How I Got There

I thought I would share a little about the process of making the JOY quilt for the church. Some images you've seen... a few are new.

Over the course of several weeks I cut and fused tiny scraps of batik fabrics onto a heavy piece of stabilizer...building and overlapping as I went along.  I didn't have much of a plan other than wanting one color to blend into the next and trying not to work too much in a straight line.

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When I got to the point I was satisfied I took it to church to audition it and discovered that the top angle was way off. Joan was a big help....she's good at figuring things out.

It was a little painful to just slice off such a big chunk of color....but it had to be done. (The lighting is terrible in this photo.)

Next it was time for topstitching....one of my favorite parts. I used a variegated thread and stitched a wavy grid pattern and it pulled everything together. Stitching changes everything.  Hmmm...have I said that before?

Time to audition the size of the lettering....again, Joan was a big help. I made the stencils on my computer and cut the letters out of black paper and pinned them on. I used strips of black paper paperclipped along the edge to audition the binding. I was a little hesitant about using black around the edge but as soon as Joan held it up I could tell it gave it a nice frame.  

I always thought the JOY would go horizontally following the angle like in the photo above....but in the end I decided to put it vertical....a little more unexpected. I used my favorite black hand dyed fabric by Vicki from Colorways for the letters and binding because it fuses so well. 

I included photos of it in the letter that went to the congregation this week and have gotten very nice feedback.  It may be months before they can see it in person....but when the doors are open again...they can look for joy.