Glow Continued...

I always find it extremely difficult to name my quilts...   It somehow was much easier to name our children. Elizabeth was named after my mom and Jopie after Willem's dad!   Easy, we did not even have to think (or disagree) about it...

But it is so different with my quilts as the title somehow has to reflect the core of the quilt...   When I had to complete the entry form for the National Quilt Festival for this quilt, I was almost at panic stations as I could not think of anything apt...   Then one day as I was looking at the quilt in progress on the design wall, it came to me that it was such deep, rich jewel colours...   Immediately the image of the Kristall Gallerie in  Swakopmund which we visited last year while on holiday in Namibia, came to my mind...   It was one of the most amazing places I have ever visited - all the glittering crystals on display...   So, I thought GLOW might be a good title for this quilt and after a few days, it felt right.   Short and sweet!

Last time I told you how I battled to create harmony between the different elements of Glow.   I prepared the top middle section in a much paler shade to complement the lighter purples of the tiles at the bottom of the side panels.   By doing that, I balanced the colours...    The next challenge was to incorporate the painted and heat treated Lutradur pieces in this section.   I reshaped it to fit the space and stitched it down into position with the machine.   My  main objective was to create lots of texture to this section as it would form the focal point of the quilt.   I needle punched lilac handspun merino wool along the inside of the border which I fused around the edge.   I stitched burnt pieces of organza and tulle to the Lutradur section to create texture.    Couching of recycled silk yarns and adding hand made fabric beads created more texture.   I added a mixture of metal, glass and wooden beads as well as sequins to fill spaces.    Burning of the Lutradur caused open spaces through which the background fabric was visible.    These spaces were filled with hand embroidery stitches - seed, fly, cross, French knots and running stitches.    The spaces between the needle punched wool were filled with various beads in similar shades to the wool.    

Glow - Embellished Lutradur section

The next step was to make long beads which I placed around the border section - I used similar fabrics to those used for the tiles.    I decided to wrap old gold embroidery thread around the beads to make it more interesting - it was quite difficult as I had to use pliers to get the needle through all the layers....    I machine quilted the border section, but somehow it did not look right....    After a good sleep, I realized I could use the same embroidery stitches which I used to fill the spaces on the Lutradur section and it somehow did the trick.    I sealed the raw edge around the curve with cord made from string - 10 metres in total made for this quilt.   This top section was quilted separately and attached to the quilt after the main body of the quilt was quilted!

Glow - Embellishing completed with fabric beads sewn into position

The next step was to bead all the tiles.   As the top section was heavily embellished, I had to create texture to the side panels of the quilt to once more create balance.    A combination of wooden, metal and glass beads were used for the 14 tiles.    As I scrutinized the work in progress one day, it came to me that the beading on the tiles looked like brooches....   I was very happy as it reflected the title of the quilt...   I was very happy with the effect of the beading as I felt it had to be very subtle - at a distance the beading only ha a hint of a shimmer, almost receding into the space.   Exactly the mood I was trying to create...

Detail of beading on some of the tiles...

Creating Glow was really a challenge and it took me on a wonderful road of discovery as I had to delve very deep...    Next time I'll share how all the different elements came together....

Glow

These past few weeks I have been thinking a lot about the creative process as I'm working through some administrative stuff with others.   Ideas for certain quilts are relatively easy to apply and execute, but other concepts can be such a complex journey as it continually develops...    One goes along within the process, waiting for inspiration for the next step - nothing can rush it....!    Patience is one of the most important qualities needed ...

I will share my journey making Glow with some images so that you can understand how I managed to combine such varied elements.....

More than 3 years ago, our little art quilt group Transitions experimented with painting fabric on gelatin moulds and some time after with paper folding and cutting techniques.    It was great fun and opened various creative possibilities....

