Friday, February 13, 2026

Down-Dilly Progression

 I don't know how such a strong yellow got chosen, but it is the color of a favorite dress I wore at the age of 6 maybe. That was back when I felt the nursery rhyme "Daffy-down-dilly went to town in a yellow petticoat & a green gown," was a secret cousin to me. I loved yellow & daffodills. In those days was called Daffy by everyone. And sometimes Daff, & then finally by my best math teacher, Miss Louisa Alger, Daph. I loved her for that. It somehow was a dignifying of me as a growing-up person at age 11. 

Other things I have been drawn to is what I call softened rectangles. They feature in the progression.

And the last seed for the work in progress was a collage-making workshop put on by my friend Sabina. In it I found myself cutting soft rectangles in paper & creating windows for what was underneath to show through.

My beginning... the windows & the distorted rectangles!


Rearrangement  of larger shapes happened & infilling...

Elaboration begins...

& more...  I was test-pinning patch in on top before committing...


Winding down & closing in... when to stop....?
...widen margins for framing...

Commitment! 
The quilting began with my trusty Bernina 1080. I love echo quilting to enhance the shapes. Quilting is a stage where I really have to let things flow. Only occasionally to I rip out quilting stitches because they don't "work".

And now that I have come nearly to the end I have a name for the new piece, Down-Dilly Windows.
And another session quilting with darker thread in three of the larger tan & brown shapes...

I love how this kind of photo really shows what effect quilting has on the texture!
That's it for now.
















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