She’s Got the Devil in Her

An Evening Around the Fire

It’s like the song by Cedell Davis and Ayron Jones, “She’s Got the Devil in Her”. I wanted a quilt that changed as it was folded. One evening we were sitting around the wood stove in the studio. I was talking about my brother’s Mad magazines. When I was a kid I loved looking at the fold out art. I wasn’t interested in the rest of it. When my stepdaughter was younger she would look for vintage Mad magazines when we went antique shopping. After talking that night, I had the plan.

But How?

It was tricky. I wanted to involve my talented step daughter, and husband in the processes. She started the drawing with a woman surrounded by plants. I was looking for more of an edge. I was thinking angel folded into devil, but that also seemed easy in subject matter. My husband and I went back and forth tweaking it on paper till it worked. We kept her original woman, but turned the plants into a devilish forest. I don’t usually work with a blue print when quilting, but the idea was too good to not do it. It’s pretty rare for me to start a quilt with an idea and have it end the same as my original idea.

After we got the drawing the right, I enlarged it on paper the same size as the center panel. If I was to do it again, I would have made the paper the same size as the finished quilt. I think that might have helped to keep it all lined up. I’m pretty sure there was and easier way to do this, but my process was to trace the image on the white fabric with a quilting marker. I cut 3/4″-1″ strips of fabric and appliquéd them down over the marked lines. I’m pretty sure there was an easier way to do that, but I usually jump in to projects without knowing fully what I am doing. I also appliquéd the leaves, and the eyes in green. I had been looking for a reason to use toile for the border around the center panel. I felt like it not only add to the size, but added to the story.

I finished it by free motion quilting a floral design to add to the jungle design.

Quilty Pleasure Show

It was apart of the Quilty Pleasure show at the Elephant Gallery. I loved sharing it with people. It was nice to engage with people who saw it on social media, and were excited to see it in person. It was nice showing with other great fiber artists. The show was a good kick in the ass for me to get my quilts back out there again. It was a good kick in the ass to stay focused.

The finished quilt is a playful take on the naughty and nice.