In September 2011, I started cutting patterns from 10cm x 10cm  folded pieces of paper.    Some looked good, others awful - I had no idea what I would do with it!    I also kept the pieces of fabric which I painted on the gelatin moulds for something special and thought I could maybe use it for this paper cut patterns - it was all greens and purples, so I had a colour scheme....     At this stage it was only a concept, making a quilt from this was only a distant thought...     Eventually I decided to prepare 14 tiles from these designs, cutting two similar designs from the same piece of fabric.   A vague idea started to form - I thought that these tiles could form side panels alongside an interesting centre panel.    Repeating the colours would provide some symmetry and balance... The purple fabrics used for the tiles were mostly blue purple tones and I decided to use a reddish purple for the centre panel.    I painted a piece of fabric for this panel and pinned everything to the design wall....    In the meantime I found pieces of Lutradur which I painted and burnt with a soldering iron some time before, also in the same colour range and thought it was a match made in heaven....   It also went up on the design wall but somehow nothing gelled...!    I looked at it every day for months and did not know where to go with this...   It came to me one day in December that the centre panel (a solid piece) looked too flat  - I decided to cover the entire panel with 2 1/2cm x 2 1/2cm squares, all in the reddish purple colour range in cottons, silks, taffeta etc.   These small squares transformed the entire mood of the piece and I felt the first stirrings of excitement....

Glow in progress - first image taken in 2011.
   14 tiles on the sides, centre panel covered with small squares.  
Painted Lutradur pieces  pinned onto it....  
A long way to go...

But I was stuck again and did not know what the next step would be...    In the meantime I decided that the centre panel was not wide enough and added another 3 rows to the width which brought better balance to the piece.     It stayed on the design wall for almost a year before I actually started stitching.  

My initial idea was to use raw edge applique to secure the edges of the motifs on the tiles, but somehow it did not really give the effect which I was hoping for.  I then experimented with couching perle yarns onto the raw edges which looked worse as it was difficult to navigate around the designs...   So, I turned to the trusted technique of machine applique which added definition to the designs.   As the tiles were rather structured, the neatness of the machine applique technique seemed to complement the designs...    Again all the pieces went up onto the design wall waiting for inspiration for the next step - I knew it was time to stitch the centre panel and wanted to make a feature of it, but had no idea how to do it...   On our way home from holiday in January this year, it suddenly came to me to machine embroider each little square of the centre panel.  It created texture and changed the mood of the panel as it popped the squares.   

                         

                                     A sideways view of the machine embroidered centre panel.

My next problem was that there was no unity between the different sections - I had to find a way to bring the 3 panels together as each was standing on its own....    I realized that I had to repeat some elements in different places to bring the design together...  I thought a long strip across the top of the quilt would hold the 3 sections together...   I battled for a week before I was happy with the colours and design!   I used a long paper cut pattern to decorate this strip and used a reddish purple fabric as background for the patterned section to complement the reddish purples of the centre panel.   The patterned section of this strip was also machine appliqued .    Somehow the quilt was now in a T-shape which I did not particularly like.  The centre panel was still a concern as I felt that no other design element really complemented it...   The idea of stitching the Lutradur pieces to the centre panel did not gel either...

Glow taking shape with strip across the top, initially in green which was later changed to purple which looked softer...

Up to this stage, this quilt was more on the design wall than under the sewing machine as I battled to get the balance right.     As I played with different options to decorate the top strip, I realized by adding small rectangles around the patterned section, would complement the squares of the centre panel. I did not like the T-shape and added a piece of fabric to the top middle section, breaking the straight line at the top by placing the piece higher than the edge.   This seemed to work - this section would become the focal point of the quilt and I had all sorts of ideas to "work" this section.   I changed the bottom line of this piece to a rounded shape which I immediately liked and discharged the purple fabric to a much lighter shade.   I needed to bring the lighter purples of the tiles at the bottom of the side panels to the top section of the quilt to create balance by use of colour.   I fused a border in different fabrics around the rounded edge to prepare a base for a special feature...    

Progress at last - the changed shape of the top section of the quilt.

Only at this point I felt that the combination of these different elements could work together - embellishing the piece would transform it...    I was really excited as I felt that I really climbed Kilimanjaro...    I cut paper circles and pinned it to the design wall, contemplating bits and pieces hanging down the sides.... 

Next time more about Glow....

Willa - A Tribute

The past two months have been incredibly busy and I had no extra time to write this blog....   I sometimes think that I'm getting slower or my work schedule is more intense...    Normally I make one quilt for the biennial National Quilt Festival, but this year I decided to make two quilts.   O dear, working in tandem on both quilts was very stressful and not recommended.    It was as if these two quilts consumed every aspect of my life and I lived like a hermit, not going anywhere...   Again the intense concentration and working like a robot, no pleasure actually....    Just the race against the clock, utterly exhausting...

