Modern Applique Illusions: Flight Plan

Hello again and thanks for following along with the Modern Applique Illusions blog tour! Today’s post can be found at Shannon Brinkley’s blog, Bottle Tree, and you’ll definitely want to take a look at the project she made–a scaled down version of Flight Plan!

CaseyYork_FlightPlan

Flight Plan was really inspired by my wanting to play with the juxtaposition of size and distance. I love that things that appear small-ish to us, such as clouds, are actually enormous when we get up next to them. At the same time, things that seem big to us, like airliners, can look so tiny when seen from far away.

I usually trace my applique silhouettes from photographs, and in this can I can share with you the source of the cloud silhouettes I used–this picture I took when I was doing some research in Portugal.

CaseyYork_Portugal

As with Still Life, I used solids for this quilt, as I didn’t want the tiny plane appliques to get lost in the busyness of a print. In a nod to the flight maps you find in commercial seat back pockets, I embroidered the contrails of each plane in bright red floss. I rented time on a longarm machine to quilt swirls in the clouds and rectangular “pebbles” in the window frame, then used my domestic machine to quilt straight lines radiating from the clouds.

CaseyYork_QuiltBack1

I found a great stamp print that matched the colors from the front of the quilt perfectly. This made me think of airmail, inspiring the chevron strip that I pieced for the quilt back.

I have quite a bit of fabric leftover from this one, so please leave a comment if you’d like to be entered to win those scraps and a package of 805 Wonder Under. (And just a note, if you’re interested in entering these scrap bag giveaways, make sure to leave a comment on each blog post, as each post will have its own giveaway.)

And I have a first winner to announce! Congratulations Lucy–you will receive a scrap bag from the Ripples quilt along with some Wonder Under!

Please make sure to check out Shannon’s version of Flight Plan, and continue to follow along with my other lovely blog tour participants! Thanks again for reading!

11/10: C&T Publishing
11/11: Jenifer Dick/42 Quilts 
11/12: Debbie Grifka/Esch House Quilts 
11/13: Kathy Mack/Pink Chalk Studio 
11/14: Shannon Brinkley/Bottle Tree
11/15:  Pellon 
11/16: Kevin Kosbab/Feed Dog Designs
11/17: Generation Q Magazine
11/18: Krista Robbins/Sew What’s Cooking?
11/19: Fat Quarter Shop/Jolly Jabber
11/20: Violet Craft 
11/21: Kristy Daum/St. Louis Folk Victorian
11/22: Cindy Lammon/Hyacinth Quilt Designs
11/23: Modern Quilts Unlimited

11 thoughts on “Modern Applique Illusions: Flight Plan

  1. I’m really liking the back of this quilt. I’ve noticed that quilter’s put a lot of thought into adding something to the backs. That airmail chevron stamp is just wonderful. Lots of great quilts makes for a fun book! kthurn@bektel.com

  2. I’m in love with Flight Plan! This is now on my to-do list, hehe. You did an amazing job and love you explaining how and why you did things. I’ve been around aviation most of my life and retired from a major airline carrier as well.

    Thank you for a super giveaway and a chance to win. Finger’s crossed, I love scraps!

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

  3. Last year I flew for the first time in over a decade. It was a mid-summer afternoon of rain storms. I was in awe the whole trip as we flew around and between towering cloud formations. Your design captures that feeling so well……….thank you. I think of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Cloud painting after her first flight.

I love hearing from my readers, so thanks for considering leaving a comment. They always make my day!