WIP Wednesday

Here are a few photos of the middle madonna flowers I am embellishing. The flowers were made from various pictures of Madonna that I found on the Internet. Several were made from the gown section of one of the pictures. I used the Kaleidoscope software I bought at IQF last year.

Before and After

BEFORE

All the new pieces are sewn on and the cutouts are ready to be fused. Here are a few detail pictures.

AFTER

I think these cutouts are really cool. I wonder if I will think that after I have sewn them on (with all those curves)??

Winter Madonna Problem Solved

Finally, I say, finally, I have figured out the problem with my Winter Madonna piece.

I have not liked the white patches. The white background was too stark for the other rich colors. The motif was cut off in some of the blocks. Both just didn't work for me.

With the thought that I might enter the new C&T publishing Fabric Images contest, I took another look at the piece. It's been hiding in a drawer all winter and most of the summer.

It became painfully obvious what to do! I could just cover the offensive white areas with new patches and add new photo images. Off to the computer to make some new madonna and flower images!

I am pleased now! The upper squares will have rose sprays cut from fabric to cover those white patches. I also plan to cut out the computer images and buttonhole stitch them to the blocks (eliminating the white around them).

While this piece may not be contest worthy, it is satisfying to come to a solution!

O Serene Like the Moon, O Resplendent like the Sun

Here at long last is my Winter Madonna. It was personal challenge to make a predominantly white quilt, and I feel like I learned about contrasting subtle color gradations. Perhaps I've even lowered a bit my resistance to white.

This quilt is hard to photograph because of the white and the monochromatic palette. It shows better in the close-up photos. I coffee stained the original background fabrics, and then layered over them with white lace. I layered handkerchiefs over that. Most of this piece is constructed by machine, except for the buttons and the lace edging.


The title for this quilt comes from the Great Mary Litany, as did the words I incorporated into my Gold Madonna.


I will still have to experiment with methods of hanging this piece. It's pretty stiff since I used peltex and a layer of batting. Perhaps I will use a ribbon to create a hanger. It needs to be hung because lying on the table it has an uncanny resemblance to a pizza.
--Barbara

Barbara's Composition

I'm designing my Winter Madonna and I've decided to work in circles as well as in white. The central image is transferred onto a round doily and surrounded by a traditional applique design called Cesar's Crown. I've used the challenge fabric in every other section of the crown.







I'm using another traditional applique pattern in the smaller circles called Wheel of Lilies. The Madonna also carries lilies in the central image, and is surrounded by them in one of the smaller ones. Two of the darker circles also have the Wheel of Lilies applique (actually ironed on) but the contrast isn't sharp and I may do those over.

The whole composition is pinned to a pieced background on which I've arrange vintage hankies. One of these is beige, and I may coffee-stain the white ones to increase the contrast.

I've imagined this as a round piece, so I may re-position the hankies and cut the whole thing into a circle. I'll have to back it with Peltex if I go that route.

And here's a piece that I designed at the same time, I've got plans for this one which also involve Madonnas.

Top is Done!

Here is the pieced top ready for embellishing!

I finished this today and will let it "rest" while I scurry around and make some Lesson Quilts for the training lessons I start on Friday for the about.com position. Having to return to beginning level quilts and think about each step so I can write the directions is an interesting process. I can't believe I have been on "automatic" for so long!

This one I will also have to think about---not exactly sure how I will do the embellishments. Just let me not get carried away!

More Blocks Added

Here are a few progress photos (and an experiment with writing on photos!)


Almost done with the borders--should measure about 40" square when done


Side border Blocks


Shiny Fabric in the Blocks

Debra's Winter Madonna Takes Shape

The Winter Madonna is due the middle of March. It has some specific guidelines to follow: use some of the glittery white jersey knit from Barbara and give the piece a wintery feeling.

Winter in Houston is not icy and even though that is the standard fare for most of the country, I chose to concentrate on the winter foliage and the glittery fabrics of the holidays. I wanted the overcast grey sky, silvery nights and the blue mantle of the Madonna juxtaposed against the rich reds, greens and blacks of ballgowns and bedecked homes.

A new source for inspiration was the Dover Publication called Elegant Floral Designs, a collection of permission free designs of black flowers and lace motifs. Each page features captivating flowers in stark black that can be printed any size. I decided to transfer them to fabric and use them like Victorian cutouts. They determined the direction of this piece---a crazy quilt.

I downloaded the images into my photo program and arranged them for sizes. I printed them onto transparency plastic thinking I would do gel medium transfers but that idea proved to be fruitless. So, I used the transparencies as originals and copied the designs directly to fabric with my printer. The images came out great!


