May 12x12x12: Honesty (Money Plant)

Honesty (Money Plant) by Sande LaFaut
May, 2007
12x12" Whole cloth quilt, artwork done with Neocolor II sticks, quilted with 30 wt. rayon. Batting inside and midweight pellon on the back.

Detail shot showing stitching and the few white beads I added to brighten up the centers of the flowers.

Continuing with the "Flowers" theme my May offering is a drawing done with Neocolor II aquarelle sticks (heatset with iron). I saw some beautiful work by Allison on her site and remembered that I have a small set of these colors and that they are fun and fast. High priority right now! I started with one of my photos of the Honesty plant in my mother's woods this spring. I drastically enhanced the colors and added some lighting effects in Photoshop, printed it out to 10" size and traced the outlines of the flower onto the white fabric. Then I ironed the fabric onto freezer paper to stabilize it.
The colors were added to dry fabric then dampened with a brush and water which helped to blend the colors. I drew into the wet fabric more to add some graphic lines and enhance colors that blended too much. Then I heatset the whole thing with the iron, added more color and heatset again.
After I quilted the whole thing with 30 wt. rayon thread I started experimenting with a shaped border like I had for last month. It was okay, but when I took it off I decided I prefered a simple squared binding instead. (which is also much faster!)

This one was fun, easy, and quick. Can't complain about that!!

One more thing: Through the Alzheimer's Art Initiative site, I found a new way to fix the back for hanging that is wonderful for small pieces: Fast Triangles. I forgot to photograph it but will try to post one later on. It was so extremely easy: just cut a 4" square, fold it in half, pin it to the backing before binding, sew on the binding as usual, and it is finished except for inserting a thin dowel rod. So much easier than sewing on a traditional sleeve.