Sunday, January 15, 2017

Jane Hartfield's Boundaries Quilt

Broken Boundaries
Jane Hartfield’s Boundaries Quilt



All of our lives we are impacted by boundaries. Our parents set boundaries for us from birth. Next we find new boundaries set by our teachers. And so it goes for the rest of our life. Many of these boundaries are set to keep us safe, but each one is colored by the beliefs and experiences of our authority figures. I believe that many boundaries in our lives can be broken as we grow and mature.

My quilt is a riff on a larger piece I have made recently. I call it “Breaking Down Barriers”. The larger piece is more complex and developed, but I will include a picture of it to show my inspiration. This quilt is 40 x 40” and is whole cloth.


I had put so much thought into this one that I couldn’t do something that was entirely new.


The techniques I used in the small quilt were dyeing and over dyeing a fat quarter. Then I screened a basketweave design that I had made using flour paste resist. Next I stamped on fence posts with Dy-Na-Flo paint. Next I added foil using BoNash bonding powder. Then I started quilting. I used metallic thread to show the flow through the “fences”. The piece had distorted some during the quilting, so I fused a piece of Timtex to the back and then fused a binding on with scraps that I had trimmed off to make it 11 x 14. 

12 comments:

  1. I am speechless - it is absolutely wonderful.

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  2. Wonderful interpretation. Building upon a body of previous work shows artistic maturity. Keep up the good work!

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  3. Your quilt and mine, very different, but both take the notion of the importance of breaking down barriers (or allowing them to remain "crumbled"!) I love that you took a just-finished quilt and did a smaller version of it for our group!

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  4. Very interesting. I love both of your pieces. So much movement and texture.
    Wonderful pieces.

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  5. I love the motion in the small piece - it seems like some barriers are toppled and new ones are put in place - life is growth. Great job.

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  6. Love both pieces but especially like the simplicity of the smaller one. You have achieved so much texture in it also. Gorgeous!!

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  7. Lots of sparkle!! Great use of different techniques.

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  8. As always, Jane great work. Love the surface techniques.

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  9. Jane, I first took a look at your larger boundary quilt and was blown away by it's beauty and message! I love that you are so FREE in your use of surface design techniques. Nothing stops you! Wonderful!

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  10. A wonderful representation of our challenge word. I think even if someone did not know what the word was, and asked to describe your quilt, boundaries would certainly come to mind. Love it, Jane!

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  11. your piece proves there are no boundaries in mixing so many techniques and they bring unity. the design is great, but for me the colors anchor it. great piece.

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  12. Great interpretation of our theme; and as many of the other MMs have mentioned, super cool you were able to produce this piece based on another of your quilts :-D Hmmmm.... From the very first look I had of your challenge quilt, I thought I noticed folded hands .... or perhaps wings.... that were quilted into the background. Perhaps just my imagination, but to me, those images enhanced your lovely piece.

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