Thursday, April 1, 2010

Color Challenge


Bright colors are in my usual repertoire so it wasn't hard to come up with something bright and abstract is always fun. I wanted to convey movement and speed with the colored ribbons whipping through the quilt and around the more stationary circles.


I used one of my hand dyed fabrics for the background and then, after applying a stabilizer, spent several hours sewing a grid on it. I wanted the tactile feel of the grid and the contrast with the circles and curved ribbons without having to do that small of a grid in the quilting. I actually drew the pattern when I was bored one afternoon and appliqued it together with a matching thread zig zag. The actual quilting is simple stitch in the ditch with black thread. I did some large decorative hand stitched X's for some dark hard line contrast.



I haven't decided if I want to name this Color Movement or XOXO's. I finished this a couple of weeks ago and it is already hanging in a local quilt show along with my first challenge piece. This has been a wonderful challenge so far and I can't wait to get started on the next one!


Lisa Kay

6 comments:

  1. I love the movement in this piece. And the time spent sewing that grid was well worth it!

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  2. very cool. So, you sewed that eensy grid onto the background, and THEN put the circles and whirlygigs on top, right? Pretty cool. I'm amazed at how straight that grid is. How do you explain that?

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  3. Easy peasy...follow the foot along the last line! I've quilted a grid like this, but not quite as close. This one is about 1/4 inch. I've quilted 1/2 inch and love the look.

    Lisa Kay

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  4. You've got the bright colors down. Wow! Teach me how to sew curves?
    Susanne

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  5. Lisa, The colors made me stop scrolling. Susan H. is right the movement in this piece is wonderful. I vote for XOXO's. Jan G.

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  6. xoxo.. yes please... this is so eye-catching. Thank you for sharing your method 'operandus'... a grid first...good idea. I am so impressed with the black in the ditch and the black x's... a super piece.

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