The Studio Archives  

Spring 2001

I was contacted recently with a request for a bedquilt somewhat similar to Mercury, a hanging I made some years ago, and have always loved.  Both I and Stefanie are very excited about this project.  When piecing a spiral, I start in the center with two pieces of fabric that please me, and work my way outwards.  It's been my experience that at some point in the process the spiral I'm working on asserts its personality, demanding some distinctive knobs or spikes.  We'll see what happens with Sefanie's spiral as it grows.  Another interesting challenge ahead for me is that because this will be a bedquilt rather than a wallhanging, I will probably want to come up with some sort of border, which will hang over the sides of the bed when it is made.  I have only very vague notions of what form the border might  take, and am curious to see what transpires. 
 
 

	Here is a detail of the center of the spiral, in which I used a shibori fabric that reminds me of the semi-precious stone "tiger's eye".
Here the spiral has progressed enough that I've started using a second, and third, fabric for the warm arm of the spiral.
	This is a snap of the spiral on my wall.  Not everything is pieced together yet;  I put the part that I've already sewn up on the wall (which is covered with flannel, so everything sticks without pins), and add other pieces of fabric that I'm thinking of using.
Here is the spiral so far.  You can see that on the left I started adding a different fabric in with the cool arm of the spiral, and that that arm is now changing color as it progresses around the spiral.  I've also nearly reached the end of the cloth I'm using in the warm arm of the spiral, so it will do some more changing soon!  This pieced section of the spiral is about 23" in diameter.
Spiral  continued...