Julie's Quilt Project 2018: January

At the beginning of the year, I set an ambitious goal for myself: complete one small quilt each month of 2018.  It's March -- and I've cheated -- but I do have completed three small quilts so far this year. Hooray!

Let's discuss the first cheater, shall we?  It's a quilt I started back in April 2017 during a class with Frances Holliday Alford.  I finally finished adding all the surface embellishment to it in January and so here it is:

It's a cheater, because it wasn't made start-to-finish in January.  But, perhaps I just needed a running start?  Take a peek at the surface embellishment details:

What I like about this quilt:

• It's based on concrete ideas.  In class, Frances had us use all kinds of personal symbols and ideas as the base for our design.  Although the circles and triangles may look random, they have meaning.  Even the colors I chose were based on numerology!
• I looooove the look of surface embellishment.  It's so visually rich.
• I think the binding made up of miscellaneous fabrics is wonderful and contributes to the fun and free look of the quilt overall.
• The hole in the quilt is super cool.  It's an idea I never would have thought of on my own, but as soon as I saw one of Frances's quilts with a hole, I knew I had to give it a try!
• I love the visual trick of the background -- It's one piece of fabric, but it looks like there's a big circle in the middle because of how I colored and stitched it!

What I would change about this quilt:

• A lot of the intense color in the quilt background washed away when I washed the quilt.  I should have used markers designed to go through the wash.
• I would have liked to add A LOT MORE surface embellishment, but at a certain point I just decided that it had to be done.  
• Technically, this can't be considered my own original work because I started it in class.  Even though it's based on my own design, it was still created in class under Frances's guidance.  So, I'd like to create another quilt using some of these techniques and ideas and really claim it as my own unique creation!
• If I were to do the binding again, I might stick to more reds/yellows/oranges so that the quilt would be a touch more monochromatic.  I also think it would help the eye really focus on the center of the quilt instead of jumping around to the edges.
• Even though this quilt is based on concrete ideas, I'm not sure it 100% feels like "me."  I'd like to try these techniques again, but with some different iconography.

I think it's important to make these kinds of lists when you finish a project because it's how you learn and improve.  Even if you don't quilt, do you have a painting or an art journal page or some other creative endeavor that you can analyze in this manner?  Knowing what you like and what you would change helps to create a road map for the next project!

I'll be sharing February and March's quilts next week!

Thanks for stopping by!