My ideas for this challenge started with fabric with a writing pattern and the "birds on a wire" fabric in blue. The technique is styled after British applique artist Janet Bolton. She begins her pieces with the background, fabrics overlapped and hand stitched through the batting behind. I had just bought some vintage handkerchiefs which I added inside the corners of the darker frame. Her look is simple and primitive. I wanted to applique people talking to each other, but my friend, Annette said, "How about telephone poles?". That really hit home for me because the poles are no longer prevalent in our landscape. We used to take road trips and see these landmarks lining the road like soldiers at attention.
Barbara, greetings! I love this quilt. That birds on the wire fabric is great, as is the hand writing fabric. And the telephone poles! Great! I suppose one of these days children won't even know what these are. In my neighborhood, where we built a house 4 yrs. ago, we have no telephone poles or any utility poles or lines, and that's nice, but it's also sort of the end of an era. When I clicked to enlarge, I noticed that the fabric at the top is some I used in my very first art quilt! I will email you and send you a photo of that quilt and will see if you can spot where I used it! Great job, this!
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I so enjoyed all these fabrics...esp birds on a wire...writing...but the frame as well. The piece makes me reminise.
ReplyDeleteI'd never heard of Janet Bolton, so thank you for introducing her really delightful work to me! I can see how this piece was influenced by her. Telephone poles are perfect symbols for communication...I will look at the ones in my town with more appreciation now ( but I don't think they are in danger of being removed anytime soon as it is so costly to put the wires underground ( and disruptive! ).
ReplyDeleteYes these are/were such stalwarts of communication, but are disappearing in many new developments. There are obviously still many of them in existance as we have suffered several interruptions in service due to snow storms taking them down in the past few years. And how disruptive it is to the plugged in world we know. I sometimes abhor our digital tools but thankfully these do help us communicate in times of emergencies. I like your choice of fabrics and colors - they really add to the impact of the piece.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, Love your colors on this. So elegant, and the composition is lovely as well. Also love the primitive feel to the poles, it really works with your background very effectively. Great Job, I really enjoyed looking at all the details.
ReplyDeleteWhat immediately jumped into my mind was "hotline to heaven". The pole remind me of Russian Orthodox Crosses we see here in Alaska. I really like the informal personal feeling this quilt generates thanks to the text, floating poles, loose lines and mixed fabric borders. Nice!
ReplyDeleteI do like the way the telephone poles and lines tie this together - it reminds me of child hood drives when I enjoyed watching the poles change their appearance as they shifted from background to foreground
ReplyDeleteThat fabric with the birds on the wire is precious. What a fun composition and fabric choices.
ReplyDeleteYour fabric choices also reminded me of a song (I think from the 60's) called "Blackbird singing on a telephone wire....." Loved your fabric combinations, including the vintage handkerchief, and the black/grey border fabs in contrast to the softer colors you used in the center of the quilt. Great job !
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara, for such a memorable quilt - love the telephone poles all in a line, the birds on the wires, and the use of your vintage hankies. Nice!
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