Monday, December 12, 2011

Arizona Centennial Art Quilt

This past summer the Queenie Mother and Father paid a lovely visit to Queenie, Honey Man and the Delicious.  As is the tradition with the Queenie Mother, we visited several fabric and quilt stores.  At one particular store I was taken with this fabooo Arizona fabric. Little did I know that it was the Arizona Centennial Quilt Challenge fabric… 
The great state of Arizona turns 100 in 2012. Needless to say, I walked out of the store with a yard or two of the fabric intrigued by the idea of creating an art quilt in celebration of Arizona’s birthday… and Queenie and Honey Man’s return to this great state which is a whole other story for another post.

Queenie adventured on a flight of fancy with Arizona research in one hand and fabric in the other, coming up with the following rough sketch centered around the AZ fabric and design elements borrowed from the state’s flag, seal, motto – ditat dues (God enriches), and the major developing industries – copper, cotton and cattle

I then drafted out a full size pattern 40” x 40” working out some basic proportions to please

Queenie selected various fabrics from her stash and purchased several more…
...who would play well with the Arizona fabric and be best friends with the design  

Queenie auditioned several fabrics for the rays of the sunburst

Once the finalists were selected and order of appearance decided the cutting commenced with stacks of strips

Some became squares

Of two sizes in fact


That then transformed into half square triangle strips

The strips became sun beams

And more sun beams

Until there was a sunburst

On to the transfer of birth dates for hand appliqué

Once the sunburst and birth dates were complete the blue of the horizon fell into place

Now the gold boarder of the star and the Arizona fabric are in place for further appliqué

That is where Queenie is on this Arizona art quilt adventure. I will keep you abreast of progress along the way and Queenie remembers to take photos :o)

Have a really great day!

Always, Queenie Believe

10 comments:

Vivienne Moss said...

Thanks for the walk through. Looks wonderful so far. can't wait to see the finished Arizona Quilt.

Blessings, V.

Cindy Adkins said...

Oh my gosh--this is such a BEAUTIFUL creation!!! How fabulous, indeed!!! I love what you have made--It is a total work of art from creative hands and a creative soul!!
XO
Cindy

Michele said...

Oh Queenie this is most excellent! i love the color choices. i am so impressed and can't wait to see what comes next! happy day to you. xoo

Gerry said...

Very nice, my Dear! Although, the pictures definitely don't do it any justice. :-)

Victoria said...

Queenie, even though the quilt is unfinished, your color choices make it seem, to me, the embodiment of Arizona. It's really beautiful, and I can't wait to see more!

Esther Aliu said...

WOW! What an inspiring journey, your quilt is stunning!!

And, I must say, that fabric is completely fabulous and you made it work so well in your design!

Angie in SoCal said...

What a wonderful tribute to Arizona. You should look around and see if they are having a quilt contest somewhere in Arizona for such quilts. Sure to win.

My Grama's Soul said...

Oh Queenie.....this is so wonderful. I'm not a quilter...but I always admire those who are. My neighbor is also a fabric artist....and I do believe she made an entry for this event. Yours is fabulous.

xo
Jo

Anonymous said...

THis is just fantastic to see your quilt grow before our eyes!!

thank you!
x..x

Glenda said...

Thank you so much for such a wonderful tutorial, it was a fun journey and so easy to follow, I especially like the way you made the sunbeams. Thanks so much for sharing, I'm looking forward to seeing it completed. Cheers Glenda

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