It's been a marathon, but I am finally finished "Spring Solitude", a wall quilt designed to enter the call for the SAQA Exhibit "Renewal". I don't have a lot of experience in sewing wall quilts with binding as I prefer to stretch my artwork around a frame, or with a mat behind glass and ready to hang, but this specific exhibition had size requirements that forced me to branch out and learn how to bind a quilt.

The background is my hand-painted fabric, cut into squares and then sewn back together. It's amazing how a tiny drop of pearlized paint in the paint colours has made this fabric sparkle. The branches, leaves and bird pieces were fused to Wonder-Under transfer web and ironed in place prior to machine-stitching around each one to quilt. The process was tricky as I am simply using my old Janome sewing machine, forward and backward stitching with feed dogs raised (I can see I am going to have to watch some free-motion quilting tutorials, but to be safe I just stitched with what I know!).

It turned out quite well despite the rush to meet the deadline. The colours are beautiful and the sky background has a very calming effect as it hangs in my studio.

MARCH UPDATE: Regrettably, this piece did not make the cut for the SAQA exhibition, but I will chalk it up as experience in learning the new skill of mitered binding (one which I may or may not use again anytime soon 😝)