“Join the Chorus”

"Join the Chorus"
(Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp) 18x16

"Join the Chorus" (Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp) 18x16" Cotton fabric, ink, acrylic textile paint, cotton thread, cotton batting. Raw-edge applique, free-motion machine quilting. 

My periodical cicada obsession continues. I had already finished this piece, and sewn on the facing, when I decided it wasn't done yet. It just looked too simple, and the oak leaf design I'd quilted in the background was confusing, and not reading as leaves. So I pulled out my trusty paint and painted the background with a darker blue and some metallic gold/green.

Before

 

Cicada Dance 1

 

“Cicada Dance 1”
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp (2024) 17.5" square.

My latest in a series of pieces I planning that celebrate the periodical cicadas in Brood XIX that emerged in our area this spring.

Cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread, acrylic textile paint, interfacing. Wholecloth painted and free-motion quilted.

For information on my wholecloth painting technique and materials, please read my blog post here: https://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/2014/01/faqs-wholecloth-painting.html

 

“Crossroads”

 

Crossroads
9.5" x 11.75"
(Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024)

Cotton, dupioni silk, linen, paint, cotton batting, cotton backing, interfacing. Improvisationally pieced, free-motion quilted.  

“Jubilee”

 

Jubilee
25.5 x 35" Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp

Commercial cotton fabrics, surface-designed fabrics, acrylic textile paint, dupioni silk, cotton thread, cotton batting. Improvisationally pieced, hand painted, free-motion quilted.

 

Brood XIX

“Brood XIX”
Copyright 2024 Susan Brubaker Knapp

 

The hatching of Brood XIX (the Great Southern Brood) cicadas was an extraordinary event for us here in Orange County, North Carolina, this year. These are periodical cicadas that only emerge every 13 years.

I was thrilled to watch these insects  – that look so different from our annual cicadas (smaller, with orange veining on their wings, and red eyes!) emerge from their exoskeletons, dry and unfold their wings. For the first time since 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president, both Brood XIX and Brood XIII (the Northern Illinois Brood) emerged together, with overlapping areas in northern Illinois. “Nobody alive today will see it happen again,” said Floyd W. Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. (New York Times)

18 x 10.5" White cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, cotton batting, cotton thread. Wholecloth painted and free-motion quilted.

 

 

 

 

"Barbara's Buttons"

 

Barbara’s Buttons
Copyright Susan Brubaker Knapp 2024

11.5" square. Cotton fabrics, cotton batting, cotton backing, vintage buttons. Raw-edge applique. free-motion quilted.

"Stepping Stones"

 

Stepping Stones
Copyright 2024 by Susan Brubaker Knapp

A small piece made from scraps; an experiment in pattern and color and stitch. 

12.5" x 19.25" Cotton, silk and surface designed painted fabrics, cotton batting, cotton thread, cotton backing. Pieced and free-motion quilted.