Backwoods Art Quilts: I Hope You Dance!

I Hope You Dance - by Lee Ann Womack - is one of my favorite songs and also an important lesson on the way we live our lives each day. Everyone gets those choices everyday - to sit it out or dance? It is easier to "sit it out" but far more rewarding to "dance." And so, my journey to keep trying new things and putting my art "out there" continues . .

The dancer's skirt using the textured fusing method.

My "I Hope You Dance" art quilt began as a textured fusing experiment after watching Nancy Odom on Quilting Arts (800 series) demonstrate her technique for a textured fabric pillow. I wanted to use the same technique for an art quilt I hoped to create from a picture my granddaughter Autumn had drawn. It was a joy to make and so much fun trying new techniques!

Close Up of the Dancer

Here's how I did it: The skirt was fused first using the textured fusing technique then appliqued to the backing fabric along with the rest of my dancer. The textured fusing went well and was very easy. The words "I Hope You Dance" were created with a stencil and Shiva Artist Paintstiks. My dancer's hair is a combination of angora wool and Angelina fibers - I wanted it to look shiny and flowing as she danced. The borders were added and instead of doing a traditional binding (which I hate doing!) I made a pillow-case binding. Next I added the blue earrings from my stash of JUNK jewelry and then everything was free-motion quilted (my favorite part). I then added a pocket on the back for hanging. The completed quilt is 26" x 27".