Gaïa's Garden

If you're interested, Gaïa's Garden is now on display at the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum as part of the Out of the Box (OOTB) artists group's Summer Fibrations Art Show.

Gaïa's Garden

It's been a long time coming. I've been thinking of this piece for about a year, wondering how I would make it.

Gaïa's Garden art quilt

I played with the placement of the fabric, one section at a time, until I liked what I saw. Some parts were easy while others were a real struggle. I'm not sure why. It may have something to do with expectations.

I suppose that this could be called the second in two series, depending on how you define the series. It's my second "fantasy garden" piece and also my second Gaïa piece. Here are the first in both series.

Morning Has Broken
Art with Fabric, Spring 2018

Gaïa Mother Earth
Art with Fabric, Fall 2017

Both of these were made for the Art with Fabric Blog Hops, Fall 2017 and Spring 2018.











Free Motion Quilting 

Free motion quilting (FMQ) this piece took a very long time. I had said that I would be using different threads, but in the end I decided to stay with the Kimono Silk thread. since it was going so well,.

FMQ all the fun details in the fabric

I remember that I started with bright yellow thread and worked on many, many pieces that needed to be FMQ in that colour. Then I got bored before I had finished with the bright yellow and changed thread and kept going to another part of the quilt. That went on for a very long time. Eventually there were only some small spaces left to fill in.

I love how the quiet space of the swamp came together

Solving a challenge

The trickiest part of this piece occurred just as I thought that I was almost finished. I had noticed that my image of Gaïa seemed to be a little lumpy. I decided that I would deal with it once I had finished putting all of the fabrics onto the piece. I ended up ignoring the problem until after the FMQ. Better to deal with it later....right?

It might not have been such an obvious problem if I had sewn down Gaïa a little more right from the start, but somehow I doubt it. All I know is that there was a largish space that had not been stitched while all around it was heavily stitched....you can see it coming, can't you?

Gaïa had many sags

I might not have needed Gaïa to be svelte, but she was sagging quite a bit. Well, I've always wanted to try trapunto, so I ended up making a slit at the back of the quilt and giving her a little padding. The first time I sort of overdid it, and discovered that although I had sewn Gaïa to the background fabric, I hadn't sewn around her once the batting had been added.

I overdid the stuffing of Gaïa

I almost never un-stitch or redo things. I usually try to find a way around the problem, however after sleeping on it, I decided that it was worth while un-stuffing poor Gaïa, and at the same time sewing around her through the batting.

I added the label on top of the opening.

Here is a final picture of Gaïa's Garden, taken on the way to delivering her to the Mississippi Mills Textile Museum.

Gaïa in her fantasy garden

What I learned

• I'm not sure that re-doing the stuffing was worth it. After finishing the piece, it seemed to be fine but in the pictures, it looks a little off. As a friend said, Gaïa would probably have a few lumps and bumps, wouldn't she?
• I am happy that I took the time to re-do Gaïa. If I want to take my art to the next level, I will need to seriously consider un-doing work more often. I generally know right away when a problem arises but I usually talk myself out of doing anything about it. 
• I think that if I had sewn the image of Gaïa onto a fusible web, that it might have avoided the problem and kept the image flatter. On the other hand, if I had done that, I wouldn't have a 3D art quilt😊
• I also need to plan my FMQ a little more when filling up spaces that really show. I had practiced drawing the stitching that I wanted in the sun but ended up starting the FMQ too quickly. I ended up only one side being what I wanted. I think that being a little more deliberate would have been worth it.

Related links

• Summer Fibrations Art Show 
• Out of the Box Art (OOTB) Artists Group 
• Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

Post related to the making of Gaïa's Garden

Summer Fibrations Art Show, June 23, 2019

Gaïa's Garden is coming along, June 2, 2019

Making Gaia's Garden, May 20, 2019 

FMQ practice and planning, April 20, 2019

Linking parties
Gaïa's Garden has been my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for both May and June. I'm really happy to be linking up to the June Finish of the OMG. I will be linking up to Muv's Free Motion Mavericks as well as many other great linkup parties. Let's see what's going on! Moving It Forward, Monday Making, What I Made Monday, Tuesday Colour Linky Party. Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, Wondering Camera, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Finished or Not Friday, Friday Foto Fun, TGIFF, Off The Wall Friday, Main Crush Monday, Favorite Finish Link-up in June, June's UFO and WIP Challenge,

Project Details

Gaïa's Garden
20" x 22"
Materials: hand-dyed and commercial cottons, silk, tulle, gauze, silk thread
Techniques: appliqué, free motion quilting, trapumto, improv piecing