The Serenity Composite

Another outstanding interpretation for one more interesting theme.

I had all the quilts on one page and couldn’t see a pattern for the composite, so I started placing them on the page. Judy’s came first, mostly for the overall thought, “spread the ………..”, and I really liked the emotions, “praise, prayer, joy, or a place to receive all that is amazing.”

Then, the only other quilt that had a person depicted was Tricia’s and it fell into place next. I needed a foundation. How about Kathy’s stone sculpture? Works, doesn’t it?

Notice how Alice and Karen and Carolyn’s quilts so perfectly represent Serenity in theme, color, balance, and outdoors. The top row is now complete.

So, two quilts remained, Nedra and Andrea. The colors of all three in the bottom row really work.

Then I leaned back in my chair and felt the Serenity because, more by accident than planning, this one seems to work well.

Serenity my friends – thank you – the tranquility and peacefulness of the 8 quilts is wonderful.

Job well done,

Randy

Alice's Serenity Quilt--Carol's Serene Lake

This is a substitute quilt for the first one I posted.  I wasn’t happy with that one, since technically speaking, it wasn’t truly an “art quilt.” For one thing, I didn’t originate the design; it was a traditional block pattern

Recently my cousin Carol Harrison, an artist who often works in watercolors, posted one of her paintings on Facebook.  I fell in love with this lovely serene painting, and I thought, “Maybe I could replicate that design in fabric.”  I emailed Carol and received her permission to use her image.

I was determined to use only fabrics in my stash, many of which are batiks and were backed with fusible already.  I used as a base a blue ombre with graduated shades of blue. Then I began the process of selecting the fabrics for the other elements in the painting.  These I cut out free hand with scissors or two different rotary cutter blades.  As I finished one layer, then I overlapped the fabric strips to make the next layer.  All went well until I got to the water, specifically, the shadows of the trees in the water.  Green shadows look fine in the painting, but green fabrics just didn’t look like shadows us.  So I switched to blue shadows, using various batiks.  But still they didn’t look shadow-like to me. 

Sue Benner taught one workshop I’ve attended, and her method was to use multiple strips of fabric to compose her landscape quilts.  I went to her website and studied how she treated water and shadows.  Following her example, I overlaid tiny cuts from other blue batiks onto the shadow shapes. This looked much better.

After the quilt was finished, I machine quilted, changing thread colors often, chiefly sewing down the fused edges and then doing some echo quilting.  After all the quilting was done, I thread-painted the red-brown grasses at the bottom of the quilt.

I’m happier with this quilt!  Carol’s painting is below.  Beneath is, a detail of the water and the shadows in the quilt.  

Judy's Serenity

With this little quilt I just wanted to create the feeling of “Serenity”. I started by painting a background that is soothing and joyful with the colors of a sunset.

I looked for hands that were in the praying shape, but most of them were at an angle so that you could see that they were hands. Then I came across hands open and it felt right. I then had to decide what I would do to create movement. I thought that I might use flowers, birds, and hearts, but that seemed too chaotic and serenity would be gone. Next it was hearts and I was cutting they out of all kinds of colors. Again, it was getting chaotic and cluttered. Three fabrics were chosen and then grouped together to make them flow upwards.

I have great peace when I think about others, so the hearts symbolize the love I send out to everyone when they come to mind. I love the hands open because when I hold my hands open they feel so right and they can be in praise, prayer, joy, or a place to receive and rejoice in all that is amazing.

KATHY'S SERENITY

Several years ago we were spending some rather blissful days in Hawaii with our Adult Children, and our Grandbabies !      As we were strolling down one of the streets, there, on a rather small, kind of isolated area of sand and shore was a beach... very quiet and calm, and yet right in the middle of "down town."  

On that special beach were numerous 'collections' of Round Rocks that had been carefully stacked and assembled to form beautiful and (to me !) mysterious structures.   

*Where did those rocks come from ?
*Who put the rocks together to form those unfamiliar structures ?
*How do the rock structures maintain their positions ?  

