Quilter in Distress: Phyllis Tarrant
Rescuer: Kay Pearson
Untitled • 29" x 18"
Phyllis: "I was experimenting with discharge and thought
to make a quilt by first piecing, then discharging and then quilting. I am
happy with the way the discharging turned out, but it was immediately obvious
that the piece needed more than just quilting to finish it. It has been more
than a year and I have yet to figure out what it needs."
Kay: "Upon the arrival of the UFO challenge piece that I
was assigned, I had many thoughts. The piece was full of wonderful discharged
designs and I studied the work for a long time before beginning my creative
additions. The stripes were very interesting with the designs that had been
created and I knew that I didn't want to distract from the original intention.
My first thoughts were to square up the material and get rid of the slight
curve on the one edge. Next, I cut the work into even strips and then I rotated
every other section. This appears to be more of a distraction to the work
rather than an enhancement. It was clear to me that the work needed to remain in the
same direction that it was created with the black strips separating the cuts.
Off-setting the borders offered still another interest. The main designs were
hand-quilted with metallic monofilament. The background was hand
quilted with a variegated black, white, and gray thread in a diamond shaped
pattern that was created with a variety of different width masking tapes."