It's All Relatives

OK. This is my one claim to fame so far. I am a published artist! This quilt is a winner in the 2009 Quilting Arts Calendar contests. I must admit that I was really surprised and delighted. Especially since this is my first abstract piece.

The theme of this years contest was Celebrating Home. When I think of "home" many memories come to mind. It is not so much about a place but thoughts of my family that make a house a home. In creating this piece, I tried to think of a way I could show family and relationships. When you look at the shapes you can see that they are related even though each one is unique just like the members of a family. Each could stand-alone but they work better together and each has something special about it.

I painted the swirls using puff paint straight from the bottle on a single piece of fabric. Once dried and expanded, I applied several types of paint randomly over the surface. After quilting, I used Misty Fuse to add areas of Angelina fiber. Finally I added different yarns, threads and beads trying to add something to each shape to give it its own interest and beauty but not so overstated to upset the balance of the quilt. You can see the entire calendar at http://quiltingarts.com/shop/2009calendar.html,