01 Dec Ephemeral Elegance

Ephemeral Elegance is my Project Modern entry.  The challenge was to make a quilt from an inspiration photo.  I showed my photo in my last post. 

I chose this photo because I have wanted to do a modern version of a traditional floral applique quilt for some time.  When I first began quilting it was the floral applique quilts (and the Amish quilts) that I loved the most.  Another early quilting love of my was Celtic applique.  I made several small projects and really enjoyed working with bias strips.  I’ve also been thinking about ways to use bias in modern quilts.  (See also my Evergreen Bias quilt).

In addition to the obvious vase of flowers, what really inspired me in this photo was the transparency of the glass vase and the glass table.  It felt to me like the transparency conveyed something of the ephemeral nature of cut flowers.

I really would have liked to have hand appliqued this quilt – it is all machine appliqued – but, given the other deadlines and activities in my life, I decided that wasn’t a realistic option.  The fabrics I used are all Kona cottons in greys, greens and white.  It is hard to see the quilting in this shot, but it is all straight line quilting about one inch apart.  Directly behind the flowers, the quilting is at a 30 degree angle.  Near the two flowers on the right, the quilting changes to straight vertical lines.  The table is quilted with straight horizontal lines.

I understand that Project Modern will be putting all the Challenge 1 entries into a Flickr group.  I can’t wait to see what everyone else came up with!  Did you enter?