Design Concept

Cosmic Feathers combines design elements from my "Feather Study" series and my spiral series. All of the solid fabrics are from my "Gradations" collection for Benartex and are available from our Bryerpatch Studio Internet Store. The multicolored, patterned fabric is a one-of-a-kind hand dyed piece.

The design started with a simple pencil sketch, drawn on scratch paper while riding in the car on one of my numerous cross-country trips in 2012. The sketch was refined, printed on acetate and projected onto the dull/paper side of freezer paper to make a full size drawing with pencil. The large pencil drawing was refined, and the curving points were added. Using a sharpie marker, I drew over the final pencil lines and added registration marks so the lines could be seen on the shiny side of the freezer paper, which is the side where the fabric goes. The original drawing, therefore, was a mirror image of the final quilt. The curved seams in this quilt were joined using "Applipiecing", a technique I developed in 1989 to make curved seams that are fast, easy, and accurate. Instructions for applipiecing can be found at Paper Pieces.

This quilt will be part of a solo exhibition called "30 Quilts for 30 Years", which will premiere at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, November 2013, and subsequently travel to additional venues.
(see travel schedule).