Zeitgeist Journal Quilt

As you will probably remember if you are a regular reader, I'm once again doing the Journal Quilt Challenge on the Contemporary Quilt Group. They required the journal quilts to be 6 x 12" this year and the choice was up to us to go horizontal or vertical. As I decided to dedicate mine this year to using words I went for the horizontal option. I'm enjoying selecting the words I want to use and for this month I went for a German word: ZEITGEIST.  Zeitgeist is " the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time"

I started raw edge collaging suitable imagery on a background fabric using Mistyfuse and then buttonhole stitched around each piece by hand. I used a wide variety of fabrics including many that featured clocks as, of course, the Zeit bit of the word stands for Time.  The letters were cut out of a Tim Holtz fabric which is entirely composed of clocks. I used the Scan 'n Cut machine by Brother for the cutting. The next step was to Bondaweb the letters down and I was so pleased with how the pattern from the background sort of merged with the letters. I would like to say it was planned but the truth is that it just happened!

I then added further embellishments by hand included a clock charm and parts from actual old watches for the clock hands etc. And needless to say I beaded both the letters and around the binding in what is by now my standard trademark for finishing journal quilts, as I have been doing it since 2004.