Crazy Cities

Crazy City: San Francisco, 72 x 72, 2016 

Last year sometime I opened one of my old--1980!--quilt engagement calendars, looking for a quilt to show someone. The first quilt I saw, however, caught my attention and gave me an idea I have been pursuing ever since. The quilt is called "Crazy City, 1885," and is signed by C Winnie. I immediately realized that, living in San Francisco, I could also make a crazy city quilt.

So I did. I made a quilt that was all about San Francisco. To quilt it, I took a picture of one of the many, many construction sites all over this town and transcribed it for my Handi Quilter longarm with the Pro Stitcher computerized system so the quilting would be like looking through a chain link fence down into the site of the new subway station. 

I've since made a few Crazy City quilts, like this one below: 

"Crazy City: Detroit." 72 x 72, 2016

The painted Hugs Kisses fabric was created by Therese May. The quilting design here, being Detroit, is the parking lot outside an assembly line. I'll make the picture extra large so you can see the many parked cars. 

Lately I've made a few quilts about Flint, and its neighbor Swartz Creek, my home town. Here is one called "36 Views on the Way to Flint."  The 36 white and black blocks were embroidered by Barbara Zerbe. To create those designs, I photoshopped pictures of tar patches on various highways, the calligraphy-like lines that result from repairing cracks on a paved road. Like this:

"36 Views on the Way to Flint." 72 x 72, 2016

 Making quilts about these cities has given me a rich set of subjects, from which I can draw allusions and inspiration.