The Background Journey

The background areas of any art quilt always offer a special challenge. Viewers of a finished quilt usually notice the focus areas and are inquisitive about how they are quilted, further wondering how hard was that area, how long did it take, etc. Surprisingly, those kinds of areas seem less difficult only because they are more interesting to the quilter, and as a result, time seems to pass more quickly. In focus areas as seen over the last few posts, each small area is a new problem solving opportunity and are usually finished more quickly than what comes later... thus... more fun! Background areas often take twice as much time as whats been done previous. The stitch patterns are often redundant and it seems like an eternity is spent here in areas less viewed but equally as important. We are in the hair at the back of this silverback's head. I've worked on it off and on for days and have at least half yet to do. I'm working with an upside down quilt here starting to add in some silver/black twist as in his brow area.

While I seldom mark anything for art quilting, sometimes a soft conte pastel pencil works nicely to create some general perimeter areas for planned quilting. Pastel pencils show up very well and brush off easily. Yeah!