Covid19 Quilt Challenge

Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is an international organization whose purpose is to support and expand the reach of art quilts and quilters through world-wide exhibitions.  The organization is also broken down into regional groups and local PODS. Sue belongs to the Northern Virginia POD which is part of the North Carolina/Virginia Region.  The pod issues periodic challenges and the most recent was a COVID challenge - to create a quilt inspired by the virus, whatever aspect the quilter chose and any size.  With other projects on her plate, Sue chose to make a 12" square and focus on the frequently seen image of the virus and the stay home orders issued in the first months of the pandemic.

The inspiration came from 2 things - a photo of a globe thistle that reminded her of the spikes of the virus and photos of doors taken several years ago which represented shelter.  The first part of the creative process was to turn the thistle photo into a Thermofax screen.

Cropping down to just the flower portion, changing to black and white, and then applying a filter resulted in this image used to make the screen.

Since this was representing the spikey part of the virus, Sue wanted to print this over top of a circle representing the body of the virus.  For that she turned to a stencil of  circles in various sizes. The plan included 3 different sizes of the screen, so 3 sizes of circles were needed.  The circles were stenciled first in gray, and the virus spikes printed over top in a raspberry color on a dark teal hand dyed background. This photo shows before and after the virus is printed over the circles.

Next was adding the door to represent home and shelter.  The original photo was slightly altered in photoshop and printed on fabric, then fused to the center of the square.

You'll notice another element was added here as well - some phrases often heard from the medical professionals - "wash your hands, wear a mask, 6 feet apart, disinfect, flatten the curve, social distance, stay home".  These were also screen printed onto the background. After adding the backing, the piece was quilted.

It looks like this little quilt can serve as a reminder of cautious behavior for the near future and maybe even longer. Has the pandemic inspired you to create a quilt or other fiber art?