Material Mavens: Nedra's Tear - Tear of the Twiga

Monday, July 15, 2019

Nedra's Tear - Tear of the Twiga

Giraffes are my favorite animal as many who know me are quite aware. They have been a source of inspiration for many of my original quilts and once again for this theme. Because of this fascination, I have many pictures and drawings that I've planned to turn into my own artwork. One of those drawings was perfect for this theme. Twiga is the Swahili name for giraffe and the title represents the sadness these beauties feel when one of their family is killed. The inspiration was this drawing I had previously made of a giraffe's eye. I intended to do a close up of their eyes as they are so big and beautiful with the longest lashes!!!

I forgot to take a picture before I cut the fabric but these are the scraps of the rust dyed fabric I used. It was purchased long ago and intended to recreate the spots of a giraffe. I traced my drawing onto this piece of fabric from my stash .

This is the drawing I had made long ago but never worked with. All I had to do was add the tear!!

I used Shiva paintsticks and inktense pencils to embellish the spots and for shading to create my close up of the eye. When I was pleased with the shading and dimension, I sandwiched with batting and backing and then machine stitched to add details and more shading. It was then bound. The tear was added last and is made from an iridescent fabric with pearlescent sequins glued onto it and then attached to the piece.

7 comments:

Tricia DeckJuly 15, 2019 at 2:11 PM
This is one of my favorite pieces that you have done. Just stunning.
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AndreaJuly 15, 2019 at 2:29 PM
Perfect, although the tear is heartbreaking! How satisfying that you were able to use a drawing that you have been wanting to use as the starting point for a quilt. So compelling.
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AliceJuly 15, 2019 at 2:59 PM
Kathy, I just read a heart-breaking story in the NYT magazine about elephants being taken from their natural habitats and flown to our country in cages that don't even allow them to lie down. This article made me become anti-zoo, despite the fact that we have a lovely "natural habitat" zoo in Waco. But the truth is that zoos are NOT truly anything close to natural habitats. Elephants in the wild roam over 500 miles! Anyway, the tears of your lovely giraffe made me think of this article. I agree with Tricia that this is certainly one of your best quilts!
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Carolyn HensonJuly 16, 2019 at 10:53 AM
This is just stunning Nedra. I love the close-up of the eye of the giraffe shedding a tear in grief. This was a very creative idea and executed perfectly!
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Kathy HarteAugust 2, 2019 at 4:17 PM
Nedra, as others have already mentioned, this quilt is absolutely STUNNING ! You captured the essence of the situation, made each one of us want to reach out and help save those lovely, exotic and fragile animals. The detail of the giraffe's eye, and that solitary tear says everything without speaking a word.
Absolutely amazing ! ! !
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quyen12August 15, 2019 at 4:24 AM
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AnonymousNovember 4, 2024 at 3:10 PM
I also love giraffes. This is an amazing work of art!
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Themes for the Quilts

Below are the themes on which our quilts have been based:

Round One Quilts

9/15/11 Harmony

11/15/15 Surprise

1/15/12 South
3/15/12 Element
5/15/12 Mystery
7/15/12 Daydream
9/15/12 Spiral
11/15/12 Travel
1/15/13 Interwoven
3/15/13 Communication
5/15/13 Canyon

7/15/13 Cell

9/15/13 Green

11/15/13 Comfort

1/15/14 Strong

3/15/14 Translate

5/15/14 Spring

7/15/14 Friendship

Round Two Quilts

10/15/14 Contrast

1/15/15 Modern
4/15/15 Neighbor
7/15/15 Time
10/15/15 Circle(s)
1/15/16 Pun

4/15/16 Doodle

7/15/16 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

10/15/16 Reflection

1/15/17 Boundaries

4/15/17 Quote

7/15/17 Space

10/15/17 Reach

1/15/18 Rock

4/15/18 Blues

THE MATERIAL MAVENS

We are a group of art quilters who come from various parts of the United States, from the East coast and then south to Arkansas and Texas. We were inspired by the original Twelve by Twelve international art quilting group.

Beginning in September, 2011, we started posting our 12"x 12" art quilts, which were based on themes chosen in turn by our members. For Round One, we posted quilts every two months, always on the 15th of the designated months.

Round Two of The Material Mavens began in October, 2014. Some changes were made: quilts were posted every three months, and the quilts could be be either 12"x 12" or rectangular ones measuring 11" x 14", either horizontal or vertical in orientation.

Round Three of The Material Mavens began in July, 2018. Again, changes have been made. Now those members who wish to stay affiliated with the group are free to post quilts every time or every now and then. Two, our blog administrator collected suggested themes from the members who wanted to remain affiliated. These themes were then pulled at random from a "hat," and they were then assigned in order for the posting dates. Since we had 13 members who wanted to remain, we will be posting quilts every 3 months until 2021! This date is significant and appropriate, because 2021 will be the 10th year that our group has been in existence.

MEMBERS REMAINING

1. Alice Baird (Waco, TX) (abaird125@gmail.com)

2. Andrea Willey (MA)
3. Carolyn Henson (TX) (cjhenson214@gmail.com)

5. Gail Bradney (AR)
6. Jane Hartfield (AR) (arkjjhart@mynewroads.com)
7. Judy Steward (TX)
8. Kathy Harte (TX)

9. Karen Pulaski
10. Sara Norris (TX)
11. Tricia Deck (Lincoln, (MA)

12. Teresa Schlabach (AR)

13. Nedra Weaver