Monday, July 15, 2013

Kathy's Cell(ular) Structure

 
Note to Kathy and all other Mavens:  I volunteered to combine both of Kathy's posts from Reveal Day, the day she was having so much trouble posting and had to resort to posting two, Parts One and Two.  What follows is the combination of Parts One and Two!
 

Dear Mavens,  I'm so sorry for the late posting.   Actually I had all my text and pictures in our blog and ready to go, and then..... computer went haywire and I lost all my blog data.  "Shreck" (my MacBook) has finally settled down so I'm starting all over again with my Cell story.

I knew right away what I wanted to do with this great challenge word, and was able to use Google Image Search to find some wonderful images of cell structures.  I was looking for organic images and found spectacular "candidates" for our challenge, including the image below:



Another great image came to me through an e-mail advertisement for organic fruits and vegetables, and I fell in love with the image below that was described as "cellular microstructures."   I was definitely on my way with these images  :-D  


For the base of my 12 x 12, I used beautiful hand-dyed silk fabric that I brought down from Anchorage,  AK.   The fab was especially appealing because it had striations in it, some cellular "irregularities," and most likely some small amounts of bleach discharge here and there.

The screen has the same honeycomb images as the computer images I found Google Image Search.   I gathered all my screen paints, selected a luscious metallic silver, pulled the paint through the screen, and Voila !   My organic microstructure cell !

When it the screen paint was dry to the touch, I layered the silk fabric (that had been screened) onto batting, and then free-motion quilted around all the screened lines using Madeira "Jewel" metallic thread.  When the quilting was complete, I attached the silk onto black suede fabric using several layers of zig-zag stitching.  (The Madeira "Jewel" metallic thread was used for both free-motion work and the zig-zag stitching.)

To complete this quilt and enclose all the raw edges, I used one of my favorite binding techniques... the keyhole binding that I've used on so many of my other MM challenge pieces.  After attaching my label, and small hanging sleeve, I signed my name to the front of the quilt and began the process of trying to get my posting done.

6 comments:

  1. Your piece is beautiful and informative. What happens happens. Worry not.

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    1. Thanks Linda ! Shreck and I have an Apple Doctor appointment on Friday. Gotta get this little guy up and running again !

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  2. Hi Kathy, Thanks for the explanation of your lovely piece, but I am so sorry about the computer problems. I love the colors in this little quilt and really, really like the metallic thread. It gives the quilt vitality and makes the blue look so serene. I've got a stash of metallic thread that I've never used - you've inspired me. Nice job!

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  3. I love this piece - I am really partial to thread work and would love to learn the keyhole binding - great interpretation of the theme

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  4. Beautiful, artful interpretation of the real thing. One day I am going to try my hand with silk.

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  5. Kathy, it is all "fixed" now. The only problem is--you likely lost some comments when I combined the two posts. Sorry about that!
    The quilt is lovely and I always love hearing about it when people are able to use fabric that one has had on hand for awhile!

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