Art Quilt: A Journey.

So here's the deal: In a Pamela Allen workshop, I had this major creative breakthrough. For a year, I'd been cranking out heart doodles whenever I was on the phone, at a meeting, etc... But only on paper. Lots and lots of heart doodles.

One of my favorite heart doodle came out during a two hour long meeting involving lots of Roberts Rules and beaurocratic bwah, bwah bwah.


So, then I get to this workshop with Pamela, the free spirit wonder teacher, and she has us make a background. No problem. Then she asks us to imagine what that background wants on it. Well, duh!!!! It wants a heart! One that leaps and jumps and sings! One that's free of red tape meetings! One that can be made with noone yodelling 'mo-oooooo-oooom!' Out came this:


After the workshop, through very little control on my part, the quilt ended up on an album cover for local musician, Dee Dee Tibbits. It wasn't even stitched down. Yikes! I added a little stitching, they photographed it, then I hung it on my bedroom wall. It hangs where I can see it with a fresh eye each morning. Slowly, the design flaws began to worm their way into my brain. It clearly wasn't done, but I didn't know what to fix.

Then I took it to Crit Group (if you don't have one, GET one) and they pointed out the odd triangle of greyed lavender background. Oh yeah! Now I see. God Bless the Crit Group! I found some more of the turquois background and decided to add more collage, breaking up that nasty triangle. At the PAQA retreat a few weeks ago, I finally had time to work it out when the genius Wendy Butler Burns stopped at my table and suggested adding a close, but not matching fabric to the turqouis. Shazam! I immediately whipped out a pile of mixed prints and collaged this:

See the difference? It's much better now, I think. Then yesterday, I got jiggy with perle cotton bobbin drawing and now the quilt is just a little past done. I washed it to promote raggediness, squared that sucker up and there you have it. One Art Quilt. Ready for binding and a rod pocket.