The longer the map challenge progresses, the more map art I find. Leah Evans' maps sold at the Smithsonian Craft Show and she's appeared on Sewing with Nancy. Many of her works illustrate imaginary places but two that particularly impressed me referenced reality.
Lost Boat mixes maps and Chinese Coins. It relates the discovery of the Arabia which sank before the Civil War and was recently found half a mile inland of the current banks of the Missouri River. Crossing Over maps Gee's Bend, Alabama. Leah was inspired by J. R. Moehringer's book of the same name that described the new ferry:
It won’t look all that dramatic, just a new ferry taking a 63-year-old great-grandmother and her cousins across a Coca-Cola-colored river. But in this damp cellar of the Deep South, where the river has separated blacks and whites for 180 years, where even the living and the dead are less divided than the black and white towns camped on opposite shores, a new ferry will be like the river itself: more than it looks.
What a treat to see another artist honor the proving ground of modern improvisational quilting.
My Work This Month
Everyone has such unique visions of the Map Invitation... everyone but me. I'm so literal. And so limited in my skill set. {Not asking for encouragement. Just noting I'm a 99.9% piecer.} Obviously my skills need to be broadened and developed. Using the same peach fabric with white solid, I pieced small samples of intersections. Valerie Goodwin uses lasers to cut some of her elaborate roadways. Too bad I don't have access to one. Or maybe not. I'd probably burn down the building or put my eye out. I can envision sewing slightly curved streets but reverse appliqu‚é, fusing, or regular appliqué are the only ways I can think of to sew cul-de-sacs, switchbacks, and hairpin turns.
This month I realized I don't need or want a large quilt... yet. I spent quite a while thinking about how to get detail in miniature. How can the broad stroke of piecing convey that? I made sketches on sheets of paper to try to simplify places of personal significance. I'm starting with the simplest one in hopes it can be pieced.
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| Finding focus for a map quilt |
I pulled some fabric. I love the plaids and stripes Kaja is using but hoped I had enough florals and conversation prints for this one. When I searched the stash, most of my florals had white backgrounds. If I use those they need charcoal roads. There were smaller groups of blues which might work with white roads and greens which probably need brown roads.
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| Fabric choices for map quilt |
Continuing in the 20-minute style, I'm waiting a while to decide.
Thanks, Ann
4 comments:
I was quite literal in my starting point too, but of course our cities are not neatly laid out on a grid, which makes their maps more interesting. I think that your fabrics will add plenty of interest though; the variations will be in colour and pattern rather than, for the most part, in shape. I wouldn't want to be let loose with a laser either!
There is a point where we need to put up or shut up {in the ruder vernacular} and I've definitely reached that time. I've noticed the difference in roads across the US. In New England they often follow old cattle tracks, in the mountains they track topography, and the plains have perfect grids.
I'm glad I pulled new fabric from the stash. It's time to try some new things. I've been thinking the large scale of these prints means different looks on each small block. And it feels like forward movement.
It's really great to see the many interpretations everyone makes of this word.
The idea of using a laser in quilting makes me smile. We do push ourselves when something is important! Love your color/fabric choices and the idea of making something smaller. Something to think about!
I dud not want another large quilt and was not thrilled with creating a small one either. Mapping my own journey has turned out to be rewarding in more ways than I anticipated - so I hope your path brings you that same sense of gladness for choosing it.
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