Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Sara's Friendship Quilt

I had a really difficult time approaching this last theme in our series. My mind kept coming up with possibilities. I thought of asking my BFF for her fabric scraps to piece a quilt (because friendship is sharing fabric) but she lives on the other end of town and I did not have time in the schedule to visit her this month. I thought of an image I remembered of the backs of my daughter and her best friend feeding ducks in Houston's Herman park when they were in grade school. Alas the photo is my daughter's album was not the best quality image. I thought of the stuffed lamb ("lambie" ) that the girls used when my family's move meant they would not see each other often - lambie went to live in the other's home every time the girls got together. I learned about lambie after my daughter died when lambie went to live with her friend. I kept cycling back to an image of hands since the touch of a friend's hand is so important. I used that imagery in my comfort quilt (busy hands and the hands of a friend) so I wanted something different. I spent much of a month dithering like that. One of my guilds challenged us to make something inspired by a song. I decided to look up songs about friendship and found Bette Midler's " Wind Beneath my Wings". The song reminds me of happy work days at Compaq computer where Rod Canion would play it at company meetings. It also reminded me of a friendship quote I found "We are all angels with only one wing ... we can fly only embracing each other". Once I quit mentally exploring the concept and settled on one concept the quilt practically made itself - once again I learned that to get anything done I need to create "a box" to keep myself restricted on a direction and then get to work.
Here it is:
I created the feathers using some fabric I painted while working on a class assignment with Katie Pasquini Masopust. I wanted a controlled palette of neutrals so I created them by painting fabric with complementary colors (using mostly dyna-flow paint). I had just the right couple of pieces and found a perfect printed sky fabric in my stash. I quilted the tail feathers using gray cotton and the rest of the piece was quilted with Sulky monofilament thread - all on my domestic sewing machine. I did start this series with the goal of trying out something new with each quilt. This time it is pre-painting fabric and a single fold binding that I learned in June from Gwen Marston.

I really enjoyed this project. Jane,this was a very appropriate finale word.  It was so great to meet so many of the people who created this blog last October and it was wonderful to be forced to create to a deadline (my dithering and re-thinking often takes over actual creating something). I must admit my self-challenge to use a new technique with each quilt was starting to feel restrictive but it was certainly worth pursuing. I look forward to the next new and different round.

10 comments:

  1. I adore that song, and I confess that I get teary whenever I hear it. I love the way you have depicted the song in fabric. Did you paint the fabric for the feathers in the Katie PM class at QA in 2013? They don't LOOK to be canvas, but perhaps they are. A lovely quilt with your signature beautiful machine quilting.

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    1. I did it afterwards in the on-line class. I wanted to do a color study but I wanted to control the color. I dream of doing a great fabric-dyeing palette with all the primaries and their combinations and the neutrals-some day when there is a magic confluence of lots of time, appropriate weather and scarce bugs when I can find all my materials - it could happen >

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  2. Ah, Sara. How wonderful. Each time we have a "reveal", I am so awed by the thought and emotion all of you put into your quilts.
    One of my favorite songs ever.
    I love that you painted the fabric with complimentary colors to create the neutrals. I took that online class also and struggled mightily with making neutrals with colors.
    Great work. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. This looks like a the wing of an eagle soaring in the sky over the lake here in Maine. There is an eagle with a nest near our place on the lake and I really enjoy seeing it fly high in the air. Don't quite understand how you got the neutral colors, but they look very rich . The quilting gives the impression of the wind nicely. Well done.

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    1. Thanks Nedra. I mixed complementary paint colors such as red and green. I had a cup with mostly red and some green and then one with mostly green some red. When these were used with some white I was able to create a series of browns or grays that were warm and some that were cool. Playing this way made me appreciate neutrals and their variety. The mixing isn't always predictable since paints may have casts of other colors.

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  4. Absolutely love this song. You did a great job depicting the wind beneath wings in this photo. This was a great way to use your hand-painted piece. Good job! Also adored what you wrote about your daughter and her friend!

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  5. The feathers look so realistic. I love your design and you captured that wonderful music perfectly.

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  6. Hi Sara ... I loved your quilt; your narrative brought tears to my eyes. I often say to people (and to myself) that when we do kind things for each other and for the world as a whole, we're gathering feathers for our angel wings. And I know I really, really want to gather lots of those feathers because my destination is heaven !
    I lost my son 10 years ago, and I silently mourn his loss every day of my life. Those angel feathers have become even more important since that time !
    Thank you for sharing your story with us through your beautiful quilt and accompanying narrative. Peace and blessings, Kathy

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  7. Beautiful! So envious of the painted neutrals. Watched Katie demo grays in answer to your question in class. You've got it!

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  8. I think the first thing I thought of when I saw your quilt was the song! How satisfying to mix colors together and actually get what you want!

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