Hey Everyone, welcome back to Story Time Monday.

As promised in yesterday’s post Dancing Lights I am highlighting my quilt called Diverse Light. I made this art quilt a year ago for the International Women’s Day Art Show in Orillia, Ontario which was held at the Orillia Museum of Art & History (OMAH). The show is now in it’s seventeenth year with anywhere from 85 – 110 local female artists taking part. This is a not a juried show and any local female artist can put a piece in.

Each year there is a different theme, last year’s theme was diversity and so I decided to  design my quilt around the diversity of the light in the arctic.

I knew I needed to portray the northern lights and the midnight sun as those are the two of the most defining features of the north. The diversity of the light in the north is truly amazing – the dawns and dusks are quite lengthy and the colours created during these periods of light are spectacular as well as the amazing sunsets and sunrises. Now if one shows up Yellowknife in June don’t expect to see either as the sun just ever so quickly slips below the horizon and pops right back up to create the illusion of 24 hour sunlight – definitely 24 hour daylight though.

In the dead of winter the sun doesn’t show it’s shining face until after 10 am and then only visits for a short time before it hides away again just around 3 in the afternoon. Winter though creates some gorgeous pink skies with orange and reds thrown in as the sun sets.

The quilt was made using the Bargello technique for the sun and the northern lights. Using the Bargello technique allowed me to pick a gradient of fabrics from light to dark to create an illusion of movement when pieced together like the dancing lights through the night sky or a dazzling sunrise/sunset.

The sunrise/sunset Bargello.

I drew out my design on paper first as I needed actual size templates. I also find it just easier to draw my art quilts on paper, with a pencil of course as I do a lot of erasing.

Once the design was finalised I started the task of picking fabrics. I chose to stick with all batiks for this project. The colour runs were sewn together and then cut up into strips and re-sewn to make the Bargellos.

The strips ready to be sewn together.

Once made the paper template of the area was laid over top of the fabrics to see where it looks best.

Paper template laid out for best position on fabrics.

All the pieces made were put together using a method I learned from Gloria Loughman, an amazing quilter and instructor from Australia. All the pieces – 10 in total were sewn together in numerical order using invisible thread and the blind hem stitch. Works like a charm and you cannot see the stitching at all.

Finally, it is time to quilt the piece. I chose to free motion the whole piece. For the northern lights I used a very large free motion zigzag to give the effect of light radiating through the sky. The threads were rayon which has a shiny appearance making the lights sparkle.

The rest of the piece was done with an all over free motion design.

A close up of the free motion zigzag quilting.

There you have it my first show piece, Diverse Light. This year’s show opens May 1, 2013 at OMAH in Orillia and the theme is Reflections. It is a fantastic show so if you can drop by and check it out.

Happy Quilting!