"Around the Block" unquilted top Cindy Grisdela 2011

“Around the Block” is Day 25 of my art quilt a day project for the month of March. This is actually the piece that just didn’t gel from a few days ago. After a few days’ perspective, I reworked it and I’m happier with it now.

One of the issues I’ve encountered during this project is having to face just how long it takes to create one of my pieces. I’ve been a little frustrated on some days because the vision in my head took its time becoming reality. I guess I’m surprised that there haven’t been more days that I just couldn’t come up with a top in the time I had!

I tried to use some curved borders on this one because I liked the idea, but too many curved lines just didn’t work for me. Plus the borders seemed too wide. So I cut off the borders I didn’t like and added new ones and I like the design better.

Quilting this one will be interesting. Will I use an allover variety of motifs, or different motifs in the different sections? Usually I shy away from “quilting within the lines,” because it seems to accentuate the seamlines rather than the design, but this one might need that kind of definition–we’ll have to see when I get started. It’s curious sometimes when I start quilting on a design with a specific idea in mind, sometimes another path presents itself during the process.

If you’re new to the project, I challenged myself to create one art quilt a day for the month of March. Each piece is 16″x20,” uses only solid fabrics, and is entirely pieced by machine, not fused. I’ll choose the best of them, quilt them and mount them on stretcher bars, and show them in an exhibit later this year. I’m posting nearly every day on my progress, so check back often! My inspiration was fellow artist Jill Banks deciding in January to paint 100 faces in 100 days. Click on her name to see her progress as well.