Forever") must be included

I started my piece way back in early November, 2011 and am putting the finishing touches (sleeve and label) on it now.

As is typical when creating original work, there are lots of decisions to make as one reaches the unexpected forks in the road.  What I envision does not always translate to fabric.

Every February we attend "Bluegrass First Class", a music festival in Asheville, NC.  I knew right from the start that would be the theme of my postage stamp!

I began on paper, marking the finished size as well as noting the required border measurements.  It was pinned to my design wall, where I attached various fabrics to translate my idea of using the famous bluegrass song, "Blue Moon of Kentucky", as the background.


 After honestly, what amounted to a day or two of auditioning fabric (the goal - use fabric from my stash), I replaced the paper with muslin and began to cut and baste the background pieces.


When I got this far, I realized my fabric selection was too numerous and wide ranging in color for the size of the piece.......


 ......so, up went the fabrics again with subsitutions.


 The 'blue moon' turned to yellow.....a decision I fought all the way because I loved the idea of using Bill Monroe's famous song in the piece.


.....really, quilts do tell you what to do.....though of course as you'll soon see, one can tweak designs to follow your original thought process.


Here the main background is entirely basted to the muslin background and partially hand appliqued.


Visit tomorrow as the process unfolds.....

2 comments:

SuZeFashion said...

Love seeing your design process! Looking forward to seeing the next phase!

Kit Lang said...

Now I'm really intrigued! :)