#NotToScale

I was super excited when I saw that the third Project QUILTING challenge for season 3 was “Tuned In To Texture.”  Once again I could make it work for TWO things I had to do! My assignment for Lorraine Torrence’s Design Essentials II class was basically to be inspired by something in my house to make a quilt.  (essentially – there’s more to it than that but I’m not sharing 100% since you need to take her class to find out all the details!) At first I thought I was going to be inspired by the shelf Jared had made Capri in her room (she collects tiny things … she needs a lot of shelves). But then on my way up the steps to take the picture I saw this awesome drawer/shelf we have to store my homies (not happy that a bunch are missing right now). And THEN I saw the cool curves in the shelves in Capri’s tea set case (aka Jared’s gun case from his grandpa that he converted into a tea set shelving unit since there was no way to lock guns in it).  Combining these three inspiration led me to the idea of a map quilt.  I’ve wanted to make a map quilt for quite awhile and have been perusing my book “Map Art” for the past few months waiting for inspiration to strike.  As a “retired” engineer maps have always caught my eye. But now I needed to add some texture to the map too – no problem!  First – I pulled some fabric out and cut it into smaller chunks so I could texture it.  I painted some of it just with acyrlic paint and stamps and then some of it I added texture to with Shiva PaintStiks (blog post HERE).  Once I had all of my fabric textured it was time to start working.  This piece was done in layers. Starting from the top picture.  I took a scrap of map fabric I found and drew out a tentative map of Port Washington, WI – my hometown.  I started to get stressed about getting everything just right and I don’t like being stressed so I just went with it and let it be – hence the name, #NotToScale.  The second picture shows how I started laying the “blue” fabrics just randomly to create Lake Michigan.  I thought the randomness of it all created almost a stormy/wavy look for the late.  According to the “Map Art” book every good map has a sea monster so that’s what the dolphin with the crab is – my sea monster!  I just straight stitched ever few inches to keep all the pieces in place while I continued to work on the quilt. Picture three depicts where I started adding in the land portion of the quilt.  I cut pieces out that fit in the different shape of each “area” from neighborhoods, to parks to marina’s. I added the streets in on the fourth picture.  You can also watch my Live video on my page Persimon Dreams if you want to see more of this process. The quilt is quilted in picture five.  Also – just to be a little different I fused the back of some of that map fabric with Therm O Web’s Heat N Bond Lite.  Then, I used my rotary cutter to curve some impromptu curved strips.  I fused these to the edge of The map to create a more rustic/raw look.  To secure them I used a neutral thread color and blanket stitched along all the edges.  Since this was such a scrappy, raw edge piece I thought that was a fun way to just finish it off. The final picture is the quilt on display on my wall. I free motion quilted this piece on my Bernina using Aurifil Thread.  The quilting pattern I used in the  area that my house was growing up is reminiscent of the texture from the clock in the initial challenge post.  Each section is quilted using different and fun quilting patterns. I’m really happy with how my map quilt turned out.  I see more of these being created in my future! Now – head over to the Voting post and pick your ten favorite quilts made last week!  Good luck!