April 7, 2017

Back to the Moon

A few years ago, I started thinking about a photograph I took at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center as the basis for a quilt.



My original thought was to produce a pixel quilt from the photo, but as I played with pixellating the image in a photo editor, it became clear that this was not a good candidate for that type of quilt.  I put the idea aside for a while.

Then when Luke Haynes published a tutorial for one of his applique designs, a light bulb came on and I realized that would be a better approach for using my photo.


I used Photoshop to manipulate the image into a posterized pattern, and had it printed on large-format paper at an office supply shop.


The background is a traditional Storm at Sea design; I drafted my own blocks onto freezer paper and used a "paperless" paper piecing method.



We fought with wind and sun to get photos; this one is almost a reject, but the angle of the lighting does show the quilting well:



To quilt the curved flying geese, I marked the curve first on freezer paper (any large piece of paper would do):


Then I cut the paper along the curve, and positioned the two halves so as to mark the upper and lower boundaries for the flying geese:



I used Gale Garber's method to mark the geese within the curves, and Kathleen Riggins' method of quilting the geese.

The background is quilted with several organic type fills; the quilting on the rocket is inspired by details in the photo.


For the reflective part of the rocket, I used a few metallic fabrics:



The larger applique pieces were basted in place with washable glue; smaller details are either fused in place or created via reverse applique.



I used a couple of NASA licensed fabrics for the back.  The label, printed at Spoonflower, includes the original photo.



I tried to use a few sky- or space-related fabrics for the background; this is one of my favorite blocks:



The binding is a Lizzy House Constellations print which seems particularly appropriate:



The name of the quilt (and the photo), "Back to the Moon," comes from a Kate Campbell song.



I'm linking up with crazy mom quilts for Finish It Up Friday. 


12 comments:

  1. Amazing!!! So many wonderful elements. Wow on the quilting, background is incredible, and the rocket and moon are perfect! Great interpretation of the picture.

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  2. This is sensational! Your design, color and stitching are all above the top in talent!

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  3. Wow!!! I love the low contrast(ish) background and the rocket is just amazing

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  4. I must concur....WOW! Amazing detail! Truly spectacular!

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  5. Oh boy, do I love this! You did a fabulous job and I hope you win some awards.

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  6. perfect quilt, i love it! excellent idea and you carried it out beautifully

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  7. Ben! You did a great creative and interpretive design and implementation. Wow!!

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  8. A Massive Rocket!!!

    Nice work..

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  9. Your quilt is amazing! That rocket is always a welcome sight when flying into HSV, or traveling on I-565.

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  10. You are an amazing quilter/artist! Quite the asset to HQH, too!! Nicely done, Ben! :)

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