Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Rules for Tonya

While I was making "The Rules" for Helen, I sent Tonya some pictures of the quilt in progress. She was "blown away" and asked if I would make a "Rules" quilt top with brightly colored letters on a white background in the same "font" for her to display on her website.

Who was I to say no?
I didn't want to do just that. I wanted to push the envelope a little. I liked making letters with different fabrics, so I wanted to do more of that. But I wanted to "ease" into it.

So the "IF YOU OBEY ALL" was pretty straightforward. One (fairly boring) fabric per letter, except for the little cats that popped in unexpectedly.

"THE" of course, in black and white, was made that way to alert you "something important" was coming up. The word "RULES" obviously pokes fun at the concept of rules in the word itself, with two letters made up of rulers. Since Tonya had lived in Paris, adding a cat wearing a beret was de rigueur. I simply had to use that Laurel Burch fabric full of cats somewhere, and the letter "U" seemed to be the perfect spot. A sedate "L" leading up to a freaked out "E" and then one of my favorite fabrics in one of my favorite letters to sew, "S."

Then all hell starts to break loose.

The second "YOU" has letters made up of multiple fabrics. For the word "MISS" I really wanted the word to get lost, because you are missing something. I love the "M" with four fabrics. I really racked my brain to do something creative with the "I". Searching through my bin of leftover bits, I found some Jane Sassaman fabric and I thought, "this could work if it were trimmed just right." Then the two wonky "S's" with the cat hiding in one.

The next "ALL THE" simply had to be made from multiple fabrics, and here I started adding slightly different colors and variations to each letter. I made no effort to disguise the fact that these letters were made from different fabrics.

I am all about readability though, so the letters don't stray too far. I love the little cat hiding in the "E."

Then, the riot of the word "FUN." How, I wondered, could I break apart the letters in a unique way, using multiple fabrics and colors in each, yet maintain readability. I confess I drew out the letters first. Then I hit the fabric stash, tossing fabrics around and arranging them. I love the "U" although I think the "N" looks pretty good too.

The original quote by Katharine Hepburn does not include an exclamation point. The phrase ends in a period (full stop). To me the feeling of the quote required an exclamation point. In Helen's quilt, I had used an image of a red-haired woman in the "dot."
For Tonya's, I knew I would add one of her cats. But when I examined this Timeless Treasures fabric I had, I realized I could include all four of Tonya's cats. But how? "FUN!!!!" with four exclamation points after it seemed a bit ordinary... so I broke with tradition (and the rules) and put two on each side of the word "FUN." A green sharpie helped me with Lily's eyes. The rest, I think, are pretty obvious, but for me, the pièce de résistance was adding the dancing skeletons for Howler's mark.

Halloween is Tonya's favorite holiday!

17 comments:

Marina said...

I just love it - beautifull!

Sharon said...

This is just SO AWESOME! You put so much thought into this one, and I love your explanations of "why". That is such a help to me, as a newbie doing the letters. I think your font is great, and the readability is "right on". (I think that's important too) I know Tonya is going to be just ecstatic about this quilt! Whoo hoo!

Oh, and I LOVE it too!

Clare said...

This is so gorgeous. Tonya's going to be doing the happy dance all over Florida! I love the way you've included all the kitties too.

Helen said...

Oh MY Lynne!!!! Not *quite* as good as mine, LOL, but still pretty HOT! Tonya is going to be so happy! You are a letter sewing legend girl! x

Joyce said...

Fantastic!

Exuberantcolor/Wanda S Hanson said...

Well you surely aren't missing any of the fun!!!!! It is spectacular!

Jeanne said...

This is beautiful. I love it. Amazing when you see all the quilt.
Gorgeous colors.
Computer doing fine.
Thank you so much, your loving mama Jeanne xxxxxx

Tonya Ricucci said...

Tonya IS ecstatic about this quilt! You outdid yourself! Not only that, you took much better pictures of it than I've been able to. So fun to see the details of the letters. fabulous, thank you!

Victoria Findlay Wolfe said...

loOks fabulous1 LOVE YOUR LETTERS...

Quiltdivajulie said...

WOO HOO ~ AWESOMELY AWESOME ... SO glad that Tonya loves it!!!

(tee hee, and I know a secret . . . )

laura said...

So great! I always think of using one fabric for one letter love how you changed it up- how we tend to make our own rules for even the stuff that is meant to be "unruly" :)

Melinda said...

I love this quilt! Your explanation of it is wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Lisa said...

It's wonderful!!!!!!

Hannah and Lucy said...

That is a lovely quilt but my favourite bit is the exclamation mark!!!

PurplePickle said...

Perfect. I luff it!!

Unknown said...

it is great! a masterpiece, lucky, very lucky is your friend. hugs from Italy

Anonymous said...

Such a cool quilt! I love the exclamation marks. They really look just like Tonya's cats! Bravo!

-Holly