Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Rita's Mystery of the Mask


Perhaps this small story should start with my thought processes of choosing the word MYSTERY.  This past year our quilt guild had invited a quilt artist that specializes in Crazy Quilts and after seeing her beautiful work, I had wanted to try my hand at this technique.  The opulence of the Crazy Quilt, the beads, the ornaments, the glitz, put me in mind of New Orleans's Mardi Gras.  And of course, many of the revelers are masked.  So my vision was to put a mask on top of a Crazy Quilt background.  So if this was to be my Material Mavens project, what word would perhaps portray this piece?  This is how I came to propose the word MYSTERY.  My husband, in trying to understand where I was going with this, as it was under construction, commented about two masks often representing two aspects of the human condition, that of Joy and Tragedy which are usually portrayed as white and black.  I then decided to add the second mask with a button tear.

The fabrics are four colors of cotton sateen: green, purple, navy, and brown.  I made four squares trying to alternate the colors to make it as 'crazy' as possible.  I have many, many old linens and crocheted items that were made by my family or were 'found' items.  I had pulled these together in the hopes of making a large Crazy Quilt at some point.  I dug into this stash for this little quilt.  Pieces of old doilies (remember doilies?), pillowcase trim, dresser scarf edging and other like fabrics were inserted into the seams of the sateen.  This was then embellished with fancy stitches in many colors sewn on by machine with rayon machine embroidery thread.  The four squares were then stitched together,edge to edge,  and the seams covered with ribbon.  The masks are constructed of heavy duty Pellon interfacing covered with heavy satin, trimmed with fringe.  These are attached with permanent fabric glue to the Crazy Quilt background so they stand out dimensionally from the background.  The final touch was the addition of period style art buttons.

As with all the rest of my Material Mavens offerings, this is also done as a gallery wrap around a twelve inch by twelve inch by three fourth inch deep frame.  The second picture is to show this dimension.

13 comments:

  1. Oh Rita. You are a genius. I laughed when I opened your "reveal." Of course! The masks are so perfect. I am also so fond of crazy quilts...just LOVE them! And then you have all the hand work and the perfect presentation. You may get me to move out of thinking the 12 x 12s are sketches for me! BRAVA!! This must have been so much fun for you to do. Thank you.

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  2. One word sums up your quilt: gorgeous! It is truly eye-candy. This quilt resonates with me so much, because I, too, was at that wonderful workshop, and like you, I fell in love with Crazy Quilts. I love your use of old linens and lace, which has inspired me to get out my bin of such items from my mother. Oh, and buttons! How I adore buttons, and I have two wonderful jars of buttons I bought for a song at a local junk store. But the final result: truly gorgeous, to repeat myself!

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  3. So that's where Mystery came from! It was a tough one for me. I was all over the map with idea's, but nothing that I felt I could really create a quilt around.

    Wonderful use of thread and stitches from your machine. Isn't that fun to find somewhere to put them into a piece your sewing on and see it appear?

    Is that Peltex you used for the masks and did you mold them with heat and steam?

    Love your composition and the ribbon that makes the 4 squares one. This is a fun quilt to dive into and look for the secret treasures.

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    2. Judy, I do not know if it was Peltex. It was a stiff Pellon product. There was no need to mold the masks since the quilt square is mounted on a wooden frame. I attached one end of the mask to the surface with FABRI-TAC, let it dry, which happens quickly, bent the mask and attached the other end. Easy breezy!

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  4. Rita, I adore this crazy quilt. I, too, have wanted to construct a crazy quilt, but didn't know where to begin. Thanks for giving us the idea to use all the old tattings, laces and linens from our mothers and grandmothers! The masks add so much meaning to your piece, making the entire quilt perfecto!!!

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  5. Rita, I love this. I am so inspired by your detailed workmanship. I never would have thought of creating the masks.

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  6. Beautiful crazy quilt construction and the lace and trim are wonderful. The masks are very well done too!

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  7. Thanks you for revealing the origin of how you came up with the mystery theme. I'm really enjoying looking at your very richly multi-textured quilt, and I love the story behind it. I also appreciate that you have added the side view to see the way you have wrapped your piece around a frame.

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  8. Whoops...should have re-read before publishing! That was,
    Thank you for revealing...!

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  9. This is sooooo cool! What a gorgeous result. Love everything about this piece and especially the gallery wrap finish which I MUST try! Great piece.

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  10. Rita, I too love crazy quilts and this piece is sooo New Orleans! I love how your lace and embroidery wrap around. I have tried this finishing technique and always have trouble with the corners.

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  11. Oh my gosh Rita - Your work is incredible! And your explanation of how you accomplished your piece was wonderful. I chuckled when I read how you came up with the "Mystery" challenge. I was at the "Crazy Quilt" program in Waco, and absolutely cringed at the thought of having to deal with all the pieces / parts of the crazy quilts, the embellishments, the fringes, embroideries, etc. I love the result of the crazy quilting process, but can't imagine that I'd ever make one. However, I do love buttons (the sound of them, the feel, texture, etc.); they make my heart sing :-) Your gallery wrap technique is fabulous. Thanks for the beautiful work you do !

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