This is definitely not a direction I want to go. Too chaotic, without careful choices of stitch and colours. And I did find that "more is better" - add enough, and it starts to harmonise. The principle of repetitive cumulation.
What surprised me was the way the largescale dark print and the light green (a splodgy background printed with tiny gold spirals) could work together. These were "any old" fabrics grabbed from the drawer - those lists of materials to bring to the workshop are frustratingly open to a wide range of interpretation. By now I'm getting used to the challenge and surprises arising from never having brought quite the right thing.
So rather than put a nice neat narrow ribbon round my "baseball" to finish it off, I'm going to recycle bits of it as greeting cards -- some day.However the overlapping areas of fabric, and the idea of interchange (like in central asian felt rugs) did inspire me, so I used the same fabrics and took this idea forward in another exercise. There was enough fabric for four circles - which became six moons rising over the mountain landscape.
In my enthusiasm to finish the exercise I didn't really consider the scientific principles of the dark and light sides of the moon, but that adds a certain enigma (perhaps). It's pinned up on the wall, for now, to torment me. The "japanese feel" of the piece ties in with the current large project, the quilt using japanese fabric.
The quilting was done in long wavy lines, with the straight-stitch foot on the machine. Easier than free-motion quilting, in many ways: fewer options for which direction to go next; machine takes care of stitch length; ease of moving fabric through the machine. It makes a nice dense (or even stiff) fabric. I also like the way the lines make for "flow."
This is so interesting. I'm glad you're not fazed by your moons being slightly out of phase. (Sorry, couldn't resist the pun!). I do like the quilting too. I've been toying with the idea of doing denser quilting and between this and Lisa Call's work, I can see how effective something so simple can be.
ReplyDeleteEver the technician, I need to know, where the lines coming in from the corners meet up with the lines running through the center - do you stop and tie off, or do you turn, stitch along the line and turn again to head back the other way?
Sheila, I turn - trying to get as few loose ends as possible. The narrow shape is good for that, but if the piece gets too long it's hard to turn. I'm experimenting with stitching backward for short stretches - it's not always predictable.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I often tie off just because I've never been comfortable with the look of double stitching, and particularly with my inability to be exact. I know what you mean about the reverse stitching - done that too!
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