Off my design wall – red bench finished – 2013.05.27

I’ve finished the red bench quilt.  I’m going to call it ‘Solitude’.

Anne is still working on her abstracted version.  Below you can see the original photo, my finished quilt, and an in-progress shot of Anne’s abstract piece.  Anne has used very similar colors, but with geometric shapes.  Her red bench fabric is flipped back in the photo below, until she finishes some stitching that will be under it.  She may add some more squares of dark green fabric before layering and quilting it, and trimming it to the final size of 18 x 45 inches.

I’m really happy with my quilting – especially the leaf pattern on the bushes with a green variegated thread – and also the wood-grain quilting I did on the back of the bench.   I was unhappy with the sky – it wasn’t lying flat and was resisting my efforts to steam it into submission.  So I fused some clouds onto the sky, and I think it made a huge improvement to the whole piece.  It added to the impression of distance.

To square and trim the quilt, I again used the Pellon 1-inch grid.  This time I folded the Pellon to 18 x 45 inches – the required finished size of the quilt.  I then trimmed the quilt  1/2 inch larger on all sides.  I finished it with a facing, and I know from previous experience that these dimensions will give me the exact finished size I want, using a 1/4 inch seam allowance and rolling the front of the quilt about 1/8 inch to the back.

I used a combination of my facing technique and  this one by Victoria at The Silly Boodilly.  I prefer Victoria’s single-layer facing with the edge turned under 1/4 inch, and her corner treatment.  Some day, I’ll re-write my technique – for now I just refer to both.

I’ve submitted my quilt to the Fibre Art Network ‘Abstracted’ exhibit.  Anne will be entering her piece in a couple of days.  In June, I’m going to visit Anne, so we can see our two pieces side by side.