Wednesday, November 02, 2005

The Why of the "Y" Quilt

Everyone wants to know why I made this quilt. So here in words and pictures is the "why" of the "Y" quilt. The "Y" quilt finished. I can't quite get the hang of the photo upload. I must be doing the exact opposite of the way I should be doing it. But we are going to do it backward because this is the fourth or fifth time I have loaded this set of photos and I am "done" with all the waiting.

To begin this epic: While walking out to the mailbox for the daily mail, I looked down at the sidewalk and noticed this stick. It was shaped like a "Y". I don't usually notice these things but I am trying to get in touch with my intuitive side so---I noticed the stick, walked past it, thought about it and turned around and picked it up. Later that same day I was cleaning my desk (aka what used to be the dining room table) and came across a picture from a children's book. All covered in Y's. I placed the stick on the picture and had one of those weird "oh my" moments.
This is the picture from the children's book. I KNOW this would have been a much better presentation in order. See all the Y's and the creation thing going on?
I drew this picture so I could visualize the mechanics of the the picture book image and then I thought about how I was going to create this out of fabric. I do like the black and white drawing quite a lot. This may just be the start of several adventures in Y quilts.

There was a fourth picture--of the little stick. It was here when I began typing and now it's disappeared. Maybe when I publish it will appear again somewhere in the text. The sweet mystery of life.

So anyway I selected fabrics for the circles and layed them out and cut away the fabric layers so I would have clear colors and not have shadows from the underneath fabrics. Then I added the "V" shaped zigzags to the circles by cutting shapes or applying shapes--gluing everything down with Crayola school glue. Then I added paint to the center circle. Once I started painting I also added color to the outside circle. Then I started quilting the surface to hold the pieces in place. I plan to add embroidered Y shapes to the whole surface like the drawing.

Yesterday I found another stick formation---an acorn top next to a straight stick and a V shaped stick---looked like oK to me. A message? Or do I need to spend more time looking UP and less looking DOWN? Everyone I have told about this latest "stick" thing just starts laughing. I may have to make an "oK" quilt next.

AuntPurl's horoscope said my month would be full of "I just don't know". Last month no shopping and this month not knowing---- but I can shop. And she suggests a vacation.

3 comments:

Deborah Boschert said...

I just adore this quilt. My favorite thing is the orange border that just almost goes all the way around the central shape. Great in progress story too. I love hearing about process.

jenclair said...

Very interesting! The process story is almost as good as the quilt. I've recently been trying to decide to do with a lot of "stuff" I hoard like this , and maybe I could use your quilt as inspiration!

Jen said...

Great quilt! thanks for sharing process. I am always interested in what others do. It's kind of fun to see that it's all a combination of serendipity and thoughtful design choices. Jen