It doesn’t have a label and hasn’t been on a proper photoshoot but the quitting, facing and sleeve are done and it made a debut appearance at my recent in person lecture trunk show “Motivation and Method”. The irony is not lost on me that the topic spurred motivating me to get a bunch of tops turned into completed quilts
After adding some breathing room to the sides with pieced neutrals and pink to tie in the center, the claustrophobic sense that I’d been feeling dissipated and I could get on with matchstick in a matching gray Aurifil 2620 Forty3
There’s plenty in the design to occupy the eye so adding texture was the goal and a chance to finally use this modern technique on something larger than a mini seemed about time.
There were many- many renditions of the layout as you can see here on the design wall during construction Parts were sideways and upside down from where they ended which isn’t all that unusual in my process. Because there's no hard right or wrong in my opinion when it comes to a composition it tends to feel unresolved when so many great choices were left behind in and that can lead to a future quilt making it a win win.
Started in a zoom workshop with Maria Shell, I thought the top was completed June 2021 and even made my top-nine liked posts for the year. There was more to just letting it percolate and I'm so thankful that I allowed myself time to identify what was nagging me and resolve it with the border. The unfinished top that is pinned to the door in the picture is from an in person workshop with her in 2018 still feels narrow and awkward so it's going to keep brewing until I come up with a solution.
Here’s a look at a couple layouts that I considered:
On the topic of delays, my 10 year Blogiversary came and went March 16th without fanfare so I'm going to document it here and now, whoop whoop for double digits. If you're wondering about the other finishes I'll be sharing the ones not already blogged about in no particular oder.
Thanks for stopping by - Happy Stitching, Karen
My goodness Karen! This quilt is absolutely fabulous! I am sure it's my favorite of all the quilts you've shared as I've been following you and your work. I love the color, the graphicness, and the weird symmetry. You totally nailed it with that neutral pieced border. And matchstick quilting too?! Wow. Did you do that on a domestic? I already can't wait to hear that "Contraption" has been accepted into QuiltCon 2023, and that I'll get to see it hanging there when I attend. It's fabulous that you're accomplishing so much this year. I've been quite the opposite. Now that a pandemic isn't keeping me at home, I'm gone more and have less time in my sewing room. I've always thought I need to slow quiltmaking "production," and I'm being very successful at it. So much so that I can't think of a single quilt I can even enter into QuiltCon! It would be sad not to have a quilt in a show that I'll attend, but such may be the case. Besides, it's a difficult process for me to come up with original quilt designs. But you now... you have a gift! Keep up the great work! "Contraption" is simply spectacular!
ReplyDeleteoh this is just stunning, Karen, and your addition of the pieced 'border' is really lovely. Yay for one more quilt finish and congrats on your 10 year blogiversray!
ReplyDeleteYour work always floors me. Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 10 years of blogging, Karen! And I love this quilt! Perfect name for it too ...
ReplyDeletegorgeous! so impressed with your patience (we will not call it procrastination) and letting things percolate to get it "right"!
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