Saturday, September 14, 2013

More Journaling: three new quilts

     Summer passed too fast; and I was not very productive. So I decided to make three journal quilts in a weekend. My Journal Quilt Connection had invited the president of our guild to visit; and I hated not to do my part to contribute.

      I always look for a subject that is memorable or I don't want to forget. These journal quilts are supposed to be sketches, hopefully with an edge. On the back of last week's blog's self-portrait (September 3), I added an embroidered hypodermic needle (lots of lidocaine that day) and clock (8 to 5 off and on in surgery); and I will surely add more details to the quilts I am showing this week:

      Coming up is the 25th anniversary of my group at the museum. Almost thirty of us will meet to lunch in Boston this coming week. I found a fabric with paintings (a mix of artists on the front and Seurat on the back). On the reverse, I added a duplicate fabric for a pocket into which I will insert a DVD of all our earlier reunions along with a music fragment of "I'll Be Seeing You." I used a clock again to remind how fast time passes when you are having fun. A glue-gun helped attach beads to the clock to form XXV (25 years). Then I got busy designing a menu.
 

      One day Joe and I found we could leave Boston at noon, get to Portland ME to see a show at the art museum, stop in Ogunquit at the Oarweed for lobster on the water and return to Boston early in the evening. With Joe's teaching a law class (he never stops laboring), I fear I will lose my September or fall trip to Maine and the many art destinations there. I got those pretty fabrics at the City Quilter in NYC and had been wanting to use them.  The easel is made of bias tape.


Click to enlarge all photos
     And speaking of Joe's non-retirement, he has been gathering little $3.50 pots of cactus at Home Depot that grow to form a little house of horrors. He says cactus is the one plant he can't kill. This quilt commemorates two. A very little one started growing a long, long stem and we didn't know what it was or if we should cut it off. Recently it sprouted lots of little white flowers at the far end. I gave Joe the strange 4 long finger variety. It was his birthday and I needed a present. I saw this bizarre cactus in a window of a Chelsea NYC florist. The four long spikes have grown to four extremely long arms that are loping and encircling all the other cactus...as I suggested...a Little Shop of Horrors.

 More quilting and details could be added to each.

8 comments:

  1. Loved these quilts. The cacti seem to be growing and the arms seem snakelike. Clever to make an easel out of tape. And, your group is so lucky to get the Seurat pockets with memories inside. All very interesting and creative. Time magazine this week features art and creativity as a way to live longer. kab

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  2. What a great assortment with super variety! You could use that cactus quilt for our GREEN quilt for Material Mavens if you wanted to do so, though I know you want to use the other But it is very GREEN and II ove the use of that dotted fabric which looks so much like the thorns on a cactus plant, but then the stitching does that job as well. Wow, impressed with your productivity!

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  3. I am impressed with your productivity. You never let JQC down! djd

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  4. More brilliance from my idol, Linda.
    Love U
    RA

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  5. Linda, you are unbelievable w your creativity and productivity!!
    Thx f sharing, enjoy luncheon :)
    A

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  6. Hi Linda,
    I love the beautiful artist quilt. Am especially glad that you felt well enough to undergo so much work.
    Sarah

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  7. Linda, those fabrics are a delight to the eye! I need to check out City Quilters' website. Love the way you used them along with the clock. The lobster on the easel is perfect! Captures what you all do perfectly! And, I do love the cacti one. Like Joe, I find cacti fascinating and I've picked up some interesting ones. Son-in-law Eric loves cacti and he has quite a few very nice specimens in their backyard. That is something that the dogs do NOT bother. :-)

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  8. You are such an inspiration, Linda. Love the Seurat riff, not to mention the lobster. Hi to Joe, Farley and the cacti...Ellen

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