More Structures

I almost forgot I had finished this quilt, but need to put a label on it; this is #8 in the series, and is 36"H x 32" W. The top quilt is #9, and is about the same size. As I was sewing the facing on this morning I was thinking about machine quilting: why do people do it the way they do? When I first went to a workshop I was told I did not do enough quilting. I was shown another quilter's 1/4 inch apart perfect machine quilting as an example of what to do. Since then I have tried many things, but I think it all boils down to what you like to do, and what looks good to you when you are done. For now,I like sewing close together; it flattens the quilt, and does not make your eye focus on each shape. It is not a distraction. But I have not read many thoughts on quilting, and why a person does it a certain way.

Recently I have subscribed to a blog called textures shapes and colors, by Leslie Avon Miller, who does contemporary collage paintings. She has some wonderful abstract paintings on her blog, and recently showed a video about a Philadelphia artist, Mary Nomecos, who described her painting process. She was asked how she selects certain colors in her paintings, and said it was intuitive, and she has several paintings she is working on at the same time. She spends a lot of time looking at them, really seeing them, to decide what will be next. I find too, that it takes a lot of looking: I take pictures as I go along, as another way of seeing what I am doing. I also see a lot more after the quilts are done! It is really hard to "see" what is going on in your work as you are doing it, and often you need to let it sit for awhile, and come back to it.