Construction

The other day my 4-year-old grandson was looking at one of my art quilts. Then he asked, “Did you build that?” I love this wording!  “Yes, I did build that!” And what a joy it is to be a person who does construction.

He is a builder himself. He combines anything at hand: random-toys-tools-shiny objects-rope-paper-cardboard-sticks. In the summer months there may also be mud-gravel-flowers. He is a multimedia artist! 

Above is one of my newest constructions. It is called Big Table and is 30 X 30 inches. I created this for a group challenge with the theme Celebration of Color. I liked the word celebration. In addition to color, I also wanted to celebrate shapes, a range of values, and people together.

Below are detail images showing applique and also people made with markers and pastels. Applique means applying one fabric on top of another. I used fusible web to iron fabrics to a muslin cloth. I wanted to create the impression of grout lines, so I put down bright turquoise fabric first and added darker fabrics on top. When I build a piece, I am always deciding the order of the fabrics. I could have put the dark fabrics first and then added thin strips of the bright turquoise second, but I think the other order made a cleaner look. In another area I added pink fabric on top of a large area of light turquoise. The look is similar, but the construction method is slightly different. Outlines of cartoon people were stitched before I colored them in using markers and oil pastels. (Both the stitching and coloring were done after the quilt was assembled. See explanation below.)

Usually I stitch (applique) all the fabric pieces to a muslin cloth before I assemble the quilt. I make a sandwich of completed top/batting/back that makes a quilt, and then do quilt stitching as a separate step. The quilt stitching is independent of the shapes of the design and can provide a nice contrast. That is one method of construction.

For this art quilt, I did all the applique and quilt stitching as one step. The applique and quilting are accomplished with a single set of stitching. This alternate construction method gave me the desired effect. 

 How to finish the edge of the quilt? Another construction decision! For Big Table I used a pillow case method. The majority of my pieces have this type of edge. It is done before the quilt stitching. But I sometimes use a binding or a zig-zag edge. These two methods are done after the quilting is completed.

This month’s recipe is green honey pancakes:  Using a blender liquify together one small zucchini (about 2 c. chopped medium chunks), one egg, 2 t. vanilla, 3 t. honey, 1/2 c. Almond milk. Transfer to a bowl. Add 1/2 c. almond flour, 1/2 c. millet flour 1/4 c. Tapioca flour, 1/4 c. toasted shredded coconut, 1/4 t.  each salt and baking powder, 1 T. sugar, and stir. Cook on a griddle and cool. These pancakes are sweet, so even naked they make an excellent snack.