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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Does She Sing?

I am still working on defining my style. I love bold colors. I love large scale prints. I almost always toss in a scrap or two, even on the most unscrappy quilt. I love old patterns and new, artsy statements. I like combining colors to get that resonance, the feeling that the quilt shines and is wonderful. I like a challenge, to try new color combinations, a style I haven't tackled before, something that will be original. I also like making useful quilts that are not exciting, just comforting. This little wall hanging came to me via my sister. She picked up 6 old blocks from a bin at a thrift store. They are hand pieced and look to be 30's fabrics. Not reproductions. They are probably dirty and are also stained. They colors looked dingy and frankly, ugly. They had remnants of yarn ties. I challenged myself to put them together in a manner that made them sing. I have not read Mary Mashuta's color theories, but I did learn some color theory from her identical twin, Roberta Horton. Maybe it is intrinsic at this point. I auditioned a lot of colors before finding the old fabric and some mustardy neutrals that did the trick. The little sashing with faded print was part of a woven piece that stated, "made in Persia." Granted, that could be printed anytime and doesn't guarantee authenticity, but my research showed that real, old fabric from Persia was likely made before 1935. I'll add that little label, appliqued to the front.What do you think, does she sing to you?

1 comment:

  1. the muted colors of the sashing do make the bright stars pop. It will be pretty on the wall. I know how you feel about defining your style. I love so many different kinds of quilts, I could never arbitrarily settle on one type. I think the solution for me is just to keep making the quilts I want to make, and someday be able to look back and say, aha! That's what my style is!

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