Rock On! Art Quilts Come Home

A year or so ago, Quilting Arts magazine issued a challenge for art quilts inspired by rock and roll music. I submitted three:

"The Promised Land" inspired by the Bruce Springsteen song of the same name. I used a lot of different techniques on this one. I printed onto fabric a picture I took of Main Street in Madison, WI for the background. I fused hand-dyed fabric cut out into the shape of the hands and used quilting for definition on them. I fused hand-dyed and inked fabric for the dogs. For the street sign, "Promised Land" and moment graphics, I printed onto organza with photoshopped pictures -- I used a dollar bill for the background of "moment," but you can't really see it. Then I added the little charms that say "hope," "dream," "love," and "believe."

"Helplessly Hoping" by Stephen Stills -- an old love song that is one of the best examples of alliteration ever (IMHO). I used Setacolor paints, Polished Pigments, and Shiva paintsticks for the background. The heart is a little stuffed and painted bit of hand-dye with the wings cut out from fabric that was printed with puff paint and then painted. The harlequin is made from inked and hand-dyed fabric and dressed in cotton sateen that I printed with Stewart Gill paints. I sewed little bells to his hat -- although when they're that small, they don't really jingle.

"Go Johnny Go" was inspired by the Chuck Berry song, "Johnny B. Goode." I used a picture I took of my friend, Robert J. (his latest band is here), and made the entire picture of hand-dyed fabrics and threadwork. I beaded the words so that they would look like a "name in lights."

They didn't publish any of them in the magazine, but they did post them on their website - along with everyone else who entered.

The best part of this challenge was that it inspired me to do some other stuff. I painted this moon and sky on fabric using Stewart Gill paints:

I was thinking of doing a "Moondance" inspired quilt with this....

And I also made another Helplessly Hoping quilt in a bigger format:

I haven't finished it yet, but when I do I'll post a picture and explanation of everything I did.