Another On-the-Road Fabric Sketch

Remember what I wrote in an earlier post: don’t forget to look up? There is always magic to be found in the ordinary! 🧚‍♂️

So, another day, another chain motel during a business trip. But…a high ceiling caught my eye, then a light fixture which completely charmed me for some reason:

The interplay of ovals and sharp angles is simply wonderful. Using my favorite photo filter, I played with exposure to see which neon version was most pleasing.

Settling on the first, I printed the image and set to work. Having a stack of pre-MistyFused fabric is a must: if time is short, simply start cutting, fusing and stitching.

For the ovals, I printed out line drawing versions of the image to save ink, cut out and traced with fabric ink matching the thread I planned to use. Ovals are too difficult for me to draw free-hand and this image was, for me, all about the curving and straight lines.

I used 50wt Aurifil for the background, then switched to 12wt for the red/blue stitching to make the ovals pop:

After I finished the piece, it struck me as way too yellow 😳🕶, so I sketched in a little green ink. A tiny yet high impact mini quilt and very possibly inspiration for a much larger one after my current (big) project is done!