Friday, February 17, 2012

February AAQI quilt

Hope Rises
8" x 10.5"
I realized the other day that I hadn't made my AAQI mini for this month.  I belong to the quilt-a-month club at AAQI, and I haven't missed a month in a year.  I didn't want to start now.  I had drawn out a sketch for this one a while ago while I was waiting for Bella at dance class.  I wanted a Phoenix-like bird rising from the dark into the light.  This morning, I pulled my blacks and whites and created the background strata.  I then pulled what I thought were going to be really bright colors for the bird.  They are not nearly as bright as I thought they were going to be.  They are very spring like.  Hey - that symbolism works okay for what I wanted.  Spring is rebirth and hope.  Once I got everything cut out and appliqued on, I started building pebbles at the bottom where it was solid black.  I used a variegated King Tut by Superior in a really light mix so they would stand out.  Then, I put some FMQ feathers on the bird and some wavy lines going up from the pebbles.  The binding is another batik that is very spring like in this piece.
It was very interesting creating a piece like this.  I haven't done that much FMQ except overall stippling, so I really had to concentrate on what I wanted it to look like.  I didn't want to pebbles to look uniform or perfect, and that was no problem.  Ha ha.  I think I could have put more feathers on the bird, but I wasn't sure where to go with that, so I stopped while I was ahead.
I am not sure how much studio time I will have this weekend, so I may not be back until Monday.  Until then, joyful quilting everyone.

10 comments:

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I just love it! Great tribute to Spring.

Sarah Craig said...

That is so beautiful, Miki! I love the colors in your phoenix - very appropriate, I think! And your FMQ is great!! Whoop whoop!!

krisgray said...

Lovely!! And the colors are beautiful!

Impera Magna said...

Oh, how beautiful... I love your phoenix/hope rising!

sheila 77 said...

This is an exceptional mini quilt. I love the bird and the pieced black and white background. I like the binding too - bindings can be difficult.

Nifty Quilts said...

Beautiful!!

Margaret said...

I think this mini is gorgeous .. love your process description ... & did you notice the colors on the AAQI button to the right?

Michele Bilyeu said...

Miki! I am working on a bird almost exactly like this one! My gosh woman! Great minds etc. etc. etc.!!

KatieQ said...

Great quilt! I love the colors you used against the black and white background. The FMQ looks wonderful.

Chris said...

This AAQI quilt is stunning! And I just now saw your question about y-seam piecing. I was going to give you some tips, but it seems you have solved that problem, yay! You are amazing and prolific for such a new quilter!