I meant to post this a while ago, but got distracted by other projects. This mini quilt is my entry to Fibre Art Network‘s newest boxed exhibit ‘TEXTure’. A “boxed” exhibit is designed to be loaned to quilt guilds and small venues such as libraries. Each piece must be 8 inches by 10 inches in either orientation.
This is how the exhibit organizers described the theme:
Texture is an important element of art which engages both the sense of sight and touch to create depth, evoke emotion, and add visual interest. In visual arts, texture is the surface quality of a work referring to how an object feels (the actual texture) or would feel if touched (the implied visual texture). Implied Visual texture is an illusion created on a 2-dimensional surface through techniques like brush strokes, lines, patterns etc.
As fibre artists, actual texture is one of the primary reasons we love our medium but in this challenge we would like you to also focus on implied visual texture. To make things a little more challenging each piece should include at least one element of text which supports the overall theme of the piece. There is no restriction on script or language so, if you want to use Egyptian hieroglyphs or Norse runes, feel free.
I had a lot of ideas related to text and texture, but realized that most of them would not work for such a small piece. I started looking at all of my text-themed fabrics. I considered making a text collage like the photo below on the left, but it seemed too cluttered. Then it occurred to me to make a circle quilt using the text fabrics. I selected the design on the right, which would allow me to use many of my text fabrics in a more organized composition.
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Once I finalized the layout, it came together quickly. I pieced the fabrics and used skinny black bias tape to define the circle. I fused the top to black felt and quilt a tilted grid in red thread in one direction and gold in the other. To ensure my lines are straight, use 1 inch tape as a guide. In this case, I quilted additional lines so they are just over 1/2 inch apart.
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After quilting the grid, I fused another layer of felt to the back, which hid and anchored all of the thread ends, and gave it more body. I left a tiny sliver of black felt showing at the edges, and stitched 2 rows around the outer edges.
I wasn’t sure what to call it. My sister Joan suggested a great title ‘Alphabet Soup‘.
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