My focus for the exhibition was on a piece which I started cutting in September 2011, but only started stitching in January this year...   But I want to tell you about the other quilt today.

I made my first protea quilt in 1994, another in 2002 and decided to make my final protea quilt this year.   The idea for this quilt came to me one day and I just had to make it...   As it is always difficult for me to title my work, I decided to dedicate this quilt to my mom-in-law who tragically died 10 years ago.   She loved proteas and indigenous plants and taught me to be appreciative of our abundant wild flowers.   I put the last stitch into the quilt 10 years to the day that she was taken from us - a rather emotional experience...

I started playing with little squares about 18 months ago and thought it could be an interesting background for a still life styled quilt.    As ideas for quilts evolves, I decided to combine squares and triangles for the background.    The triangle section would be in lighter shades of neutrals than the square section which would form the border section.   I used commercially printed cottons and combined it with silk fabric.   I prepared patterns for the proteas from my own photographs and started cutting the flowers and leaves and painted some shading onto it with fabric paint.   I also cut a copper pot and polished it with a copper Markal oil paint stick - it gives such wonderful results.    I wanted to add some 3-D flowers to the arrangement and decided to do Protea Cynaroides (Giant) as it lends itself to 3-D work.   I used silk ribbon to embroider the inner flowers and the rest of the flowers and leaves were stitched using the raw edge applique technique with certain sections machine embroidered to add extra colour and definition.   Every triangle and square on the background section was individually stitched using the free motion method - a variety of motifs as the inspiration came each day...   The result was this lovely textured background section (which I continuously wanted to stroke....)    Any way, the real challenge was the border section...  There was an immense amount of cutting and painting on the leaves, not to mention the amount of stitching...    I used variegated threads to stitch detail onto the squares and triangles which was a perfect choice.

Corner Section 

Protea Cynaroides with detail of copper pot

Willa - A Tribute
Won 2nd Prize Freestyle Masters Category at 2013 National Quilt Festival in Bloemfontein.

For now I'm done with proteas and it is time to let the subject go...    I've had this passion for realistically themed quilts for such a long time, but somehow the urge to make them is fading....    The world of freestyle/art quilts are so enticing and exciting, so next time I'll tell you of that other quilt that I made for NQF 2013......!

Passion for the Creative Process...

I am slowly catching my breath and touching down on mother earth after a marathon quilting session, hence the silence....  

We all make quilts for different reasons.    Some quilters get pleasure by stroking fabric, some working on a huge stash of UFO's, others by making as many quilts as possible and then suckers like me, who have this crazy passion to push the boundaries all the time...

The creative process can be very lonely as one often battle against ideas not working, fatigue and fast approaching deadlines.... When does patience become stubbornness not to give up?    Two words with such different meanings, yet so close in a way...    During the past two months, I again realized how passionate I am about the creative process.    It is an emotion which I cannot really describe, it is very spiritual and takes me on a journey of intense focus and discovery...    The amazing thing is that while I'm in this creative mode, concepts and ideas just flow and I am the privileged one to execute all of this...    It is extremely exciting and the deeper I'm drawn into a piece, the more I switch into an autopilot mode where I can work very long hours, make do with little sleep and work with intense concentration...    It makes me feel so alive...   When it is done, I instinctively know it is finished...  

Working to deadlines provide me with lots of thinking time about what, why and how I do things, the processes which I follow etc...    It is like solitary confinement, just me and my thoughts.    This time around I again realized how difficult it is to estimate "production" time for a creative piece.   It is fairly easy to calculate how long it will take to make a traditional style quilt top.    Not so easy with creative pieces as one has no pattern and no instructions...   Finding your own path, often stumbling as not all ideas work which can be very frustrating and wasteful of precious time...    A successful piece will embrace all the different design elements in harmonious unity like all the music instruments in an orchestra - nothing out of sync...    It sometimes is a long journey to find that harmonious unity in a piece...    Lots of patience and time are needed to do creative pieces as it is a process, one cannot rush it as it develops over time.  

This piece below was pinned onto my design wall for about 14 months before I stitched it....    It just came to me one day how to stitch it and I am so glad that I did not rush into it as I was so pleased with the outcome - completely different to what I initially envisaged...  

Part of a quilt which I will share at a later stage....

As my latest work is for a competition, I cannot share it yet.   I will gladly do so in July....  

Enjoy the creative process....    It is so special...