This is one of the transparencies pinned to my design wall.


This is one of the printed fabric sheets.


This is the central Madonna figure with a bit of a Art Noveau look.


6 of the Crazy quilt blocks


Closeup View of the Motif in the block

I will do some more crazy quilt blocks for the outside border and mainly machine stitch embellishments before beading the piece.

letter to Mama (about quilt)

October 15, 1895

Dearest Mama,

I was so pleased to get your letter in the mail this morning. I look so forward to news of you and Papa at home. Some days I wonder how I could have left the East and come to this country called Oklahoma. I guess the promise of a different life with a man I love caused me to pick up my trunk and wave goodbye. But, I do miss you and especially our chats about needlework projects.

I have finished the quilt I mentioned in my last letter. It is so different from the other quilts the ladies make here but I thought it would be a good way to show my love for my new baby boy. I will hang it over his cradle so he can know that he has two mothers who love him. I will explain it to him when he is older. He seems so little to me! Thank you so much for making the long train ride here to help me. The scraps you brought from home are already in the quilt.

I decided to use the brown linen piece for the background. I know you wanted me to have it for a table topper for the living room table but linen is so impractical here on the prairie. I do not have the nice help you have in Boston. The rich brown color is perfect. It is surprising how quickly my white linens discolored here. I love them anyway so I put them in the quilt to preserve them.

Some of my friends found out I was making this special quilt and gave me some pieces to use. It really makes the quilt have so much more meaning. Do you remember Rian, the mayor’s wife? She came by with her cute Schnauzer, Riley, when we were having tea. She is so different from me, Mama! She was throwing out an old quilt. Can you imagine? I begged her for a little piece of the corner. I cut it into a heart for the corner of my quilt. I bought some tiny mother of pearl buttons from the dry goods store when I made the christening gown so I had a few extras to use. The teacher at school, Barbara, gave me a charm I sewed on the heart. She also saw my crazy quilt blocks from that sewing circle in Boston. She encouraged me to use some of the stitches again. She had some metallic thread she shared with me. When you go to town next, would you send me some silver threads, please?

One of the ladies from my stitching bee is very good with crazy quilting too. You should see her work, Mama! The Boston ladies would just swoon over her stitches. She had some pictures of the Virgin Mary and showed me how to glue the pictures to fabric. Her name is Allie and she is so accomplished. I think she will be leading the stitching bee next year. She thought I could probably cut the skirt off my taffeta dress and use strips for the pictures. I saved the buttons and sewed them on the patches too.

My neighbor, Joanne, the one who I read to on Tuesday afternoons gave me a very old piece of beading. She said she saved it from her mother’s ball gown when her mother was at the Governor’s Ball in Virginia. Joanne really wanted me to have the piece. I feel so honored. I am sure it is her way of saving Thank you for reading to her. Her eyes are beginning to fail her and it is a pity since she is young too.

I added the pocket from Wesley’s mother’s dress and a little appliqué from her wedding dress. He is so sentimental to have saved it for me. He knows I cherish these little tidbits of history. Maybe it is his way of helping me adjust to this life that is so different from Boston. He likes it here—he is working on the town’s design so he is happy. He comes home with news of oil in the land near us. I am not sure what we would do with oil but he is sure it would make us rich.

Let’s see. I also used a scrap from the couch in Boston. I still love the leaves on that linen fabric. I had that very old tatted lace from Grandmama and I sewed it down without cutting it. I had a few pieces that I tried to tat too. They are not as good as Grandmama’s piece but I used them anyway. I had some homespun left from my apron and a piece for a smock I didn’t make so I used them for the quilt.

Oh, Mama, you should see how this piece looks! You would be so happy to know I am becoming an accomplished stitcher like you. Those long hours in the parlor practicing my handsewing may become a real nice hobby here in Norman. The ladies do like to get together and sew, have tea and pretend we are back home in the East. Although this is home now, isn’t it?

Give my love to Papa. I will send a picture when Wesley takes me to the capitol in November for the monthly legislative meeting. Oklahoma City has some stores and a nice hotel. He promises I can go with him. He wants a family portrait taken with his new baby boy. I’ll sneak in the quilt too!

Warmest love,

Debra


(As you can see, I took some creative license here! Plus, Blogger didn't accept my handwriting font but you get the drift, I hope!)

