Torah Stitch by Stitch

Torah stitch by stitch is a cross stitch project conceived by Temma Gentles. She suggests that is for those who are interested in engaging with the words and spirit of the Torah with purpose and rigour.  Her goal is to produce the entire text, with the help of volunteer stitchers from around the world.

My portion is an excerpt from Exodus and so I created an illustration that I hoped would appear to reference those who had left Egypt and were now walking through the desert.  

My husband suggests that they are not so much trudging through the hot desert as dancing.  This works for me too.

It was a great pleasure to participate in this project.  I love the largeness of the goal!! To reproduce the entire Torah!! and see it all in stitches, the notion is truly awesome.  I did find that reproducing the letters exactly was very rigourous, but in a positive way.  And then having the space to create my own illustration was so creatively challenging.  I haven't worked in counted cross stitch since I was a child and learnt how to do it from my grandmother.  This brought back those memories in a very lovely way.

re-purposing high school uniforms

 My niece and nephew (twins) recently graduated from high school.  They have been excellent students and to honour this milestone, I decided to up-cycle the remnants of their high school uniforms.

 Michelle, my niece, is playing with her new acquisition.

 The points in different directions represent their futures.  We don't know where their paths may lead them, but we know that they will pursue their goals with continued integrity and passion.

Free motion quilting details

back of the quilt.

tobias

Tobias, the Girafonte

Family fables are wonderful.  And so it was that a grandfather created stories about Tobias, an animal who was half Hippo and half Giraffe. Against all odds, Tobias's parents fell in love although they were a mixed union, one being a hippo and one being a giraffe.  Tobias was a sweet boy but usually found himself having difficulty fitting in. The others in Hippo school didn't quite know what to make of him, and neither did the children in Giraffe school.  Yet, he usually found his way into their hearts with his sweet and giving nature.  This little quilt is an illustration of the time he saved young Ify from drowning in the river Nile and falling prey to a crocodile.  The other giraffes from the school house windows watch in amazement as Tobias saves the day.
Janos Fenjves, Tobias's creator, was a great story teller, and delighted children for many years with his stories about an oddball who didn't quite fit in anywhere, but worked hard to enrich the lives of those around him. An autiobiographical theme as Janos was one of the many who survived the war only to find himself trying to build a life in a strange land.  Janos passed away one year ago, and his loss is still greatly felt.  We hope that illustrating his Tobias stories will help him remain in our memories and create new opportunities for great stories of outsiders fitting in, for many generations to follow.  

Detail

This quilt was created using both hand dyed and commercial fabrics, appliqued, with satin stitch, free motion.

The worried giraffes watch Tobias come to the rescue

Ify clings to Tobias

Dyed Trees

Trees

This piece measures 64 inches wide and 26 inches in height.
The size was determined by the space in the client's home, she specifically wanted a 'painting' to hang over her bed.  All she asked for was trees, and left the rest up to me.

Detail:  I worked in layers with procion MX dyes.  The layers were painted on with brushes. I created the resists with masking tape (for the trunks and the clouds).

After the dyes were set and dried, I added details with free motion machine stitching. I deliberately did not add batting and quilt since this was intended to be a painting.  I added stabiliser to the back to support the stitching.

Since this piece was so wide, it was a challenge to photograph well in its entirety, so I took another photo that is cropped.

my friend enjoying tranquility

This work was inspired by the views of the from my beloved cottage in the woods. This is a photo of my niece exploring.

Fibonacci Curve

 Fibonacci Curve

I created this piece inspired by the discovery that Fibonacci made; that most creations of nature have this curve intrinsic to their construction.  The multiples are created by adding the length of the last 2 dimensions together for the next.  An obvious reference is a spiral of a sea shell, but if you look closely, you can find evidence of this design very frequently in the natural world. 

Once I created the blocks the notion of a bird on top of a head came to me  (the mind is a wondrous thing!) and thus "BirdBrain" was birthed.  This quilt is 39" wide by 24 " tall.

Detail of the hand which was sketched with free motion stitchery from one piece of cloth.  The illusion of depth in the palm was created with ink.

detail of face created with hand embroidery as well as free motion stitchery. the face  (as well as the entire curve is embellished with beads.

detail of the brain created with hand embroidery and embellished with sparkly beads, because; despite feeling like a bird brain most of the time,  my brain is always firing with new ideas!

detail of the bird's feathers created with hand embroidery.

 

This quilt was shown in The Festival of Quilts 2013 in Birmingham, England.  

The Judges comments were:

"Lovely use of beads and the decorative stitching adds interest and dimension.  Well constructed-well done!"

and

"Beautiful embroidery skillfully worked, and a fun and thought provoking theme."

painting with dyes

This piece is 65" wide and 27" tall:  There are several layers of Procion dyes on it, and between each layer, the piece was cured for at least 24 hours.  My intention now it to sew over it with free motion work to create details.

Painting with dyes on whole cloth: PFD cotton

the inspiration for the work can be seen behind it.

stay tuned for the next stage!

family fun dyeing t-shirts

I had lots of helpers re-stringing the clothes line to hang the finished projects

Dyeing with procion M-x dyes and PFD cotton t-shirts from Dharma

very proud of his creative expression

not everyone was as thrilled with the activity

hanging to dry after the first rinsing

enjoying their t-shirts but probably enjoying each other more!

The whole family was happy with their arty creations.  This fun activity was enjoyed by those who had confidence in their creative talents as well as those who were less confident.