Sunshine and Picnics

Many apologies to all the Latitude Quilters -- I am very late on my "Escape" reveal -- but many thanks to them for understanding my difficulties.  In November I suffered a fractured tailbone, making any sort of art-related work out of the question.  Family difficulties at the start of the year kept me away even longer.

I've finally been able to get back into the studio and, pressed for time, I changed course.  My original idea for "Escape" was very cool, but would have taken more time than I felt appropriate; I didn't want to continue to keep my fellow members waiting.

As a result, I decided to piece a small quilt to remind me of one of my favorite summer "escape" activities: picnics.  Piecing seems to reflect best those days when picnics are a special treat, with a homemade cloth spread out on the lawn.  I love picnics on gentle summer days with puffy clouds, so yellow and white became the color palette.

In my hope to get the quilt done quickly I didn't take as much care as I should have; I pieced one section backwards.  Rather than take the section apart and resew it, I chose to cover up the error.  Now there's grass peeking up along the edge of the quilt, just like it might at a picnic.  (I have to wonder if I was influenced by the bit of green I've spied alongside mounds of melting snow.)  As it turns out, I think the quilt has a bit more charm now.

Anticipation

Do you know that moment when you hold your breath, wondering what will come next?  Or when you ask yourself, Can I .... ?  Or, when you hope .....

That pause, filled with possibilities and bursting with energy, is what I wanted to convey with my piece; the anticipation that's experienced in the silence before something comes into being or happens.

The yellow color palette is a nod to the phrase, Silence is golden.  I wanted to create a feeling of multiple possibilities, hence all the different shapes bubbling to the surface.  I used all manner of materials including commercial cottons, hand painted fabrics, and paper towels that were tinted with watercolors.

Remembering

I thought a great deal about this theme.  As part of my process, I asked my mother to send me pictures of the two of us together, hoping that one of the pictures she sent could be recreated for this challenge.

As it turned out, it was the combination of the note she sent to accompany the pictures she selected that led me to this piece.  My mother sent pictures from a family vacation.  In her note, my mother wrote, "Do you remember this wonderful day on the dunes?"  Well, if you saw my face in the picture, you'd know that I had a completely different feeling about the day and hence, a completely different memory of it.

That got me thinking.  Two people may share some of the same facts of an event (dunes; summer vacation; Mom, Dad, and me), but our emotions, circumstances, and biases can tumble up those facts into a completely different recollection.  As time goes by, our memories often become more of a collage, as opposed to a clear picture, of what happened.  Let me reference the following from documentation from the New Jersey criminal court system, describing in-court instruction for witness identification:

Human memory is not foolproof.  Research has revealed that human memory is not like a video recording that a witness need only replay to remember what happened.  Memory is far more complex.[1]   The process of remembering consists of three stages: acquisition -- the perception of the original event; retention -- the period of time that passes between the event and the eventual recollection of a piece of information; and retrieval -- the stage during which a person recalls stored information.  At each of these stages, memory can be affected by a variety of factors.[2]   

---

[1]            State v. Henderson, 208 N.J. 208, 245 (2011).

[2]            Id. at 245-46.

With all this in mind, I decided to created a piece that tried to visually represent the passage of time on memory. Acquisition, retention and retrieval  -- three different elements of remembering -- are braided together to create our personal memories.

Morgan and Momoy

This challenge had me a bit flummoxed for a bit; I struggled with how I wanted to represent "leaving my mark".  Each time I considered the challenge, I came back to this thought: the greatest mark I'll leave on this Earth is my children.  They will be here after I'm gone.  Hopefully, they will be good people, responsible global citizens, and loving partners and parents.  That's the greatest legacy I can leave.

With that in mind, I created this piece based on a drawing my youngest did when she was 3.  I have it framed and hanging in my studio.  The color selections are directly influenced by what she drew, right down to the faded small figure.... and the spelling mistake. I  mimicked her crayon drawn line with paint and I used my left hand so the lines weren't as sure.

I took the "leaving your mark" theme one step further with my fabrics.  In our group discussions, we've been talking about some of our individual challenges of using only things from our stash.  I wanted to do that, but didn't have a good fabric for the center panel.  As a result, I used a piece of fabric I dyed with onion skins to be ecologically-minded.   Every small step, I hope, makes a difference.

Daily Tasks - Vivien

I had a great idea when Heidi announced the challenge.   I worked, consulted with friends, worked some more, and failed.

Unfortunately, I worked so long and hard that I left myself with little time to create a new piece.  Fortunately, I rediscovered velcro at the sewing shop and a new idea was born.  In my piece, Daily Tasks, I have a number of labelled medallions secured to the surface with velcro.  Some are in the center, representing the tasks I have on my "to do" list today.  Others wait on the outside frame because it's certain that I'll be transferring them to the center at some point soon.   I can rearrange the medallions to meet the demands of most of my days, though I realize that some tasks are missing, such as gardening.  I suspect that's because I created this while snow was still on the ground.  I suppose there's always room for more to do.

I hope I'll remember always to put the Be Thankful medallion at the top of the list.  And, in the event I drop the ball and forget to do a task, I gave myself an Oops! medallion, too.

Daily Tasks - Vivien