On my design wall – Moonrise and Aurora – 2018.01.24

My ‘Moonrise’ art quilt is all quilted, and I’m loving the texture the quilting has added.  I quilted the sky with straight horizontal lines about 1/4″ apart.  The moon and clouds have horizontal quilting 3/4″ apart.

I realized that when I fused the strips for the sky and water, I started from the top and overlapped each strip over the one above it.  When I smooth the quilt by running my hand over it in a downward direction, I disturb the raw edges where the strips overlap.  If I use this technique again, I will try to remember to overlap each strip over the one below it.  With this quilt, I will try to remember to smooth it with an upward motion.

So it’s all complete, except for the finishing – the facings, sleeve and label.  But that will get done later, because I’ve started working on a new art quilt.  (It’s a good thing I have a two-sided design wall!)

While working on ‘Moonrise’ I found myself getting bored with the color palette, and started wondering whether I could have come up with a more colorful combination for the SAQA exhibit Dusk to Dawn theme.  Somehow, that made me think of Northern Lights, also known as Aurora.

I remembered that I have a collection of gradated fabrics in a variety of colors – some of which would be perfect for Northern Lights.  I was so excited about this idea that I got out of bed to find the fabrics!  The next thing you know, there’s a new project on my design wall!

Yesterday morning, I cut strips of several of the gradated fabrics and arranged them on some dark blue background fabrics.  I drew a very rough sketch, but I’m not going to make a full-size pattern.  I’m just going to piece it together in an improv way, and see what happens.  Here’s my initial fabric selection and placement.

I initially cut the strips 3 inches wide, then I cut some of those in half to add more interest to the design.  And I added in a few different fabrics to increase the streaky vertical look.  Here’s what it looks like this morning.  I’m loving these colors – it’s looking even better than I imagined it would!

I’m hoping to get the piecing all finished today.   I have to work quickly, because both of these art quilts need to be ready for submission by January 31.

Thanks for stopping by.  Today, I’m linking up with these blogs – click on the links below, where you’ll find many other creative and inspirational projects.