            With cement ?  Glue ?  Other ?
*Will the structures remain after the tide(s) roll in and back out ?
*And if they remain, what's going to happen to them ?

       
                                  WHAT ARE THEY ???

Well, it was explained to me that the structures are made of rocks found near the beaches, and rocks that sometimes wash up on shore from other long-distance shores.    The Rocks are carefully stacked and balanced, and when the structures are finished, they become focal points that can be used during times of meditation and contemplation.... The "Quiet" Times in a person's daily routine.

In my mind, these Balanced Stones brought a sense of "Serenity," and thus my choice for this quilt  !

For the rocks, I used fabrics that reminded me of rocks with moss, rocks that had been weather-beaten, and rocks that perhaps had been traveling for a long time in order to become "Serenity Stones."    The backing fabric made me think of the sandy beaches, and some of the interesting wood, skeletal shapes, and sea shells you might find on a beach.

The quilting ....  Well, "Free Motion" is my passion, so I used the images in the fabric to suggest the quilting motifs.   Again - sand, shapes, and shells.

Notice the Free Motion detail in this picture !

Peace and Serenity to All !          MAHALO ! !

Karen's Serenity

Serenity Among the Birches

There is a peacefulness, quietness, tranquility to standing among trees. Birches are among my favorite.

Larger birches have folded edges, straight stitched down with clear monofilament thread. Triple batting behind to create trapunto.

Smaller trees fused on. Smaller trees and background stitched with smoke monofilament thread.

I am posting for Karen- Tricia

Tricia's Serenity

My daughter Michela and her boyfriend were traveling in the Vietnam this past February. They would post their pictures daily. It was such fun to see where they were. One day Michela posted a picture of her practicing yoga on a beach at Sunrise.  I thought it was the perfect scene for the Serenity theme.

I enlarged the photo and created the image with raw edge applique. I free motioned quilted it. It's hard to recreate the sunrise.

Carolyn's Desert Serenity

The desert Southwest is my favorite place of all.   I was born and raised in El Paso, Texas.  As a result, this part of the country pulls at my heartstrings.  For me, it is one of the most serene places I know.  My husband and I just made a trip to Big Bend National Park.  In springtime, it is alive with bluebonnets and blooming cacti.  The bluebonnets, a different variety from those in the Texas Hill Country, grow as tall as 3-4 feet.  Their color is a vibrant purple-blue.

My quilt was made with silk and batik fabrics and was quilted using Ricky Tims Art Studio threads.  The sky is a hand-dyed cotton by Mickey Lawler.  The cacti buds were hand embroidered using Laura Wasolowski’s hand-dyed embroidery threads.

Along with photos of my quilt, I have posted a photo of one of the tall bluebonnets of this unique part of the U.S.

Nedra's Serenity - Serengeti Sunrise

On our 2017 trip to Tanzania, we spent several days in the Serengeti. One morning the sunrise was spectacular as we searched for wildlife on our early morning excursion.  The sun was just emerging and created a beautiful sky over the verdant landscape.  We asked the driver to stop for pictures. We lingered there for a long time just marveling at the early morning painting before our eyes. I had such a feeling of intimacy with nature as we savored this scene in one of my favorite spots on earth. This picture exemplifies the serenity I felt savoring the natural beauty of Africa.  The top photo is the finished piece and the lower is the picture I printed on fabric.

My plan was to use a technique I had worked with before in a project.  The project included a  close up photo printed on fabric of a pointsettia and a pattern with petals and leaves surrounding the photo which filled out the larger flowers.  My own fabric stash was used for the background, petals and leaves.   I hoped to do the same with the sunrise photo by extending the image into the borders using fabric of my own.  The following  picture is the finished product and the second is the photo that was provided.

I chose a batik for the sky which I painted and shaded with inktense pencils to blend with the colors of the photo.  A green commercial cotton was over painted for the grass.  The texture of that didn't really look like the grass in the picture. I tried the snippet technique to add to the grassy landscape.  Stitching was added to create texture and tuille on top for shading.  Traditional binding was used to finish the piece.  I'm not really thrilled with the finished piece.   I believe this technique works better with closeups versus a landscape scene.  Closeups of .orchids I recently took would be a better choice for this technique and I hope to give a another attempt.

