Blooming Beauty

The annual Benefit Auction is Studio Art Quilt Associates' premier fundraising event with all proceeds going to support SAQA's exhibition programs, publications, and educational outreach. In preparation of the auction that takes place online in October, members are invited to make and donate a 12" x 12" art quilt  I've been contributing my artwork since 2020 as SAQA is an organization near and dear to my heart, plus the format provides an opportunity to experiment with new designs and techniques!

Six days before the submission deadline seemed like the perfect time to start working on my piece! Thankfully I got a jumpstart when I remembered and managed to find these two faux-dyed, block-printed, and stitched Evolon medallions made last summer for a taping with Quilting Arts TV. I pulled a palette of fabrics which included some of my hand-dyed fabrics, designer fabric samples from Fabmo Creative Reuse Center along with thin gauge wire.

Starting a new fiber art project always evokes a combination of excitement and trepidation especially as I tend to work improvisationally. For this project, I began with a nugget or two of a design idea and let the artwork evolve on step at a time...

When it comes to quilt design, I prefer making paper templates instead of sketching as it is easier for me to cut out different shapes and sizes to move around into a pleasing composition. Here I drafted a 12" square and auditioned two different petal shapes and a leaf cut from book papers.

I knew I wanted to create dimensional flower petals but wasn't 100% sure how best to constuct using floral wire. So I experimented by making a few petal prototypes. In my initial petal prototype, I used only two layers, hand-dyed fabric and craft felt, and unsurpisingly, could easily feel the wire support underneath the hand-dyed fabric. In my second test petal, I added a layer of batting to better conceal the wire that was placed inside along the petal perimeter.

Of course, this also made it a bit tricky when it came to adding free-motion quilting within each petal! I used safety pins and my fingers to corral the wire along the stitched edge. Alas, this was not fool proof as evidenced by my broken needle. In fairness that needle was sorely in need of replacement. 

Tulip Puffy/Dimensional Fabric Paint was used to finish the raw edges of each petal along with the center block-printed and stitched medallion!

Once the painted petal perimeters were dry, I placed 5 of the 6 finished petals around the center medallion (I made an extra petal for a bit of insurance just in case!) While the pink and blue flower was lovely, it needed something more for visual interest.

My solution was to glue small loops of yellow ribbon along the perimeter of the center medallion. While this step was a bit tedious and required the use of pins to temporarily hold the loops until the glue set, I loved the extra pop of color, contrast, and texture.

The various floral elements were placed onto a large acrylic ruler, making it easy to move as a unit to audition three different designer swatches for a background. Oh the possibilities!

Next up was replacing the paper leaf template by creating a pair of leaves pieced with designer fabric swatches and quilted with a dense zig zag stitch. Floral wire was then added into each spine (not shown above).

The final component needed was a background. This designer swatch with a circular pattern was the first fabric I auditioned and it was love at first sight. While I love using designer swatches in my fiber art, I usually strive to add my own voice usually through stitched texture. Initially I used a matching teal thread but after 1.5 passes of outline stitching, I soon realized that it wasn't adding much to the design. I auditioned a few different thread colors before taking color inspiration from the central blue medallion. I included a few before and after stitching photos so you can see how this Aurifil 28wt blue thread added a lovely pop to the background!

With all my components prepped, it was time to assemble them into my finished piece. Or perhaps after a bit of procrastinating as I had serious doubt and unknown considerations:

1. how best to stabilize all that bulk?
2. how best to finish the quilt?
3. and finally how best to secure all those elements and ultimately stitching through all those layers while maneuvering safely around the wire! 

With the deadline rapidly looming, I knew I needed to take thoughtful action. I confess that I didn't pause to take many pictures of this process as I feared I would lose momentum and/or courage to keep going. Blue painter's tape was used to outline a 12" square on the quilted background so I could transfer over all the elements for final assembly.  I tried glue basting the elements into place but the background was too textured for the glue to stick. So working from the background towards the foreground, I started by tacking down the leaves with a bit of stitching close to the flower's center.  Then the petals were basted into place with stitching taking care to avoid the wire...or so I thought as halfway around, I broke another needle! The last step was stitching down the center blue medallion and this proved to be the trickiest given all the layers of fabric, batting, felt, and wire hidden below which bent another needle to the point of needing to replace it. It was getting increasingly difficult to stitch through all those layers so I resorted to hand-turning the wheel of my machine for the final 3-4". This not only helped me to go slow and avoid damaging another needle, but it was still faster and easier than stitching the remaining bit by hand! While I had originally planned to go around twice, I wasn't sure my nerves or wrist could handle another round of topstitching!

I can announce my final count of damaged needles: 2 broken needles and 1 sorely bent to the point of needing to be replaced! Thankfully I had a healthy stock of sewing machine needles on hand and the stitching was finished at this point!

Last year I mounted my art quilt onto a 12" stretched canvas square and loved how it elevated the presentation of my piece. I went back and forth on how best to finish my quilt. The woven background fabric was fraying too much to finish the edges with Tulip dimensional fabric paint as I did last year and with several of the components in this year's piece. I even painted the canvas with a brilliant blue to add a pop of color along the edges and prepared strips to face my quilt. But this would require several hours of work to add the facing strips, hand stitch, and then glue it onto the canvas and I was feeling a little under the weather the past few days. Instead I proceeded to my local Ace hardware store to purchase a staple gun so I could wrap the quilted top around the stretched (and painted blue) canvas and secure with staples. A quilt label and saw tooth hanger were added to the backside for the final finishing touches!

Here are most of the materials and supplies used to construct this quilt...

And here is my "Blooming Beauty" donation to SAQA's Benefit Auction finished with a full day to take photos, write an artist statement, and complete the online submission form. Phew!

"Blooming Beauty," finishes 12" x 12"

I couldn't resist having a bit of fun writing my artist statement:

This Blooming Beauty will thrive in your home with these care instructions:

1.  Avoid planting me in direct sunlight to preserve my vibrant color.
2.  I am drought-friendly as I do not like water.
3.  No green thumb required although you are welcome to gently bend my petals and leaves to your aesthetic.
4.  I enjoy the gift of gab! Tell me about your day, dreams, and just how delightful I am!  

You can watch a short video of the final reveal here. Thanks for joining me on this creative journey! I am so incredibly proud of this finish and hope it will generate a healthy bid as part of SAQA's 2026 Benefit Auction. I'll be sure to provide more information and reminders about the auction in a future newsletter and social media posts.