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Lenten forms 2

First “finished,” but second Lenten forms quilt that I’m deciding is actually done. I finished the free-motion quilting some time ago on this quilt, but as I kept looking at it on the wall it seemed as if the quilting was taking away from the overall large composition, so I took out my seam ripper and got to work.

I used several manipulations of the fabric after initial printing for this quilt. The large yellow circle was discharged using a Dharma discharge paste (that they no longer carry) activated by heat (sunlight or iron). To get the aqua lines down the center of the quilt I used a flour resist dyeing technique on only the central portion of the quilt.

flour resist applied to quilt top
turquoise dye applied over flour resist

 This is the quilt with most of the free-motion stitching done. You can see the tree or root-like free motion stitching that goes all across the one end of the quilt. This was the part that bothered me, so I ended up removing all the roots that didn’t start inside the black fabric. I love the simpler quilting and am finally calli

extra stitching to remove: parallel lines and roots to the left

Here is the finished quilt, called “Infrastructure 2” nestled into my side garden alongside my driveway and with a few others in the series.

“Infrastructure 2”
Forms of Lent quilts

See all six Lenten Forms 2016 in the Lenten Forms 1-6 post.

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Lenten forms 1

This is the first of the 16″x16″ lenten forms quilts that I finished. Finally decided it was done and fused the backing and signed it this week. The unfinished top was a favorite with my family, so I was worried I’d mess it up …. but I finally dove in, and love the outcome.

Picking good thread colors is tricky. The gold thread looked like a great color, but I ended up having to seam rip it all out and redo it with a bolder yellow. Well worth it in the end (but could have been even bolder). The low volume white fabric on the edges is very subtle, with light gray crosses, just enough texture to add interest without getting in the way.
subtle thread variations around the droplets makes for interesting close-up viewing

early morning photo shoot for the win!

The matchstick quilting on the white edges allows the subtle gray X marks to show up just a little. In the end, my stitching was fairly conservative, but I like how the piece worked out.It has a rusty, water, minimal infrastructure influence that I enjoy.

“Infrastructure 1”

See all six Lenten Forms 2016 in the Lenten Forms 1-6 post.

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dyeing and printing large and graphic fabric

As I enjoy creating larger quilts, I need larger pieces of fabric.

This year for Lent I chose to create 16×16″ quilts (bigger than the 12×12″ quilts from last year). My goal was to lean into creating and not worry about finishing anything, but to explore printing expansive fabric. (Good thing … I’m just beginning to finish some of the quilt tops!) Interwoven with this I am using collage to create quilt tops, overprinting and discharging the tops at times.

flour resist layers

I used flour resist over existing fabric and to add texture. A challenge was to get bold enough without getting too bold.

Alternatively it is always useful to have low volume fabrics with just enough texture.

Wanting even bolder designs I’ve been using a paint brush for more graphic circles – a theme I’ve been exploring as part of my “infrastructure” thinking. It is amazing how much of what we take for granted runs through pipes and wires.

Many of these fabrics are still waiting for overprinting to create some additional texture and complexity to the designs.

Overprinting and dye removal together can also add interesting texture. This fabric is showing up in a couple of the quilts I’m working on.