Presenting my Journal Page for January:
Text from back:
Year of Wonders
This month I am exploring the wonders of the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis.
When I first thought about the theme for this month – January – I was just going to have a winter scene with snow. Though snow is not a common occurrence in Southern California, we do see it on the mountains and admire it from afar. January to me is the wintriest of winter months. I guess since I have never had to live in the snow, I still have a somewhat idealized view of snow. It looks so soft in pictures, though I know from my limited exposure to it, that it’s not at all soft.
After I picked out my first choices of fabrics, I had them lying on my desk. Nearby was a piece of hand-dyed fabric that my friend Julia and I created. That fabric reminded me of the aurora borealis. I found a couple of sites on the web that had gorgeous pictures of the aurora borealis and that cemented the idea for the page!
I ended up using none of the original fabrics except for the hand-dyed piece. I found a graduated piece of dark blue to lighter blue with golden speckles that seemed to be just right for the sky background. I set that piece of fabric at an angle since the aurora I wanted to depict is at approximately a 45-degree angle. I used batting for the snow to give it a bit of dimensionality. The background is fused to a piece of stiff interfacing to keep the page from being too floppy.
The buttons, beads, and sequins were attached after quilting. Satin stitching around all the edges of the page completes the construction process.
20 comments:
I'm so glad you cut into that beautiful hand-dyed fabric for your quilt--I know that's sometimes hard to do. The snow is wonderful, too, and the tree buttons and snow flakes and ... yes, i really do ove your Aurora Borealis
Your Aurora Borealis is breathtaking! That fabric is perfect for the lights and I love the snow and snowflakes. I'm able to think well of snow better in the summer than right now. It was gorgeous when it first fell, but I'm ready for it to be gone now with all the tracks and discolorations from partial melting, not to mention the mud.
Beautiful. Love the trees and snowflakes and the stitching across the Lights.
Breathtaking is right! Love the threadplay stitching--the whole thing is magical and ethereal. Beautiful job, Suze!
this is awesome. the hand-dyed fabric is so perfect. love your quilting and all the beads and snowflakes.
This quilt is gorgeous. I love the movement and the 3D.
How did you make the trees?
I love your Northern Lights! The hand-dyed is perfect and the stitching makes me feel the electricity that I know is in the air. Beautiful job!
What a beautiful quilt, your threadwork and embellishment are just right. The colors of your hand dyes are perfect for the piece, too. It sets a mood that wouldn't be there with more intense colors. Jen
The trees are buttons...they originally had shanks, but stuck up too much...so I tried the gluing a threaded shirt button to the backside and pulling the thread thru technique...only the buttons kept twisting and with trees I thought that looked kinda funky..so I pried the shirt buttons back off (fun job! not...)and just glued the little rascals down...the Little Dipper constellation is made of beads, and the snowflakes are sequins...they look better in person than in the scan...they don't stand out quite as much as the shadowing from the scan shows...
Me,too, I like the threadplay on the aurora, it gives it just the right movement. Sweet trees.
I like the simplicity of your page. And the colors are so relaxing.
Beautiful!
I've seen the Northern Lights just once. You've done a magnificient job Suze!
What a happy piece! I love that you took 'winter scene' to another level! Very pretty
I hope you weren't completely suzified by the time you finished this beautiful quilt!
I love this :-) We saw the aurora borealis on our honeymoon, and it was amazing. Your quilt evokes that wonder!
Your aurora really does look "right." We see them here in Vermont and you've captured them well. And snow actually CAN be soft, really. If the temperature is cold enough, the moisture of the flakes is minimal and you can literally pick up a handful and blow it like feathers. I love snow like that - easy to shovel. ;o)
That is a beautiful journal quilt. I really hoppe to see the Borealis in my lifetime.... Such a spectacle. You really captured it IMO!
What a lovely image you created, it gave me a happy and pieceful feeling the moment I saw it. You've done a great job with creating light as well.
Post a Comment