Andrea's Serenity Quilt

Untitled

12" x 12" snow-dyed cotton, resist, machine and hand-stitched.

When thinking about this theme in January, I decided to start with what I consider "serene" colors and came up with soft peach, pink, green and beige.  Then I considered a technique that I thought would fit the theme and decided that hand-stitching a whole cloth quilt for a few minutes daily until the entire surface was covered would work.  However, other "situations" presented themselves that distracted me from my plan.

In my stash of snow-dyed fabric I found two pieces that I felt would work, one with pinks and the with greens.  My love of working with circles continues so I designed a piece that would include resisted circles to slow-stitch.  As time was running out to finish, I very minimally machine stitched and then added a bit of hand-stitching for texture.  Even though I did not follow through with my original idea, this visually represents "Serenity" to me.

  

 

Detail 

How I Display my Favorites!

South, Treasure
Supercalifragilistic...Comfort
Time, Communications

Top: Harmony, Cell
Row 2: Surprise, Wilk
Row 3: Blues, Translate
Row 4:  Boundaries, Pun

Since the beginning of the Material Mavens online art quilting group and blog in 2011, I have displayed an ever-changing grouping of my own little quilts. Of course, these are my favorites!  I have a few favorites displayed in our summer apartment in Michigan.  Those tended to be the ones I thought my grandsons would enjoy seeing the most!

Anticipating a dinner party tonight in which guests might or might not (!) ask me about my quilting projects, I have tweaked the two display boards in and adjacent to my quilting studio.

The top photo shows the quilts that are right outside my studio.  There are quilts from Round One and Round Three of our group.  Top row are quilts inspired by the themes South (Round One) and Treasure (Round Three).  In the middle row are Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious [I spelled that correctly, right off the top of my head!] from Round Two and Comfort, from Round One,  On the bottom are Time (Round Two) and Communications (Round One).

The second display board contains quilts from all Rounds of our group.  At the top are two from Round One:  Harmony and Cell.  In the second row is Surprise from Round One and Wild from Round Three.  In the third row are Blues (Round Two) and Translate (Round One).  And then the bottom row contains Boundaries (Round Two) and Pun (Round Two).

One conclusion I can draw from these displays is that I favored the quilts from Round One (7 in all) and Round Two (5 in all) .  Why?  Did I think harder about the theme?  Work harder on the quilts?  Did I like the theme words better?  Perhaps all of the above!  Just to be fair--Round Three hasn't been going on all that long, so perhaps some future quilts will take the place of some of these.

The Treasure Composite

‘Tis the season we all have so much for which we are thankful – treasures. Be they “stuff” or best of all, memories of family and friends, places, things we’ve done, folks we’ve lost, and yes, things. This month your 7 quilts and your narratives captured a life-time of living.

Row 1. What better way to begin a composite with the subject of Treasures  -- family you don’t even have to know any of those people, artist or individuals shown because the quilt just says, this is a treasure.

Row 2. Karen, I agree, may the sun always shine on Serifina’s smile. May we all learn to smile more. Smiles are contagious. Alice, thank you for capturing the reason for all our treasures, so your quilt just had to go next. Rita and I saw Christmas 2018 through the eyes of a bright 5-year-old grandson and those memories will be unforgettable.

Row 3. I’ve been researching the old documents at our church, dated back to 1888, and I know the thrill of seeing that original handwriting. Andrea and Judy’s quilts speak volumes to treasures from the past in the stroke of a pen. Best of all, the documents give us a tactile memory also and often even tweak your sense of smell. Hmm, how about an occasional grease stain on an old recipe?

Row 4. Rita and I are transplanted Texans – got here quick as we could – and we have no plans to leave. Kathy’s quilt is a memory to that pride.  Andrea, what a wonderful, creative way to “treasure” your charms. Too often, charm bracelets go out of fashion or end up in a jewelry box and the memories are hidden away. You have discovered a way to combine your quilting talents with your treasure box and reminisce while so doing. 

