"Block Party" unquilted top Cindy Grisdela 2011

“Block Party” is Day 20 of my art quilt a day for the month of March project. I had to take a day off to take my son back to college yesterday, so I hope to get caught up this week.

I had a vision for this piece when I started, but it didn’t end up like I thought it would! That happens sometimes with this improvisational method of creating designs. Each decision about color and shape influences the next, so the design evolves as I go along. I wanted to try using a more constructed center than I have in the other pieces in this series, but I think it draws too much attention to itself and it may have to be reworked when the project is finished and I’m deciding which ones to finish and exhibit. Actually, I probably will quilt all of them at some point, because the quilting adds another dimension and sometimes “rescues” a design that wasn’t my favorite at first.

Part of the problem today was only having about three hours to create the block because of other time commitments. These improv blocks usually take longer than that. I started another block with a simpler design, but this one was stuck in my mind and needed to be created, so I went with it. I may try again tomorrow to realize my initial design idea. I do like the lime and purple triangles from the center that repeat in the upper left and lower right of the design.

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.

 

 

1 Comment

  1. Eleanor Samuels on March 23, 2011 at 8:47 am

    Wow!! I love this one. Seems like I say this about all of them but this one is really good. You are going to have a hard time deciding which one to exhibit. Can’t wait to see the the next one. Love you, MOM