Letting Go (brown colorway)

 

"Letting Go," (brown) 20" x 28", handmade by Pam Geisel, October 2020

Last year I made a piece very similar to this one only the fabric has less brown in it. They are both from the same fabric: Robert Kaufman's Effervescence in the Gradation Gray colorway.

The piece last year was made from the left side of the fabric and this one was made from the right side which has more brown in it.

The fabric on both pieces feature lots of circles and are both on a black background that has tiny circles that are a tan/gray color.

Both have oval petal shapes that are arrange so the petals get darker as they move away from the center.

Both have nine full or partial petal outlines in the negative space on the left side.

Both have nine plastic brown buttons hand sewn in various parts of the quilt.

And both have a larger wood button in the center of the petals. The button on this piece is made using black locust wood (and the bark is still on the outside of the button.

More about Letting Go

"Letting Go" (gray) and "Whoo?"

"Letting Go," 20" x 28.5", handmade by Pam Geisel, October 2019

I don't tend to use a lot of fabrics with bold designs or a lot of printing but I have noticed I'm attracted to artwork that has layers of circles on them. I did have a design idea that could use a bold print so I searched for fabric with circles printed on it and came across some Robert Kaufman fabric called Effervescence, which came in several colorways and blends. I was drawn to this fabric that blended from a light gray to black.

Robert Kaufman, Effervescence, Gradation Gray

I played around with an idea and came up with this flower shape made with oval petals. I cut a template so I could determine that I'd have enough gradation in each petal.

I ironed fusible to the back, cut out the petals, and fused them to a black fabric that had small circles printed on it, including one petal that is moving away from the others (the one that is "Letting Go."). 

I pin basted the quilt top with batting and a backing fabric then quilted around the raw edges of the petals. I also quilted nine more petals (or parts of petals on the edges) in the extra space on the left side of the quilt. 

I added nine plastic brown buttons, sewing them on with black embroidery thread but not in the usual way you sew on a button. I also added a pink ivory wood button to the center of the "flower." I bought this handmade button in Paducah, KY, but the card didn't have the maker's name on it.

"Whoo?," 6" x 6" x .5", handmade by Pam Geisel, October 2019

I only used the left half of the fabric that I bought. Perhaps I'll make another one with the right half, which has more brown in it. I did have a few small leftover pieces that I used to make this small 6" x 6" owl piece that is wrapped around a canvas.

More about Letting Go - Whoo?