Sky Color - For Project QUILTING 15.2

One of the reasons I enjoy the Project QUILTING challenges each year is that the adventures push us to think outside the box, try a technique that’s been rattling around for a while, and feel accomplished for creating and completing. This challenge brought a second appreciative reason. Everything I used to create came from my stash. Admittedly, it’s a very extensive stash, but now it’s a teeny tiny bit smaller.

A huge thank you to Kim Lapacek of Persimon Dreams and Trisha Frankland of Quilt Chicken for sponsoring Project QUILTING each season.

THE SKY

SKY COLOR is the theme this week. The assignment is to create a quilt with 10% or less of the color blue in the sky.

A. These selvages were cut from Cherrywood Hand-Dyed Fabric I saved with no intended purpose in mind.

B. Those same selvages pressed.

C. A scrap of Thermore Hobbs Quilt Batting saved from another project. The horizontal lines were added with a Pigma Micron pen.

D. Selvages stitched to backing and batting on my BERNINA B790 PLUS.

E. The sky is completed. Quilting was completed with the use of the quilt-as-you-go technique.

THE FOREGROUND

I didn't do any math but this is definately less than 10% blue in the sky. Time to work on the foreground!

A. Gathering anything green. You get a hint about the size of my stash when you see hand-dyed cheesecloth, novelty yarns, wool roving, Sari silk ribbon, crochet cotton and 1/8 inch strips of batik all in shades of green.

B. Couching fibers into hills, valleys and ground cover.

C. Adding a fence to the horizon.

D. Tree branches reaching into the colorful sky created with couched mystery fiber.

E. The teeny tiny branches have been added but still need tree branches.

Not to worry about the deadline as I have over 24 hours to finish.

FINAL TOUCHES

The larger tree branches are stitched on with more mystery fibers before removing the art quilt from the long arm. The project is squared up with rotary cutter and ruler before adding the final binding. I was so excited to find the perfect batik binding that I forgot to photograph that step.

THE FINISHED PROJECT

This art quilt titled GOODBYE BLUE SKY finished at 15-1/2 X 28 inches. If you have the perfect spot for it, find it in my Etsy Shop in the Art Quilt section.

Additional views of the completed project. I’m linked up to the challenge here.

Published by Sally Manke, Fiber Artist

Sally Manke's mission is to delight others with textile art that exemplifies her passion for joyful, creative expression through color and texture. She is a speaker, teacher, pattern designer, and fiber artist. Contact her to book a workshop or trunk show at this link. Visit her Etsy Shop at www.sallymanke.etsy

Sally is a brand Ambassador for BERNINA USA. All stitching on this project was completed on a BERNINA 790 PLUS.