I mentioned in an earlier post using something for inspiration, like a picture, etc. In this quilt, "Along the Woodland Ride," my inspiration was my love of buttercups in spring. They make me happy! The title came as I was working on the piece. It's from a favorite poem.
In starting this piece, obviously the first choice had to be the fabric for the buttercups. It was going to be all about them! I had some lovely variegated yellow, hand-dyed, and I proceeded to take it and cut them free-hand. You would be surprised what your intuition will do if you try that. Besides, it's just fabric and you can cut another one and use the best! And nature is not perfect, therefore your cutting doesn't have to be either.
In this piece, the second thing to come was the background. I wanted it to display buttercups as you find them--anywhere out in nature! Here, there, all willy-nilly, they are. It's hard to see in the pic, but I stitched outlines of trees to give the impression of the forest behind. This piece was constructed very intuitively. By that I mean, I started, did something, then evaluated what the next step was to be. . . .
In the end, there were two things which "made" this quilt. I wonder if you know what they are? (It's a test!)
First is the choice of the batik for the rock. Its light color gives the impression of the light in the piece. (Look for the other things that seem to reflect some light also.)
Then, this piece needed some sparkle. What do you think did it? It's that little touch of purple flower, which is a complementary color to yellow, and it's right up front, but not so much of it as the yellow.
Also in this piece, I did use both hand-dyed and commercial fabrics. I even used the back of the fabric to look like more reflected light (see the foliage to the right that's flipped over and pointing down).
When I look at this piece, it gives me joy! And that's enough.
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