steps to a final

Stages for quilting an art quilt

Preparation of the final quilt top includes a careful pressing and trimming of any bad seams.

Here is the finished pieced top for the first of the Pundit pieces. I decided to use a neutral gray green instead of bright red for the head in front.

Pundit, quilt top in progress

Preparing a back for the piece was a simple matter of assembling the scraps of fabric I had from the top. A simple geometric stacking does the trick.

Pundit, quilt back in progress

Here the piece is sandwiched with the backing and the batting and basted for stability. I do this by hand with a slightly thicker thread that is easy to tear away as I start stitching. While stitching I get to know the surface of the quilt, noticing any bumps or bulges. I also plan the stitching patterns at this stage. An example of this is in the upper right corner of the top where the hand is pointing at the corner. I should have cut the fabric so that there was excess at the corner. This will have to be fixed before I stitch that area.

Pundit, quilt top sandwiched with backing and batting and basted

The beginning stages of stitching. This is the messiest stage for me. I often lose track of what I want the piece to look like because of all the loose ends.

Pundit, stitching and planning

construction zen - an exercise in precision piecing

There is something very comforting about piecing fabric together in precise angles. With the help of freezer paper templates I assembled the first of my Pundit pieces yesterday. A little spray starch, a hot iron, careful cutting and a will for perfection, the job is done. Now on to the sandwiching of the quilt layers and stitching (my favorite part). In the past I pieced my quilt tops in a haphazard and intutive way, often encountering roadblocks when I had many intersecting seams. A number of these near misses are still on my design board. This experiment in precision might change my ways. More planning, less aimless piecing. Will it take away the spontaneity? Perhaps.

Pundits - step 2

I spent most of the day yesterday creating this pattern for one of the pundit pieces. Admittedly, I chose one of the easier compositions to start with. I am determined to do this with precision piecing.  The pattern attempts to simplify that. It was a challenge to make the seam lines work so that they don't disrupt the message. We'll see how far my patience goes with those parameters. The nice thing about creating the pattern in Illustrator is I can experiment with size and construction details before I start cutting fabric. I have this paper pattern printed out on my design wall at around 46" square. I may make it smaller, this guy screams dominant, arrogant male to me. Which makes me think perhaps I need to do a dominant arrogant female too. The ones on TV are mostly blonde....

A trip to the local repair shop to pick up my trusty Bernina will get me jazzed up to begin. Today I will debut fabrics, and think about the line work that will finish it off.

pundits

I have been mulling over a series of pieces that I want to call pundits. They are inspired by all those talking heads in media who reduce the news to shouting matches and name calling. These are the roughs I have been working on (with a nod to russian constructivism). Next step, narrow these down to one and then try to figure out how to construct it.

Pundits, ©2014, Paula Kovarik

patterns patterns everywhere

Sitting here watching the election returns with the pundits trying to divine the exit poll results, I can't help but think that they are all chasing their tails. It reminds me of this pattern I saw in some street tiles in Costa Rica. Not easily discerned, the markings meander, disconnect and lock up with no apparent pattern yielding a confusing randomness. Buried within this hieroglyphic meandering is a common quilt patch called drunkards path. An apt description for these election pundits. Oh please, please, please make it come to an end soon. Let's get on to the business of fixing this government, economy and future.