Joyspotting on the Road: Don’t Forget to Look Up! 🎡

One morning last autumn, I woke up early in downtown Cincinnati and headed out in search of my almond milk flat white. Looking up and down the street for the nearest barista, I noticed the most unexpected sight: a Ferris wheel hovering over the office buildings. Not quite a UFO but pretty much the last thing I expected to see 😉! Of course I had to investigate…

Wow. So I hadn’t been seeing things ;)….ok, caffeine in hand and back to the hotel and to meetings.

On my flight home, I played with the image using my neon filter:

…and filed it away in my enormous must-make-into-a-quilt album on my phone.

Months passed…then art staycation time came and I was able to play:

Oooh! Windham’s Bedrock blender fabrics, already MistyFused, are frequently my “paintbox” of choice – incredible range of colors and just enough light/dark variation to add visual interest: https://windhamfabrics.com/php/fabricshop/fabricshop.php?a=sc&Category=1051 

Adding my fave thread box…and Tsukineko markers (knowing I would certainly use the midnight blue one)…I got to work.

First, I blocked out the background…creating a merry mess of scraps. MistyFuse tip: if you keep a bunch of fused scraps, press them to your Goddess sheet to smooth them before cutting your shapes:

I love blending the areas with many shades of thread:

And once the background is done, I sketched in the spokes (easy!) and arcs (oh so NOT EASY…) with midnight blue ink as a guide for heavyweight 12wt thread:

A fast fun fabric interpretation of a most unexpected “joyspotting”…which may well inspire a larger piece in the future. And for anyone who is curious…good news, the SkyStar wheel will now be a permanent part of the Cincinnati skyline – definitely a joyful bit of news for its residents ;).

If you are not familiar with the term “joyspotting,” then you simply must read Ingrid Fetell Lee’s book, Joyful!