Job well done – all.

Randy

Alice #2 Treasure Quilt: Epiphany or the Coming of the Wise Men

I wasn't happy with my first quilt, and since I'd not yet notified Randy that the Reveal day had come and passed (and he'd not yet constructed our composite),  I decided to make a substitute quilt.  I'll take down my first quilt, since I really did not like it at all!  (This is the one I wanted all along to make but thought I didn't have time!)

This quilt was inspired, like the first, on the Three Wise Men who visited the Christ child, bringing gifts that were truly TREASURES, gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  The Wise Men had been told that the Christ child had been born and that they should follow a star to go to him.  Although many depictions of the newborn baby Jesus in the manger show not only his parents, Mary and Joseph, shepherds (who'd been told of his birth by angels), and also the Wise Men, the inclusion of the Wise Men at the stable is not really biblical!  A careful reading of the biblical account of the early life of Jesus reveals that the Wise Men came sometime later, and thus didn't see the child when he was a newborn.

In many Christian traditions, this current season of the church year, the season following Advent,  is called Epiphany. One definition of the word epiphany that I found recently is one I really like: "a moment of sudden insight that is usually a great revelation."  Thus we can see why this time of year in many Christian traditions is called the Epiphany season.  For the Wise Men, seeing the child Jesus was a revelation, a true epiphany.

My quilt depicts the three Wise Men (or three kings or three Magi as they are often called) with their costly gifts. As I explained in my narrative about the first quilt I made, frankincense and myrrh were used as incense in biblical times, with myrrh often used in burial rites.  In another interpretation of the gifts, gold symbolized the kingship of Jesus; frankincense, his priestly role; and myrrh, his death.  These gifts were literal treasures!

I  drew and then cut out a paper pattern for the wise men and cut the body of their robes and sleeves from different fabrics, after applying fusible to the fabrics.  In a similar manner I cut out their faces, crowns, and the gifts they are carrying. These were fused to the starry background fabric. I also fused on a brighter star, to stand for the star that guided the Wise Men.  I echo-quilted minimally around the appliqués on the background fabric.

The 12"x12" quilt is layered with backing and batting and bound conventionally.  I am much happier now, with this quilt, the one I really wanted to make!

Andrea's Treasure Quilt

Treasured Memories/Little Treasures

11" x 14" screen-printed cotton, sterling charms

Although intrigued with the theme, no idea or concept came to mind, until I remembered a couple of sterling silver charm bracelets that I found few months ago when looking for something else.  At the time I thought I would never wear either of them again, and that they should be "re-homed", but of course I didn't do that!  When I realized they were actually "little treasures" from my first trip to Europe, I knew they could be re-purposed as embellishments for this quilt.  From that starting point I decided to go through my Thermofax screens to find images that would work together for a collaged background.  The charms were tarnished and at first I thought I would polish them, but then decided the darkened silver gave them a vintage look and more character.  However, I then needed to tarnish jump rings to match and found a "how-to" video online, which worked reasonably well.

Kathy's Treasure

Kathy's Treasure

TREASURE - What a wonderful choice for our first Theme in this brand new year !

I had many thoughts about how I wanted to ‘articulate’ this theme, and narrowed those thoughts and ideas down to a few that are so important to me.    God,  Family,  Country,  State…..

To me, our Dear God is represented in everything that surrounds us and is with us.   He has provided us with this beautiful planet we call Mother Earth.    In all her glory, Mother Earth provides us with an exquisite environment in which to live.  I chose to represent this environment with beautiful flowers.

Our Families are our first teachers, and from them we learn respect, appreciation, and a reliance on our God to guide us through life.  My truly blessed Grandmother taught me about Gardens, and as I toil away in the dirt, I often imagine she’s smiling at me, and is proud that I carry on her traditions.  I learned well from her !

“GOD BLESS AMERICA !”   Our beautiful Flag that “so proudly we hail,” makes me think about all that’s happened, historically, to make it possible for us to enjoy the Freedom(s) and opportunities we have in this amazing country we’re blessed to call home !

