September 11, 2001 Quilt

This wall quilt was made shortly before the events that took place on September 11, 2001 but it is reminiscent of that terrible day.  As we mark the 10th year anniversary of the fall of the Twin Towers, The Pentagon, and the heroic actions that took the lives of a plane full of, at the time, anonymous heroes on United Airlines Flight 93, I would like to share my 9/11 Quilt with you.

The two white sections represent the innocence of the victims, while the pieced border represents all the races of man as none were spared.  The blue blocks on either side are the darkness we all were in watching the catastrophe unfold.   Another surround of colorful strips borders the entire piece as we hold together as a nation and a family in support of one another, no matter our walk of life.  The final border is red velvet which binds us all together in love and tenderness for one another on this haunting day.  There are tiny stitches of metallic thread throughout the solid blue sections and all around the red velvet representing stars of hope in the darkness.

                                                          WE ARE STILL HERE.

Rhode Island Mini Quilt Challenge

For my 100th post I am inviting viewers to a small challenge, if you are not a viewer you can certainly join in on the challenge - all are welcome.
   Have you ever been to or lived in or perhaps vacationed in Rhode Island?  Rhode Island is the smallest state of the United States.  It is also the 13th state and one of the original colonies.  Rhode Island was also the first state to declare independence from England.  For such a tiny place there is so much history.
There are also things that are indigenous and unique to RI.  It really is a wonderful place to be.
   The subject of the mini quilt is Rhode Island.  You can base your quilt on facts or fiction, a vacation memory or just a drive through the state.  The small state has many sites historic and otherwise as well as many interesting and little known facts.   There are many possibilities.
  
So the challenge is:
                                       To make a small quilt
                                        with three layers
                                        (top, batting and backing)
                                        measuring 13" by 13",
                                        which is bound
                                        either by fabric
                                        or stitching.


  Send to: Dyeing For You, 275 Harris Avenue, Unit 221, Providence, Rhode Island, 02909.  Please send with return postage so that you will receive your quilt back.  I will try to use your packaging if possible to return your items. Please insure your quilt item if you want insurance.  If you would like to inform me that your quilt is in the mail that is fine, that way I can be on the lookout for it.  I will also send confirmation of receipt via this blog.  All correspondence is through this blog.  Your mini quilts will be displayed on this blog after the submission deadline.


Deadline: October 13, 2011
Your quilt must have a sewn in or sewn on label on the back of your entry with your name and address on it.  Also, if your piece has a title this would be a good place to put it. 


I can't wait to see what everyone sends!
Kathleen

Take a Look at This

"Twists and Turns in the Road" 

  Indigo is one of the more time consuming dye methods and takes patience as you must prepare your fabrics for the dye process, have designs in mind and if necessary stitched or drawn out on your fabric, and  have your dye vat ready to go.  It sounds like much work but it is all well worth the extra effort.  As I have said previously indigo is one of those dyes that is seemingly "magical".  When you first put your beautiful white fabric into the dye vat you are soaking it for only a couple of minutes to achieve a pretty blue color.  When you remove it carefully from the vat it is green - not just any green but a yellowy-green that might be somewhat disappointing but only wait a few seconds as the dye oxidizes the color become more of an emerald green and eventually turns to blue.  With each successive dip it becomes deeper and deeper until you feel that the fabric has the color depth you are looking for.  Above you can see one of the quilts that I made a few years ago using a shibori method and indigo. The variations in color depth show that the more times the fabric is dipped into the vat the deeper the color.
  Have a look at this website, Carol Anne Grotrian has some fabulous quilts to show you.  There are some pretty impressive indigo quilts on the site.  The stitching itself tells the tale of time as well as some of the subject matter she uses as inspiration.  They are well executed with beautiful detail and depth allowing the viewer to have the feeling of being there.  She has captured the Japanese style quite well using shibori methods and indigo.  If you like indigo and shibori you will love this peek into her world.
  Also on her site are other quilts from earlier periods of her work. Please have a look there is much to see. http://www.carolannegrotrian.com/index.htm

What's In A Name?

In the Stairway 

   Well here is another small quilt recently finished, bound and sleeved.  It is not pieced but rather painted and then quilted by machine with hand embroidery enhanced into the rows of machine stitching using black embroidery floss.  Binding is black, corners are mitered.  Cotton batting is used with a plain white backing.

Digital Splash

   Looking at it in a vertical versus horizontal orientation my desire to give it a different title is dependent upon that orientation - go figure.Pictured here with both titles you can see that it is a graphic design with bold color.  It is actually part of a series that I am working on, being the first in the series.  The rest of the series is only on paper at this time and will present at a later time before this year is out.  Enjoy!

Shibori

This bright pink piece is dyed using the shibori method of dyeing.  It takes a little bit of time (not too too much) but it is well worth the efforts.  This particular piece was immersed in only one dye bath, but you still can see the depth of color and contrast giving the piece it's character.  The dyes do not penetrate into the fabric completely as the fabric itself is used as the resist, only the fabric in the outermost areas where the dye actually comes in contact with the fabric does the dye take hold.  The less the color saturation the less the dye was able to penetrate.  (I hope I am not getting to wordy with the explanation.)
I used a variegated thread to quilt this piece and a black binding to frame it. (more on this later).

One of My Fabric Gardens

Full view "Garden of Flowers"

detail of "Garden of Flowers"

  This small quilt is made from 100% cotton and hand dyed by me.  The flower design is printed on with my own hand made stamp using fabric paints.  It is quilted by machine using variegated threads.  It has a hanging sleeve on the back which is hand stitched.  Batting is cotton, edge is bound with bias strip.  What do you think?

  The kids came over today in celebration of Father's Day today.  We had oven fried chicken, macaroni salad, corn on the cob, cornbread with rosemary, watermelon, green beans sauted with scallions, some unknown kind of pasty, lemonade, soda, kind temperatures, lots of sun and a great time.  It was a perfect day.  Happy Father's Day Dad.

Monarch Larvae Completed

 Previously I wrote on this blog some time ago that I would be posting some pictures of the Monarch Larvae Quilt (small works) once it was completed (See post from March 20, 2011).  Well it has been finished for a bit now and finally I have gotten around to taking some images so here they are.

 I thought that it needed some texture and ran it though the machine a few times here and there.  Let me know what you think.  The colors in this small piece as photographed have a bluish cast on them, as I am no photographer (!), but they are white black and bright yellow (even though the monarch butterfly larvae is more of a chartreuse).  I am sticking with the name though.

 This is made of high quality Kona cotton fabrics which have a smooth texture and are quite buttery to work with - yummy.  There are three more quilts using the same fabrics with a somewhat different configuration.  They only need to have binding sewn in place, and a hanging sleeve, then they are finished.