8/01/2014

Four-In-Art Quilt Group: August Topic Reveal






The time has arrived for the August reveal for our group of quilters. The theme this year was Urban and the topic for this round was Contrast. I am eagerly waiting to see how the others in the group have interepretted the topic. 
I had been taking photos for a few months to see what contrast I could find in the urban environs where I traveled. 
I began thinking of contrast of shapes in buildings. A few things interested me, such as the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame with its many line forms. Ok, it might work well, but not for this round. 



Then I clicked a photo of the Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan, while driving past one day. I liked the wavy lines on the front of the building in contrast to the straight lines of the building and window frames.


I started working on this as my piece and didn't get far -- I just couldn't feel it. I realized I wanted to do something different than another building this time. 


So I went back to listing contrast ideas: colors, shapes, size, texture, building materials, and opposites like old/new, wealthy/poor, light/shadow. I looked through many of my photos from the past few years and I was drawn to texture. I chose many photos that contained sidewalks, walkways, streets and such. I thought I could print the photos after manipulating them a bit in PSE and add texture through the quilting. I decided that the photos would be small enough that I didn't have to add quilting to them. This made sense since my deadline was a little more than a day away! (Planning is the longest part of the process for me.) So which of these to work with?


 
 
 
 

I knew that in a 12" x 12" piece I could not use all of these photos. So I chose those that reflected contrasting textures and light and dark. These images would be found in an urban area along the streets, perhaps specifically on corners. That helped me along to the next phase of construction--how to join them all together, as my window of time lessened more.  

So, a city street it would be!

Right now I will reveal to you the finished piece, titled: Which Side of the Street? 


I wanted to indicate the street by showing the centerline. I sewed a narrow yellow line of fabric between two wider black textured strips of fabric. The intersection would be a plain black square. I decided that the fabric photo squares were less than 5" either way and would not need quilting. I used EQ Printeables (Regular Cotton sheets) for the prints. (The needle did leave a bit of a hole mark when sewing the street sashing to them, so quilting was, perhaps, not a wise choice.) I quilted a straight line along the outside of all the black sashings and borders.


Tomorrow I will post the construction details of the front and label for those who are interested. Leave me a comment if you would let me know what type of urban contrast pops into your mind. 
If you cannot comment on my blog, send it to: patchworkbreeze(at)gmail.com

Take a few moments to visit the other Four-in-Art Quilters in the group to see how they interpretted the topic of Urban Contrast. 

Carla @Lollyquiltz
Betty @Flickr Site
Leanne @She Can Quilt 
You are visiting Me @ Patchwork Breeze right now!


7 comments:

Anne / Springleaf Studios said...

I loved hearing about the various ideas you ad along the way. Like you I find thinking and planning often take up much of my time leaving little for execution. The texture idea was wonderful. Urban environments are full of texture. Nicely done. Look forward to hearing more. Hope you do more with the curvy vs straight lie idea too. It sounds intriguing.

Betty said...

What a wonderful interpretation, Anne! From the backing to the yellow and black (a roadway perhaps), you highlighted beautifully the real contrasts! Mine also ended up with a good bit of texture (rice paper, netting, shimmery and slick) and that part really enhances the contrast of the sidewalks! Good job!!

OPQuilt said...

Woohoo! Such a successful rendition of the contrasting cityscapes we find as we walk along streets, sometimes on the same street, and as you note--on different sides of the street. I, too, went for a photo printing for my quilt, and loved the effect. Sometimes its best to capture the actual detail in a printing process.

I also like the graphic nature of the quilt--the pop of yellow street lines against the black. Well done!

Elizabeth

Leanne said...

What a fun quilt. I am often struck by the different textures on the ground in a city, and I love that you have used that in your quilt. The yellow lines are a perfect touch to bring it all together.

Carla said...

Wow! What a great quilt! One of the best things about this challenge has been to see everyone's interpretation. You have outdone yourself with this one!!

AmandaK@whatthebobbin said...

I love the street you used to separate the pictures. I really really really want to try printing on fabric.

Rachel said...

Great contrast quilt! The different textures of the photos are great and the high contrast of yellow and black of the street really helps set them off. I'm glad you chose to go with something other than a building. Thanks for the construction info, as well. I'm interested in doing some printing on fabrics and figure the more I learn before starting, the better.