I have been working on a different kind of quilt lately. I haven't said much, because well, what if it didn't work out, you know? lol I hate to admit defeat. While in Houston I met Cindy Grisdela and purchased her book, "Artful Improv," which she signed. After reading it through a couple of times, I've moved on to rereading bits and pieces as I work. I decided to make a quilt in the manner of Cindy's art quilts. If you know me, though, you know that I can't just follow a pattern: I have to make it my own.
So while this quilt started out using a "Complementary Color Recipe," it finished a little differently. I still am not certain that I want to call it an art quilt, but I'm feeling pretty good about it anyway. I started with red, orange, and yellow solids and tossed in what was supposed to be just a bit of Kona Periwinkle.
Periwinkle usurped the quilt somehow. My idea was that the Kona Bison would work with the hot colors and the Periwinkle would add a bit of sparkle.
Oops on the periwinkle, but maybe not too much. I love the color, and it does a great job of breaking up the brown and adding asymmetrical lines that allowed for many quilting motifs.
Basically I used the lines as borders for each motif. At the beginning I was going to stick with circles, but that didn't last long. Ha! Once all of the bison sections were quilted, I changed my needle thread to a soft yellow and quilted diagonal lines that matched the one periwinkle line in each improv block.
Putting on the binding was just as much fun, because when periwinkle takes over, it messes with all parts of the quilt. Check out the corners.
Three of them have a little periwinkle trim. It is meant to look like the periwinkle dips in and out of the binding at will. Again, just taking over.
This quilt is titled "Solicitude" because I still feel a little uneasiness about it, which is unusual for me. It's entirely possible that the uneasiness I'm feeling has nothing to do with the quilt itself, but I have no idea why I feel this way. I suppose I'll just go with it.
Linking up with:
Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts
Faith and Fabric Design for TGIFF
Fabric Frenzy Friday for Fort Worth Fabric Studio
6 comments:
You have had fun playing with this quilt.
I like the idea of the periwinkle running through the empty space. And i like all the different quilting you have done in the sections.
I think it has all worked well!
Thanks, Karen. It's starting to grow on me.
This is great, Mary. I like the periwinkle too and don't think there's too much of it at all. The fact that you have used the tiny bits in with your hot colours and those little accents in the binding make it all seem very deliberate and coherent. Someone else has mentioned this book but you're the first one I've come across so far who's actually working from it.
I think I bought this book. I just can't remember if it was before or after the great flood........
I think it looks fabulous. I like too how you chose all different types of quilting.
Hi Kaja, I really am enjoying the book. I rarely purchase books on a whim but it was a winning whim this time. I am really enjoying it. I'm basically using the book as a way to get started and the farther along I get with the quilt, the less I'm using the book. I figure it's a good beginning but also allows me to use other techniques and go about it in a more improvisational way.
Glen, I hope you have a copy. Once you're fully recovered, you should pull it out and enjoy a good read. I could always loan my copy to you. Or even better, we could get together for a make-it-up-as-we-go Cindy Griselda workshop. Wouldn't that be fun!
Thanks, Miss Dresden! I like different types of quilting, too. And I get bored quickly so this is a happy marriage!
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