The theme for this one? Life! <groan> Such a broad subject!. When I got home the evening that the theme was announced and was telling The Husband about it, he replied "Well, what could be so hard about a 12 x 12 quilt showing a big steaming pile of poo!? You could try doing trapunto!" For you non-quilters, trapunto is a technique where you put extra padding underneath a motif to make it poof out from the rest of the quilt. That was funny and all, but I didn't think it was appropriate for an art quilting group. I was tempted, though, since I've never met a poo-poo joke I didn't like!
All kidding aside, the main thing that kept popping into my head was the Earth, or Mother Earth. I really wasn't quite sure how to execute it, however and had kind of dismissed it. That is, until I went to the Stray Threads quilt show and saw this wonderful fabric in the Marbeled Arts booth that looked just like the Earth as seen from space. She also had a lovely hand-dye in a beautiful dark blue that looked almost like velvet. Gorgeous and I had to have it (cha-ching! Hand dyed fabric is not cheap!).
So now I had my theme and my fabric, but I couldn't just applique a circle onto a square, could I? No, but it was a start, so I cut my circle and sewed it (right sides together) to some fusible interfacing. I cut a slit in the interfacing and turned it right side out and it made a perfect circle which I then appliqued to a square of the blue fabric. Pretty! But still boring and it needed more. I started thinking about symbolism and life. I saw some images on line of goddesses and one theme that I kept seeing and liking was the spiral of life in the belly of the Mother Goddess.
The spiral is a spiritual symbol of life in many world cultures and religions. Spirals come in every size from the huge spiral that is our galaxy right down to the tiniest snail shell. I've always loved spirals. My Spirograph set was one of my favorite toys when I was a kid. But I wondered if I could pull off a motif that small. As it turned out, I could! I used gold Fairy Frost fabric, tiny scissors and fusible applique'. I then machine stitched a tiny blanket stitch around the raw edges using gold metallic thread. I was nervous about using the often-fussy metallic thread especially with such a small stitch but Superior threads metallic usually works very well for me and it did not disappoint in this use either. I then added hot fix crystals and stars to the background. Without further ado, here is the finished quilt:
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| Love your Mother by Cornelia Gauger completed April 2012 |
I still think she needs something else. More quilting or decorative stitching for some extra dimension. It will be hard to quilt in the background since the crystals are there already. Still, I think it is doable if I'm careful. I also may do an echo quilting line around the Goddess. That might make it a little more interesting. I'm open to suggestions!
The next theme (due June 6) is: Summer. I'm still cogitating on that one!
TTFN
Cornelia
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