Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Linda's STRONG: Home

     Given the quilt challenge topic "Strong," I remembered the countless lessons and encouragement in my childhood home to be physically, intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and morally strong. While I thought about other images of strength for this quilt, I quickly doodled my head above a fast scribble of my house on scratch paper (see below).

      No matter how I thought about the flags of "Boston Strong," weights of all kinds and symbols of strength in mythology,  I was always drawn back to the major import of home for encouraging the strength of people, the oversized head image in my scribble very slightly influenced by Francisco Goya's giant.

      I enlarged my scribble and used a light box to pen it with a Sharpie on fabric. I then "scribbled" again with scissors and fabric, spottily gluing down the quickly cut fabric for house and lawn with Aileen's Tacky Glue. The home image is neither calm nor orderly. It's size looms big, multiple and important.


     After being fairly satisfied with the image and thinking that painting would have been much easier, I layered a maroon tulle atop the 12" x 12" to further secure the small pieces of fabric. I also cut a black backing larger than the quilt and brought it over the front sides to hand-stitch a border. I machine-stitched a bit of everything with invisible thread and then embroidered the face and clouds with a back stitch and running stitch, respectively, using no. 8 thread. Click to enlarge the images.



9 comments:

  1. I just love your home. Our childhood really forms who we are. Love your piece.

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  2. What a whimsical portrayal of a very important concept! I love the "disorderly" look of the house. It gives it such character - as do the lessons one learns from the family gives strength of character to its members. Nice work Linda!

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    1. At my blog, where I posted the quilt, someone referred to The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in referencing the house, I believe. I had to figure that out...the sets! "The first thing everyone notices and best remembers about 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920) is the film's bizarre look. The actors inhabit a jagged landscape of sharp angles and tilted walls and windows, staircases climbing crazy diagonals, trees with spiky leaves, grass that looks like knives. These radical distortions immediately set the film apart from all earlier ones, which were based on the camera's innate tendency to record reality." That was new to me.

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  3. Linda, love the concept of this quilt and the way you brought it to fruition. How right you are about how whatever strengths we have can be laid at the feet of our homes--out childhood home of our family of origin and of course the homes we have established as adults. An important concept, and the manner in which you depicted it is whimsical and charming--complete with the"Linda head" floating above!

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  4. Really special! Love the whole thought process as well as the execution of it. Home is Strong!!!

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  5. Oh Linda, I just love your whimsical house and the thought that went into remembering the lessons we learned as children from our families and extended families. Such a delightful quilt!

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  6. This is a great rendition of the family home. I like it!

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  7. I just adore this very whimsical yet thoughtful quilt.
    I'm glad that you chose the strength of one's home to depict and in such a delightful way. Thank you for this unique interpretation.

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  8. Hi Linda ! Your quilt is so interesting... I never thought to symbolically portray my family home as a source of strength, but you were right on ! Thanks for sharing your insights and for describing some of the processes you used.

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