The group blog of five quiltmakers and textile artists scattered around the world in 3 countries and across twocontinents. Our aim is to create a small quilt every three months. The theme is chosen by the members in turn. Our website is: www.12bythedozen.weebly.com
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
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
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
I'm sorry for being so late. No excuses except procrastination which then lead to creating it's own series of logistical problems. So I've done two. One is based on my original idea that has been in my head for months and the other jumped in after I had seem some of your works.
The first is based on a small dry stone wall of blue slate at the cottage which protects a small garden from the forest above. I have an indigenous plant called lobelia cardinalis which blooms faithfully every year.
The second quilt is based on a picture that I took whilst on a trip to Israel, Palestine and Jordan when one of our daughters was doing a post doc in Chinese history at the Hebrew University.
We had a very interesting trip to Bethlehem, a place that Israelis are not allowed to visit. We stayed in a lovely old hotel, met many friendly people and were dismayed by the wall. Banksy owns a hotel which used to have a lovely view but a wall was built literally across a narrow road and this is now the view. Hence the name of the hotel: The Walled Off Hotel. The wall itself traverses Palestinian lands, takes away farms and olive groves and is definitely an eyesore. There is of course too much history on either side, but often we only hear one part of it.
War Remnant
The collapsed stone walls of a blockhouse.
A blockhouse was a small fortress, many being built by the British forces from available material found in the immediate vicinity. Each one housed and protected a few soldiers, but its value was in erecting many of them within sight of each other, particularly along railway lines and supply routes. This tactic effectively restricted the movement of the Boer farmers who depended on mobility across the vast open veld of South Africa during the Anglo Boer War of 1899/1902. The conflict ended over 100 years ago, but the remains of these fortifications can still be found around the country.
Creating the stones of the wall, I once again resorted to teabags with organza overlay, drawing in the rock outlines with a fabric pen and Pentel fine-liner.
I found a half-dyed fabric for the misty, overcast sky, across which I wrote some lines from the poem, ‘Bridge guard in the Karoo’ by Rudyard Kipling.
The frame was made from imitation leather with the buttons helping to secure it to the background.
Allison
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Yorkshire Drystone Wall |
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| Detail |
Cotton fabric, Colour Catchers ®, Heat'n'Bond ®, variegated cotton thread, acrylic paint and fern leaves for monoprinting.
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| Starting point |
I decided to go with the figurative with this challenge as fences and walls have featured literally in previous challenges of mine. This piece is probably the simplest in all fields that I have done and yes the design is not unique, however, I think it makes the strongest statement of all my pieces.
Walls are more permanent structures and shut out the problems or issues, fences can be readily moved or removed, however it is a public statement on where you stand on issues whatever side of the fence you are standing. Unfortunately they are too easy to erect and very difficult to discard and often still leaving a mark.
Amongst many of these societal problems in the world, lock down has aggravated many of the problems in my country. Gender Based Violence is topping our list at the moment and it is very sad and very difficult to fix.
Very simple construction of whole cloth and hand appliqué . I probably should have checked my pens also so might go over the writing to enhance it more. The fence stakes are painted lutradur and the wire brown ribbon. I initially couched down the wire but it flattened the piece so they are now loose and the stakes are attached with simply.
I think I've written too much so do feel free to scroll past the ramblings!
I started thinking about this challenge by looking for fences locally and was surprised to discover that there were very few that weren't totally covered by foliage, other than the sterile six foot high panels that appeal to some. So I went off in a different direction and ended up totally overwhelmed by the possibilities offered by political and emotional 'fences'. Given that this was going on as we endured our second lockdown in England I wasn't able to find a way through the multitude of ideas that presented themselves.
Fortunately, having recently discovered Mylio I'd set myself the task of collating my various on-line photo collections, and whilst that task isn't complete (Will it ever be?) I found my fence as I worked through my holiday photos.
Several years ago we were delighted when my daughter and her husband invited us to join them and their children on their annual holiday in France. (And no, we're not there as free onsite babysitters, it really is a family holiday.) We've rarely travelled out of the UK for our holidays so this was a double adventure and I loved it.
Until 2020 we've been away to France together every year since and I'm still enthralled by the experience. Spending extended time with the family, the warmth and sunshine, the food and the wine, visiting places I've read about but never thought I'd visit, the food and the wine, the evening sounds, the light, the food and the wine .... you get the idea.
Two things in particular will always stay with me - pinching myself as we walked along the causeway towards the iconic Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy thinking we're here, we're really here shortly after arriving and seeing the beach from the top of the dunes in Brittany which never loses its' appeal. Time spent on the beach is pretty special and we can usually find somewhere quieter to visit. Our family love the water and beaches become extended sports grounds, why sunbathe when you can play games, fly kites, build castles and play in the waves?
So the photo I've used is typical of the fenced approach to the beaches we've visited. I enjoyed re-creating the image even though my machine has suddenly refused to stitch any more marram grass. I've painted, used Inktense pencils, acrylic paint sticks and stitch to re-create the picture in my head and had a wonderful time, just feeling the sun, listening to the sounds and remembering happy times with the family that I was missing so much.
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