The Virgin gets Beaded

No matter how hard I try to do something a different way, I always manage to do it my way. I like arrangements of things; little groupings of stuff that reflect some idea or theme. I have them all over my house & now I have them all over my quilts.

This past year I have been developing a style of quilts that I refer to as "Collage Quilts". They are shapes of fabrics that I sew together as a canvas for photos, beads, buttons, tidbits and trivia. They just pour out of me naturally and until recently I didn't see them as anything significant until I realized that they are very much like the still life arrangements that I have all around me.

My Virgin of Guadalupe piece is one of my collages. Right now I am working on the embellishing. I am trying to develop 3 underlying themes to the piece. I want to show the common cultural images of the Mexican people and I chose fabrics, colors, flowers and some typical trinkets for that purpose. For the adoration the Mexican people show the Virgin of Guadalupe I chose to use golds, silvers, and bright gems. For the western look I chose conchos, turquioses and silvers and sewed some rickracks and beads. I want the folkloric style to be underneath the more glittery adoration.

At present I am over the halfway mark! I am using a good amount of supplies that I have had squirreled away for some future project. Part of me is a little sad because I know that I will not find many of these supplies again. Part of me is thrilled to be adoring the Virgin with my treasures. And as is my style, I love doing the arrangements.

Here are a few detail pictures of my work at present. ~~~Debra