Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Alice's Quilt--Neighboring Colors




Inspired by a class I took in March at Quilting Adventures with quilt artist Sheila Hampton-Cooper, I decided as soon as I came home from New Braunfels to construct my Neighbor quilt using the techniques I learned in her class.  Sheila starts her own quilts with no end-result in mind.  She simply starts composing elements that will be included in the quilt and builds from there.

Sheila placed great emphasis on colors and their values, and though she has no vision of what will eventually emerge, she does choose her color palette in advance.  And so I decided to use analogous colors ranging from blue/green through red/violet.  I had some beautiful ombre fabrics that encompassed that range, and so I began there.  Analogous colors fit perfectly with our theme for this time—color neighbors!

My quilt began with the two curving sections using those ombre fabrics, and I built onto them with other fabrics.  The quilt is totally pieced, for once (for me!) no fusing.

I machine quilted much of the quilt, but on the ombre sections, I decided to use embroidery floss and a simple running stitch.  The quilt is “gallery wrapped,” using an artist’s canvas that measures 11”x14”.








16 comments:

  1. Ohhhh, thank you for this update! So looking forward to seeing your quilt after reading about it!

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  2. Ohhhhh.... Stunning ! I love it ! Your quilt is so tranquil, I think I could stare at it for hours and just let time pass me by. Your narrative was clear, and enthusiastic, and the amount of detail was perfect. Alice, you stepped way out with this one, and I think you achieved 100% success. Way to go ! ! !

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  3. What wonderful colors together. I really like your running stitches.

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  4. Alice. Wonderfully free composition!
    Love your colors!

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  5. You and Sara must have had a great class w Sheila. I long to do quilts like this but never know where to start. Your curved piecing is perfect. Also love the hand and machine stitching. Good color study. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Actually Sara was at QA but took a different class. Carolyn and I were in Sheila's class together. Remember the fun of Katie PM's class?

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  6. How beautiful!! I just love working with colors - they are such fun. The combination of the curved piecing and straight stitching are nice complements to each other.
    Well done.

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  7. Such wonderful movement in this quilt. The colors are so peaceful and the curves work so well together. I think that must have been a very inspiring class.

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  8. Nice colors! What a good idea to try. Maybe next TIME.

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  9. Love the diagonal undulating curves and the bits here and there of hand stitching. Your concept of analogous color neighbors is just perfect.

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  10. Allright Alice - now THIS is analogous! I just love the color range in this one. Great job. Send it to Sheila!

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    1. I will send it to her when I get home. I cannot figure out how to do that from my phone. Glad you approve! It!sca better quilt than my monochromatic blue one. That's for sure!

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  11. Great Alice, you used all my favorite colors and I love the free flowing form, maybe someday I will be able to do it.

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  12. This is beautiful Alice. Color neighbors would never have entered my head. But as you well know, abstract is not in my DNA but I so admire those of you that can make it work. The quilting is awesome.

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  13. Alice you have certainly absorbed your QA lessons well - worth whatever pain it was to get there. I am impressed at how well you were able to piece the abstract to just the right size. The combination of machine and hand stitches is just perfect here.

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    1. Sara, I made the quilt larger than needed,and then I cut it down after quilting to the correct size. I sewed fabric to all four sides to wrap around the frame, which was an inverted artist's canvas.I trimmed off the batting to the edges so as not to have to wrap the batting around the 4 sides. Hope this makes senses!

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