Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Alice's Mystery Quilt--The Tears of the Giraffes




I’ve been a fan of mystery books since my Nancy Drew days.  As soon as I learned May’s theme, I decided to base it on the title of a mystery that I’d read.   For the past few months, I’ve been reading the gentle, life-affirming, non-violent mysteries of Alexander McCall Smith.

After I read Smith’s THE TEARS OF THE GIRAFFE in March, I knew that I had found the title to portray May’s Mystery theme.  I took an easy way out, using a batik panel of a giraffe herd that I’ve had for several years.  I trimmed it to size and basted it to some polyester felt, which became the batting.

To compensate for not taking the time and brain work to come up with my own design, I decided to quilt it using nothing but hand embroidery stitches.  I further challenged myself to use only stitches I’d never tackled before, employing both Perle cotton and regular embroidery floss.  I enjoyed learning how to do the back stitch, discovering that nothing works quite so well for curved areas, and so that stitch predominates in this quilt.  I also used the seed stitch, the feather stitch, and the fly stitch. To fill in the background I embroidered teardrop shapes, using the variegated, hand-dyed Perle thread that fellow Maven Carolyn brought me as a gift from Quilting Adventures.

For the eyes of my three giraffes I sewed on white beads, and then of course my crying giraffes needed tears.  I hunted fruitlessly for teardrop beads in the few local sources for beads, but finally I gave up, using stick-on scrapbooking “jewels”.  After the quilting/embroidery was done, I finished the quilt with the pillowcase method, using a dark red batik for the backing. 

P.S.  Batik artist “Krisna” designed this giraffe-herd panel.  I cut out and fused Krisna’s name to give credit where credit is due!  Oh, and in trimming down the panel, that sadly left only the hind quarters of two of the giraffes!

13 comments:

  1. I love that you have so successfully adapted a batik panel into a quilt that so creatively and personally fits the mystery theme. I think this piece DID take much time and brain work to produce...you had the vision to take someone else's design and make it yours! You've motivated me to go though my stash to find my long forgotten batik panels.

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  2. Alice, this is so beautiful. Your mystery quilt has left we with so many questions (mysteries) to pursue...the book, the artists, the joy of embroidery. What a wonderful piece that I can imagine your working on in many different settings. It is a treat how one can look at one part of a quilt to remember where and when one stitched it, and on another part, the music or tv show in the background. I love this piece and find it inspiring. Super artistic choices.

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    1. Linda, how "right on" you are! I worked a lot on this while in CA with the grandchildren, so I can picture them peering over my shoulder, asking me about what exactly I was doing. Most of the work, though, was done over the weekend after I got home, much of it while Bob was watching something or other on TV--a movie I wasn't interested in or whatever, so that I could be companionable while finishing up my quilt! I do love hand embroidery and find it the most relaxing of any of the hand-work that I do.

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  3. Great job Alice!

    I enjoy Alexander McCall Smith stories too. Haven't read this one yet. A trip to the library on this rainy day will be nice. I found the other books on audio and the accents are wonderful to listen to.

    Love the thread color and stitch choices you made. They really compliment the colors and design of the batik.

    I have always admired artists who could put things on their canvas and have it go out of the piece like your 2 giraffes. That makes me want to follow them on their excursion. It worked out to be a little extra fun in your piece.

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  4. A superb job of embroidery - and bravo for trying the new stitches! Laura Wasilowski would be so proud of you! I love the way this turned out and echo Judy's words regarding placing the piece so that the giraffes go off the canvas. Very artistic!

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  5. Alice, This is wonderful - I do think the cropping makes it a great composition. I like the use of hand stitches and makes me think I should play with them more. I have purchased but not used batik panels - I'm impressed with your use of them. I find this inspiring!

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  6. I LOVE this Alice. Giraffes are my favorite animal and I've been collecting them since my college days. Well done and I agree the missing parts make this even more interesting!

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  7. You've inspired me to return to more hand embroidery. It lends a personal touch to this intriguing giraffe setting. Mysteries are the mainstay of my book reading so I definitely will be looking for this title in the library since I'm not familiar with this author. And the mystery goes on for me...

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  8. Alice, another beautiful quilt! The giraffes are placed perfectly on your piece and are a great use of a batik panel. Your embroidery is lovely and adds so much to the overall effect.

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  9. Hi Alice - I love the work you've done, and that you incorporated materials, supplies, and fabric you already had in your studio. The Batik panels are wonderful starting points, and the hand work you did was a perfect choice.... especially all those different stitches. Beautiful work - great interpretation of "Mystery!"

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  10. Alice, this is wonderful! A beautiful use of a panel (I shall look at them differently from now on)and the embroidery is absolutely perfect.

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  11. As you know I like AMS, and I have even read this particular book. "Tears of the Giraffes" has such a poignant sound reflected in your quilt. The two 'off-canvas' giraffes are very effective, too.

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  12. This is really striking, Alice. I love the colors against the black, as well as your beautiful embroidery!

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