AMB Tiny Quilt Challenge!

No weekly updates this week because I have been designing a lot and sewing very very very little :(

HOWEVER... I have updates for you...

Because finally I can blog about the two minis I made for AMB Tiny Quilt Challenge!

The top entries will debut at a special Road to California (2016) exhibit!

I made two minis for the challenge... and... AND... ONE WAS ACCEPTED!!!
Like WHAAAAAAAAAAT????

It's the first time I ever enter anything in any exhibit and I got in!!
I am soooooooooooo excited.

"Piet-ite Blue" and "Vincent".

So let me tell you their story!

Everything started with my obsession about Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" and the amazing work of Adam Lister (adamlistergallery.com).

When I read about the AMB challenge, the use of solids (and just solids) didn't make me very excited (I don't like solids, don't hate me please :) ). However I thought that it could be the best excuse to finally put Van Gogh's painting down to fabric! But how exactly? I started googling around images of the painting and I came across Adam's wonderful "pixellated" reproductions of classic art and famous characters. As soon as I saw his version of the painting I had the moment "That's it! That's exactly what I was looking for!". I immediately got in touch with him and he was very kind and curious to see how his art would translate into fabric!

Now the difficult part: how can I reproduce this look and keep somehow the spirit of Van Gogh's irregular impressionistic look?
Raw edge applique and thread painting look the only reasonable option!
Of course I never tried any of these technique :) but luckily July tutorial of my series "Stretch Your Skills" was exactly that! So thanks to the wonderful tips and instructions by Kristel (wipgirl) I was able to make a little practice piece that gave me the confidence I needed to attach the big project!

A lot of designing, cutting, fusing and sewing later, this is what I had!

The irregular edges of the different pieces, combined with the irregular crossing of the quilting makes the piece really "impressionist" (IMHO).
I didn't want to add any distraction with the binding, so I used a pillow case method to finish it.
And this mini WAS ACCEPTED in the 40 (out of 230 submitted) minis for the Road to California exhibit!!

After finishing this piece, however, I had a lot of solids leftovers. One day I went to visit the Phillips Collection and I saw a painting from Piet Mondrian (Composition No. III) and I realized that I could make another mini for the challenge!

Since I didn't have white as leftover but blues, I decided to play with the colors and this was the result. It's very simple and the quilting is random straight lines to echo the simple shapes that Mondrian is famous to paint.

This quilt was not accepted in the exhibit, but I still think it's pretty and it balances the impressionistic look of "Vincent"!

So if you happen to be in Ontario, CA in January, stop to visit this fun exhibit!

And if you see my mini, please send me a picture!!