Friday 21 February 2014

TGIFF! - Purplelicious

Purplelicious enjoys Winterlude on the Rideau Canal
Joy. That's what I feel when I look at this quilt and I've been looking at it a lot since I put it up a few days ago.

I just love purple, although it's not a colour I've been successful in decorating with in the past. Lesson learned: Do not paint a small room, which has little natural light and dark wood accents, eggplant purple -- it feels like it's always night. BUT, you can make a quilt with those colours and hang it on a light neutral wall. Much better. :)

This quilt has been a journey, hasn't it? We talked about it here and here and here.

I'm excited about this piece because it feels like all the colour, design and composition reading I've been doing over the past couple of years has come to fruition in something that didn't feel forced and that reflects me.




New to me in this piece - wonky edges and improv quilting. Okay, two wonky edges; let's not go crazy here. The sides are parallel.

The improv quilting was a challenge. I looked closely at Jean Wells' work for ideas. I didn't have the appetite for changing threads to match each purple fabric so I picked sections of similar toned purples to use either a warm purple (Aurifil #1240) or cool purple (Aurifil #2581). Very happy with that decision and something I'll do again. I also used Aurifil #5009 and #2277 for the oranges. I left the whites and greys unquilted.


So what do I mean by improv quilting? I wanted a bit of an organic, irregular look to the quilting to complement the improv piecing.


Some wobbly lines, wonky square spirals, loose aztec motifs and general wonky circuit board-like motifs filled in the purple areas to give it texture and invite the viewer to come closer to see where the quilting goes. I've spent so much time trying to make my quilting motifs look perfect (not that it is ever achieved), that it felt very odd to intentionally make it look wonky. Does that make sense?


Purplelicious finishes at 24" by 36"-ish. :)

Isn't it fun to see where playing with fabric takes you?

I'm linking up with my favourite party TGIFF!, which is over at Amy's Crafty Shenanigans. Come join us!

20 comments:

  1. LOVE purple!! Beautiful quilt! Congrats on the finish :)

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  2. The quilting looks great! What a great finish, and how nice to be able to see it on your wall everyday!

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  3. Looks great. I was thinking it's like full size quilt and only today realized it's wall hanging :-) Thumbs up for improv!

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  4. This is wonderful :) Your quilting is perfect for it - well done!!

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  5. Absolutely yummy purplelicious!

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  6. So gorgeous and the purple is a great colour, M-R!

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  7. Such a great quilt! My daughters room was that colour while she live at home. I kid you not! It took four coats of new colour to cover. The quilting fits perfect. The splashes of orange really set it off. If you ever get a chance to enter an art quilt show, this quilt would be the one.

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  8. ooh I really like this piece. I like contrasts and the quilting seems to match so well. Great process of just playing...

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  9. Absolutely lovely! I have never considered wonky edges! You go girl!!

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  10. I love the different quilting motifs you used, thanks for sharing your process.

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  11. I love everything about this quilt! I might've said this before, but I feel it pretty strongly. Well done!

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  12. Your quilt turned out beautifully! My sewing studio is the formal living room which is Navy blue. There are a lot of windows but at night I use a lot of lights when LA quilting.
    Barb@Witsend

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  13. The finished quilt is gorgeous, your quilting really set it off. Yes! it is hard to purposely go wonky, after spending so much time trying to make things perfect, but it's ever so fun.

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  14. I love the quilting you did on this beauty! I was just there on the canal last weekend skating and picking up my son at university!

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  15. Looks fabulous.....thanks for sharing your process, so enjoyable to watch,

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  16. Well done, MR - I love the quilting - thanks for the close-ups - It really is a fun piece to look at. Bravo!

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  17. This turned out beautifully, but I'm trying to figure out how you finished the edges.... I don't see any binding.

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  18. I'm in love with this quilt!! Congrats on how beautifully it turned out!

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