BLOG 270

BLOG 270

Recently, I came across these samples which were an attempt at free-form applique using my usual colourful palette. One background is just a piece of fabric. The other is made up of squares of pre-fused fabric cut with a rotary cutter and stuck together on point. Looking at the two of them side by side, I cannot see the virtue in constructing a small scale background when there are such lovely atmospheric fabrics available to buy.

                                             Free form applique

 I am trying to think back to when I started them, to decide what I was I trying to achieve. I suppose I have always admired the pen and wash technique used in art (a wash is a transparent layer of colour and it is over-drawn using a black pen) and maybe this is what I was trying to do. I quilted the background with a free motion stitch and sketched roughly around the appliques with black thread.

                                                            Black thread

                                                         Stitch detail

The other thing I have been making progress on this week is the re-claiming of the background fabric from the aborted calendar quilt. Each square included a central sky fabric.

                                                  Original square

This was easy enough to peel away from the fused surrounded because I don’t press my fabrics heavily until I am sure I have got them right.

                             Removing the centre

 Reclaiming the surrounding squares was next, discarding those that had been stitched on.

 

                                            Reclaiming squares

 What was unusable was thrown into the bin!

                                     Discarding

 I have a vague idea that I would like to use these squares to create elongated backgrounds for floral strips which I will eventually sell. This means that all the hard work which I put into the original quilt concept has not been wasted!

                                                   Painterly backgrounds

Oh and I had time to do a jigsaw! It reminds me why I like the fragmented nature of my present work; I could never walk past a jigsaw!!

                                                                 Jigsaw