WIP News Anchor

As if I needed to say "screw you" to my last post, I went and made an art quilt tonight last night this past week.  This quilt is not great by any means and the technique just plain sucks but it really needed to be done.  I was so focused and it felt so good to do it.  It was a release, like something I really needed to get out of me.  It took a total of about two hours to do as much as you see pictured.

I realize that I need to just keep going and make as many quilts as possible in order to improve.  I need to practice both my technique with cutting straight lines and sewing quarter inch seems as well as expressing myself in non-traditional ways with this new medium.  There's nothing like pumping out tons of crappy work to move one towards something worthwhile.

I was inspired to do the drawing after watching this clip about an overweight news anchor who was harassed by an anonymous viewer about her weight.  I didn't intend to make a quilt... I just grabbed my black paper and oil pastels and did a quick gesture drawing of her face as I was watching the video.  I have not been drawing at all so it's not my best work but, again, it's necessary to do the bad drawings in order to get to the good ones.

For whatever reason, I decided to sew the paper onto the red fabric.  And then I grabbed some black scraps, sewed them together and sewed the red onto that.  I didn't press or measure a single thing for this whole piece.

I threw together a quilt sandwich - top, batting, backing - and pinned it in a few places with regular safety pins.  I knew this wasn't the correct way to do it but nothing I'd done so far was correct so I just kept on going.  I can't have (or don't have, I'm not sure) a quilting foot to do free-motion quilting so I had to use my regular sewing machine foot.  It was hard, but doable.  I need to find or get a quilting foot before I try anything too difficult or important though.

After quilting the drawing and the black thread down, I put the red thread down and started quilting the flower pattern out from it.  I didn't have a plan beyond the flower pattern (which I'd done on a quick sample piece just prior) but I just kept on going and going and eventually the whole thing was quilted.  It doesn't lie flat because it wasn't pinned properly but I like my quilting pattern.

A closeup of the thread quilted onto the top piece in the center of the flower

You can see the pattern a little better on the back.  It's difficult to photograph black on black.  This is the best I got.  The backing is just plain felt. I don't think it's a traditional backing material but I really liked it.

I started putting a binding on the edges today.  I think I'm going to fill it with stuffing so it's really puffy and odd.  I don't really know what I'm doing but I don't think it matters.

I started a new art quilt today as well.  It's from an old, stained, men's, button down, white shirt  and scraps. I'm not sure if I like it.  I think it might need some paint or dye.  Or something.  I don't know.  But I need to keep producing and practicing.  Practice makes progress - as they say in my daughter's school.