“Carefree” Complete
My latest quilt, Carefree, is now complete, and I’m VERY happy with it!
Click any image for a larger view
I’ve heard it said that your favorite quilt is your most recent one, and that’s definitely true for me with this quilt. For me, some of the appeal is the subject: my son and two of his cousins skipping down the road on my parents’ farm. I think it captures that universal moment of cousins being playful, as well as the personal story of my own family.
I’ve really enjoyed working on this piece. It was a good reminder of the power of fabric. The people were originally just printed on the background fabric, (as is the rest of the background,) but they really came to life when I collaged fabric on top. I love the effect!
Ellen Lindner
P.S. You might enjoy scrolling back to see more of my process.
It turned out great. This was a move away from your normal pieces. How did you like working with people???? I do a lot of these type of quilts and it makes me feel like I’m playing with paper dolls! I enjoy the process of putting together the fabrics for the clothes, hair etc…………… Its a change from the usual “collage” compositions I normally work with!
From Chris in California
Very nice; but, I think the light shadow, on the hair, should be a closer color match to their hair colors.
Hi Chris,
Thanks!
I really enjoyed working this way, but that was largely because I was depicting people from the back. Which meant I could be a little loose with my accuracy. If I were doing people from the front I’d have to be much more exact and I’m not sure if I’d enjoy that process. Still, I expect this technique to show up again at some point.
It WAS like playing with paper dolls, and that was fun!
Thanks, Judy.
Your comment about the hair is interesting. I took my cues from my reference photo. Because everyone was backlit, the lightest hair pieces were white. It’s always interesting to see how much sunlight alters things. From very washed out pure white, to deep shadows that are black.
I love how you can just tell that they are skipping along together! And the fabrics you used to make such an effective piece of art. Great job and fabulous quilt!
Thanks so much, Maeve.
I’m glad the skipping has translated well. I wasn’t too sure about that.
It was a lot of fun watching you put this one together. The end result is wonderful!
Thanks, Wanda!
I love this quilt! How did you have the background printed? It’s rather large and in color to boot. I have a potential project where having part of it printed might do the trick.