Tidal flats

Every single day the tide comes in and out, people walk their dogs and people fall in love.
The graphic image really appealed to me, and I like the way the light reflects on the water and the sand flats that appear as the tide goes out. I only added the people to give a sense of scale and to highlight man's insignificance in the wider scheme of natural forces. It is mainly fused applique and I intentionally chose to use satin stitch to accent the curves and the graphic quality.

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

"OMNIPRESENT" - Deborah Wirsu

The concept of something that occurs, or that we do 'every single day' proved a great challenge for me.  At first, so many different ideas raced through my mind - from daily activities or events to concepts such as birth and death, growth and decline, which occur every day, somewhere, sometime.

After discussing this theme with a friend, and tossing around several possibilities, eventually the concept of 'omnipresence' settled in my mind. Omnipresence, to me, represents 'presence everywhere, at all times' - therefore - every single day.

My friend (of the aforementioned discussion) has long wanted me to create a quilt based around the Fu Dogs (Lion Dogs) that guard the entrance to many Asian temples and monasteries, but after weeks of shuffling paper and designs, nothing was falling into place that satisfied me. In the end, after sifting through and seeking inspiration in photos of my Asian travels, I arrived at the idea of using Buddha to represent 'every day', an omnipresent being, rather than for any religious interpretation. Wherever there is a statue or representation of Buddha, there is the suggestion that Buddha is present everywhere - simultaneously all-knowing and all-being.

Somewhere along the design process, I found myself drifting towards Manga style, which is a very unusual direction for me. However, I found that the simplified, cartoon style allowed me to represent the simplicity and tranquillity that I wished for this Buddha.

The traditional 'Om' symbol in the background is used to represent the physical, mental and conscious worlds. For me, as a musician, it also resonates simply as a sound or vibration - a part of one’s being.

The piece is worked in cotton fabrics with raw edge machine appliqué, using satin stitch and free-motion edge stitch. The background is free-motion quilted.The piece measures 15" x 15".

My other quilts can be seen on my blog.

Crazy days

Crazy Days

When I learned about our new theme the first thibg that came to my mind was crazy. As evryone who has taken care of young children knows, always expect the unexpected, be always prepared for any kind of interruptions. But a traditional crazy quilt was not what I wanted to do. So I decided to make a modern crazy quilt. I didn't want the quilt to look to busy so I choose light colours in green, blue and grey-blue for the block. I included a few orange strips for contrast and also for the interruptions that happen at any time. The quilt has a border as even when the days are kind of crazy we try to have a constant schedule for the children with almost fixed meal hours, TV-time, bedtime... I included a small crazy block and an orange strip since on some occasions like birthdays or other special days the schedule might be overruled. The spiral quilting in the crazy block represent the fact that time goes by like a whirlwind with children at home.
Fabrics: Batiks, cotton
Thread: 100% cotton (piecing), rayon (quilting)
Batting: 80% cotton, 20% polyester
machine piecing and quilting
Sabine