Still waiting and surviving!

Still waiting for the Survivorship/writing process of the Klimt-style quilt to come fully into fruition. Maybe it’s about the spring, forthcoming in a few weeks, so again it’s about waiting. It has now been bound, after being held together with very simple ditch stitch through the three layers. Having decided to use felt as a wading between front and backing fabrics, an easy solution, but creating a less than ‘flat’ connection between them. The result has me a little concerned, since there are sections less ‘flat’ on the surface than I’d like them to be. (Always seeking perfection according to the rules!)  

The twelve blocks have only been ditch-stitched to hold the three layers together. Stitching the fused pieces of fabric has ben on the edges, through the top layer, stabilised with a fused-on cotton backing.  So I devised some ways to try to deal with the dissatisfaction of an uneven surface. One method has been to add extra small pieces fused and stitched to the outer boundaries of the quilt. It seems to have helped in pulling the border fabric more taut for those blocks on the outer edges. I then have added more surface strips to help in that endeavour. It has also allowed me to include the border fabric that I’d not chosen, by adding these small strips. 

Feeling somewhat satisfied by these approaches at smoothing out, I decided it was time to apply the binding, again not before a lot of soul searching about which of two fabrics to use. I have always been used to using a dark border as a ‘frame’, because it does to take away from the image, rather throws it forward. However in this situation I’ve overlooked the rules in order to reinforce the theme. I chose to use the very bright, white-backgrounded and gilded fabric, rather than the more sombre greens of a William Morris I have on hand. I came to the decision thinking of Klimt’s propensity for outlandishness, and I think it works. It also hints at those huge gold frames used for artworks of the time.

Even though ‘framed’ and hand-stitched into place and seemingly ready to hang, with the hanging pocket attached, I feel there is more to come…more gilding of the lily. But that will be surface applications, and requires no more than a few stitches – or the gentle application of gold paint in the form of Klimt “tree of life” spirals. If I get brave...