Sunday, February 21, 2010

February Journal Quilt


My February journal quilt is about waiting for that pale yellow sun to turn warm so the nascent bits of green on the tree limbs can burst forth as leaves. It is also about the fact that the roots are waiting as much as the branches are and that they are the equal, in size and complexity, unseen, to the tree that is seen. My journal quilting theme for the year is trees and birds, so there is a tiny bird also waiting.

The mistiness across the earth line is melting snow which is made of thinly stretched batting that is lightly glued in place; naturally you can't get the texture in a photo. The old gold colored line is a matting of dry grass such as cover the lawn beyond my patio. The trees were fussy cut and then fused but they were quite a light print [same print, two different trees, one upside down for roots]. So I enhanced them with marker, brown for the roots and black for tree, plus I added lime green marker to the edges of the branches. The sun was actually white so I quilted it and its rays in pearl gray and then added yellow marker lightly to suggest the weak winter sun.

The bird part of my theme has so far been minimal, simply a fused bird from a commercial fabric. Birds may come into their own during the summer months. This journal piece has no border, it was finished "pillowcase" style and ironed so the edges would be fairly sharp. I've long wanted to do a monthly journal quilt project and am enjoying this.

4 comments :

Nellie's Needles said...

Wonderful piece and amazing effects. The one visual effect I didn't get until I read your description was the surface of snow. In my opinion your idea would be strengthened if there were a line of quilting on top of the snow. That would ground your bird as well.

June Calender said...

Very good thought, Nellie. It's finished but I could do a line of hand quilting without sewing through the back. I think I'll do it, I know from your blog that you are a much more accomplished art quilter than I am.

Ladydy5 aka: Diane Yates said...

Beautiful June, absolutely beautiful. Now I hate to put mine on my blog.

Kass said...

Thanks for the details on how you accomplished this quilt. I'm still working on my puffy flower quilt wall-hanging and I'm sure I will need more advise when I get to the point of putting it together.