Performance management

Today's offering is a piece I created a couple of years ago. The inspiration came from Quilts UK - the 2005 challenge, which I think was called 9 patch delight. I mused on the subject whilst completing my first year of exam marking. I doodled whilst listening to pupils mangling the German language, and came up with a design which is not traditional patchwork. My first idea was to have the different size squares each showing a different 9 patch pattern. However, I didn't end up doing that, perhaps as it took longer for the idea to become a project. I'm not sure how the colours were decided, but I do know that the fabrics had to be bright, and with minimal pattern - but not plain fabrics. I got ideas from Patchwork and Quilting magazine (the shisha mirrors - which are real mirrors), Popular Patchwork (the spirals / swirls), and Quilting Arts magazine (the quilting pattern).
I used contrasting colours for the edge of the shisha mirrors, and brightly patterns fabrics for the snakey bits and the swirls - also to give some contrast, and I suppose to give some movement to the piece, and to draw it all together - that is why some of the snakey bits cross some of the squares.

I started by deciding on the colours, and the order of the colours. I cut squares from paper, and then paper clipped the squares together to arrange the layout. This 'template' was smaller than the piece, but I used the dimensions of the squares to scale the fabric to the correct size. Once I had decided on the dimensions and cut the fabric, I then pieced the fabrics individually - straight stitch to start (I think). My brain couldn't cope with cutting the unusual shapes into the squares of fabric, so once I had pieced the squares, I turned the piece over and cut away the excess fabric, before adding the next square. Once the project was pieced, I used satin stitch around the edges of each sqaure, in a variegated thread similar to the colour of the square. The next task was to add the shisha mirrors, which was a very steep learning curve - I didn't realise that the thread mesh had to go through the fabric first - I was trying to create the initial frame on the mirror alone!! - I can't believe I've just used some jargon in here - 'a steep learning curve' indeed - I apologise now, and will try not to let such phrases creep in again! Anyway, once I'd sorted the shisha mirrors, I added the shapes, using raw edge appliqué. Then came the fun part - layering the piece for quilting! I free machine quilted the piece using toning threads, and had a 'crossing squares' type design. I had tried a different design on paper, but preferred the freedom of crossing squares. Once the piece was quilted, I went round the outside edge with satin stitch, to finish it off, rather than trying to bind it.

I'm really pleased with the piece, and now have to find somewhere to show it - in the house of course! I called it 'Performance Management' as I was stretching myself further - leaving my comfort zone if you like, and really experimenting with several different techniques at the same time. I enjoyed creating it, and I did get quite fussy about the shisha mirrors - if it went wrong, I started again, I wasn't going to allow shoddy work on the piece. Some of the shisha mirrors are not perfect - but little in this life is, and they got better as I went along.

On a closing note, I'm really touched (and thrilled) by the comment left on the previous post!