Second Quarter Theme: Light in the Darkness
There were so many options with this theme and sub theme. I chose the sub theme this time around, so I guess ideas had been bubbling away for a while; however ideas are one thing and realisation is quite another and the deadline seemed to come around extra quick!
I decided for this one to play with the idea of lighting from within and without. This piece is supposed to represent a high rise building, reflecting the setting sun and the skyline of shadowy more distant buildings and then having some floors of the building lit from within as people labour away.
The quilting is supposed to show the individual windows and the two tone different reflection and dimensions of the building as the light bends.
As I built the piece from the top down I was quite liking the effect of the colour variations in the green yellow and ochre striped section and will store that idea away for another quilt I think.
I used lots of shot cottons for the shimmer and it may be hard to tell from the photos but I put sections different ways round to hopefully enhance that effect. I had quite a few large scraps which I was able to use, which was satisfying.
It was extraordinarily hard to keep the grid straight. I sewed one way and then the other top to bottom and bottom to top and similarly left to right/ right left but it still seemed to pull the stripes a little, but I told myself that light can bend on glass in a similar way...?
I debated about the green section in the top third because I made it intentionally curved up at the right hand end as part of a curved reflection and nearly unpicked it and think I perhaps should have, but it's all part of the learning process.
I bound it skinnily (if that's a word) with a tiny squared fabric, also used in the piece and the whole measures approximately 15 x 24" or 39 x 60.5cm
I'm super keen to see how the other group members have interpreted the theme and you can do that at our group blog here, where you'll also find links to people's individual blogs with more information about each piece.
