‘Ticking All the Boxes’ – 2024.06.30

I started working on this art quilt in November 2023. I posted this photo on Instagram and said ‘Starting a new project. Not sure exactly where this is going but I like it a lot. Do you say ‘tick box’ or ‘check box’?’ Then I didn’t post anything more because I intended it for an exhibit that prefers entries to be not posted.

The focus of this art quilt was how lists with tick boxes make me ridiculously happy. And if my lists include bright colours, I’m even happier. It wasn’t accepted into the show I originally intended it for, but it was accepted into National Juried Show (NJS) at Quilt Canada 2024. And it won an award!

This is my artist statement: Lists with tick boxes make me ridiculously happy, and marking a task as completed gives me a very satisfied feeling. By using tick boxes, I can see the status of each item at a glance –  completed (ticked), deferred (arrow), deleted (x) or still to be done (blank). 

Here is some information about how I made it. I spent a lot of time arranging and rearranging the boxes on my design wall, perfecting the placement of the shapes and the choice of fabrics. The tilted boxes enhance the happy, playful look. I used check marks in several different shapes and sizes, and of course I used brightly colored fabrics.

My to-do lists are typically hand-written with hand-drawn boxes next to each item. I wanted the squares to look hand-drawn, so I was careful to make the black outlines slightly asymmetrical.

I constructed this piece in several layers.

1. Background – I pieced the 4 panels of color. The overall size is approximately 27 x 30 inches.
2. Small squares – each is 4.5 inches square, fused to the background and outlined with thin black bias tape.
3. Large squares – I drew some boxes and enlarged them to 6.5 inches square. I cut out black fabric strips and fused them to the edges of the colored squares. To prevent the seams in the background from showing through, I backed each square with Thermore ultra-thin batting, then fused the black edges to the background.
4. Quilting – I machine quilted an overall tilted grid with mint green thread.
5. Tick marks and other symbols – I fused each tick mark/symbol to black felt, then positioned the symbols on top of the squares and stitched around the thin black felt outline through all the layers.

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Here is the finished quilt.

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Thanks for stopping by.

I’m linking up with Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday.

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