Zoedoors

I made this quilt in November 2013 and it was all inspired from the fabric! Riley Blake had just come out with neon fabric. It was brilliant, bright, and amazing! I bought a yard of five different colors, plus some extras to go along with it.  When the fabric arrived I instantly thought of the opening sequence to Monsters Inc.  It’s a great 2D animation of the doors coming open and monsters hiding behind them.  These neon fabrics reminded me of the bright colored doors.  Once I re-watched the film to get more design ideas I realized there were lots of doors actually darker than what I remembered!  But I was still going for it.

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With the Tampa Modern Quilt Guild we recently had had a meeting about improv quilt design.  I thought this quilt would be a great attempt at it.  Now I wasn’t (and am still not) completely comfortable with improv design so I first created a simple color layout in Photoshop.  I don’t like to leave things to chance, especially when expensive fabric is at stake! MonstersLayout monstersbreakdown

Going off my design, I mixed the neon fabrics with black yardage I also ordered.  I tried to stick to the layout but still use improv to build the shapes.  I started with the larger door pieces and then figured out how much black to add around to create the quilt.  I knew I wanted it to be on the smaller size. It would be a quick throw quilt for my daughter or a fun wall hanging.

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I also learned how to sew my first partial seams, which was much easier than I thought!  I decided to use simple black line quilting around the doors, echoing all of the frames. I used a simple zigzag to outline difference door elements and door knobs, similar to those on the original Monsters Inc opening.  I also learned how difficult it was to photograph a black quilt in daylight, to show off the quilting! I tried three different times of day, two cameras, lots of post work and finally found some acceptable images. My darling helper helped with the final overall shot. You can see her little fingers holding up her new quilt.  She titled it “Doors!” Her excitement was all I needed. This quilt doesn’t need to travel, it has a lap to cover.