Gail McGlamery

Week 15: 12/7/09 – This week’s journal quilt is the nexus of three different things: packing, my husbands bookmark, and a Kaffe Fasset floral design.  I spent some time packing up the last of my studio and sorted through my ribbon box.  At first, I thought about just doing a collage or even weaving of ribbon and sewing that down.  But I put my hands on this little ribbon scrap in my favorite combo of colors – mossy green and coral – and decided I would make it the focal point.

Using it as a building point, I pulled out some fabric strips still on hand in those colors, trying to work them into the design on the green background.  I tried tons of arrangements and nothing spoke to me.  On one hand, I considered that perhaps I was overthinking it and should just do it.  On the other hand, I was thinking about the advice Tim Gunn gives on Project Runway, “edit”.  So I opted to keep it simple, and the off-center placement of the ribbon echoes a bookmark I made for my husband with the same pale green ribbon incorporated.  I had just been looking at that bookmark the day before and perhaps it informed my decision making.

But boy did I love all those fabrics I pulled and they looked so good together.  So, how about a border?  At that point I decided to just do it and I think I like the outcome.  The green ground fabric is actually a monochromatic print and I keyed off the print to do quilting in a boxed pattern of parallel lines.  The real surprise for me came when I finished and turned to the back.  The way the prints blend and the quilting overlays them reminded me of one of Fassett’s designs in a garden-themed book of a coordinated floral nine-patch. I’ve always wanted to sew one of those and that may move up on the list.