The Endeavourers #8, Dreams, "Moonlit"

When I found out that our theme for this quarter was 'Dreams' I knew I wanted to make a quilt about the moments between twilight and dawn when your senses become really acute but at the same time the natural world takes on a magical and rather dream-like quality. 

One of the best things about being involved in a quilt group like ours is being inspired by all the other members.   In this quilt I borrowed a technique from Fiona who is always very adventurous in trying out something different.  In her last piece for the group she used cyanotype (solar-printing fabric) and the colour and effect of this technique fit perfectly with what I envisaged.

My initial plan was to use a bit of cyanotype along with overprinting and painting but once I got started I fell so in love with the result that I did not want to add any further colour or techniques, so my quilt owes a far bigger debt to Fiona than I first intended!

I laid out a series of images, and once I'd put them together into a composition (which took ages of faffing) I wanted the stitching to add texture and interest without dominating in any way, so the only thing I did was to add some barely-there embroidery (seed stitch and french knots) to the moths and fennel flowers, in off-white Aurifil wool because I love the matt and organic look and feel of it.   I also took advantage of the pattern showing through the 'moon' from underneath and highlighted it with some machine quilting.

I preferred the more blurry and ethereal prints to the ones that had printed very sharply, and I also liked the variations in colour according to how long the prints were exposed for and how sunny it was at the time, and exploited this for the section with the abstract 'moon'.

I've posted a little more about the process, along with more pictures, on my blog