Young Textile Artist Challenge

Today is another
quilt competition deadline.
This competition really enticed me
because it is designated for
“Young Textile Artists”
and you can only submit work
if you are under the age of 30.
Hey look at that!
An actual competition for us youngins!
I figured I might have a good shot at doing well
in this show because c’mon,
how many competition quilters are out there
that are under the age of 30?
Pry like 9. Maybe 10.
Haha.
So I thought this one would be fun.
As you all know,
I have been dabbling quite a bit lately
in the art of digitally designed and printed fabric.
*Sidenote*
 if you need some background info on that, 
check out this post to get a better idea.
*End Sidenote*
 
And when I saw this competition I thought,
“What better way to showcase the design work
I have been doing than to enter it into
a competition specifically for young textile designers?”
Fit like a glove.
I know that most
“traditional”
quilters would shy away from
or even scoff at
printed fabric.
But you see,
I never really learned how to piece
before I learned how to quilt.
But I did know Photoshop and Illustrator.
Do what you know, right?
One thing I have really come to learn about quilting is this:
Do what works for you, and forget about what works for other people.
I have really taken that to heart.
I have ventured off the beaten path,
and haven’t been devoured by any wild animals yet.
At the end of the day,
the only one my work needs to please is me.
Sure, it feels great to hear it from someone else’s lips once in a while.
But that is beside the point.
So.
If you would like to see pictures of the quilt and the process behind how it was created,
read on!
__________________________________
The first thing I did was started in Adobe Illustrator.
This is the design that I came up with…
I sent it out to a fabric printing company
(along with a really pretty penny)
and they sent me the fabric.
I decided to piece some white fabric to both sides
so that it wouldn’t be so narrow.
I also wanted to have a little more quilting room on the sides.
I used pure black cotton for the backing
and used two layers of 80/20 batting.
The next step was to quilt over every black line
with my Superior Threads 40wt Omni Black thread.
I really love that line of thread.
And no, they didn’t pay me to say that.
After all the triangles were quilted into place
I used my coordinating 40wt Omni threads and added
a fishbone braid inspired design coming out
from the triangles to the edge of the quilt.
Then I added a basket weave type pattern
between each braid.
I wanted to stick with the geometric style of the fabric,
But I decided to curve the braids to soften it up a bit.
Then, I added some of this
BEAUTIFUL
excel metallic yarn just around the edge of the design.
Thank you SOOOOOO much
Helen Godden for giving me this yarn.
I.
Love.
it.
To apply the yarn, I used this awesome couching foot
(designed by Helen)
on my Handi Quilter Sweet 16.
I love my quilting machine.
No, I didn’t get paid to say that.
Then I attached the binding
while I watched The Bachelorette.
I hope she picks Josh.
Or the basketball coach.
Last but certainly not least,
I had to add some
bling bling.
I didn’t want the crystals to overwhelm the design as a whole.
So I just added one here and there
wherever a lot of points met.
Once the quilt was finished,
it reminded me of those beautiful pictures you see of the galaxy.
And the crystals are kind of like stars.
Where the black lines run between the different points
I thought of constellations.
So I named the quilt
“Cosmos”
Be great to each other.
-Karlee

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