Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Alice's Surprise Quilt--Surprise in the Midst of Drought



The day after our last “reveal,” I went for an early morning walk, despite a prediction of a high of 100+° that day.  Much to my astonishment, just a block from our house I spied some lavender and purple wild flowers growing in a patch of dead weeds in the corner vacant lot.  How could they be blooming in the middle of the worst drought we have suffered in Texas in many decades? They were a total surprise!  Then I had an ah-ha moment:  I’d take a photo and base my Surprise quilt on those brave little wild flowers.  I used an enlargement of one of these pictures as a guide for composition and fabric colors. 

In constructing my Surprise quilt, I used the following materials and techniques:  For the background, I used a piece of hand-painted fabric, left over from another quilt, for the brownish yellow background.  The techniques I used included:  fusing raw-edge appliqués (the weeds); fusing and zig-zag stitching appliqués (the flowers and leaves); couching two different yarns for more weeds, to give dimension to the quilt; and beading for still more dimension (flower stamens). I hand-quilted with a running embroidery stitch, randomly placed, choosing a brown and an olive green embroidery floss.  The quilt is bound and backed with a multi-colored batik in the same colors as the dead weeds and the flowers’ leaves. 



9 comments:

  1. What a great job you have done creating a 3D feel with this piece. It looks like each stalk could be removed one by one. The yarns and stitching add to the texture perfectly. What a pleasure to find such beauty in the midst of the drought. Your binding is the perfect "frame" for your picture. Lovely to look at!!

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  2. Alice, I know that lovely feeling to see little flower in the most out of the way places. And you did a beautiful job capturing the wild and the treat. Your explanation made me feel as if I were right there creating the piece with you. Super.

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  3. Alice, I just adore this quilt! How wonderful that you found such quiet beauty during such a horrible drought and "honored" it. I think too often we ignore these little "smiles"
    that nature has gifted us with.

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  4. Alice, I love the look AND the textures AND the thought behind your beautiful "surprise" quilt. What a joy to think about those persistent little flowers in the midst of drought - a lesson to us all. sherron

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  5. Beautiful Alice! I love this composition and especially like the couched, free flowing leaves. This is one of my favorites of all your quilts!

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  6. Alice, you got a beautiful, realistic layered look with your techniques. I love those brave little flowers and how you used batik leaf fabric for your leaves!

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  7. A wonderful story! And a wonderful quilt. Love the mixture of brown and green grasses.
    NM

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  8. Nature is indeed full of surprises, Alice! I love your story and your quilt!

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  9. Lovely! And living here in Cenral Texas as well, I certainly agree that it is truly a Surprise to see beautiful life amid the brown.

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