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Design Process for "New Growth"
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Because my quilts are created using
"decide-as-you-sew" techniques, I am constantly arranging and
re-arranging the pieces as the design develops.
The pictures below show some of the possibilities I played with while
working on "New Growth." I try to be wide-open to any
idea, and often find that the most unlikely combinations of fabric and
shape are the most compelling.
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Someone gave me the red quarter-circle of
fabric, and it was pinned to my wall for months, just because I liked it.
Eventually, I bordered it with an arc of Drunkard's Path squares,
overlapping each one to make a curving line.
The tadpole-shape, with a crazy-quilt head and a tail of bright scraps,
was also on my wall for a long time. When I oriented it towards the
quarter-circle, I began to see an egg and a sperm, at the moment of
conception.
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I've been experimenting with design-as-you-go spirals for
several years, so I found myself laying out a complicated spiral that
reached out towards the egg.
For continuity, I outlined the spiral with a saw-tooth edge of Drunkard's
Path squares.
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I put a brightly glowing, hand-dyed background fabric behind the
spiral.
But the rearranged saw-tooth line looked stiff and bumpy now, no longer
pleasing to the eye.
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I added a band of mottled scarlet, but the line
reaching between the two panels now seemed straight and ungraceful.
The spiral reaching downward seemed promising however, as it gave another line
of motion.
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The spiral form now seems firmly rooted, like a fern
unfurling towards the light. A sinuous curve connects the spiral and the
egg. The design was looking good to me.
Thinking of conception and renewal, I decide to name this piece
"New Growth". |
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| The horizontal panel of the intensely scarlet hand-dyed
fabric is splashed with mottled gold that echoes the shape of the
tad-pole tail. This seems to be the final design. |
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| But I can't stop fiddling, even now, and so I experiment with
breaking the line connecting the egg and the "fern" .This looks
good too.
I'll leave it on the wall for now, and see what develops. |
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You may be wondering about my unlikely use of
Drunkard's Path squares in this design. I didn't choose this old quilt
block for its traditional connotations, but for its sense of motion and
vitality.
I had a pile of unused Drunkard's Path squares that I
had hand-sewn years ago--I used to sew one square each time I
waited for my very slow internet service to connect.
In my impromptu, decide-as-you-sew fashion, I tried out these squares
in my design, and found that they were very versatile when folded or
overlapped. |
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| The luminous and evocative
background fabrics were hand-dyed by my friend Jane Wilde and her daughter
Kate Fish.
For ordering information, e-mail Wilde Fish Fabrics at curly_girl007@hotmail.com or
call or fax 250-624-6552
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Kristin's Quilts |
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