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

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Sonoran Desert quilt



I returned over the last few days to my Sonoran Desert quilt, which I haven't touched in weeks, and laid out the blocks on a piece of batting. The five-inch squares are layered with torn raw-edge pieces of fabric and slow stitched with perle cotton. I loved doing the stitching and ended up making 24 blocks based on the colors of Tucson's Sonoran Desert: blue for the sky, tan for the sand, and green for the cacti. 

First I arranged them touching (above), then I tried giving them some breathing space (below). I like the second arrangement better.

Then I played around with borders and also considered just leaving the exposed batting as a border. I still haven't decided on this step. I think a colored border takes away from the center, but I'll ponder it for a few days or weeks. The white border lets the eye really focus on the squares. Opinions?

My work table is covered with fabric that I pulled for different borders.

Next I had to decide how to attach the squares to the quilt sandwich. I was afraid that machine stitching would be too jarring next to the hand stitching and my poor arthritic hand couldn't take sewing them all down by hand. I ended up going back to my signature step of the past 20 years of tacking the pieces down with a tiny zigzag with gold thread and leaving the thread tails hanging to reflect light and add movement.

The raggedy threads and uneven stitching suit a quilt about the wild, tough desert.

To see what other quilt artists have been up to this week, click here:  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com

Have a colorful day


6 comments:

Lynda Heines said...

Sherrie,

Love the colors and the stitches! How inspirational!

sonja said...

That quote speaks volumes!
i love the quilt in progress and her colors and that you shared how you think about next step in the progress. i love process part of making...your art.

Del said...

Sherrie - Nice piece. And good to hear about your process. I think the white border works best, but I don't care for exposed batting. Try some white fabric as the border. Keep creating. Del

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

It's good to see your work in progress, and I love your dialog about your process too. I look forward to seeing your final piece.

Norma Schlager said...

What a fun project. I like your little squares of blues and browns. I also like your colored borders better than the white.

Gwyned Trefethen said...

Necessity is the mother of invention here. Loved the decision process that lead you to dangling, loose, golden threads.