Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Four-in-Art: Colour: I've Got the Blues: Efficiency

It's reveal day for the latest round of Four-in-Art quilts.  I've been waiting for this day for a while, I had the privilege of coming up with this quarter's theme of I've Got the Blues.



And so, may I present, efficiency.
  E-Fish-in-Sea.  Get it?  I know, I'm sorry.  I was working on it and trying to come up with a good name and the boys were in the next room talking about efficiency in one of their games.  I thought it was funny.

Anyway. This quilt is the culmination of different things I've wanted to try and is directly inspired from the following picture taken at the City Museum in St. Louis.  You can read about our trip *here*

I really wanted to recreate this floor.

 So I did.  The light blue is one piece of blue fabric onto which I fused all the fish and tile pieces.
 I then overlaid the whole thing with a blue netting and quilted it.
 I knew I'd chosen the right color net when Mr. Riley walked by and asked me how I had turned my quilt blue.
 The fish were all cut from upholstery fabric samples that a friend gave me before she moved. 
 Different colors of blues and different textures as well.
 I think really the quilt could hang either way.  As you can see I've rather grown from the original 12"x12" quilts we started with.  This one finishes at 41" x 34"
 A shot of the back. I used up an ooooooooollllllld piece of blue star fabric from my mom's stash.  I think it went to a good use.

I'm not alone in these artsy endeavors, so please go visit my partners in art.


Betty Ayershttps://www.flickr.com/photos/toot2
Camilla Cathrohttp://faffling.blogspot.co.nz/2016/11/four-in-art-rising-above-blues.html
Catherine Chisholmhttp://www.knottedcotton.com/2016/11/four-in-art-colour-ive-got-blues_56.html
Elizabeth Eastmondhttps://occasionalpiece.wordpress.com/2016/11/01/six-ways-to-blue-a-four-in-art-quilt-for-november-2016
Janine Greenhttp://www.rainbowhare.com
Nancy Myershttp://www.patchworkbreeze.blogspot.com
Rachel Rileyhttp://www.rachel-thelifeofriley.blogspot.com
Simone Bradfordhttp://quiltalicious.blogspot.com
Susan Snookshttp://patchworknplay.blogspot.com

Our group blog is http://fourinart.blogspot.com/
Tomorrow I'll come back and talk a little more technically how I put it all together, and some advice on dos and don'ts if you want to try a mosaic quilt yourself.






10 comments:

Catherine said...

That's just brilliant - so effective! The netting really adds to the feeling of watery depths and the little flashier fishes bring that shoal to life.

patchworkbreeze said...

Wonderful! I like your play on the word. Looking forward to read how you constructed this.

Betty said...

Rachel, this is just the best interpretation - I absolutely love it! The back story is delightful and your process and materials ingenuous. Know you must be proud!!

Regina said...

I think I must have missed you talking about starting with a light blue background!! That piece is even more dramatic knowing that pieces were added to make the background texture. Great job Rachel, I love this piece.

OPQuilt said...

This is AWESOME! I love the title (love puns) and think you recreated that tile really well. I've always wanted to try the netting technique, so I'm jealous that you got to do it before I did--it looks really fabulous! On our trip, we keep seeing fish in ceramics around here, so I also have tiles with fish on them on my mind, too. Congratulations on another great finish!

Quiltalicious said...

Zowie!!! I love your inspiration and interpretation of the blues. Such a beautiful collection of blue fabrics to use for your school of fish. I bet preparing all your fish and geometric fabric pieces took F O R E V E R!!! What a wonderful project.

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

This is fantastic! Such a good idea and so cleverly done. I love the design and all the texture :)

Nancy said...

I had no idea what you were making when you posted the sneak peak of what looked like shattered glass. It is amazing. The size of it, I think, is important to have it make its statement. And it is blues...my favorite colors.

Susan said...

Such a clever title Rachel! And the whole quilt works beautifully- the fish, the sea and the wavy quilting! Lovely! ( I am sorry to be late in commenting, I have been away and have had limited wifi!)

Camilla said...

Very cool! I enjoyed reading both posts about how you made this- lots of ideas percolating now! Well done!