Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing with Moon Quilts

 

"Time Lapse Moon Rise" (above) is the art quilt that I made to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the moon landing. It is still travelling as a part of the "Fly Me to the Moon" exhibit and was also included in the "Fly Me to the Moon: An Art Quilt Journey" book. 

But it seems that I like to use the moon in my quilts as I've included it in at least five other quilts. Usually I like to use it as a full moon, but there is one that has a sliver of a moon. Some of the moons could also be suns, if that's how you want to look at them.

 Millefiori Moonlight

This moon (or sun) on this quilt doesn't have any quilting on it so it puffs out away from the quilt. I did add some extra batting behind it to give it even more shape.

Quilt Encounters of the Thread Kind

One of my more recent quilts, this one uses hand dyed fabrics and the fabric for the moon has some light purples in it.

Sheep Dreams Counting Sheep

This moon, and the counterpoint circle of light green fabric behind the sheep in the lower right corner both have yarn couched around their edges.

Mr. Moonlight

This piece was made from a silk necktie that was cut apart and sewn back together in a square. I usually make neckties into purses but the image on this one was so interesting I beaded it and wrapped it around a frame so it could be hung.

Gypsy Moon

The moon, and the swoosh above it, are a peach-colored taffeta. This quilt uses several non-cotton fabrics including silks, velvets, and shiny denim. 

My Quilt "Gypsy Moon" on the set of The Art Show

If you live in the Dayton, Ohio area, you can see one of my quilts without leaving the comfort of your living room. My art quilt "Gypsy Moon" has been lent to the producers of The Art Show to use on their set. You can see it in the upper left part of the photo, and it really pops off the wall. This is for Season 4 which is taping now and I believe will start airing this week.

The Art Show is a weekly program broadcast on ThinkTV16 on Sunday afternoons at 5pm. The show features local artists, as well as regional and national arts highlights. In this photo host Rodney Veal (in the yellow chair) is interviewing artist Matt Kish; his episode will air on January 24.

The photo was taken by Bill Franz, who is spending his retirement as a volunteer photographer, doing photo projects for the Humane Society and for almost two dozen other organizations. You can check out his blog "Dayton Artists at Work" and his Facebook page "Dayton at Work and Play."

Gypsy Moon: New Art Quilt

"Gypsy Moon," 30" x 37.5", June 2012

I often get asked where I get my ideas. This isn't an easy question to answer because I get ideas so many different ways. If I'm making something representational, I'll research the items so I can make them correctly. Sometimes the fabrics themselves give me an idea. If I'm participating in a challenge, my ideas will come from the challenge topic.

Another way I get quilting ideas is visually. Sometimes in full color but mostly little line drawings. Perhaps it's the graphic design training where you make thumbnail sketches of your ideas before you implement them.

This is the thumbnail sketch that became the quilt "Gypsy Moon." It's only 2" wide so there's not a lot of detail. My next step was to decide on colors. I usually do this by taking out some fabric and auditioning it with other fabrics. I was considering a dark blue and light green or a brown and gold combination.

When I pulled out the batik print that ended up on the lower part of the quilt, I decided I'd use the colors in that fabric to determine the other colors: rich reds and purples.

The top part of this quilt is made with 55 3" squares. To accentuate the deepness of the colors, I used several different types of fabric including velvet, satin, silk, and shiny denim. On some of the squares I appliqued red and black silk ribbons. A few of the squares also have a sheer fabric over the original fabric.

The lower part of this quilt is a beautiful batik fabric with red, orange, blue and purple snowflake imprints on a blue/black background. I couched some variegated thread vertically on the background and let it hang off the bottom of the quilt.

The swash in the middle of the quilt, and the moon below it, are made from a shiny, peachy taffeta fabric and I quilted long curves that overlapped each other with a plum colored thread.

More about Gypsy Moon

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This quilt will be at Village Artisans through the early August 2012.