Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Rita's CONTRAST: An Alley in Prague, Czech Republic


Rita’s CONTRAST:  An Alley in Prague, Czech Republic
When our son graduated from UTAustin he joined the Navy, was commissioned as an officer and eventually assigned to a station in Rota, Spain. In that same era, Randy was working at McLennan Community College and had become friends with a young lady from the Czech Republic. Gaby later graduated from North Texas University (majored in photography), taught for MCC, and returned home and taught at the University of Brno. So in the summer of 2004, Randy and I, and our daughter, Lisa, decided to travel to Spain and were invited to take a side trip to Prague to visit Gaby. She was our tour guide, interpreter, food adventurer, and good will ambassador. When she would “get lost” (how would we know?), she would raise her hand and announce, “I have it under control.” What a wonderful adventure in a magnificent city.
Then, on the way to visit a centuries old castle, our “under control” guide walked us through a sun lighted alley, grey brick walls, exposed drain pipes, typically littered – and  beautiful pink hollyhocks growing out of the pavement around a drain pipe. We noticed and walked by. As an afterthought, our photographer daughter un-shouldered her camera, turned on her heel, snapped one image in black and white and we moved on. Now, years later I have my CONTRAST.
The image is done in raw edge fused appliqué. I used a method I learned in a class taught by Lenore Crawford from Quilting Adventures in New Braunfels, Texas.  After the fabric was put in place, a little paint, a little embroidery and a little Micron pen was used for shading and detail.  The quilting was done around all the sharp edges (not the shadows).  The small flange was a technique I learned from a Thimbleberries Block of the Month class.  This is then bound with a classic quilt binding.
And yes, I remembered the hollyhocks were bright pink!

15 comments:

  1. Rita This is just stunning!!!!!!!!!!!! I love everything about it! Color, composition and fabulous execution! Wow!

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  2. Wonderful execution and interpretation of theme. The pink and the gray, the flower and the plumbing, even the binding. Great job Rita!

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  3. El Perfecto! Rita, this is REALLY beautiful. As always, you amaze me!

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  4. What a lovely story and an equally lovely quilt, Rita! I've been to Prague, and it's one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen, but I didn't have the experienced guide you had! Your quilt, though--how wonderful to take a photo from 10 years ago and transform it into a quilt that so stunningly portrays our Contrast theme!

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  5. Rita, This is an amazing piece ! I've always been intrigued by the images that shadows cast, and how transparent some of those shadows can be. The fabrics you used perfectly represent the images and the shadows, and the "POP" of color is perfect to illustrate the concept of "Contrast." You did a fabulous job on "Contrast" and your story is beautifully portrayed. Bravo !

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  6. I love the quilt and the story surrounding it. You did a fabulous job capturing the colors and textures of the original image.

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  7. Beautiful as always, it show that beauty can grow even in the roughest of circumstances like a crack in the cement. I love this, I wish you would make patterns of some of your quilts. You could become wealthy and just sit around feeding grapes to Randy all day. Seriously, would love a pattern of this.

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    1. Thank you so much, Janet. The 'pattern' is the photo. I would love to show you how Lenore Crawford taught us to duplicate a photograph in fabric. It is now one of my favorite techniques.

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  8. When I read the title of your piece I was very excited as I visited Prague and think it is such a beautiful city. But I never expected this rendition!! Your choice of colors is great and I love how you portrayed all of the subtle shading so well with the various gray fabrics. Lovely!

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  9. Love the quilt. It is very difficult for me to work with greys, but this shows that it is worth the trouble. I love the beauty you found in the alley...such a great photo by your daughter.

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  10. I look forward to looking at this quilt closer on my iPad where I can enlarge it.

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  11. I love your quilt. So much fun using an image from a trip. The colors are wonderful. There is so much movement in the quilt.

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  12. Well done! Love the color contrast and the story. Beauty among the ordinary necessities is perfectly portrayed in your quilt.

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  13. Oh Rita, I absolutely adore this quilt! I love the story of how a B & W "afterthought" photo came to be, and then to see how you transformed it. From the concept of this gorgeous plant thriving in among the grey concrete, drain pipe and litter, to your elevating such a simple scene into this ( literally ) breathtaking quilt, I am very much in awe! From the graffiti, to the concrete, to the shadows, drain pipe and last but not least, the hollyhocks, oh yes and the flange in the border...perfect!

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