And “Texas Oh Texas,”  what a grand State to live in !    I was born in Texas, and even though I lived in California during my growing-up years, and then in Alaska for 35 years, I am a Native-Born Texas Woman, and am darn proud of that !   In this quilt, I think the Fancy Boot just about says it all  !

For this Quilt, I machine appliqued all the elements to the background fabric using Madeira Monofilament thread.   I free-motion quilted the background fabric to give this quilt greater depth.   AND – The Fabric on the back of this quilt….  Well -  it pretty much speaks for itself !

Nedra's Treasure - Rylma

To hold or keep precious - what an apt description of my inspiration for this theme.  When I was 3 1/2 years old, my sister died of leukemia at 13.  This was a tragic event in our family that I sensed despite not fully comprehending all of the implications.  Her death was rarely discussed by anyone in the family.  If it was brought up, my mother would start to cry and the subject was quickly changed.  I quickly learned I shouldn't ask questions.  As a result, I knew very little about her or her life. Some of her belongings were kept in a small jewelry box and only one picture of her was ever displayed.  Oddly, this seemed "normal" to me and I remember feeling that I wasn't really affected because I barely knew or remembered her.  

About 15 years ago, certain events in my life made me realize how wrong I was.  I was starved for information about her, her personality, and the relationship she had with me.   Despite my mother's aging and lingering fragile emotional state about her, I gently started asking questions although her memory was starting to fade.  Things I thought I remembered about her and the situation she said had not happened.  I queried my sister's to try to fill in the blanks, with some success.   Though eventually I came to accept that I would never really learn all I wanted to know.   After my mother's death, I searched through family pictures and saved every one of her I could find.  To my delight, I found this picture of the two of us.  I believe it was taken in the last months of her life.   There I was with my doll sitting in the bed with her!!!  She has a big smile on her face and I want to believe I was the reason for it.  Forever will I treasure this tiny glimpse into our lives.

This picture, her baptismal certificate and several report cards are printed and fused to the seashell fabric.  Several of my seashell treasures are attached.    Gold Angelina fibers add to the look of precious metals.  It is minimally quilted.

Judy's: Family Treasures

Thinking about treasures, family always comes into the picture. Now I’ve never made

Schweinepfeffer (Soup from small bones of pork) but the other recipes I have made and shared good times with family as we made them. 

The other part of the recipes that make them treasures, is the handwriting. You hear so many people say, “My handwriting is so awful.” I use to say that too, but now I realize how special it is to see a handwritten letter, note, recipe, or even a list. To get these onto the fabrics I chose to trace them. As I did this I felt even more connected to the family members whose handwriting I was copying. Each loop, curve, crossed T and dotted I drew me into thoughts about them. To see and trace my Grandfathers handwriting “Schweinepfeffer”, my Grandmothers handwriting of the rest of the recipe writing that the recipe came from Mrs. C. Aulbur who was my Grandfathers mother. The C. stands for her husbands name Casper and her name was Elizabeth. The recipe came out of a plain little notebook that I was lucky enough to become the one who get to keep this treasure.

 The Sugar cookie recipe is in my mothers handwriting and one year our son Matthew told her that those were his favorite cookies. I added the cursive “Love, Mom & Grandma Grossmann” from this years Christmas letter so that it has both kinds on the recipe.

The Navajo Frybread is in my sister, Susan’s, handwriting. She found the recipe in the 17 Magazine in the early 1970’s and when she made it it was an event. We had never seen bread made that way and discovered it was delicious! She was always interested in things that were antique, old craft skills, and this recipe fit the bill on something old that was new to us.

 The last recipe comes from my mother-in-law. It is in my handwriting and such a simple recipe that it didn’t take up much space on the card. Every time we would visit she made these delightful corn cakes for breakfast. She always said that she didn’t make them as good as her mom did and when I made them, they definitely weren’t as good as hers! She grew up in Pennsylvania as a coal miners daughter and it is wonderful to have a recipe that she and her mother made in my recipe file.

On the back of my quilt I used a fun chair fabric because sitting around the table eating delicious food and visiting with family and friends is a treasure.