Redwork Design

After some days of brainstorming, I finally had an idea I thought would work and started collecting reference materials. I started with a quote that seemed like it would go nicely on display, that reflects my interests, and that I hoped could be enjoyed by others. After rejecting several, I kept a paraphrase from LDS scripture that I felt was nice, but also carries extra significance for me because of the context it is taken from (Doctrine and Covenants 121:33++).

The second step was to choose a picture of the heavens. I started thinking about telescope pictures of nebulae, galaxies, planets, etc., and decided that most of them wouldn't translate well into two tone work. One fortunate morning (I think it was morning) I thought to show the heavens viewed from earth--a nice mountain skyline with the Sun and the Moon both in view. I just had to pick the skyline.

I chose Squaw Peak, Lightning Peak, and Y-Mountain--the skyline I grew up next to. My sister and niece sent me pictures to work from, but there was a small problem. The skyline was too flat and two wide, and Lightning Peak wasn't nearly as imposing as it was in my memory. As you can tell, I solved that by shifting Squaw Peak (on the left) and Y-Mountain (on the right) closer together, and lifting the profile of Lightning peak higher and more into the foreground. I felt a little bad misrepresenting my mountains, but the picture was much better for a quilt square. When my mom sent a picture of the skyline from a different perspective, Lightning peak really was more prominent, and I felt better about my memory.

The Sun and Moon I took from the NASA images website. I looked for pictures that showed interesting texture, since these bodies were to be the central theme of the quilt square. The central Sun picture shows weather on the Sun, and the outer one shows ejecta.

For the last part, I thought it might look good to have someone staring up at the heavens. A picture of me and my boy made a good starting place, which I have further modified in later stages. We'll see if time allows it to remain, since I'm down to a few days to finish the project.

Putting it all together I showed the composite design to my wife.

She was terrified. What had she done recommending I participate in a project with people whose crafting she admired? Would they stop following her blog? Would the blame her for the eyesore in their quilt? Fortunately, the next stage of the design relieved some of her fears.

More updates to follow!