Journal Quilt Unveiling, and More

Now that the International Quilt Market has begun in Houston, TX, I can now unveil my accepted journal quilt that is on display there today through next Sunday at the end of the Quilt Festival. We were not to publish photos until after the show opened. It will be traveling to at least 2 more shows- Chicago in the spring, and Long Beach CA next summer.

This is "Iris on the Rocks", a quilt that I did not intend to even make. It decided for me. The theme for the exhibition is The Elements- Earth, Water, Air, Fire- My usual flowers, pinks and blues don't scream elements. The rocky center panel uses one of my rocks and mud fabrics from this summer's experimentation. I stitched tucks for texture into the rock fabric, then couched various yarns on for even more texture. The yarns make me think of the lichens, mosses, and small plants that struggle to grow in the harsh rocky environment. Assorted glass beads, tiny gemstone chips, metallic lady bug and butterflies add more interest to the rocky scene. The green sections are from a fabric painted at my second workshop this summer, and the rocky texture is what I played with during my first one. The composition seemed to just fall into place, and ended up being nearly the right size for the exhibit, so I entered it, and it was accepted.
 
Here is a detail, showing part of the rocky section, showing some of the beading and stitching detail.

The area cut out of the piece where the Iris photo was placed, is what I used to begin making my newest small piece. I had another copy of the photo I used in this quilt that is a little smaller, so I used it in the small piece, too.

  This is the little piece that came from the leftovers from the journal quilt. I added similar beads, stone chips, and creatures tucked in and around the fibers, like the original. Some of the yarns were hand stitched on this one, while all on the journal are machine couched. This little quilt is 6.5"x8.5" in size. I used two different yarns to bind the edges of this for a different effect. The upper left corner section of black is quilted with my usual vine pattern, and there are beads added there, too. This little quilt is now SOLD.