Tackling the Background

Work on the quilt had ground to a halt as I needed to find fabric to make the floor of the room, and allow the ladies to settle, rather than float around in space. Finally got out to the fabric store today and came up with a mottled gray. That set in motion today's bits--mostly I worked on the glass door on the right side of the quilt. Really love the floral outdoor fabric! I had debated whether to add a rug, but this dark purple really warms up the room, and if I run it at the right angle, should help with the perspective. I didn't cut it yet, so it's kind of smooshed on there, but hopefully you can get the idea. Tomorrow we're working on a new group quilt, so it will be a few days before I can get back to this. I'll have to take all the elements off and piece the background, then layer everything back on. And then? Time to set up the sewing machine! It has been waiting in its case for two months! I am really looking forward to some thread play.

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Aaah

Finally gave the ladies chairs to sit in! they had spent weeks 'squatting' as their legs were done but the chairs were not. Aaah. Now they can relax and look forward to a card game and a glass of wine. Almost done with the various elements! Time to give some serious thought to the background--wall, floor and sliding glass door. Here's where we are now:

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Home at Last

After nearly a year of false starts and missed connections, Postcard from Rajasthan has finally been delivered to the man whose photography inspired the quilt, Henry Dallal. I wrote this to accompany the wallhanging:

Captivated by the craggy-faced man and beautiful Mawari horse, I was inspired by Henry Dallal's photo to create this 45 x 60 inch wall hanging. I worked on this piece for about a year. The photo was enlarged to create a pattern, from which various commercial fabrics were cut and assembled on a muslin base. Intensive thread painting defined features and provided dimensionality.
In a nod to traditional quilting, I pieced the sky from half-square triangles in a close range of blues. The beaded fringe was created over many July evenings, while watching the Red Sox on TV with my father-in-law. The ornate frame, quilted in hexagons with gold thread, harkens back to Persian hand crafted woodwork known as Khatam-Kari.
Completed in 2007, the quilt was exhibited at several venues including: Maine Quilts: Augusta, Maine (Judges' Choice)
Northeast Quilts Unlimited, Arts Center Old Forge, New York
Road to California: Ontario, California (Honorable Mention)
Art Quilts Maine Exhibit, Saco Museum: Saco, Maine
World Quilt Show-New England: Manchester, New Hampshire

While I derived a great deal of pleasure creating and exhibiting this piece, I always knew it would ultimately be a present to my dear friend and inspiration, Henry.

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Sold!

I had a very exciting phone call last night. A member of my guild, Art Quilts Maine, called to say one of the quilts I had in our summer exhibit at the Central Maine Artist Gallery in Skowhegan had sold! I had three pieces in the month-long exhibit: Wish, Tiger Two and Rags to Riches. Wish sold, and the gallery owner has asked to keep a few pieces, including Tiger Two for a few more months. I am so thrilled! I am posting a photo of Wish. You can see the others in my Album. Wish, which is 12" square, features a painted face (a photo of my youngest daughter served as the model) thread-painted hair and dandelions, and fairies embellished with beads and sparkly thread. I totally loved the way the background quilting came out on this piece.

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Elements Added

Worked on a few new elements for the picture-quilt. I hadn't planned to include the overhead lamp, but decided it would be good to have that light source, so I gave them a Tiffany lamp. I liked that it brought some color to the composition as well. There is a scrap of tulle over part of it--one possibility to avoid stitching down every small piece. Bit of a side road--12 to 15 hours in and threadpainting awaits. Worked on arms as well, so they look a little less like Weebles, and strung some beads for a necklace. I've been wondering if I can find a miniature deck of cards or if I will be making fabric cards for them to hold. Any opinions?

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New Work

Here are the first photos of my latest work in progress. Another photograph-based quilt--this photo taken by my friend Andy Waterhouse when we were in DC. When I saw his photo I knew I wanted to interpret it in fabric--it would be a challenge to get the light and the wine glasses to work out. First though, the faces. If they didn't work, may as well abandon the idea. So that's what I have been playing with--tracing, sketching, familiarizing myself with the subjects, then cutting and layering fabric shapes in various shades. I am pretty pleased with the result so far. Still so many ways this could get derailed, but a good enough start to post some photos. Enjoy!

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Baby Brights

Has it been over a month since my last post? Guess that's what happens when the weather improves here in Maine--can't spend those sunny weekends indoors! Garden is growing, home projects started. Haven't made much progress on my new quilt--it is ready for me to pull fabrics, but I have procrastinated, waiting for a day with a block of undisturbed time to work. In the meanwhile, we presented the Wedding Tree to our co-worker and put together a baby quilt. Everyone made blocks using lots of bright scraps--either flowers or pieced squares, then we got together to sew blocks into a top and add borders. I brought it home and quilted it (see pictures.) Now it goes back to someone else to bind, another person is working on a label, and with luck we can present it before the baby arrives!







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