Friday, February 01, 2008

A Friend of "Twelve by Twelve"

Twelve by Twelve is a group of twelve art quilters making a 12 by 12 block on the same subject. This was the "chocolate" themed work and today is the debut of all the work. I do not have a link because I didn't plan ahead.

I'm not a member of the group but I started making things when they did. So this is my humble chocolate piece. It was difficult to photograph due to the shine of the fabric used. I wanted to create in fabric the "mouth feel" of chocolate. Soft, creamy, heavy, thick and with a bit of upholstery sample-- a crispy nougat. Everything is sewn down by hand with perle cottons as I wanted it all rumpled, like poured, melted chocolate.

I added a ribbon of silk couched down to look like liquid chocolate. I'm not sure my work qualifies to be in the company of the Twelve. I will be going to their site often this weekend to look and look again at what they have created. Wow!

My Dandelion for the first of the Twelve challenges. I made this awhile ago when I was working in a series and kept making flowers using this strange polka dot background which I had purchased in three color ways. All were sold almost as soon as they came out from under the presser foot. So much for having a "body of work".

It really was "good stuff". And I stopped making them because I had used up all that strange fabric and couldn't find anymore of it. I lost my "muse". I did try to use other fabrics with dots, but it just didn't have the energy of these crazy dots. In blue, green and orange (I'm sure it came in other colors as well, I just didn't know about it). I tried painting my own fabric to look like this and that led to "other" things and I never went back to this series. I always wondered where this path would have taken me if I had had more of the strange dots. I was certainly on my way to developing a style that was instantly recognizable and readily purchased.

4 comments:

Diane Perin said...

Joanne, how fun that you are playing along with us! Your chocolate piece does have that sense of different chunks of chocolate all piled together. I like your hand stitching! And your dandelion piece makes me smile. Love those spikey leaves!

jpsam said...

Luscious texture! Very choclatey!
joan

kirsten said...

I love that other quilters are joining in with our challenges - double the fun :)
Your little piece of nougat is a brilliant inclusion!

Nikki said...

I love all the different fabrics and textures in the Chocolate piece -- such fun. The Dandelion is great. I could see why you enjoyed those crazy dots!