Stretch, First try

It didn't work. The whole story is on my blog http://focus-on-fiber.blogspot.com/  This is like the first month when it took 5 ideas to come up with the final piece. Today I'll work on idea 2.  At least I'm ending up with lots of pieces.

I've got it!

An idea that is! I woke up this morning and suddenly knew how I want to portray "Stretch"

Now, to get it to work out in fabric like it looks in my mind....that's the trick!

Yeah!!!! I have an idea!

I actually have an idea for what I want to do for the 'stretch' challenge. Now lets see how it evolves over the next month or so and hopefully I will have a little more time to work on it.

The Word is......

........STRETCH!

I don't think it needs any explanation, just do what it means to you! Let's have some fun with it!

Memory: Pray for Peace

This "memory" challenge quilt was inspired by my grandmother's WWI photographs of soldiers, and my husband's collection of ephemera from WWII.  I think it is fascinating how our culture forgets the human suffering of wartime.

We are not connected to today's wars by location - they occur on foreign soil.  Until recently, journalists have not been allowed to photograph caskets as the dead are brought home, because our government felt this might be upsetting to those of us at home.  However, there was never any ban on photographs of flag waving as our soldiers departed from their families.

The background flag of this quilt is made from upholstery linen and red fabric, with the field of stars represented by four hand made 9 patch blocks which were salvaged at an antique shop.  The soldiers in the photograph were transferred onto fabric using an oil based paint and gum arabic method.

  A map of home was printed onto sheer fabric and holds two pages of a mass booklet carried into war by my husband's uncle.  One of the pages includes a hand written recipe for candy that he must have copied in a moment of boredom.  There are also three saint medals included on the piece, as well as two "pray for peace" stamps which are echoed in the quilting ...  the Prayer of St. Francis.

It is my hope and prayer, too.  I try to remember it in times of trial and in times of stress.

Lord, make me an instrument of they peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury,... pardon.
Where there is doubt, ... faith.
Where there is despair, ... hope
Where there is darkness, ... light.
Where there is sadness, ... joy.

Memory Lane. . .

. . . and I took a walk down mine.

A few years ago my quilting girlfriends, (aka - the sistahs) got together and started a long term practical joke on me...it revolved around a cow theme.  It started anonymously and sort of snowballed out of control.  Since, I have recieved countless cow themed items delivered to me in the most unusual ways.  Somewhere along the lane I acquired the cow face pattern titled 'Cow' by Malec Designs. 

 The pattern is of the cow face only and I customized her a little and added the background. 

I named her Memory and the quilt is called Memory Lane.

 A tribute to my silly quilting sistahs who inspire me more than they know.

I started Memory Lane just the other day and I'm finishing just under the wire.  I would have posted a little earlier today but couldn't get to CVS until after the boy's baseball tonight ....  Memory needed her eye lashes before posting.

I tried some different techniques with fusing so I guess this was sort of an experiment of methods.  Some I liked and some I didn't. In the next few days I will post to my blog on how I did the fusing. 

Memory

When I saw the word "memory' for this challenge, it made me wonder how the brain works. Where does it store all of our memories? I did some research and discovered that the brain has over 1 trillion neurons to help store and transmit information and electrical impulses to other cells.

The background fabric is painted and heavily salted. The 'neuron' is painted and lightly stuffed. I then added pictures of some of my favorite memories.

Ephemera

"Ephemera"

It was difficult for me to focus on one idea for this challenge. In hopes of narrowing my view I pulled out a box of ephemera...sometimes it's the most innocuous bit that evokes the most powerful memories.

The books of S&H Green stamps, some with partially filled pages, covering over 1950-1960 style sketches of family life, brought back many memories of the time.

In conversations over the last several weeks when I mentioned the old Green Stamps invariably I got a wistful tale. For example, my best friend turned to her husband saying "Remember the stack of Green Stamp books that we got from your Aunt for a wedding present?....Yes, we bought our first toaster with them." They hadn't thought about that in decades...and it seemed like they were in a very sweet moment.

And, no, I'm not worried about copyright. I feel that I am on firm fair use ground here. This is a one-of-a-kind, not for sale, commentary on the time. I did a little research on S&H and discovered that they are still in business under the name of S&H Green Points. One registers with them online and earns points (just like the stamps) when purchasing from participating merchants. Check them out.

Memory

To me Memory is all about ancestors, so I used a photo of my mother and her parents copied to fabric then surrounded by old laces and Mother of Pearl buttons.

Memory

Sunset is not only a time of day but a time of life. It is a time of reflection and a time to relish the memories of the past.

My sunset is inspired by my annual vacation with my friend at her house on the Rappahannock River. We look forward to sunset every day. It’s when we take a break to talk, watch the changing colors of the sky, tell stories and just relax and enjoy the memories of the day.

You can see details about the construction on my blog.

Homage

My "memory" quilt, You Were A Girl Once, Too, is an homage to my mother, another Alzheimer's victim.

I've also been wanting to create a nostalgic quilt with actual photos and old things attached, and our challenge this time was the perfect opportunity.

Handprinted foundation fabric, stamped and printed silk organza, stamped poly sheer, old lace, cheesecloth, pearl buttons, freshwater pearls, text printed on fabric -- entirely stitched and quilted by hand.

