Not too long ago I embarked on a quest to beautify my partner's stacks of milk crates (full of wonderful tools and treasures, but oh, so hideous). I decided to make a series of banner quilts to hang on the stacks. This is the first in the series.
The inspiration for this quilt came from the hilarious posters created by an artist named Amber Share that highlight ridiculous 1-star reviews of national parks. Even though I haven't been there yet, I chose the one she made for Bryce Canyon National Park because it fit into my artistic goals. I wanted something that would let me practice shapes, text, free motion quilting, and didn't have too many colors. I also wanted something easily recognizable.
Incorporating the many colors of the real canyon's layers gave me an opportunity to practice many different quilting patterns. I mimicked the sediment layers by switching up the thread color and shapes, from green squares to red spirals. I tried to show perspective by matching the layers in the small pillars to the big pillar, but scaled down. I'm not sure how well it comes across, but it was good practice regardless.
This quilt features my first time quilting bubble letters. I matched the font to the real National Park Service sign. I'm very proud of how the shape of the letters turned out! However, looking back I would have used a darker thread. I also need to work on my technique securing down the ends of the thread. Here it looks a little scraggly, but I'm afraid they'll unravel if I trim them any more.
Overall, this quilt was very fun! I'm proud of the lettering and the free motion quilting. As an artist, it's hard not to nitpick every little detail, but this is really quite good for my second larger quilting project ever. I smile every time I look at it!
