I finished the oil spill journal quilt today. Because in my first posting about this quilt, I didn't really discuss the construction of it, I will now. I have had the center portion of the quilt for a long time, a lovely piece of fabric I knew would come in handy some day. It seemed better than any other in my stash to represent the deceptive beauty of the oil spill, all the vivid colors which are lovely but which represent something so deadly. The bird fabric, too, I've had for some time and used once in a banner in honor of a young man who died tragically young. I had other bird prints, but these looked as if they could be sea birds. The fish fabric was a no-brainer; I was glad that I found this one with a suitably-sober, black background. I "fussy cut" the Mother Earth out of a larger piece, and I drew with ink the crying eyes. The huge teardrop is out of proportion to the eyes on Mother Earth, but I wanted to make the teardrop prominent and thus made it large. The "veil"--a raggedly-cut piece of sheer fabric, was a last-minute inspiration. As soon as I tried it out, both the quilt and the poem came together. Today I have quilted this journal quilt very simply and minimally. I used "invisible" thread in the hope that it would blend in to all the different colors in this small quilt. In the bobbin I used a variagated thread, and this shows up nicely on the back of the quilt--which back used the same black fish fabric as the front borders.
I finished the oil spill journal quilt today. Because in my first posting about this quilt, I didn't really discuss the construction of it, I will now. I have had the center portion of the quilt for a long time, a lovely piece of fabric I knew would come in handy some day. It seemed better than any other in my stash to represent the deceptive beauty of the oil spill, all the vivid colors which are lovely but which represent something so deadly. The bird fabric, too, I've had for some time and used once in a banner in honor of a young man who died tragically young. I had other bird prints, but these looked as if they could be sea birds. The fish fabric was a no-brainer; I was glad that I found this one with a suitably-sober, black background. I "fussy cut" the Mother Earth out of a larger piece, and I drew with ink the crying eyes. The huge teardrop is out of proportion to the eyes on Mother Earth, but I wanted to make the teardrop prominent and thus made it large. The "veil"--a raggedly-cut piece of sheer fabric, was a last-minute inspiration. As soon as I tried it out, both the quilt and the poem came together. Today I have quilted this journal quilt very simply and minimally. I used "invisible" thread in the hope that it would blend in to all the different colors in this small quilt. In the bobbin I used a variagated thread, and this shows up nicely on the back of the quilt--which back used the same black fish fabric as the front borders. 
Kudos for finishing the quilt. You know how happy that makes me. I still cannot bear to deal with the subject it is so disheartening and I am glad you did! Very good job. I love all the fabrics.
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ReplyDeletewonderful rendition, as I must have told you before. The oil spill and its ramifications are very well demonstrated on these great journal quilts. Thanks.
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