Eclipse- Finished

Last week I shared the initial steps of my new, largely hand stitched, quilt.  Here's the finished piece,  I think the color variation in the underlying fabric combined with the stitching and the paintsticks really combines to make something cool looking.  I was initially worried that it would look flat, but I don't think it does!

One of the big challenges is that the back of the piece had lots of threads and knots, more like the back of an embroidery (mine are never tidy) than the back of a quilt.  I didn't want a layer of opaque fabric covering the back, but I needed something, just to hold in all the loose threads.  I decided to fuse down a layer of tulle on the back. Then I added a little bit of machine quilting before blocking and finishing the edges.  The edges are finished by zig-zag couching several layers of Ricky Tims razzle dazzle thread.

My goal from the beginning was to achieve a formal sort of Art-Deco inspired look.  My original idea was New Mexico weather- the rain and sun out at once.  But the longer I worked on it with the dark background and especially after I added the painstick shadowing around the top sun structures, the more it reminded me of an eclipse,  where there's the glowing ring around the sun, and darkness throughout, so I've decided to name it Eclipse.

Eclipse, c. Shannon Conley, 2021, 43 x 31, Photo: Mike Cox

Eclipse, c. Shannon Conley, 2021, 43 x 31, Photo: Mike Cox

Eclipse, c. Shannon Conley, 2021, 43 x 31, Photo: Mike Cox

In addition to the actual bottensöm embroidery, I stitched on lots of beads in the open spaces.    In person the quilt is very sparkly.  Mike has some magical method of capturing the sparkliness in pictures.  Comparing this one and the one below it, it's amazing the difference that the camera settings make.

Eclipse, c. Shannon Conley, 2021, 43 x 31, Photo: Mike Cox

 I really love the way this turned out.  It was completely experimental and tons of fun.