Rhonda Bracey: At Random

I finally finished my orchid art quilt! Actually I’d mostly finished it a few weeks ago, but had to finalise it by adding a label and prepping it for going into the 2014 Boyup Brook Art Awards. Anyhow, it’s all done now and I can reveal photos of the finished piece.

I started this piece and finished more than 75% of it at the 5-day Quilting Adventures workshop with Velda Newman in Texas, March 2013. That last 25% took me nearly a year!

My friend Wade in California took the photo on which this piece was based. Just a few short months after I started it, Wade’s beloved daughter 19-year-old Evelyn was tragically killed in a car being driven by a drunk/drugged driver. So I’ve named this art quilt in her memory.

Below the photos are my artist’s statement for this work, the original photo on which is was based, and links to the workshop I did with Velda Newman.

The finished piece is 38×39″.

Artist’s Statement

***************

In Memory of Evelyn

The inspiration for this art quilt came from a photograph of an orchid taken by my friend Wade Courtney (California). Shortly after I started this piece, Wade’s beloved only daughter Evelyn (age 19) was tragically killed in a car driven by a drunk/drugged driver. I named this piece in Evelyn’s honour.

I used several techniques in this piece, many of which were taught by renowned quilt artist, Velda Newman, in a 5-day Quilting Adventures workshop with her that I attended in Texas in March 2013. The main flower was a single piece of white cloth that I cut into several pieces and then treated with various paint techniques and paint products, such as artist acrylics, Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils and sticks, and Copic markers.

Surface stitching was done on my Handi Quilter Sweet 16, using threads of various weights, colours, and types—monofilaments, rayons, trilobal polyesters, etc. Much of the surface stitching was completed prior to adding the batting and background fabric, with more done afterwards to add the impression of stems, leaves, and other flowers in the background. I sketched three smaller flowers on white fabric then coloured them with Copic markers, before fusing and machine appliqueing them to the quilt. To finish this quilt, I used a ‘pocket’ technique, where I stitched a backing fabric all round, leaving a small section open to pull the quilt through, before topstitching close to the edge. Some minor quilting was done at this stage to keep the three or more layers together.

Designed and created March 2013 to January 2014

**************

Photo on which this quilt was based

See these posts for my progress on this art quilt:

• https://rhondabracey.com/2013/03/13/quilting-adventures-spring-seminar-day-2-12-march-2013/
• https://rhondabracey.com/2013/03/14/quilting-adventures-spring-seminar-day-3-13-march-2013/
• https://rhondabracey.com/2013/03/15/quilting-adventures-spring-seminar-day-4-14-march-2013/