Cathey: Wish You Were Here
I am remembering my Dad who died a year ago. I found these old family photos. One was an old black & white, the other was a more recent color photo. The two did not look quite right together so I gave both of them an old time/ethereal feel by printing them on ExtravOrganza in black & white and mounting them on muslin.
As a kid, I grew up with a fantastic tale about my great, great, great grandfather. As the story goes, he was involved in trying to recover gold stolen from mines near Zululand, Africa. My piece is inspired by the great adventure. As far as I know, the gold is still there!
For this second piece, I created used metallic paints on black to create background fabric. The figure, birds and moon are from coppery Angelina film. The figure is inspired by my niece dancing with sparklers at a wedding.
Lastly, I used a photo of a puffin - I love puffins - as a model and created this painting on fabric. In the photo he was not in such a pretty setting so I "enhanced" his surroundings.
Melanie: Please Let Me Play Piano
As a kid, I wanted to learn to play piano. We did not have a piano so I had to practice at my grandparent's house but I was allowed to take lessons and still love music. This is a small piece made from gelli plate printed fabric. The collaged partial keyboard is the reference to my childhood love of the piano.
Marcia: I Am Irish!
Since I am Irish and this challenge was issued at our March meeting, St. Patrick's day was on my mind. I created this "Irish Flag" with the flag colors, sequins, Celtic knots and other Irish memorabilia. The piece is hand quilted with echo quilting around the Celtic knots.
In this second piece, I wanted to use some of my interesting fabric, threads, yarns etc. I ended up with an "X" motif so I guess it is called "X" Marks the Spot. Again. the piece is hand quilted, this time with x's.
Shelia Rae: Wooden Boat
This piece is a reference to a close, long time friend. When my first son was born, she made him a quilt with this pieced ship. After years of being loved, I did not want to lose it entirely so I took the ship, over-dyed it and made this new piece to give it new life. It is kind of inspired by the Neil Young song, Cinnamon Girl. Embellishments include buttons, beads, artifacts and hand stitching. She and I are still "sailing on" in friendship.
I also made 3 other new pieces since our last meeting.
I am from Texas. The Stars Are Big & Bright (deep in the heat of Texas) was made with several star motifs, re-purposed items and lots of hand quilting and embellishment.
Thunder Heart was inspired by a 1992 western film. A star from a piece of old patchwork is in the sky. At the bottom is prairie grass, tepees and buffalo.
Australian is made with Australian motif fabric. When I first looked at the fabric I interpreted the patterns and figures with a "Western" mind. I then researched the patterns and found very different meanings in the patterns. Interesting...... I beaded the circular dotted patterns in the fabric and as usual, added lots of other embellishment and hand work.
Pat: I did not complete a piece for tonight but plan to make one from this fabric. My family had many beach cottages at Horseneck Beach in MA. One by one over time they were destroyed by hurricanes. The last one went in Hurricane Bob. A couple of days after that storm, I went with other family members to see what was left. A corner of this piece of fabric was sticking up out of the sand. I remembered as a child, hiding under one of the old, metal spring beds. This one-time summer bed cover was laid between the old springs and the mattress (I guess to protect the mattress). It is now quite forlorn but has a great history, It was made from old feedsacks and appliqued with butterflies. The rust stains from the bedsprings are now part of its history. I plan to use it in a quilt to preserve those memories.
I also finished this "Key" piece from a while back.
