Sunday 8 February 2015

met once again, for the very first time!

Wedding Canopy 


 


In 2007, a couple decided to wed.  Having lots of friends, and wanting their friends to be involved in the ceremonial aspects of this event; they asked their friends to create something special on a square piece of white cloth.

Many of their friends created wonderful, original thoughts and designs.  I was asked to create something on behalf of some friends who felt daunted by the task.  I was told that this couple enjoyed biking together on a tandem bike and so I created this square of the bride and groom on a tandem bike.
Other than hearing that the bride and groom loved my contribution and gave it great real estate in the center of the patchwork, that was the last I ever heard of the creation.  (The wedding was in 2007)



 So, Imagine my delight when I met the bride and groom today, and they invited me to see the completed project that hangs in a place of honour in their lovely home.
I raced home, not wanting to waste a moment, grabbed my camera and made my way to their home.  How lucky for me to discover that they are practically neighbours!  It was a rare treat to see my work embedded in the creative and loving spirit of so many others'.  Having now finally met the bride and groom I can see why so many were inspired to create such interesting work.  I am so pleased to know that my work shared with others, hangs in such a warm, spiritual, loving home!

Here's a close up of the square as it was in 2007, before it was given to assembler
to join in with the others.  It may have been in more pristine condition then, but,
I love how it has come to be at one with the others through the years of loving attention.


Sunday 1 February 2015

taj pillow

Kate's Birthday Present


This began with a favorite photograph, sized to fit on a sheet of Ricky Tims' Stable Stuff Poly.  This is a product that is a hybrid of paper and fabric and can run through an ordinary printer.  I used the image as one layer, then overlayed with sheer silk organza  with Angelina Fibres  (well I like to call them Angelina Jolie fibres because they make everything more Jolie).  Any other reference would be purely coincidental.
The rest of the fabrics are dupioni silk.
I backed the whole package with another layer of cotton before doing the free motion quilting.
 This beautiful young lady, my son's girlfriend, inspired me to make this work into a pillow.  This was her favorite photo from her travels to India and she loves pillows.
Once I layered up the top, I used sparkly threads to free motion
stitch over the significant features of the architecture so the
building pops.  I used darker thread to sew over the shadow.



When the top was done, I created 2 rectangles out of my hand dyed stash that are each more than half of the whole so they overlap in the middle creating a pocket for the pillow form.