Hippie New Year and Hippie Daze

A new year and a new quilt finish--with bonus points for being a UFO from August 2017.  At this time, the top news stories included North Korea missile tests, the deadly terrorist attacks in both Barcelona, Spain and mosques in Afghanistan, policy brutality and the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA.  These daily horrors certainly took their toll on my emotions and creative process.  I desperately needed a new project to channel hope and beauty back into the world...and Hippie Daze was conceived.

My fabric pull was symbolic of the growing conflicts and resulting chaos.  A simple postage block united the two fabrics and created a sense of order and interaction (Many thanks to Sarah Goer for the brilliant tip on using fast food trays to organize units for piecing!)

Chaos to Order

A simple 9-patch layout was constructed, but each of the larger hand-dyed blocks was covered with a solid black batik prior to assembly in preparation for a Mod Mola design.

Adding a Surprise Layer for a Mod Mola Twist

This fabulous large-scale floral print added some Flower Power to my design.  In order to better define the pieced center design, several smaller scale prints were auditioned for an inner border.

Flower Power

Peaced Top Ready for Quilting

Each of those black squares would feature quilted designs featuring symbols of peace, love, happiness, unity/balance and flower power.  Freezer paper templates made it easy for me to outline stitch these larger designs in vibrant colors of Aurifil 50-weight threads.  The negative space was then filled in with different pebbling designs (1 minute video demos of each background fill was posted to my Facebook and Instagram accounts).  Stitching each of these designs was a great form of meditation as I stitched peace sign after peace sign or heart after heart.  

Peaces of My Design Process

Once the larger blocks were quilted, I took some time away to consider quilting designs for the remaining postage stamp blocks and borders.

Time for a Transformation

Now that the quilting was complete, it was time to transform my quilt top by carefully removing swatches of the black fabric to reveal the layer of beautiful hand-dyed fabrics below.

Before & After Mod Mola Reveal

WOW!!  What a complete transformation for both the quilt top as well as renewing my own sense of hope, peace and love in the world.  

Hippie Daze, Finishes 44" x 44"

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." - Demond Tutu