Mustard Seed (part 1)

The concept for the Spice Route Exhibit was presented in 2013 by Paula Golden and Ann Reardon and we had 10 months to complete our quilts.  Each participant chose a spice and one of 2 countries where it is produced, and then set about designing their quilt within size parameters.  In addition we were asked to incorporate this concept in our design:

"To add a unifying element to the exhibit, we are asking each artist to  design their piece as though they were looking through a window or an arch. Imagine if you were transported back in time and had just traveled along the Spice Route to the marketplace in Tanzania.  After the dusty ride– or so I would imagine – you had just taken a rest and were looking out the window of your room at the inn.  Consider the architectural elements from your selected spice’s country.  Interpretation of your selected spice can be a rendering of the botanical image of the plant, its flower or your visual interpretation of the spice’s flavor, history and color.  Consider the use of fabrics or fabric motifs from the spice country."

So I (Sue) selected mustard seed from Western Asia.  This encompasses a number of countries and I decided to focus on the area of Israel and Palestine.  Taking the guidelines into consideration, I wanted to incorporate both the window concept and botanical image of the plant, and tie them together with textural imagery and reference to the parable of the mustard seed.  After some research both online and in books, I started drawing my concept full size.  Following the rule of thirds, I allotted 2/3 of the width to the window and 1/3 to the panel on the left.

After drawing it out, I numbered all the parts of the window.  These were planned to be cut from a variety of fabrics so each would need to be a separate pattern piece.  I was using a piece of linen as the foundation on the right, and a dyed piece of the same linen for the panel on the left.

I knew I wanted to incorporate screen printing, which is how I made the image of the mustard plant.  I printed my image to try out the size proportions.

After sorting through a variety of neutral batiks, I decided which pieces to use where. Next I traced the drawn pattern onto freezer paper to make patterns for each piece.  The shiny side of the freezer paper adheres to the fabric when ironed, so that made it easy to get the pieces the right size and shape.

Once all the pieces were cut out, the next step was to apply Misty Fuse to the back of each so it could be fused to the linen foundation.

Keeping them all numbered was important to putting the puzzle together!  Follow along with the next steps in the process in the next post!