There is a tug of war in crazy quilting between the spontaneous, decide-as-you-go approach, and the totally-planned-out-before-you-start way to go. I have never been a planner.
But I knew that quilt had focus problems after I had finally figured out what I wanted to do with it (which when I was already well into the process of embellishing it) but didn't care enough to go back and start over.
I think the design of a crazy quilt truly is grounded in its piecing.And with traditional crazies, like the "H" quilt, that is easy. But when you try and push into the more contemporary CQ zone, it leads to challenges, at least for me. How do I get a really refined composition as I am winging it?
I don't know if I will ever be a real sketcher/planner, but I have a lot of good stuff to mull over these days.
The laptop bag block is a nice place for me to think on these issues. I am ignoring the piecing lines almost entirely in my embellishment, wanting to see how much I can force the design of the overall block to my vision, which as usual is overwhelming flower-ness!
Interesting comment from the judges-how did they justify their comment? I went back to one of your pictures and it looks like you had an inner diamond of light colors and an outer edge of dark colors. Was that not defined enough? What did they say about workmanship? or any of the other criteria?
ReplyDeleteHmm...I went looking for a photo of your quilt but couldn't find one. I'm wondering what kind of "definition" they meant. It seems like you understood their critique. I guess what I want to know is what in your mind, makes for a well-designed CQ?
ReplyDeletePoo on those judges! It was lovely, & maybe you wanted to be blended, not defined!
ReplyDeleteI agree - pooh!! on those judges. I was amazed at how beautifully the thing came together when I thought it couldn't. I have found with my needlepoint renditions of CQ that planning ahead is fruitless. I even taped little pieces of thread to the patches on the drawings, and abandoned that. Now I just kind of build as I go - and embellishment is spontaneous and fun - and just keeps on going.
ReplyDeleteNo comments can take away from the sheer joy and exuberance of the floral mandala you made.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Debra completely. I also went back to find the whole quilt and it has a focus. I'm not an artist though, and you are, so if you agree-- In some ways a "defined" crazy quilt is an oxymoron, isn't it? Or maybe I don't get what defined means.
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