New Work: Prayer for Peace

It was a productive weekend; I was able to finish this one in two (long) days. Prayer for Peace was inspired by a Bahai prayer, which is sewn into the quilt by free-motion stitching. (detail photo below)
An excerpt reads:

"O Thou kind Lord! Unite all. Let the religions agree and make the nations one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth as one home. May they all live together in perfect harmony.
O God! Raise aloft the banner of the oneness of mankind.
O God! Establish the Most Great Peace.
Cement Thou, O God, the hearts together." ~Abdu'l Baha'

Depending on your monitor, the stitching may be hard to see. I used white thread on a white background. The words are not meant to be "in your face", the first thing you see. They can't even be detected from a distance. Instead, the prayer can only be seen if you get up close, and still it's only a whisper.















The image of the person is based on a portrait photo by Marcello Goretti

New Work: Tigershark

This lovely creature was captured on film by Chuck Babbitt (used with his permission). I used Chuck's photo as a guide while creating this new composition. Although I've never seen or touched a real live shark, I do have a healthy respect for them and prefer to encounter them on fabric instead of in the ocean.
Tigershark is constructed entirely of hand-dyed cotton and thread with the exception of a layer of tulle over the shark's body. Tulle is a very fine acrylic mesh or netting. It keeps the small pieces of fabric lying nice and flat and also has (what I imagine is) a kind of "shark skin" texture.

See the original inspiration for Tigershark and other examples of Chuck Babbitt's photos here: Image Pro: Chuck Babbitt Photography

New Work: Gears

Based on a collection of cogs, wheels and gears, this one is called "Unity of Purpose". The challenge was in representing a precise, sharply defined metal object using soft, slightly fraying fabric and imprecise stitches. What I couldn't do with bits of material I tried to define with free-motion thread drawing. Up close it's a mass of quilting stitches but if you back up and squint your eyes it starts to look like something.

On a side note: I'm trying not to buy new fabric for every project, so this month I've been trying to break out those fabrics & colors that I never used because I thought they were kinda "ugly". My personal subtitle for this one is "How many ugly colors does it take to make something pretty?"

New Work: Just for the Fun of it

This composition is based on a photo that my brother took back in 2000. He snapped the picture as my son was spinning around in an office chair & laughing. I'll never forget that day because we were all at my mom's house after the sudden death of my father. My sweet 4 year old boy was a welcome distraction. His screams & laughter caught on and pretty soon we were all giggling.

updated lightning

Well, this one is quilted and finished except for the binding. But I'm still not sure if it really works. It's just not "lightningy" enough. HOWEVER, I don't have time to sit and stew about it. So I'm off to do the next one. Time will tell if I like this one better later. As the show date draws closer, it may or may not make the cut.

Challenge Update: Stormy weather

Working title: Lightning Storm - this is the top, unfinished. Maybe the weather here in New England is creeping into my creative process. Rain rain go away....
I'll be quilting it this weekend and adding the lightning bolts using metallic thread, some ribbon or foil; I'm not sure yet. Right now it's just drawn on, to give me an idea of the composition.
Check back shortly as the clouds take shape and the rain appears.

Creative Challenge Update: HoneyBee

My mom was generous enough to visit (and babysit) for a couple days this week, leaving me time to work in the studio. I'm so grateful to her for the uninterrupted time, I'm considering naming this bee after her. :-)
Thank you Mom!!
I really like how the bee turned out; I was trying to achieve a fuzzy look with the stitching. The hand-dyed colors work well for the flowers and I like how the stamens are intertwined with the bee's legs. Still... I'm just not sure if these two images work together or compete with each other. I can't shake the feeling of "is this about the bee or the flowers?"
I'm working on different colors of binding to see if a small frame around it would unify the design. Anyway, I'll leave that for now. After a few weeks I'll take another look and see if I get a different impression.