Nellie"s Needles

Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Second Mountain Piece

A guest here at the cottage who has hiked a lot in the Smoky Mountains recognized this spot. It's the Sugarlands Overlook. I'm pleased that she recognized it from the quilt before seeing the photo.
I made another small quilt of that same scene. This time I'll take you backwards in my process.

Sugarlands Overlook (10"x 8")
The finished piece has a lot added ... oil stick pastels, watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons, paint, and permanent marker. My intention was to let the fabrics and stitching speak, but that's not how it worked out. Now that it's too late, I wish I had stopped nearer to this point ... just after the machine free-motion quilting was finished.
A few sunny highlights plus drawing a suggestion of trunks and branches in the foreground trees may have done it.

This is how it looked with the tulle overlay and before the quilting contours were added.
And a peek at the foundation pieces before wool roving and lots more of scattered bits became a part of it.I may try making another quilt of this particular view before moving on. I'm pleased with the results of these first two. However, it's not my intention to have to add so many other mediums to get them to the point of liking them. It's all serendipity plus a bit of experience that may get the results in the way I desire ... allowing the fabric to have the strongest voice.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am speechless..wow..will all you have added the starting foundation is not even visiable. Great job..you are a quilt artist..
DEB};o

arlee said...

These are MAGICAL, NelliE!!! I love the atmospheric colour and the depth in the forests---this mountain girl is entranced!!!

Nellie's Needles said...

I've since discovered that the photo I had taken was from Morton's Overlook rather than the stated Sugarland Overlook. This is the view looking back toward Tennessee from near the highest point on the N. Carolina state line.