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2010. Machine pieced and hand quilted. 85 inches by 102 inches.
Years ago I began collecting blue-and-white fabrics from the batik indigo workshops of the Slovak and Czech Republics. I visited one workshop in Moravia and watched the making of the indigo fabric; bought fabrics while in Slovakia; had friends buy more for me when they were in Slovakia; collected other indigoes and blue-and-white fabrics that came from Indonesia, Japan, and France. Then the problem: what to do with this precious fabric? I needed to do a big bed quilt when my 20-year-old one wore out. My design inspirations were two: a photo of an antique 'Multiple Trips around the World' quilt in a 2003 House Beautiful magazine; and Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips around the World. I used my indigoes and blue-and-whites to separate the blocks. All the other fabrics in the quilt top were from my, er, collection. I omitted about a third of the color wheel (red, purple) for the most part and concentrated on blues and greens with some orange (in the form of beige and brown). I divided two-inch strips of fabrics among three bags: light, medium, and dark; and chose from them to make the two types of blocks that are in the quilt. The blocks are random, but sort of planned-random. Half the blocks have darker fabric on the edges; half have light. I quilted the two types of blocks with two different colors of thread: blue, beige. So that I could handquilt this huge quilt, I put it together in three strips and did all the quilting in my lap, using no frame or hoop. Then I put the strips together in quilt-as-you-go style. |
Detail . . .
2012. Three Rivers Quilt Show, Pittsburgh, PA. |
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