Seeing Is Believing

Today I thought that I would show you two quilts. For those of you who are not up on quilting terminology, a quilt is something the consists of a top, a wadding and a backing, and uses some technique (sewing, knotting) to attach the quilt top, wadding and backing together. By this token, it is possible to create pieces that are termed quilts, but would not be used on a bed - they may be 'just' for show.

At around the same time as I was getting on with the Catch 22 quilt, another challenge appeared in the Quilting Arts magazine. The idea was to take a quotation, a phrase, a saying, and create a quilt 'based' on it. The magazine article took us through the process of developing the ideas - writing down the thoughts that occur, the textures, the colours, the quilting patterns, the words we associate with the phrase. There was a choice of 4 phrases, and I chose 'Seeing Is Believing'. I had a lot of different thoughts about this - all of which I have noted in my quilting journal (the type with a magnetic flap and a pocket at the back). My thoughts included the following: optical illusions, religion, senses - sight, sound, touch, taste, smell. I then thought about the images - love, ear, music, radiation, biological threats - religion came in many different ways.

I pieced two backgrounds - trying to create a 'half dropped blocks' design, like the optical illusion. As I had pieced two backgrounds, I could then create 2 quilts. The first quilt I'm going to show you, is the 'senses' quilt - the one to dispute seeing is believing. My whole basis for the quilts has been - Seeing Is Believing - Really?? Can that really be said? Is it really true?

The first symbol (top left) is the radiation symbol - can you see radiation? Do you need to see it to believe it exists? You can certainly see the effects of it, but partly, the fact that you can't see it makes it menacing. The heart - a sign of love - can you see love? It can be seen in the things we do for others, but not the concept itself. The tongue - modelled on the classic Rolling Stones symbol - you can't see taste - you may be able to imagine what it will taste like, but sight can be deceptive. Smell - the sight of something can conjure up the taste, and the taste of items can be extremely powerful memories - but the sight of an item does not guarantee the taste. The two eyes are shown for the sight - one shows an eye clouded over - perhaps with cataracts or glaucoma. Does a blind person believe nothing, simply because they cannot see? The hand symbolises both touch, and can also be seen to show religion and friendship. The ear is fashioned from musical fabric - we can hear things and believe them. The bars at the bottom are to show a graphic equaliser - the thing that goes up and down to show the intensity of music. The last symbol shows bio-hazards - you can't see them (easily). The quilting is sine / cosine waves - how light and sound can be shown.

The second quilt was actually the first one finished! The quilt is the religious side of 'Seeing Is Believing'. Religion is all about believing, without having to see. There are / were some doubters, and they have been shown here - in some form. I did a little bit of research on the internet, for the symbols of different religions. I printed a number of symbols, and used them to create the symbols - using a lightbox to help. I used raw edge applique and bondaweb to attach most of the symbols. Some of the bigger symbols, I used satin stitch. The hand shows stigmata - the idea of Seeing Is Believing and Doubting Thomas. The quilting uses embroidery threads, and I used the names that different religions use for God. I suppose that this quilt could prompt some controversy; that was never my intention. I respect the rights of everyone to believe in what they will - this quilt is a way of celebrating those different beliefs; I certainly don't mean to offend anyone by including the names that God is known by - again - it is a celebration of difference and belief. For all religions - Believing is not Seeing - we don't have to see things to believe them. I was quite happy with how the two quilts turned out, and these were the first 'series' quilts I have done - and they certainly will not be the last!

Twisted Tiffany Box

Today's project is another one using the revelation burning technique. I did a workshop last week at Step by Step, by Jennifer Trollope, to create the box; I finished it today. http://www.stepbystep-quilts.co.uk/ is the website for Step by Step, and well worth a look! I think that I will have to play with the pattern a bit - maybe try to enlarge it. It isn't perfect by any means, but it's not bad.
I used an Erté inspired print by the Woodrow Studios as the fabric, and three layers of organza. I used vermicelli quilting in gold thread on the 'ears' of the box, and red thread in sort of vermicelli - but with some sharp points too, to emphasise the shapes I had burned out. I added some beads as well - I think I should have added the beads later - some of them broke when doing the outside edge.

The only things I have to do now, is decide which project to do next!

Performance management

Today's offering is a piece I created a couple of years ago. The inspiration came from Quilts UK - the 2005 challenge, which I think was called 9 patch delight. I mused on the subject whilst completing my first year of exam marking. I doodled whilst listening to pupils mangling the German language, and came up with a design which is not traditional patchwork. My first idea was to have the different size squares each showing a different 9 patch pattern. However, I didn't end up doing that, perhaps as it took longer for the idea to become a project. I'm not sure how the colours were decided, but I do know that the fabrics had to be bright, and with minimal pattern - but not plain fabrics. I got ideas from Patchwork and Quilting magazine (the shisha mirrors - which are real mirrors), Popular Patchwork (the spirals / swirls), and Quilting Arts magazine (the quilting pattern).
I used contrasting colours for the edge of the shisha mirrors, and brightly patterns fabrics for the snakey bits and the swirls - also to give some contrast, and I suppose to give some movement to the piece, and to draw it all together - that is why some of the snakey bits cross some of the squares.

I started by deciding on the colours, and the order of the colours. I cut squares from paper, and then paper clipped the squares together to arrange the layout. This 'template' was smaller than the piece, but I used the dimensions of the squares to scale the fabric to the correct size. Once I had decided on the dimensions and cut the fabric, I then pieced the fabrics individually - straight stitch to start (I think). My brain couldn't cope with cutting the unusual shapes into the squares of fabric, so once I had pieced the squares, I turned the piece over and cut away the excess fabric, before adding the next square. Once the project was pieced, I used satin stitch around the edges of each sqaure, in a variegated thread similar to the colour of the square. The next task was to add the shisha mirrors, which was a very steep learning curve - I didn't realise that the thread mesh had to go through the fabric first - I was trying to create the initial frame on the mirror alone!! - I can't believe I've just used some jargon in here - 'a steep learning curve' indeed - I apologise now, and will try not to let such phrases creep in again! Anyway, once I'd sorted the shisha mirrors, I added the shapes, using raw edge appliqué. Then came the fun part - layering the piece for quilting! I free machine quilted the piece using toning threads, and had a 'crossing squares' type design. I had tried a different design on paper, but preferred the freedom of crossing squares. Once the piece was quilted, I went round the outside edge with satin stitch, to finish it off, rather than trying to bind it.

I'm really pleased with the piece, and now have to find somewhere to show it - in the house of course! I called it 'Performance Management' as I was stretching myself further - leaving my comfort zone if you like, and really experimenting with several different techniques at the same time. I enjoyed creating it, and I did get quite fussy about the shisha mirrors - if it went wrong, I started again, I wasn't going to allow shoddy work on the piece. Some of the shisha mirrors are not perfect - but little in this life is, and they got better as I went along.

On a closing note, I'm really touched (and thrilled) by the comment left on the previous post!