The Tree of Life

 

The Tree of Life

 

I had heard of the Shakers before but never really looked into the story of their history. They originated from the English Quakers and Methodists and founded the movement in 1774 in Maine, North America. Their maxim in life was: Hands to work, Hearts to God. As both men and women practiced extreme celibacy, they have all but died out.

Their ‘Tree of Life’ appealed to me, depicting a very austere, simplistic and no frills craft work. I used a Seed cloth for my background fabric, then with the batting behind, I cross-hatched a few lines using a variegated thread. I couldn’t resist putting a few beads between the tacked lines of the background, deviating from the Shaker lack of ostentatious embellishment. Using cut-off quilt edging fabric I created the fruit with buttonhole stitching around the edges. The leaves are from Felt attached with a simple stem stitch. Trying not to distract from the whole, I made a pale coloured, narrow edge around the piece.

All in all, an interesting challenge for me as I’m inclined to prefer a more ‘textured’ or 3-D effect for our group pieces.

 

Allison

Simplicity

 One of the keys to the Shaker style is simplicity or minimalism.  Not my style at all!!  But  I did realize that the front of our house is a classic Shaker style.  I'll put in a picture at the bottom.  

I always found it intriguing that they hung their chairs on the wall when they weren't in use.  I guess there was no stopping for a coffee/tea break to play with games on one's ipad.

So I have kept this piece as minimal as possible.  No stitching except to put on the facing.  I hemmed and hawed a lot about that but decided I'd try it out.  

and the house:

An apology

 I'm afraid I'm going to have to give this one a miss. Wonderful family holidays (Note the plural, I've been very lucky.) and our recent Golden Wedding anniversary have filled my Calendar and my mind for the last couple of months.

As I had  planned a fairly simple piece I'd convinced myself that I could fit it in but it's not to be, and I'd rather focus on the next challenge than play, a less than adequate, catch up.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has done with this fascinating topic.

Traigh Mhòr, Barra, Outer Hebrides

瞻。忘歸

 

When I found out that the theme of this time was Shaker, I spent a lot of time learning about the characteristics of this architectural style,because it is uncommon in Taiwan.

(Thanks to Mai-Britt for introducing me to this interesting and spiritual Shaker style)

After doing some research, I accidentally saw a wooden dollhouse on my worktable and decided to use it as the inspiration for this project and make this 3D quilt.

「昏旦變氣候，林間含斜暉。夕暮能娛人，遊子瞻忘歸。」

In general, it means that the beautiful and ever-changing evening sunlight makes the children who are out playing forget the time to go home.

This is the conception I want to express and aspire to through this work. 

(Isn't it very much like the life style of the Shakers?)

Momoko

ANATOMY OF A SHAKER ROUND BARN

 

 I must say this one really forced me to put on my thinking cap as visions of chairs on walls seemed to just lodge itself in my brain.

A day spent mulling over as much info as I could was worth it in the long run as I finally managed to find something that spoke to me.

This is a two layered piece.   The cream background is a whole cloth, stitched, with the shading done with pencil crayons/pencils. I sketched the plans out on paper, 505'd it to the sandwich and stitched.   It meant a lot of fiddly removal of the paper but was worth it as it kept the sandwich relatively square and flat.

The colour piece of the round barn is a separate piece, appliquéd and stitched.  The 2 are bound together with the left hand binding.

This is the piece with the top layer folded back.  I am not sure how I am going to 'latch' the top layer so that it does not flap open.   Will work that one out later.

In the end I did enjoy putting this one together as I have tried a number of firsts for me.

Roofs and windows

The first impression I got when I looked for Shaker buildings was the simplicity of the structures and went with my first choice "roofs and windows".  I drew an abstract background of Shaker roof shapes and some walls and used fairly soft colours,, which I picked up from my research, which  they seemed to  use most of the time.  Over this I used 12wt thread to outline three sets of windows on top of the design placing double pieces of net behind the window frames to depict window glass.  

