Two More Quilts for AAQI

These are the two latest art quilts I have made for The Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative. They are entitled "Distress I" and "Distress 2".

One of my favourite things about making these little quilts for AAQI is that the small format gives me the opportunity to experiment with different techniques and materials. These two are the result of my playing around with Tyvek. Yes, if you are not familar with it, Tyvek is that plastic material that some mailing envelopes are made of! It is also used in ways I learned at the Fabric Manipulation class I took at EAC Seminar this year.

For each quilt, I took half a sheet of Tyvek and painted it on both sides with three colours of metallic acrylic paint. I then cut random shapes out of the Tyvek. For Distress I, I used triangle shapes and for Distress II, I cut organic, plant-like shapes. I sandwiched the quilt together with a beautifully slubbed, grey Italian silk on the front and the back and a thin batting between. I placed the Tyvek pieces as I wanted them and caught them in my quilting lines as I stitched, just enough to hold them in place but not enough that they would tear apart when I distressed them with the heat. I used a craft heat gun to gently distress the Tyvek, which caused it to bubble and ripple, changing its shape and intensifying the colours a bit. After that, it was just a matter of adding the Fast Finish Triangles and the binding from the same silk.

Binding is not usually my favourite thing to do but this time it was a pleasure. This Italian silk was beautiful to handstitch on! It needled like butter, had a weight and feel like taffeta and the sheen! There is something about holding a nice piece of fabric in your hands that just makes everything seem right with the world.

Just an update: I am happy to say that "Africa", my AAQI quilt for April, has sold and that my quilts have now raised $155.00 towards my $1,000.00 Pledge! I am looking forward to meeting that commitment and it seems it won't be as difficult as I first thought. For more information on how you can help AAQI, please check out their website.

Comments

Barb said…

What you are doing is totally awesome....and your quilt...I just love the blue in it.

June 17, 2011 at 6:12 AM

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