The Magic and Memory of a Kayleigh Spring : Landscape Quilting Class with Susan Hoffman

"Kayleigh Spring"

I signed up for a landscape quilting class with Sue Hoffman at Going to Pieces Quilt Shop in Appleton back in April.

Most of the other people in the class had been with her before.  We all brought photos -- well-- I brought more of a rough sketch with separate photos of spring-blooming trees that could be used in composite.  I had a whole collection on Pinterest of Sakura cherry trees as inspiration.  The image I wanted to work up is a sweet memory from 30 years ago ... that Kayleigh Spring at UW-River Falls.  A beautiful night in May, trees on campus were bursting pink and blooming, smelling so wonderful ...  Evening time, the sun was going down, and the moon and the stars were coming up.  Wow!  Did I mention I was in love?

It was kind of unusual for a student to have only a sketch, and not an actual photo to work with, but Sue Hoffman let me keep it, and was willing to help me work through it.  Really more of a dreamscape -- and a little simpler than some of the other projects people were working on this weekend. 

One of the biggest lessons from this class was to think like a painter, not a quilter.  I'd brought a big bag of scraps that I thought I could use to fill in the landscapes ...  That works perfectly for applique, but this isn't really applique as quilters know it.  The techniques were first put out there by Natalie Sewall and Nancy Zieman.  I have some of their books about this technique, watched the shows, and never really did anything with it.  Live classes are good for having you try something new, or working on a project on which you're stuck -- which I think is where I was with this one.

 Detail of the background fabrics, and the tree skeleton.

I chose a beautiful blue hand-dyed gradient from Vicki Welsh at Colorways as the sapphire blue background.

I had a whole jelly roll of different greens that I thought I would use for the hill, but it just wasn't working.  Susan persuaded me to choose a lovely leafy green off the rack -- yes, great to be in a well-stocked quilt shop with a wonderful palette to chose from!  Yes-- Going to Pieces has the Stonehenge line of wonderful textures, along with a wonderful selection of batiks and hand-dyes.  I LOVE this quilt shop!

Next I worked on the skeleton of the tree.  I've been fascinated with "naked" trees for years.  Looking at those skeleton structures before they are "clothed" with leaves for the season.  I had a few tree skeletons I could work with in my notes and sketchbooks.

In my mind, this image was tall to encompass the sky, not long, like "normal" horizontal landscapes.  But my chosen tree was better suited for a wider landscape, and a shorter sky.  So we blocked it out a little differently .. about 1/3 for the foreground hill, 1/3 for the tree off-set to one side, balanced by the night sky with a bright star (possibly a planet?) and crescent moon.  The tree is only partially on the canvas, otherwise it would take up too much space with this portrait setting.

We used Heat-n-Bond Lite as the fusible.  Funny they call it lite, as it seems really thick and sturdy.  This is what the teacher recommended.  Not identifying as a quilter, she tends NOT to stitch her quilts once constructed, and this has a good fusible bond.  Instead of quilting and stitching, she frames them behind museum quality glass--like a real piece of art.  That way, they are protected, and you don't worry about pieces falling off.




For the flowering tree blossoms, I chose 2 shades of pink in a hand dye with a little salt specks that seemed to mimic each blossom from this distant scale.   The hardest part was "fussy-cutting" all those little pieces.  It's too easy to get into a pattern with that, and then it all comes out looking the same.  The teacher recommended cutting an oblong triangle with lots of ins and outs, to make it look organic.  It took a whole afternoon to cut out all the pink pieces for the tree blooms.

Detail of the 2 fabrics chosen for the sakura blossoms.

Usually the next step in these kinds of landscape quilts is to go in and touch up the fabrics with pastel pencils or markers.  But since mine was more dreamy, and less life-like, I could skip that part.

Once that was done, I pressed (with a dry iron) everything in place.  And that's it!  It can be cut to size and framed.  I like the idea of not having to stitch it -- Once I get the moon and star in place, it can be dry-matt framed, and finished!   I know -- I'm a quilter first, but this idea of being almost done is really liberating!

 

 Still waiting for the finishing touches -- a moon and Venus in the corner.


Detail of the crescent moon and star in an exquisite sapphire sky.
Actually, in my memory, it was so bright, I think it must have been a planet.  Let's call it Venus.


The frame was purchased at one of the major craft stores locally with a 40%-off coupon. It's one of those off-the-rack / ready-made frames (16 in x 20 in), and not custom-made for this project.  As such the glass gives  off a lot of reflection.  I had to pull the glass in order to take the photo.  The frame looks rustic and old--like that tree -- good for a memory.  Nice and heavy, too.

This quilt has special meaning for me, as memory from nearly 30 years ago.  I was a freshman in college, in love for the first time, and feeling so alive!   Discovering the sensual world.  The feeling has definitely shifted to gratitude, appreciation, and back to love again.  Thank you, TM, for making such a sweet memory for me. 

It's a joy to revisit this every spring.  ;-)

Why "Kayleigh Spring," you ask?  At the time, a song had come out by a band called Marillion.
The song was Kayleigh.  The most visual of the lyrics are :

Do you remember dawn escapes from moon washed college halls?
Do you remember the cherry blossom in the market square?
Do you remember I thought it was confetti in our hair?
-- Fish and Marillion

 
A lovely acoustic version of Kayleigh.
Don't be put off the the theatrics and make-up in the photo.  Just listen ...

In my search for the perfect Kayleigh rendition, I came across this haunting beauty -- isolated Fish vocals and guitar solo.   Just wanted to share it here, so I don't lose track of it ...



And now for the official video from way back in the 1980s.
The one that tells the story visually--even to the bittersweet end.


A really nice version of Fish's A Gentleman's Excuse Me with Lavendar.
[This one also keeps disappearing from the embedded option, so follow the link above ...]


And because some of the heavy stuff needs a chaser to a happier place--where I am now,
I leave you with Goo Goo Dolls :