Time to Get Over Myself

Do you know that I have now done 15 posts about Sedona Star, and I have yet to completely finish any of the months?  The sticking point all along has been the fusible applique.  Well, I am over it!  And I have this brilliant quilt to thank:

Go! Bedazzled

Isn't it beautiful?  This was made by Sandy Lawrence of Phoenix, AZ.  It is another Sarah Vedeler design.  Sandy was lucky enough to take a class with Sarah when she made this quilt, and another class with Diane Gaudynski for the quilting!  As you can see by the ribbons, the quilt won First Place for Machine Embroidery and Best of Show at the Arizona Quilter's Guild show in 2012.  No surprise!  You can click the photo to see it larger.

What I really love about this quilt, and what has finally converted me, is the way Sandy has made the machine embroidery into a separate design element of the quilt.  The embroidery is not just a way to hold the appliques down.  For instance, most of the hits of turquoise that you see in the quilt are thread.  Imagine the quilt without it!  I love the Southwest colours she has used.  If you look at the large photo, you can see areas where more than one colour of thread was used around the edges of the appliques.  Sandy has also done embroidery within the shapes. 

There are so many great ideas here!  Even with my basic machine I can think of some interesting combinations to try.  Now I am so keen to get started again!  Alas, I am still waiting for my new iron, so it may still be a while.

Now it looks like I won't be paper piecing Month 2 after all!  But I'm still glad I did it, because it made me very aware of how the dark fabrics show through the light appliques.  I will have to do some careful trimming, I think.

Sandy, thanks so much for the photo, and all the inspiration too!


Related Posts:

Paper pieced practice block

Adjusting the template for paper piecing

Inspiration for Sedona Star, Part 2

Sedona Star

For those who have been dying to get a good look at the official Sedona Star photo, here it is, photographed by Gregory Case.  Click the photo to see it full size!

Yesterday I told you about the great synchronicity between Valerie Giles' version of Sedona Star, inspired by the colours of The Red Centre in Australia, and the colours of Sedona, Arizona, which are both very spiritual locations.  It seemed to me that there is a lot of potential for synchronicities in the design, with its reference to Sedona, and the repetition of the number nine throughout the quilt.  I have speculated about the potential meaning of it all previously, but I thought it was time to get the real story from the designer herself, Sarah Vedeler.

I asked her about the significance of "Sedona" in the title, and what was up with all the nines?  Here's her reply:

Sarah Vedeler

"In January of last year, Ricky sent me an email saying "We need to talk!". It wasn't until March until we eventually connected - March 16 to be precise, the Wednesday in the middle of Spring Break, and I was just about to get into the car with my daughters to drive up to Sedona for a couple of days. Having had the conversation with Ricky, I spent the entire 2 hour drive up to Sedona thinking up ideas for what the quilt would look like - and started to design it in Corel Draw when we got there (after taking the girls for a hike - which was the purpose of the trip!). So the quilt has always been associated with Sedona in my mind.

"As for there being 9 of pretty much everything... I created 2 initial designs (very basic outlines) that I submitted to Ricky and Alex to see what they thought. One had 8 points, the other had 12 points. The 12 point one was too big - so I started to shrink the design and play with the number of points to see what would work. 9 points did the trick!

"So there's really nothing very mysterious about it!!!"

LOL!  Isn't that great?!  I guess when you send your design out into the world, you never know what meanings people will give to it.  Thanks Sarah!

Like Valerie, my colourway also developed a lot more meaning for me than may have been originally intended.  I am 100% in favour of pretty things whose only purpose is to make you happy when you look at them.  However, I also think that if your design develops additional meanings, be they spiritual or simply happy memories, that can only add to the overall joy in the quilt.  For me, joy is the only reason to make a quilt, and anything that increases that is a good thing!

I know it is ridiculous for me to keep talking about a colourway no one has seen yet, but I really am still waiting for fabric!  Although I didn't change my mind about the colours, I did change my mind about the fabric, so that is the reason for all this delay.  But, with so many TQS members managing to finish each month in a few days, I don't think I am that far behind.  I'll be caught up soon enough!