Mountainscape

My Feb Journal Quilt is complete - I call it Mountainscape Landscape quilts have been calling me for awhile now – I have 2 books and tag every magazine article that comes along in the quilt magazines on them. I have tried a few in postcard format – but this month I decided to try one in journal size. Inspired by 2 different – semi abstract techniques, Mountainscape came to be. The first was featured in the Winter 2006 issue of American Quilter Magazine – called Naturescapes, by Pat Brown (see pg 60). The second was featured in the September 2006 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine – called Farming with Fabric, by Marie Castle Wing (see pg 43). Both use a combination of collage techniques to fill the landscape with color and movement. I used an assortment of batiks for this journal – some from my scrap bucket and some from my stash. I tried to keep the color palette fairly natural and complementary as well. I think the combination of purples, greens and oranges works nicely. This piece for me is an exercise in color and in machine quilting. I used only 2 stitches – straight stitch and zig zag in both standard and free motion applications. I even tried a new free-motion technique called bouncing banana’s (see the rust area in the foreground) by Diane Gaudynski which was featured in the December 2006 Edition of McCall’s Quilting with the Pro’s Volume II. (See pg 52) I found it rather easy and look forward to trying this technique on a larger scale. The sun has a batting scrap underneath for added dimension. The funky yarns and beads were added for additional texture and movement in the piece. I had a rocky start with the sky area, but my efforts to rip out the quilting and start again paid off. For the standard straight stitch and zig zag stitch I used my #34C foot. For the free-motion thread painting, I used my #24 foot. Take a close look there are 14 different threads used in this journal quilt. They are the following: Guttermann: 445, 506, 835, 5980 Sulky: 942, Clear Monofilament Mettler: 531, 547, 583, 817, 829, 894 Moinlycke: 9430 Coats and Clark: #885 Variegated Overall I am pleased with the outcome of the piece and like the semi-abstract result.