Read more about the quilt and the backstory here.

From Memories to Hope

I knew from the beginning what I would portray for the "Memory" challenge. For those of us who live along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the events of April 21,2010 marked the beginning of a profound change in our lives.

(photo courtesy of Florida Fish and Wildlife)

I hand dyed my background fabric and cheesecloth. The turtle bodies are made from hand painted batting, the shells are a combination of both hard and soft structure Tyvek painted with Lumiere and then heated.

The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the subsequent, ongoing oil spill created an environmental disaster of epic proportions that will be felt for years to come. The warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and it's wetlands are the nurseries for countless species of wildlife. From shore and sea birds, to shrimp, oysters,and fish...including tuna. Dolphins, whales and endangered sea turtles. And we will all be touched by it in some way before all is said and done. For me, it is very personal.

After retiring, my husband and I exchanged the Chesapeake Bay for the Atlantic, Caribbean,and Gulf of Mexico as our sailing grounds. For years we sailed those beautiful waters and snorkeled countless awe-inspiring reefs before finally settling here on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Some of my fondest memories of those times are of swimming the reefs with the turtles. They are amazing and gentle creatures. They are also endangered. And now, with all our other wildlife, face even more peril.

As I watch this disaster unfold with great sadness, I remember those wonderful times and hope that the Gulf and its turtles will survive and recover. I have been so fortunate, and I hope that my granddaughters will also be able to experience the wonder of these gentle creatures.

This little quilt is both my tribute and my hope for these amazing creatures.

Musical Memories

I love music. I have listened to music all of my life. Some music I listen to brings back memories of certain times in my life. Some of the music I hear brings me back to my childhood. A lot of this music was what my parents listened to and I remember some of the places we lived and some of the things we had in our life back then.

Some of the music I listen to takes me back to my teenage years and I think about friends, high school, driving cars, and dating.

And further, there is music that when I hear it reminds me of certain high points and the dreaded low points in my adult life. Music has always been a constant in my life and I always have something playing while I work in the studio. Most days I’m singing along at the top of my lungs. It’s a good thing that usually only the cats are there to hear me.

I drew the musical symbols to size on drawing paper and then created a freezer paper pattern. I applied Mistyfuse to the back side of my black fabric and then with my freezer paper adhered to the right side, cut out my patterns. The purple and teal blocks of color are fused to the light background, then the musical symbols are fused last. I free-motion stitched the quilt. I stitched a squiggly line along the edges of the dark fabrics to give it a loose, sketchy feel.

Beyond Memory

Memory is such a fragile thing. We can't imagine not being able to recall the butterflies we felt on our first date, the love that overwhelmed us on our wedding day, the joy in the birth of our children. Alzheimer's disease erases our lives and leaves an empty shell where those precious memories once were.

This disease took my mother 20 years ago, and is now destroying my husband's mother. This quilt is for both of them. It's certainly not a pretty one, a very emotional one for me to do, but I tried to imagine the confusion and horror of being trapped in a body while your life unravels bit by bit.


16x20 - rusted muslin, gauze, scrim, discharged cotton, silk, lace, beads, machine thread sketching, hand quilted and embroidered, and backed with a vintage stamped tablecloth.

memory

Of course the first thing that came to mind when I saw the challenge word "memory" was to choose a memory of some event in my life and depict that in fabric. But I just couldn't seem to rally around that idea because creating pictorial type quilts is really not my style. So I abandoned that idea and starting considering the word with a more abstract view.

"what memories remain"
Painted, foiled, distressed paper bag mounted to black ultrasuede. Machine quilted.

Memories when they are fresh in your mind are clear and you can recall all the details of the occasion or event that they are linked to. The images are clear and the feelings and emotions around them sparkle with a vibrant energy. But the further you move in time away from the moment that the memory was recorded the images and the energy get harder to bring into focus. The original memory becomes fragmented and the details become a faint glimmer that lack the vibrancy and intensity that they once had. Eventually the original memory fades so much that just the faintest flicker remains buried beneath a smoky haze of images from a time too long ago to remember.

Denali Memory

Memory was a hard one for me, because I wanted to go in 100 different directions. There were so many possibilities. I procrastinated until the last minute, & chose to go a little 'crazy'.

I chose from my hand-dyed wools, as each piece has meaning & memories for me. The wool in the border was a gift from a friend at work, the rest of the wool are pieces hand dyed by my friend Kathy Jolman & myself from natural dyes.

I made the background, then took it with me on our recent trip to Denali National Park with our grand daughter Darian. It was her first trip into the park.  It's usually cloudy & raining in the park,& to see Mount McKinley is supposed to be very rare. The sun came out the day we entered the park, & stayed out the  whole time we were there.  I appliqued some of the mountain scenes that we saw, & embroidered the wildflowers, & names of the animals we spotted on our bus ride into the park. I included a 3-D butterfly that we saw, & wrote a saying I found written in the bathroom at the Salmon Bake, where we ate 2 meals.

It's a memory of a fun 3 days with my DGD & DH.

A Peek at the Elements...

of my "memory" piece.
Do you identify any of the elements?