Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Pie Love




About 10 days ago a client came to my studio and wanted to commission a small quilt for a friend's graduation gift. The recipient loved to bake, especially Lemon Meringue pies. Could I make a quilt about that? I drew up some sketches, and we settled on one:



We chose some fabrics that spoke to us of lemons and pies and blue skies, and meringues, and looked at some images on the internet to get the colors right. The top of the pies brown especially at the peaks, but when you cut a slice, the underneath meringue stays white. We liked the idea of the lemon slice overlaying the pie and the words "Pie" and "Love" on it.
I converted the drawing to a pattern on Freezer paper, cut out some pieces and started assembling the quilt.It struck me that I could manipulate the meringue fabric to provide texture, and I loved the result, but then it would be difficult to find a pleasing way to overlay the lemon slice. The bumpy texture of the meringue might make threadpainting bumpy, and fusing fabric over it would also result in lumps. In the end I added a lemon, and used the slice idea in the quilting, as I did with the words, and also some eggs and wheat.
I used fusible batting, so I could hold the texture of the meringue in place while I quilted it. The binding fabric was used on the back as well, and has silver stars in it, so it ties the spoon together with the pie in the sky.When you get lemons, make lemon pie!
The silver spoon added a bit of invitation to enjoy, and the whole thing has a folk arty feel. Yum!
I hope the client likes it, too! I'm not sure of the title yet, but call it "Pie Love" in my mind!
Size: 19 inches X 19 inches.

3 comments:

Elizabeth Rosenberg said...

Wow, you know how I feel about lemon meringue pie . . . Yummy!!!!!!!

Susan Schrott, Artist said...

I want a piece!!
xosusan

Vivien Zepf said...

This is so cool! I love the ripply meringue on the top.

By the way, I met Paula Nadelstern at the SAQA tour of her exhibit yesterday. I didn't know you'd quilted one of her pieces that's hanging in the show. Wow! It looks marvelous.