Playing With Red

I had been thinking about not doing the Journal Quilts with the Contemporary Quilt Group this year as I found it hard going last year to keep up with this challenge.  In fact I have cheated a bit with the final one and used the Barcelona one I made some time ago.

As all the Journal Quilts for the last 4 months of the 2011 challenge had to include buttons in one incarnation or another I have added a decorative button that came from my friend Grace's button collection and which reminded me of the elaborate ceiling bosses at the Parc Guell designed by Antonio Gaudi.  I have blogged about this JQ previously and as you can see the lettering was made from crazy piecing.

As I was saying, I had almost made up my mind not to make any Journal Quilts this year but then I received the CQ Newsletter and read that the requirement this year will be based on colour.  The first four each have to be 75% red with only 25% made up of other colour/s.   It was while I was looking at the Strathmore Online Workshop that I had the idea to work on fabric instead of paper and I had a great time printing onto a length of cotton.

Now I know this doesn't look very red yet but it is redder in real life than the photo shows.   I used fabric paints in Maroon, Orange, White and Black and printed and stamped using plastic food packaging, sponges, stamps made from heat treated foam pressed onto buttons and teaspoons and spraying Brusho Shimmer Spray over metal doillies which were then turned over and printed with. (I used artistic licence in using maroon and orange as they are already shades and not true reds and it was all I had!)

I have cut 4 x A4 pieces from this cloth and will work on each piece in a different way to fulfil the challenge.  So far I have thought of overdyeing with red and then working into the piece again, painting and doodling to create layers as you would on paper, cutting up the base fabric and adding in other shades of red in a 'cut and come again' way to make an A4 quilt, embellishing with stitch and beads in shades of red, and possibly overlaying pices of fabrics and sheers again to create layers in a clooagey way.  I don't feel I'm much good at doodling but I am excited at the way this challenge has started out and the printing is great fun so I think I am going to enjoy myself.  Of course, I may have to think of other techniques to use when it comes to the remaining 8 months of the year and their colours which I think are yellow and then blue.  I can see yellow being a bit tricky!

I forgot to say, the dots on the fabric were made by printing with the dried ends of asparagus stems tied together with elastic bands and dipped in paint!  Lots of fun.

Of course what I should be doing is making my piece for the International Challenge Group that is due to be completed by late February.  The theme is 'Archi-texture' and I have some ideas but no real plan.  I may be MIA for a while getting it done!