Scissors and a washing machine

What can you do with a pair of scissors and a washing machine?

This month’s journal quilt is based on a project I found in a French patchwork magazine, “Ewa Patch”. We took a short trip to French Guiana (the country next door to us). The purpose of the trip was partly for a mini-vacation, and partly to buy some French DVDs and reading materials. Since we will be moving to Belgium next year, we are working on learning French, to add to our Dutch. (They speak both languages in Belgium.) Reading magazines about a subject that interests you is a good way to help you learn a language. So, of course, I bought all the quilting magazines I could find!

In this magazine, there was a chenille bathmat. They had cut the layers of fabric apart with a curvy line, then re-ordered them so that the different sections had different fabrics showing when they were cut. The top fabric remained the same throughout, so the color change between sections was subtle. Then they sewed the lines in different directions in the various sections. The effect was very pretty, and the changes in the color between the sections added a lot of interest. So, I was going to do something very similar, on a smaller scale, for my journal quilt. Then I thought, “I wonder if you could use this technique to make a picture?” I let that idea percolate for a few days. I wondered if you could have several different-colored layers of fabric, and just cut through to different levels to reveal the different colors. So, that is what I tried. My first attempt is here:

Although I think it looks nice, it's not exactly what I wanted. I found that cutting through to different levels was too subtle – the lowest levels of fabric didn’t show enough to give me different colors in the different sections. The sky came out exactly as I wanted, though. I decided I needed to cut the three hills out separately and put the main color I wanted for each one on top, and the tan “dirt” color underneath, so it would show as the dirt in between rows. I also decided the sun rays needed to be wider, so I sewed the lines farther apart, then cut out the rays. The sun was originally two pieces of yellow fabric placed on top of the sky. I decided the sky needed to be cut out from behind it, so that I wouldn’t end up with a blue strip around the edge of the sun.

So, here is the second version:

I like it much better, but I wish I had put a layer of green under the pink. I had a field of blooming tulips in mind. But, overall, I'm pleased. I have ideas rolling around in my head for more designs I could do with this technique.

And here is the back, with a poem by John Milton called "Song On May Morning."