I wasn’t sure about showing the full view of the quilt I made for market, but saw a couple on FB so assume it is OK to post this now.
I wanted a simple design that would showcase my fabric design and be beginning quilter friendly. Most of the colors come from the diverse value and color shifts of each colorway. There is a solid black, cobalt and red added to the mix. I love this fabric and hope it sells well at market.
After Easter in 2013, the local Dollar General marked all the Paas Egg Dye down to a nickle. I bought all that was left on the shelf to dye small amounts of wool and silk. For a $2 investment I got a LOT of dye. When I got home I took it all out of the boxes to save space and put it away for safe keeping.
On more than one occasion I have torn this house apart, my studio, weaving shelves, dye room, bathroom, any place I could stuff or stick a box. Nothing. HA! Those dyes must have gone into Holiday misfit heaven.
This morning I was cleaning off the shelf above the clothes dryer. I needed the shelf to store the feather pillow inserts I purchased for eco-dyed pillows. At the back of the shelf was the old blue granite pot I used before I got stainless dye pots. Guess where all those boxes have been hiding. The mystery is solved, and I can dye this winter with my new found wealth.
I was thrilled to get my cuts of my design, Urban Creep, in the Urban Textures Fabrics Collection from Andover Fabrics. I made a sample quilt for them to take to market. I also had to write instructions and that was not really easy. I don’t know Electric Quilt and I tried . I really tried. So the instructions are what I would use if I was giving a workshop on the quilt. It is more of a plan than an actual pattern. The fabric is so unique that many quilts out of the fabric using the plan would not look alike.
Here is a close up of one section of the quilt. The yellow and red are from the same fabric so you can see some of the color shifts and how versatile each color way can be. I used a design from Leah Day to quilt the piece with a modern motif.
I have been totally slammed this month with deadlines and daily life. Part of the reason is that I have been going to therapy 3 days a week for back problems. Each of those days was a complete waste since I would be so tired afterwards I couldn’t think about making art.
Ron has been helping create in the dye room. He is as enamored of the serendipitous results as I am. So here are some photos of our results, they have been laundered and are on the drying rack, soon ready to go to new homes. Enjoy!
Remember…right click for a larger image to see details.
JP Dawes Contemporary Artist 