Sunday, February 22, 2015

First Museum Challenge

I am working on my first Vision Museum Challenge. The challenge was to create a 10" X 14" abstract piece. I wasn't a hundred percent sure what abstract was except it usually deals with shapes or something that represents something but doesn't look exactly like it. I know that abstract art is by definition "art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures." So with this definition in mind I collected several fat quarter pieces and a fat quarter is a piece of fabric that measures 18" X 22" and a half yard of fabric so about 18" X 42". I then laid my fabrics out one on top of the other and I took a photo of them.
From this photo I then edited the photo to a black and white photo. And by changing the photo to black and white I could see that I had a good range of dark, medium and light choices. So even though I had a large variety of colors the tones of the fabric  blended well together.
I then began to layout several different designs as to how I wanted to do my piece. I knew that I was going to do some hand appliqueing for this piece since it was such a small piece and applique is something I don't have a lot of experience with. 

 Once I had a general idea of what I wanted I then sewed the small squares together I cut squares out 1- 1/2" X 1-1/2" both in colored fabric and in black fabric. I then folded a 1/4"  under on all four sides and pressed the sides under and then sewed each colored square onto the black squares so just two sides of the black fabric showed.
I then sewed the strips onto the brown background fabric  and added the squares in where I wanted them. I used a blanket stitch to add the strips and squares to my background fabric.

I then quilted with a monofiliment thread. Will finish the sleeve, label and binding soon. And it will go on display at the Vision Museum in April.

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