Sara's Canyon

This was a somewhat difficult challenge for me. I am somewhat Canyon deprived having not really had a chance to view a canyon in person (until my trip this past weekend to Sedonaa, AZ). I knew I needed to get my quilt done before that trip.I looked up the definition of canyon - " a gorge or ravine, esp in North America, usually formed by the down-cutting of a river in a dry area where there is insufficient rainfall to erode the sides of the valley"  and thought of the action of a river cutting into its environment and reshaping it over time and getting deeper and wider over time. I  portray this time sequence. I started off with hand running stitches in white on a dark brown solid background going through the background and the batting. I then added more definition with rowns of couched yarns and cord . I added a backing and quilted it with straight  stitches using  heavy pink cotton. 

Judy W's "Canyon Colors & Curves"

This reversible quilt emerged from an experiment with two separate construction methods meant to depict the geological strata and colors captured in canyon photos.  Both sides were created individually and then placed back to back before quilting and satin stitching the edge.  (The quilt was photographed on a black background to highlight the colors.)

One side is composed of narrow batik fabric strips in colors reminiscent of sunset lit canyon walls.  I used a rust-dyed cotton fabric as the base thinking I’d leave some of it showing through ~ which didn’t happen.  Using clear mono-filament top and bobbin thread, I zigzag stitched horizontal lines  to anchor the fabric.  More  ‘strata’  was added with straight stitched variegated thread.  Some strips were still not fully anchored so I resorted to machine needle felting a layer of beige tulle over the surface.  The result helped but was less than wonderful so I  peeled off most of the tulle after the quilt was finished.

The opposing side features a lovely variegated 100%  wool roving (looks better in person), thinly arranged across a 14” square of black felt which serves as both base and batting due to its eighth inch thickness.  Following the lines of the roving, I machine needle felted a 13” square area.  I layered both sides back to back, then machine stitched a 12” circle on the fabric side.

Transfer product and photographic inspiration.

 A small portable projector  enabled me to enlarge a photo of Ammonite fossils which I then transferred to Sulky Heat-Away Clear Film with a fabric marker.  After positioning the film overlay on top of the felt with the images centered within the circle, I then free-motion quilted the Ammonites from both sides of the quilt to emphasize the outline, then removed the excess film.  I hand picked the film residue off the wool with tweezers instead of ironing it as the product was intended.  Since I’d never used this film before I felt safer avoiding any meltdown mishaps... especially on wool.

Although not entirely pleased with this piece, I’m always happy to learn what works and what doesn’t from one challenge to the next.  Best of all, I finally put some mileage on my felting machine!