My quilt, Tobacco Road (see Figures 1 and 2) has been juried into the Judged Show at International Quilt Festival, Houston, TX, and can be seen there October 28 - November 1, 2015. It was inspired by the book, 'Tobacco Road' by Erskine Caldwell, set in 1930's great depression. My quilt tells its own open-ended story (before the battle anyway) and bears a similar resemblance to the book only in that it asks the question - how will you survive adversity? With ineffective action and inability to cope? Or, with positive, effective action and as much grace possible under the circumstances?
For design, I was inspired by non-copyright photos I saw on the net, Japanese wood-cut and Aboriginal art. The quilt is machine pieced, 4 seams, and raw-edge appliqued. My own Eze-screens and acrylic paints created some of the flowers and the cross-sections of lung cancer. Fused fabric bits compose cross-sections of cigars and cigarettes. The design percolated and morphed in my head for about 6 months before I was down to the wire and had to "fish or cut bait". It is the first quilt top I have appliqued and quilted at the same time making it a one-step instead of a two-step operation.
Tobacco Road 21" x 53" Fig. 1
Tobacco Road Detail Fig. 2