Pictures of Our Lady of Unconditional Love

Our Lady of Unconditional Love
32 x 47 inches
collage quilt with photo transfer, machine embroidery, hand quilting, dyed and distressed linens & laces, various fabrics
October through December 2005
Debra Spincic


Our Lady of Unconditional Love


Main Madonna Photo Transfer with Gel Medium


Smaller Madonna Image with embroidery stitches


Detail of Linens


Heart Detail with buttons and charm



Pocket Detail & Stamped Rose on Taffeta

House of Gold, Pray for Us

House of Gold Pray for Us
Barbara Curiel
26x16.5

This piece evolved out of a stained silk tunic with elaborate beading that I wanted to find a new life for. I also wanted to make a gold Madonna piece with a lot of beading. The challenge to me in making this quilt was to use recycled elements, but to mask their origin and to integrate them into the piece as a whole.



I attached the beaded silk to a flannel foundation and added elements, including New York Beauty squares pieced from old brocade and metallic printed cotton, and some antique lace. The whole piece was beaded and sequined by hand. It was then sewn to Peltex, and the “roof” is Peltex covered with brocade. I had to think through the construction of the roof and the binding, and ended up attaching the roof and then applying a single-layer binding.



I added phrases taken from the Great Mary Litany, one of the most beautiful pieces of liturgical poetry, with machine embroidery around the edges. The phrases I used are from a series of poetic images which describe the Madonna in architectural terms: Tower of David,
Palace of Ivory,
House of Gold,
Ark of the Covenant,
Gate of Heaven,
Temple of the Divinity,
Throne of the Eternal King,
Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit,
Keeper of the portal. The whole prayer is beautiful, but these images expressed what I was trying to articulate with my work: that Mary is a refuge and a pillar of lasting strength.

Repeating Images

As I have mentioned before, everything I sew begins with the
Trickle Down Theory. I try some technique out somewhere on something that I plan to use again on some more important project.

Saturday night was a night to experiment. I have an upcoming deadline for the ARTImage Challenge. One of my ideas was to use a new program called Kaleidoscope Kreator 2.0 to design the images for the piece. The ARTImage Challenge piece this month is by the dutch artist, M.C. Escher and it involves repeated background motifs in black and white. My new kaleidoscope software does a great job of capturing images to repeat. For the Escher piece I want to use Victorian women's images. At the tailend of saving those images, I decided to experiment with some Virgin images.

Hours later, I was still entralled. I can definitely see that my Spring Madonna piece will use some of these images. Just a few for your viewing pleasure:

Choosing Images

I got to the stage with my Gold Madonna where I had to choose an image to put in the middle of all that beading. I have been concerned about copyright issues with some of the images I've looked at because, although most are more than 100 years old, the photographs of the images are not, and may be copyright protected. I decided to look at photographing images I have in my house and using these in my projects.

The first image is my photo of my Virgin of Guadalupe statue, one of those mass-produced popular statues, I bought her at a stall near the border in Tijuana. She has a bit of the Barbie doll look to her, but I changed the photo from color to sepia, and I think this has some possibilities. The second image is a photo of a small plaque I bought when I was pregnant with my daughter. It's a reproduction of an unidentified icon, and it has a lot a personal meaning to me.

It occurred to me Debra, that with your virgin collection, you've got a lot of images around you. Have you thought of using any of those?

Barbara

Almost Ready for Quilting

My original intent with this wallhanging was to use the paisley border that came on the bottom of this linen fabric. Once the wallhanging was constructed, the border seemed too much. Likewise, I thought about using 2 striped fabrics that I had bought for the project. They didn't have any specialness about them either. So, 3 of the border choices were abandoned. I am going to have a top thin border but it is folded under the bottom rose fabric. I haven't cut it yet.

I thought that I would embellish this piece heavily too. Once the lace fragments (many of them are hand crochetted or tatted) were sewn on, I liked them enough by themselves that I doubt I will do much more embellishing, except to add some buttons in key spots.

I have enjoyed the machine stitching as embellishments. The linen has been a bit of a challenge. It wants to stretch out of shape. But, I like the way the brown gives the lace importance and makes the whole piece look very old fashioned.


Once I attach the borders, I will begin the handquilting. The stitches on my test sample sunk into the linen due to the coarseness of the fabric but I think I will still be able to get the impression that I love with handquilting.


The overall piece is about 45 x 35 inches. This doily was teadyed because it turned out to be "too white" for the composition.

rubberstamped rose on taffeta for the border

I have wanted to make something that was reminiscent of an old fashioned dress with apron or lace blouse. I think this recalls that feeling. I envision Mary wearing something like this wallhanging--like a pioneer woman's prairie ensemble.