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
It looks great. I loved watching this one in process as it talked to you.
ReplyDeleteConnie, even having seen this one in progress, I learned even more by reading your description above. I'm always in awe of your free spirit in art quilting.
ReplyDeleteThat one step raw applique-then-quilt is a favorite of mine as well, the one step approach allows for changes of thread color and density that allow colors to flow more subtly. Good work!
ReplyDeleteThank you for kind words, Sue Kaufman. I like your thread color and density suggestion. I plan to work this way again.
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