Stupendous Stitching

My first quilt of 2012. This is an art quilt that will be a wall hanging. Rather than a hanging sleeve, this one will actually be mounted permanently (glued down to foam board, actually.)


This technique is taught by Carol Ann Waugh, and I took her Stupendous Stitching class through Craftsy.com

I said earlier that this technique is so "me" I can't believe I didn't think of it on my own. The instructor gave the following piece of advice (well something pretty similar) "If you are wondering if you should add something else, just do it!" and Kevin (to paraphrase) said "that's for the other people in the class. You should probably stop well before you think you are done." I've always had the problem in art class of adding too much, and that's what makes this so great- I can't add too much!

I created this (18" x 18") in just a weekend. It involves couching trim, using machine decorative stitches, hand embroidery (a first for me- I love French knots!), quilting, and then binding the quilt using rat-tail cording (another first).

Things to improve for next time: pay attention to contrast- 1) a section of french knots nearly blends in and 2) why did the bottom edge of the cording ruffle? I didn't do anything different there!

If you look closely, you'll see three of the trims from the last post- a blue velvet, the gold, and the pink rick rack.

I will definitely be making more- an artist works in series :)

Kevin tells me I need an artist statement, so here you go:
"In this piece the artists expresses the importance of keeping a large thread stash, while simultaneously presenting the futility of man's struggle against insanity" (Kevin came up with that last part.)