Embroidered Collage

  As Wendy talked about different ways to tell a story in a quilt, I jotted down ideas.  As soon as I thought of this one I knew it was what I wanted to do.  When we brought our kitten home from the SPCA he spent the rest of the night running in circles around the family room, stopping only to be petted, and even then he'd vibrate.  We named him Whirlwind.

I sketched out my ideas, realizing that I would need to simplify the cat dramatically.  I wanted swooping lines for movement and a neutral background.  I couldn't think of how to develop the idea further, so I started to work on it.  Here was where I desperately wanted my paints and papers.  I would have loved to collage the background, only doing the furniture and cat in fabric.  But I didn't have them, so I started looking for the right fabrics for all the elements.  I ended up having to use the backside of a fabric I really liked in order to get the right light colored neutral.

I sewed the lightweight cotton to a canvas backing with a grid of white straight-stitch.  I knew I wanted to use the watercolor crayons on it next and didn't want the fabric to pucker too much.  I was successful.  After I fused on the furniture shapes and zig-zagged a bit around them I added a little color to make the piece more reminiscent of a room.

The ovals were next.  I put a cloth frame over the unstretched canvas and deliberately drew one oval within its limits.  I removed the frame and made sure the others ovals stretched beyond the first one's limits, overlapping in parts.  I used vivid colors, in contrast to the neutrals of the background.  Both these choices were made to emphasize movement.  The fabric scraps were cut in arcs from bright fabric and fused at various places for the same reason.  I secured them with free-motion machine embroidery.  I thought about adding hand-stitching as well, but decided the piece didn't need it.

I did use hand embroidery to construct and decorate the actual cat shape.  It was interesting trying to wrap fabric around a more complex Peltex shape.  I knew the cat had to be red for motion, which was also why I abstracted to eliminate the legs but was a bit disturbed by how much it looked like a fox!  So, I added some tabby markings with crayon and went to the vendor's mall to pick up two small green beads for eyes.  I constructed the tail from various fibers I had with me, deliberately leaving it long, and couched it down.  Then I was happier with the result.

I looked at the piece for awhile and decided I was done.  So, on Friday morning I stapled it to the canvas and displayed it.  This is my eighth Footstep.  In some ways it doesn't feel like mine, with the way the fabrics interact, but in other ways I can tell it is.