Monday, January 28, 2008

I got up this morning

rearing to go and I was in my studio before my first cup of coffee of the day (actually a 20 ounce mug) was lukewarm. I finished up yesterday with a discharged piece that was first pre-quilted with an image that has taken my fancy. I was somewhat happy with the result but wished for better control and should have used a a thickened bleach solution like, Sunlight but when the thought hit me I discovered I had none, so my next thoughts went to using freezer paper as a resist and misting diluted bleach onto the surface instead. The results: where the freezer paper remained firmly affixed I was left with a nice clean/crisp edge, in places where it lifted, there was more spreading than I liked. With the help of a dark purple fabric marker I recolored those areas and redefined the edges of the images. Here is what I finished with.
The reason I am blogging about this piece is not so much about the piece itself but rather the memory of a nightmare I once had that kept running through my head this morning as I was cropping this piece to its final size.
Long years ago when I was very new to quilt making I belonged to a rather large guild in Louisville with very talented and skilled quilt makers. As a group effort there was a quilt designed, constructed, quilted and subsequently accepted in the group category at the then upcoming AQS show. When the application was made and slide submitted, the quilt had not been squared and the binding was yet to be done. This task was left to about four of us to do with me being in charge of the squaring since at that time I lived in a complex with a club house that conveniently had a dance floor that was large enough to spread out a queen size quilt fully in order to measure, mark and cut it, squaring the corners in preparation for binding.
The night before I was to start on this task I had a nightmare wherein I was measuring, marking and cutting the piece repeatedly without being able to get it squared. Repeatedly I tried squaring it to the point that when I finished and was pleased with the results I was left with a small wall hanging size quilt. Believe me in my dream I was greatly distressed and I woke in a cold sweat, with my heart pounding so hard I thought," Oh God, I'm having a heart attack." This morning this nightmare came back to me with a humorous note of rememberance and no panic because I was having a devil of a time getting this most recent piece to square to my liking and I was tempered to wish I could be happy with a more loosey goosey look to my work.
As you can guess I did finally get it to my liking, for if I was not now happy with the piece I would still be in the studio measuring and cutting and re-cutting and yes praying that I didn't end up with a jounal page.
Rather I am taking a break from sewing on the facing and getting another cup of coffee that in all likelihood will go lukewarm as well.

1 comment:

Karoda said...

Juanita, you've got it going on with this style...I can see you in it, but yet it is so new and different from your previous works.