Summer’s Empire Is Falling Down

Sometimes revisiting my scrap hoard sparks an idea for a new quilt. While shuffling through fabric I had Spoonflower print from a photo I came across large leaves that I hadn’t used in an earlier quilt. Here’s that quilt.

“Sycamore”

For my new quilt I pulled all sorts of autumnal colored scraps – cottons, silks, synthetics – and grouped them around the leaf panels I had left. I spent some time moving parts around and began construction in chunks.

I had another reason for making this quilt, a regional SAQA exhibit (Indiana, Michigan, Ohio) that’s to feature a bit of the color known as poison green or Scheel’s green. Here’s how the prospectus describes it:

In 1775 the color, Scheel’s Green, was discovered and later in 1814, the much
improved Paris Green was developed. Both pigments were created by chemists and
produced a remarkable shade of emerald green by combining chemicals that produced
arsenic poison. This vibrant green was extremely popular among the privileged because
it symbolized royalty and wealth. Despite the deadly drawbacks, fashions, wallpaper,
soaps, paints, and toys were produced in abundance. Factory workers who produced
these commodities as well as consumers suffered severe side effects including death.
By the end of the 19th century the deadly greens were replaced with less toxic pigments
and dyes.
The art quilts produced for “A Drop of Emerald Green” will have just a touch of today’s
safe emerald green as a reminder of the tragic history of the color green.

So, there’s a drop of emerald green on my quilt in a spot where there might well be a bit of vivid green left on a leaf.

“Summer’s Empire Is Falling Down” top

The entry deadline is November, so I have plenty of time for fine tuning and quilting. I am considering doing wavy edges as they aren’t straight now, and I have deliberately avoided straight seam lines. And I do have a title, the heading of this entry, which comes from a Joni Mitchell song.

I am linking to Off The Wall Fridays.

No Place Like Home

I never thought I would work in series, but sometimes they happen, if you can call two a series. Maybe I should call the pieces fraternal twins. A few months ago I made a kindergarten style house mask and painted around it on old music sheets and a watercolor. Back in the paper stack they went until I was searching for diversion from a quilting problem.

When I shuffled through my collage papers and found them I decided to develop home themes without any idea other than the classic inverted V roof outline. I had a grand time painting sort of solid colors on Bristol boards. While they dried I sifted through my collage bits and pulled out elements I thought might work, with an emphasis on color.

The yellow ochre one features roof lines, and gel plate transfer prints on tissue paper. I added birds’ nests as a secondary feature, but was mostly concerned with color and composition.

“Getting the Point”

The blue one took a hard swerve into fantasy land with carpets of flowers, balloons, and the American Gothic couple. The balloons are from color copies I printed of the circle/oval quilt I wrote about last week. As in “Getting The Point,” I got into windows again. I must have cut out every photo of a window I came across.

“Digging It”

In case you wonder, these are mixed media pieces as they involve paint, pens, and crayons.

I’m linking to Off The Wall Fridays.

Closing The Circle

In the early days of the pandemic I spent a lot of mental energy on a project to make circles and ovals out of silk fabrics I had painted, dyed, and printed. I ended up separating the shapes into groups of cool and warm colors, and hand sewing them together into lattices. The warm color piece was finished in 2021, while the cool colors chilled out in my black trunk. A few months ago I was struck by an urge to clear out unfinished projects, so the cool color circles came out of storage.

“Roundabout” 2021

I decided not to use wire again as sewing that to the fabric was a pain, but I still wanted some bling. I tried small log cabin shapes made of silk, but my product testers nixed that idea. Then I remembered embroidered sheer scraps from the costume shop that I had painted. They added lots of bling. Finally, I dug out thin glittery ribbon I obtained from a quilter who was giving away all her stuff. It was flexible enough to curve around all the connected shapes, and could be machine sewn.

No name yet. 2023

I plan to hang it to stand slightly away from a wall, using a 1 inch deep piece of wood. The wood will have D rings to hang on nails, while the quilt will be attached to the wood with cup holders or some other type of hook. I think I can sew plastic rings to the back of the piece that will hang on the hooks. Then I will need some sort of modesty skirt to hide the bit of wood that might show. Please let me know if you have other ways to work this. I am not a carpenter. I have painted and sanded the wood, but have gotten no further.

I also have made no progress on naming this piece. I think it’s shaped like a map of South America, but don’t want any reference to that continent. Maybe something related to a pond might work. Any ideas?

I’m linking to Off The Wall Fridays.

A Drawer of Postcards

Despite many moves over the years I have held onto a three inch pile of postcards from art museums around the world. Some I bought and some were sent to me by an early art mentor. Finally, after rediscovering the collection for the umpteenth time, I decided to use them.

Given that the subjects ranged from Byzantine icons to modern art, I decided to detach figures from their settings and recombine them with other papers to create unexpected narratives. I pasted them all in a children’s board book, where I look at them more often now.

Front and back covers

Jesus presents Peter with the keys to the kingdom while the other apostles and an indifferent dog look on. The dog is there because of what it spells backwards.

A court of Byzantine lovelies pose by classical ruins.

Renaissance heiress, Annunciation angel, and blase Cupid waiting for their ship to come in.

Anything can happen in Paris.

Mary seems to have missed the train that’s heading into a Turner landscape.

Mystical Tahitian night with a bit of temptation

The Lacemaker is indifferent to animal antics, while an angel tempts Gauguin’s mistress with keys to a car. She wants to drive away from John Marin’s lake.

Who let the dogs (and unicorn) out?

A multicultural quartet.

I have still more cut up postcards, but the board book is full, so I’m at a decision point – another board book or separate scenarios. Whichever I decide they should be fun to make.

I’m linking to Off The Wall Fridays.