"Spotlight" by Irene Roderick was featured in the Piecing category at QuiltCon 2023.
Artist Statement: "Spotlight" began as a study of frozen sego palms that died during a bad freeze. The centers of the dead plants created amazing patterns and the leaves became limp and scraggly. When I finished the quilt, it looked more like the old spotlights that arced across the sky for a celebratory event. I like the tension that the creates. The work is entirely intuitive and visceral. I begin by placing a scrap of fabric in the center of my design wall and then grow the quilt element at a time, responding to each "step" until it feels interesting. When I begin, I'm not sure what is going to happen but create through trial and error. Through this act of making, I have learned to embrace the joy of creative intuition, spontaneous expression, and a blind trust in process."
Techniques Used: Machine Pieced, Improvisational Piecing, Machine Quilted without a frame (domestic)
