by Sandra | April 2nd, 2010
Jason and I want to thank everyone who participated in World Autism Awareness Day yesterday by wearing blue and sending supporting comments and messages.
Speaking of Jason…..
It is time for an update on his Pumpkin Quilt. This center outer border is more intricate, so things are moving at a slower pace. I won’t tell you how #$@&%^$# long it took me to find a fabric that had all the qualities I needed to make the apple a success. Above is the overall shot of the quilt to date. All of the branches are complete and I am moving on to the leaves etc. in the border design.
Some of the “images of interest” are going to be apples tucked into the frame in various places. Apples, IMO, are one of the hardest things to do with ONE piece of fabric and NO paint. It would be easy peasy for me to just paint the darn thing and then applique it to the surface, but I want to achieve this with fabric. There is no challenge for me in painting, but there is a huge technical and artistic challenge in achieving the same result by using fabric.
I went through EVERY red in my stash trying to find a piece that had lots of contrast, the right hue (98% too pink, 1.9% too orange). The Goldilocks version of “just right” was a shock. It is an uuuuuugly piece of fabric. I kept ignoring it in my process of elimination and in the back of my head I was thinking, “what possessed me to buy that?”. Finally it was the only piece left and lo and behold? It was the perfect fabric.
I even tried to make a Golden Delicious and a Fuji apple to avoid this piece of fabric, but noooo, they wouldn’t work in that position of the quilt due to the colors. So I resigned myself to trying the uuuuugly fabric. I was dumbstruck when the first test apple from this fabric blended in beautifully and had that painted (representational) look I was after.
Just think how this is all going to come together once I add the detail work. Oh yes.
I wish all of you who celebrate, a wonderful Easter weekend and I have to get busy stuffing plastic eggs with candy and prizes for our annual Easter Egg hunt. Who ever finds the Golden Egg gets bragging rights for the year. It is a BIG deal with the kids. LOL
There’s NO paint or pencil or any other emhbellishment on that apple at all?! Wow. It’s PERfect!
Easter blessings to you and yours! ME
there’s no such thing as an accident , You purchased that fabric for those apples . It turned out AMAZING ! You must have been jumping for joy when you discoverd how you could use this .
I’m not sure that I would have seen an apple in that fabric. You are a wonderful artist !!
Happy Easter to you and your family .
Happy Easter to you and your family!
I think I have some of that ugly fabric
It did make a nifty apple, didn’t it!
Kathy
Sandra,
Perfect fabric for the apples! And it IS as “ugly as a mud fence” (Texas saying). Hard to believe you didn’t paint the light on it. It’s really coming together. Bet Jason is thrilled. I can hardly wait for your mice!
Happy Easter and try not to steal the kid’s chocolate (or did you get some for yourself?) (as I munch on my chocolate bunny…).
That apple almost looks better than the bunnies which are breeding on the cupboard, and it would be better for our health!
I have had the same problem looking for strawberries …. eventuallu got some dyed for me, but even then she used very orange strawberries for models. I will still have to add the little pips, and think the red pen might come out to ripen them up a bit!
Back to an earlier comment, yes, I think we were separated at birth …. two different countries on opposite sides of a big stretch of water ….. and suspect that Boop might have been fostered out as well!
Judy B
I love your “ugly” fabric for the apple! Isn’t it wonderful when you find THE fabric in your own stash? Every time I see an update for Jason’s quilt I am even more amazed at the beauty of the it, it looks like a painting. Happy Easter to you and your family.
Sandra, I hope Jason will allow you to enter this quilt in shows; it would be certain to be a major award winner (Best of Show); it’s just amazing.
Judy you always crack me up.
I noticed the “highlight” area of the apple seemed to be really pronounced in these photos. I went back and looked a the real thing and this highlight area is not nearly so obvious in real life.
The highlight is a swath of a peachy orange color in the fabric. There is a small comma of white chalk pencil 1/4″ where I will embroider a highlight later, but that is it.
If I unfolded the whole piece of fabric you would see more pronounced contrasts in the fabric. It truly is ugly, but when cut for a smaller piece like this, it became amazing!
Another case of I need to trust my original instincts and lose the doubt.
Could you explain the choice of the dark polka dot outer fabric please ? I feel like I am looking at the pumpkin through a telescope. The apple is fantastic and until i read the comments I thought there was a dash of the white pastel, but now I understand.
Sara, this telescope effect is more subtle in real life. There is a lot of extra black fabric right now so it does look overwhelming and distorts the true size of the center. I did however want this Easter Egg view since I am making a medallion quilt and not a pictorial quilt. One of the reasons I usually don’t show a work in progress is because it never looks like it should until it is all done. When it is finished, all of these steps, fabrics,etc.. finally come together and make sense.
Sandra,
Your apple is scrumptious! I am inspired by your tenacity and determination in finding “just” the right fabric and shade for your projects. No wonder you are a world-class quilter.
Ivory Spring,
Thank you!
This stubborness can lead to frustration but in the end (always at the end) I am so glad I held out. I think the difference between success and less than great or “failure” is the ability to move through the frustration when you would rather give up and use the next best thing because it is easier.