Author Archives: planting
i don’t recall what initially moved me to make it only that i began experimenting with different dyeing techniques, using cold water dyes on unbleached cotton i tie dyed, moved on to shibori and then over dyeing and then stenciling and discharging. after i had a pretty good collection of luscious colors, i began tearing them into strips of various widths and lengths,sewing those together cutting them again at random then laying them out on the floor in my bedroom. i didn’t have any design or theme or pattern in mind i was just captivated by the color and feel of these fabrics and it became a puzzle to work through,one of my favorite pastimes.
then the stitching began. i started with stitching an outline around the figures before i started the little circles.
i don’t recall how long it took but looking at it now it seems it had to have taken a hundred years! all those tiny little stitches! again it wasn’t planned but done on the fly, starting anywhere, sticking my needle through and stitching outward in a spiral until i got tired of it moving onto another spot from which to begin another spiral until they all “met up” with each other. there are a couple of spots where i didn’t spiral probably when i thought i’d had enough but i didn’t do very much of that i always returned to the spiral.
i went on and did a series of quilts with these fabrics but this one remains my favorite and always hangs somewhere in the house.
i don’t recall what initially moved me to make it only that i began experimenting with different dyeing techniques, using cold water dyes on unbleached cotton i tie dyed, moved on to shibori and then over dyeing and then stenciling and discharging. after i had a pretty good collection of luscious colors, i began tearing them into strips of various widths and lengths,sewing those together cutting them again at random then laying them out on the floor in my bedroom. i didn’t have any design or theme or pattern in mind i was just captivated by the color and feel of these fabrics and it became a puzzle to work through,one of my favorite pastimes.
then the stitching began. i started with stitching an outline around the figures before i started the little circles.
i don’t recall how long it took but looking at it now it seems it had to have taken a hundred years! all those tiny little stitches! again it wasn’t planned but done on the fly, starting anywhere, sticking my needle through and stitching outward in a spiral until i got tired of it moving onto another spot from which to begin another spiral until they all “met up” with each other. there are a couple of spots where i didn’t spiral probably when i thought i’d had enough but i didn’t do very much of that i always returned to the spiral.
i went on and did a series of quilts with these fabrics but this one remains my favorite and always hangs somewhere in the house.
you can do this with anything that is not pleasing to you, say like, having to go to work which i really didn’t want to do today but here i am making myself a cup of tea, reading and about to eat some flourless chocolate walnut cookies.
shutting up now.
you can do this with anything that is not pleasing to you, say like, having to go to work which i really didn’t want to do today but here i am making myself a cup of tea, reading and about to eat some flourless chocolate walnut cookies.
shutting up now.
you can do this with anything that is not pleasing to you, say like, having to go to work which i really didn’t want to do today but here i am making myself a cup of tea, reading and about to eat some flourless chocolate walnut cookies.
shutting up now.









