Dee Merrell - Reflections - Quilt: "Autumn is Reflection"

  

Dee Stewart Merrell – Reflection-  Quilt: “Autumn is Reflection”

   

I made this photograph of my granddaughter last spring not long after she had just begun walking.  She always took every step I took, so she was a bit puzzled when I stepped out onto the porch without her.  When I looked back into the house and saw her looking at me, I could see the sky, yard and trees behind me reflected in the window along with her sweet little face. I could also see myself with my glasses perched on top on my head.  It was one of those special moments when you can see someone seeing their world.

I love this quote by Mitchell Burgess which seemed so appropriate;   “If winter is slumber and spring is birth and summer life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection.  It’s a time of year when the leaves are down and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone.  Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it’s to reflect on what’s come before.”  - Mitchell Burgess

Techniques:  a white commercial fabric with blue and grey design was used and with a Pentel Gel Roller fabric pen I wrote the quote above onto the fabric.   I used a laser printer for the  photo and generously covered the photo with “Golden” gel medium – extra heavy molding paste and pressed it onto the  fabric and left it to dry for 24 hours.   I heavily spritzed the dried photo back with water, scratching the back with a pin to help the water soak in.  The picture you see is what was left after scraping and rubbing the paper away.  The remaining image is thick, ok for an art quilt , but would not be good for a bed quilt.  I layered it with batting and backing and quilted it.  Finished size 12” x 12”. 

Jane Hartfield's Reflection Quilt

Reflection

By Jane Hartfield

My father died last March. He lived over 98 years and influenced me in so many ways. He was a man of great honor and especially integrity. I cannot possibly describe him in a short paragraph. However, I can reflect on his life and how he was ever a part of my life.

He lived in Winnsboro, LA, all of his life and on Lone Cedar Road about 50 years. There is a huge oak tree at the end of his driveway. It was in front of his parents’ house originally. I must have taken 100 pictures of that tree. I just love it. During the past year as my father’s health was declining, I was going to Winnsboro more frequently. On one of those trips, I was at the house by myself and had noticed an unusual cloud formation. It had been raining. When I went outside to take a picture of the clouds, there was a puddle on the driveway that reflected the oak tree in the twilight. I was able to take several photos with my phone. I have never seen that before or since. That is the picture on the front of the quilt.

I had to ask for help printing the photographs on fabric. I have tried it before without success. However, Teresa is very good at it and agreed to help me. She gave me the confidence to do it myself, but I am not sure my printer is up to it. I decided to print the picture of Daddy Ed and the picture of the whole tree as well as the reflection.

Of course, the next step was finding the right fabric. I thought that Stonehenge was good,  but I wanted to make it more of my own. So, using the thermofax screen Andrea had made for me of Daddy Ed’s handwriting, I printed all over the background. I fused the reflection picture to the front and decided it needed more. So, I added the picture of Daddy Ed which had been taken last December. It may have been the last time he played Dominoes. Then I had to quilt it. It is probably hard to see on the front, but I thread sketched the tree avoiding stitching through the pictures. It is much easier to see on the back. Then I fused the picture of the tree to the back and scribble stitched around the edges.

The Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Composite is Here!

Ok, admit it, how many still have that song stuck in your brain?

Sorry about that, but it is a cute melody.  And one you can “reflect” on while you consider your next challenge. (Sorry, I just couldn’t resist!)

Eleven quilts this time and we look forward to seeing Karen and Andrea in our next reflections; ditto last sentence above.  We'll also look forward to seeing our latest members' quilts, those of Candace and Teresa!  Two more Arkansas artists! Fifteen quilts, wow!  That is going to be fun!

Row one is a great illustration of how creativity works. The brain thinks of umbrellas; the creative brain sees different images, and the results make a beautiful row.

Row two sees “super-cali-fragilistic,” “splendid, above, beauty, delicate”.  In one word: flowers.

Row three portrays babies, kids, grandkids, carousels.  Need I say more?

Row four. A ladies purse is a pure mystery to me. Rita will tell me, “Well, it’s in my purse, just get it.” I plead the 5^th; no way am I getting in that 20 pound shoulder suit-case. Thank you for the very pleasant trip down memory lane Tricia: many years ago I built my daughter a doll house and purchased many such doll house accessories such as the one you used.  And you can fly away over Kathy’s magic flower garden, humming Mary Poppins' tune to your heart’s content. Just try to get it out of your.....oh, go ahead, whistle while you stitch!

To everyone, as usual, a job well done!

Note from Alice:  Rita and Randy, like several others (!!!), are continuing to have issues with Blogger and with posting what they want to post.  So that's why I am posting this for Randy!

Kathy's Supercalifragilistic .......

Greetings to all the Material Mavens ....those who have been with us since the beginning, those who are still sort-of new, and those who are brand new !

One of the first thoughts that came to me with Rita's challenge, was a vague memory (or perhaps imagination !) of Mary Poppins flying about, over, and through a hugely large number of beautiful flowers.   These flowers, of course, made even more beautiful because of her 'magic!'

My 12" x 12" quilt is composed of 80+ flowers (well.... make that 160+ flowers since each flower is two-sided, with a different fabric on each side).     Each flower was machine stitched onto a 'traditional English-garden' theme backing fabric, plus Warm and Natural batting.   A more contemporary 'funky' type fabric was used for the backing

After getting all these pieces / parts assembled, I partially 'sliced' each flower into 8 or more 'petals,' spritzed the whole quilt with water, and thew it into a hot dryer to fluff up all those petals !     

My quilt is a funky, quirky rendition of the beautiful garden I remember from seeing Julie Andrews (aka Mary Poppins) flying over on one of her many journeys !

Peace & blessings,     Kathy