Buttons&Beads&Quilts!

In this fourth blog on constructing an art quilt,(#2 was divided into two posts) you can see that I’ve progressed to the point of adding on the buttons and some of the larger beads. For me, this can be quite an exciting time, as I make my choices from the wealth of treasures I have in the plastic shoe boxes surrounding the chair in front of the TV where I sew. This phase is more about narrowing down what is sewn on the quilt surface, as I usually have enough embellishments that I’ve pulled from my studio to make several quilts. Shades and subtle variations are important to me, at this point, so not just any blue will do to partner with the blues in the wings of the butterfly appliques that I have chosen. Just the right shade of contrasting embroidery floss is needed to sew the shank-less buttons on so that there will be a small splash of color on the surface of many of the flat buttons. I probably labor over details like that way more than I need to, but those countless little touches are what people frequently comment on, so i continue to be a bit obsessive about the colors and textures that I choose.

This 7th piece in the series, “Circles of Black. Circles of White” is dedicated to one of my favorite insects, butterflies. To honor them, I chose a wide range of iron-on appliques, pins, and printed fabric motifs of these delightful creatures. I happened to have a large number of blue “flutterbys”, and since yellow and blue are complementary colors on the color wheel, I was pleased with how they worked out in this composition. As i work, I move each new addition that is being considered around on the surface, searching for the ideal location, until intuitively, that piece feels “right” and balanced for me with what is already there. Each decision is made one at a time, so I’ll place 5-6 buttons of the same kind at different places on the surface, sew them down, each in turn, and then go on to the next style or color of button. Some nights, it’s the yellow button night, while other times, I work just with gold ones. Throughout this series, black and white buttons were used a lot, which should be no surprise, given the title of the sries.

The background fabric for this quilt has a yellow background with irregular blocks bounded in dark orange. To play off of this design element, I sewed vertical lines of small orange buttons attached with red thread. While the thread is not the same color as the background, against the orange buttons, its color seems to blend. I like using woven ribbons as vertical stripes, so these harlequin black and white ribbons play off the striped circles. You can see another repeat by the use of blue in the flat buttons in the middle and lower left harmonizing with the blue in the various butterfly wings. In this photo, you can also see how the black and white circle buttons repeat the same shape and color as the big, black and white fabric circles.

In this last photo, you can see how the piece has progressed after a few nights of sewing, The yellow discs in the meddle of the piece were originally sewn on with red sewing thread. Not being particularly subtle myself, I decided that I wanted more “oomph:, so I went over the thread with thicker, red embroidery floss. The big black and white circle in the upper right now has some small orange buttons sewn near th edge, while yellow-orange pearls have been sewn on to the black circle next to that big one of which I just wrote. Some of the background has started to be filled in with dark orange beads going around the edge of yellow, irregular squares. Eventually, a large portion of the surface will be covered with seed beads, just as in my other quilts.

Now begins the “Time of the Long Sew”, meaning that not much will appear to change very quickly. With most of the large buttons and beads in place, the seed beads begin to be sewn on, and 1 sq. in, or 2.5 cm = 1 hour’s work. I’ll post detail shots as time goes on and there seems to be some area that has emerged that has changed significantly, so do keep checking in to see how this piece progresses. Meanwhile, I’m rather pleased to say that I now have enough photographs in the queue for two and a half month’s worth of blogs, as the ideas just seem to keep coming. Stay tuned!

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You can see more of my art work on my web site at www.fiberfantasies.com

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