Sunday, May 15, 2011

Worlds of Worry

    Sometimes I make journal quilts about phenomenon occurring in the world. Not only are extraordinary events happening in the world, one knows big changes in people's lives. There are the daily shocking newspaper reports as well as major alterations occurring in the lives of friends and family. Although we have many blessings and reasons to be thankful and to have faith, the worry in the world and neighborhoods is palpable. I thought I would say hello to WORRY in my journal quilt: time wasting, but around the clock worry. Hoping not to trivialize, I recommend several sites of worry quotations: Worry Quotes, Sayings about Anxiety, WorriesWorry quotesDon't Worry, Be Happy Quotes  These are just a few of the sites you find when you Google "worry quotes."
    You asked about the fabrics: The black and white background I picked up at JoAnne's Fabric for use as hair on a portrait, but thought it chaotic enough as a backing for worry. I worked in the Text part of Comic Life software to write lots of "Worry" words and to distort them. I printed that graphic on an inkjet fabric "paper."The clock faces were from a Ben Franklin fabric of antique clocks which I thought were too baroque for this piece. So I cut out the clock faces, fused and stitched them on. I don't particularly like the white trim stitching, but I wanted more white and thought this seemed bursting chaos. A puff paint would be preferred, but I couldn't wait.

7 comments:

  1. Yes, I worry about friends, husbands, sons and grandsons. Then I worry about current events, extended family, especially family in Egypt, just now. I even worry about the State of the Planet. Maybe I watched too many news analyses
    today (Sunday). I should have gone to church!

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  2. I've probably had more experience with prolonged worry during the past five or six months than I've ever had, but that situation is easing and so my worry is easing! This was an interesting journal quilt. I am curious about how you did the lettering. Whether the words were cut from commercial cloth or whether you printed the words on fabric. And where did the clocks come from? Fussy cut from fabric? The background is effective and appropriate.

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  3. This quilt is perfect, and it certainly fits my life right now. Maria and Eric are hoping to move to Kansas IF he gets a teaching job there. While we will miss them so much, we understand their desire to spread their wings. Mark lives in Lawrence with his family, so it will be great to have both of them in one place. The quilt's background is perfect, the many clocks are so appropriate, and the triple "worry" words are right on. Welcome to my world! :-)

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  4. Thanks for the info on the fabric! Funny, I have the same black and white, also from JoAnn's, and also purchased for hair! But in this context, I didn't even recognize it. Tell me what brand you use for printing from the computer onto fabric--which brand of paper-backed fabric for ink jets. My ink jet is sort of cranky, and I have tons of problems getting fabric to print. Actually, what often works the best for me, oddly, is to iron freezer paper onto muslin and print on that.

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  5. I would continue to use the washed muslin backed by freezer paper. I had plenty of inkjet fabric sheets on hand: EQ Printables. There must be several good brands out there.

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  6. Cathartic journal quilt -- and just look at the response! It's comforting to know that WORRY must be in all our DNA. We all certainly know what the word and the feeling and the TIMING ( ex - clocks ) of WORRY do to us. Thanks for expressing the angst we all experience at times.

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  7. After thinking about all our worries, I think I'll go eat some chocolate :).

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