Shaken Up

 

I actually had an idea quite early on and kept it in mind while I worked on another project.  Then when I was ready to start and did some researching, I suddenly realised my plan to showcase a red barn with ‘hexes’ was oh so wrong.  The Shaker do not approve of hexes!  I could have included a painted quilt on the gable end of a barn as that seems to be acceptable.  Like Jinnie I looked at the interior of those amazing round stable buildings and was tempted…

In the end I have cobbled a couple of bits of inspiration together with some artistic license.  Red barns and the white windows and shutters of the houses.  I’ve kept it simple in common with their philosophy.  Setting it at an angle solved a few problems with proportions…

Fused raw edge applique.  Machine quilted.  Satin stitch edging.  Acrylic felt batting.  24" x 18"

Thanks Mai-Britt, it was a good challenge and I have enjoyed it.

Hilary

Shaker Tables

Hilary's reminder was a wake-up call for me. Not only had I completely forgotten the challenge, but I was due to go away from Thursday for over a week, effectively giving me just a few days to complete my piece. I'm guilty of doing the first thing that occurred to me, but that is often the case, even if I leave myself longer to plan. In this case it was the quintessental Shaker table design, simple and elegant that sparked my interest. I was struck by how the table looked hexagonal when seen from a certain angle, and I had already decided I wanted to incorporate more colours into my next piece, so a simple layout, incorporating the tables into the standard 'tumbling blocks' layout was the way to go forward, but playing with colours in a manner slightly reminiscent of Andy Wahol. A certain element of one of my favorte artists, Escher, seems to have crept in too. Sadly, I don't have time to quilt it before I go away, so that will be another job waiting for me when I get back home. Who ever thought that retirement (especially post-lockdown) would be so busy!! I'm rather pleased with this piece, despite the hurry to do it. I find I'm enjoying the colours and generally cheerful aspect of the piece.

The Great Stone Barn

 The Great Stone Barn at Mt Lebanon Shaker Museum, NY, USA

I found this project very interesting. I didn't know anything about the Shakers. The 3 most interesting things to me were

1. they became Shakers because they shook about when they, as Quakers, were moved by the Spirit, 

2. they championed gender and racial equality, and

3. they practiced celibacy (can you practice celibacy?).

In deference to their minimalist aesthetic, I decided to produce a simple image - simple in structure and colour. (I could have done with sewing at least 100 fewer weatherboards to keep the effort minimal as well!)

I draughted the image taken from https://www.shakermuseum.us/mount-lebanon/ on paper then drew it onto fabric. I saved myself the challenge of perspective by presenting it front on. I used Inktense pencils to darken the fabric where necessary.

 I wrote along the bottom of the building and also on the back - mostly a quote. It reads as follows

The Great Stone Barn, Shaker Museum, Mt Lebanon

This project's brief was Shaker architecture. I chose to depict this richly colored, strong, functional building which can be visited at the Shaker Museum, Mt Lebanon. Mt Lebanon, founded in 1787, 'was the first official community organized by the Shakers.... It's community planning, architecture, commercial and industrial endeavors, as well as its spiritual practices, became models for the other Shaker villages... Within this central community, the Shakers developed their progressive ideas on gender quality, racial equality, pacifism, communal property, the value of labor, and sustainability. They also established the now famous... aesthetic of simplicity expressed in their... buildings....' www.shakermuseum.us 

Simplified Shaker Staircase

   I found this one difficult at first and was at a loss as to what to do. Then I found a couple of photographs that I thought might inspire me. The first was of the interior of the round stone barn in Hancock  Shaker village, which when I made a sketch looked a bit like the underside of a mushroom cap. I decided it was a bit too complicated. The second was of a 1839 spiral staircase in the old Trustees office at the Shaker village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, that I found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Inviting_Spiral_Of_The_Heavenly_Staircase_(203178905).jpeg 

   The quilt was simply quilted along the swirly lines, then coloured with iridescent markal paintstik. The iridescence doesn't show up very well in the photo unfortunately.

  

   I will be away for the next two weeks with no internet access.  look forward to seeing everyone's quilts when I come back, and will comment on them then.
 

It's that time again

 Hi everyone.

10 days to go!  This is your (and my) wake-up call.  I have a vague idea what I will probably do but...

It is also time to draw the next person's name out of a hat, Mai-Britt.  The list is getting shorter: Rosemary, Momoko, Phillida, Linda B and me.  Can you post the name soon so that the person has time to come up with the next architectural theme.

Hope you have all managed to cope with the restrictions and lockdowns and stayed safe and well.

Best wishes,

Hilary