Pixel Perfect

I'm borrowing (with permission) the post about our group quilt, "Pixel Perfect", from Kathy York's blog:

by Kathy York, Connie Hudson, Sherri McCauley, Leslie Jenison,Frances Holiday Alford, and Barb Forrister

Well, here's the full view of our entry for Houston this year. It went together so easily, and we had fun making it. When asked about techniques on the entry form, I just wanted to list, "everything". Obviously, it is impossible for it to have EVERY technique, but it sure felt like it!
We tried something new with the joining of the quilted blocks that I wanted to tell you about. We usually trim the quilted blocks, butt the edges together, zig-zag with invisible thread. Then we turn it over and fuse fabric strips over the joined edges, flip the quilt back over and satin stitch over the invisible zig-zag.
This time, after joining all the pieces with invisible thread, we decided that the satin stitch would be distracting because our blocks were so small (just 2" x 2"). We liked the way that the invisible thread looked, but were concerned about the overall strength of the piece. So, Leslie dyed a gorgeous piece of red organza (which I have not taken a photo of yet, sorry!!), and we fused the entire thing to the back. The photo below is what the back looked like before the organza. I thought that looked pretty awesome too!

Here's the back before the organza was fused to the surface.

Each artist had a unique "mark" stamped to the back of her blocks.

After fusing the organza, we went back and zig-zagged all the seams through all the layers for reinforcement. Then we decided to add some satin stitching lines, keeping them consistent with the overall work but not overwhelming the work that was all ready there. It was hard to decide what these lines would be, but we eventually settled on these somewhat concentric lines. The thread was chosen to be similar to the background to keep the effect subtle, and some hand stitching with embroidery floss was added to both soften and emphasize our new lines. The work is just incredible! It is rich with the individual artist's voices and the group process sings!
Last, this was an easy group project that has so many possibilities! I am curious to see if we will try it again and get a totally different quilt.....or if any of you will give it a try! Be sure to let me know!

detail

detail

To add to Kathy's description I would say that this was, indeed, a fun project.  The group enjoyed working on it, and it fell together very smoothly.  I'll post an image of the quilt back with the fused organza soon.