A friend & I have been our guilds' 12" x 12" coordinators this year, hoping that we would get
a mostly traditional group to try something new. So far we have not been as successful as we had hoped, but we have a few more months to "work on them". The theme for September was LETTER/ Letters.
I based my quilt on a letter written in 1910 by my grandfather to his mother and sister. He was a 20 yr. old chauffeur for a woman "of means" from Geneva, New York. Mrs. Veil decided that she wanted to do the "Grand Tour" of Europe, so she, my grandfather and her Packard sailed on May 4, 1910 on the Adriatic, a sister ship to the Titanic, for France.
I silkscreened the background with images of the Adriatic, Packard, current information on the
Schweizerhof Hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland and enlargements of the addressed envelope. The letter and envelope were silkscreened on vintage cotton that I tea-dyed. I am very pleased with the result.
I LOVE this, Andrea. I felt as if I went on the trip with them! A good way to preserve the doings of your grandfather.
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda, I love that I could not only "honor" the handwritten letter, which is sadly such a rarity now, but that I have one written by my grandfather over 100 years ago, is such a treasure.
ReplyDeleteAndrea, this is a wonderful quilt! What an adventure for your grandfather, and what a great way to honor him. You are so very right about handwritten letters and what a treasure they are. Alas, in this day of cheap phone calls, emails, instant messaging, FaceBook, etc., we and our children are not leaving such a leagacy behind for our progeny. But back to this quilt--it inspires me, as did your quilt for our MM group, to learn to silk-screen. That is such a wonderful technique and one I could use in so many different quilting projects with the treasure-trove of photos and letters that I have from my family.
ReplyDeleteAndrea, This is a wonderful quilt. I love the story of your grandfather and the way you have honored him with this memory quilt. What an inspiration for those of us who STILL have letters we would like to preserve! Thanks for sharing!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous, Andrea!
ReplyDeleteA great story and a fantastic presentation! Love it!
Thank you all for you lovely, thoughtful comments. Now that I have made a few 12" x 12" quilts over the past few months, I am beginning to see a "body of work" emerging. I have at least four that I think will become part of what I will be calling my "Past Presence/Presents" or "Connections" series.
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous and so you! I saw your voice as soon as I viewed the piece! Bravo!!!
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