Friday, April 30, 2021

Andrea's Migration quilt


 When Cats Fly
11" x 14"
Raw edge fabric collage.

This quilt is the result of a brief email exchange that I had with Alice Baird and I am so grateful.  I mentioned to her that I was working with the migration definition of "moving from one place to another". My intention was to make something that had to do with my creative 'migration' since our first Material Mavens quilt in 2011. Alice thought of how many times she has actually moved.  This new perspective was my Ah Ha! moment as I moved from one part of town to the other in 2016.  Alice graciously gave me permission to use her 'moving' idea.  Soon after, the vision of a house flying over trees and rooftops emerged.  I wanted to make the house out of one of my favorite Kaffe fabrics using more realistic fabric colors for the background (blue sky, green trees etc.).  The house is rather small and did not showcase Kaffe the way I wanted it to, so decided to try using it as the background.  I then had the challenge of how to make such a bright, large patterned, busy fabric recede.  My original idea for just how the house would 'fly' was to put wings on either side, but as I moved ( migrated! ) with four cats, I thought it would be more fun to put the house on the back of a flying cat!  Now, as I had a flying cat, decided that my trees could be giant tulip-like flowers instead.  After all, this had become completely nonsensical, so why not?

6 comments:

  1. Even though I kinda/sorta knew what you were going to do for your quilt, I never envisioned anything as whimsical and colorful and even WILD as this! I love it! Love the house on the cat's back and the silhouettes of houses and roofs at the bottom. And you know how much I adore Kaffe Fassett's fabrics, so no wonder I am particularly fond of this quilt!

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  2. OHHHHH Andrea ! Your quilt is phenomenal ! And so intriguing ! I LOVE your Fabrics, your story line, and your explanation of how the quilt came to be. BRAVO ! ! !

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  3. Such a fun quilt. The flying cat is so whimsical. The tulip tree is perfect. The house outline is simple yet so graphic.

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  4. Well, well Andrea! This is such a departure from your normal work, but I am absolutely in love with this piece! The colors are fabulous and you have described wonderfully your creative process. I love the cat and house above the roofs of the houses and your intriguing stems and leafs. Really, really fun, beautiful, and whimsical quilt!

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  5. I could look at this for ages! The bright colors make me smile and all the whimsey of your design as well as your design process makes it such a cheerful quilt. Your composition and contrast color choices are spot on like always.

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  6. Certainly the most creative interpretation of the theme!! Love the black roof edges to define the homes and the flying cat house!!! Makes me LOL!!

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