Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Friday, January 6, 2012

Rainy Day Dream Away


I'm trying to embrace the rain and gray this year instead of hating it, so this week I started a "Rainy Day" quilt by painting some cotton and cheesecloth (above).

Before reading more, you need to get in the mood by clicking on Jimi's "Rainy Day Dream Away." As I painted, that song kept popping into my head until I finally just put in on. (You know he was from this rainy part of the country.)




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVqJl-FOYIA



I got impatient waiting for the fabric to dry, so I finished it off with the blow dryer, ironed it, and then pulled out some other fabric from my stash that I thought might go with it. I ended up only using a piece of black tulle, but the pile is still on my floor.

It's a pretty pile.




I tore the painted piece into rectangles and pinned them on a piece of batting and black backing ...


... then I started sewing with silver thread in the needle and bobbin.


I started by tacking down the smaller rectangles with a zigzag stitch and leaving long silver thread tails, pulling the bobbin tails to the front for more shimmer.



Back on the design board, the piece looked washed out, so I added black tulle to the top and bottom of the center rectangle for more contrast.


This is where I am right now, and as soon as I finish this post I'll add the final quilting and do an edge treatment. And yes, it's rainy outside.




Have a colorful (if rainy) day

5 comments:

Del said...

Very evocative of a rainy day! Even the pile of fabrics has the shine of wet pavement.

The Idaho Beauty said...

Ooo I like! Looks like fog in the valleys, mountains rising above. Very ethereal and calming. I like the dark tulle added at the base of the larger rectangle, not so sure how I feel about the dark around the smaller ones, but I get your point about the washed out look. The cheesecloth draped over the large rectangle looks very drippy I realize. Looking forward to your final resolutions.

Judy Ferguson said...

Had to laugh at your pile of fabric on the floor. Looks a lot like my masterpieces. Rain or shine, it is really looking good. Keep going.

taxingwoman said...

Love your process! Here I am in sunny Western Australia, just ready to launch ino fabric painting to extend my quilting repertoire. My mom lives at Merrill Gardens assisted living in Gig Harbour, so I can call her today and say with confidence that I know it's raining! Cheers from Kath Balfour in Perth.

Sherrie Spangler said...

Thanks, everyone, for your comments! Taxingwoman -- Merrill Gardens is just a few miles from my house and I sold my scarves there in November at a craft bazaar! What a small world.