“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”
― William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
This piece started with a beautiful hand dyed fabric made by a friend of mine. At first glimpse, you might think that it’s a midnight blue – then the diversity of colors and shades becomes gradually apparent. As with so many pieces that I come by, I just can’t bring myself to cut them up into little pieces, but need to find a way to be able to see and enjoy the entirety of the piece.
The applique overlaying the hand dyed piece is once again, a variation on the Celtic Waldalgesheim pattern dated between 500-350 BC. It is reversed appliqued. As the design came to life, as I was working on it, it also reminded me of the ancient Welsh story of Arianrhod – Goddess of the Silver Wheel. It was said that Arionrhod was able to shape shift into a large owl, and through the great eyes, was able to see into the darkness of human subconsciousness and the soul. This owl is winking suspiciously!
The piece is 28 x 42 inches. It is hand appliqued and hand quilted.
The last two photos are to get a closer look at the depth in the underneath fabric.
“Great wine requires a mad man to grow the vine, a wise man to watch over it, a lucid poet to make it, and a lover to drink it.” – Salvador Dali
When I was in high school (many moons ago!) our family hosted a French student for the school year. I didn’t know much about the world beyond Iowa at that time and this was an incredible opportunity for my family to widen our horizons. Jocy had lived many places in France, but her heart always remained in the regions of Beaujolais where her family had deep roots. As we became young women, and our families grew, and we were both deeply involved in family and careers, we lost touch. Many attempts were made to reconnect, without much success, until I opened up Facebook about a year and a half ago and had a “friend request” from my long lost friend. What an incredible surprise! Correspondence ensued and I just returned from spending 10 days in France with Jocy experiencing the part of France that she loves most. Fall is an absolutely beautiful time to visit Lyon and the Beaujolais wine region of France. Of course, I’m a quilter and I spent days and days pondering what I could take to France that wouldn’t take up all of my luggage. I found a wonderful fabric print of a world map and overlaid the map with a traditional celtic design. Along the edges, I added four designs in seminole strip piecing to represent America. The piece is hand appliqued and hand quilted. It measure approximately 28 x 46 inches.
These show the seminole pieced border in more detail.
One of the most beautiful places that we visited was the medieval village of Pérouges. Pérouges is a commune in the Ain department in eastern France. It is a medieval walled town that is perched on a small hill that overlooks the plain of the Ain River. The town was was inhabited by craftsmen; mainly farmers and linen weavers. It was probably founded by a Gallic colony. In 1167, the Seigneur d’Anthon famously shut the commune’s walls against the troops of the Archbishop of Lyon, and as early as 1236 the inhabitants earned communal freedom. In 1601 the town officially became French. Until the end of the 18th century, the textile industry in Pérouges boomed. (wikipedia)
The visit to France and the renewal of an old friendship was beautiful!
Filed under Celtic, hand applique, hand quilting, quilting, quilts, Seminole pieceing
The quilt is 68×94 inches. It is machine appliqued and machine quilted.
Filed under quilting, quilts, seminole strip piecing
I found the background fabric for the spirals on a sale table in a shop in Virginia. I couldn’t bear to cut it up, so decided to put the spirals on the top of each so the wonderful marbling on the fabric could still show. The quilt is then outlined with random length blocks to show off the designs. Aiden Meehan has done a series of books that are extremely helpful in drafting celtic designs and he also does a wonderful job of historical and developmental aspects of the designs.
Here are close ups of two of the spirals.
The quilts is 50×64 inches. Designs are hand appliqued and the quilt is hand quilted in black thread. Here’s a peek at the back.
Filed under applique, celtic design, quilting, quilts
The sky is gray, the atmosphere is very gloomy and it is so cold outside. But I got some great news today. My quilt that has been on loan to the “500 Traditional Quilts” tour is going to make it’s final appearance in the International Quilt Festival in Chicago from April 4 through April 7, 2016. It was really exciting to get this news.
Filed under applique, hand applique, quilting, quilts, Uncategorized
Cha sgeul-rùin e ‘s fios aig triùir air.
It’s no secret if three know it. Celtic proverb
I have become intrigued with ancient Celtic art. Aidan Meehan has published a series of books of Celtic design that cover the history of the patterns and good instructions for drafting the patterns. I’ve been studying particularly the spiral and knotwork patterns. As quilting is my art expressions, I couldn’t resist incorporating some of the designs into quilts.
The blue triangular knotwork is an Ulbster knot and is seen in the Lindisfarne folio. Most knotwork is seen in stone carvings.
The knotwork was bias binding made out of variegated blue fabric and hand appliqued on to the back piece.
The central design is a triskele roundele. The golden age of triskele roundels was approximately 650-850 AD. The triskele is highlighted with copper colored fancy cording couched around the design.
The background and outside borders are hand crosshatched with a spiral highlighted in each corner.
The piece is approximately 52 x 52 inches and is hand appliqued and hand quilted.
Watch for faeries that “kidnap good looking men and women, stealing them away to the Otherworld realm where pain and suffering are unknown, and music and feasting the perennial occupations. On moonlit night in open spaces mortal captives may be seen dancing with faeries….” Juliette Wood
I’m fascinated by ancient art, especially the designs used by the Celts. This is adapted from a 4th century BC stone carving. The central design is hand appliqued onto a single piece of multicolor commercial batik. All the fabric is commercially made batiks. The designs in the corners are adapted from 1st century BC spiral designs
This one is “Lakenheath”
This is “Brentford”
This is an unprovenanced spiral
And the last one is “Cornalaragh”
The quilting is done by outline quilting the designs and echo quilting around the patterns.
The quilt is about 58X58 inches. I used an 80/20 Winline batting and used Superior King Tut variegated threads for quilting.
Filed under applique, batiks, celtic design, quilting, quilts
Every flower about a house certifies to the refinement of somebody. Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy.
Robert G. Ingersoll
There are a few crocuses coming up and yesterday I saw a few daffodils. The season for flowers is just around the corner.Through the last wintry months I’ve been working on a few flowers to brighten up the room.
There were lots of good sized pieces left after completing the top. So they went into the back.
Here are details of two of the flowers. The background of the applique was one single piece of fabric that was variegated from light yellow to dark purple.
The piece was machine pieced and hand appliqued and hand quilted.
The quilt is 60×60.
Happy almost spring!
The qilin (Chinese: 麒麟; pinyin: qílín) is a mythical hooved chimerical creature known in Chinese and other East Asian cultures, said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler.[1] It is a good omen thought to occasion prosperity or serenity. Wikipedia
A couple of years ago friends brought me a beautiful length of batik that was purchased from and batik artisan in China. It sat on my table patiently waiting for me to decide what to do with it. I decided to surround it by pieced squares made of other indigo batiks. Purchased all the fabric, made the squares and I didn’t like the look of it at all. So decided instead to use two simple borders and leave it as a panel.
Here is a closeup of the qilin.
I decided to use the other squares for the back.
Borders are hand quilted. Central portion is quilted by machine.
38X60 inches
completed 2015
quiltingquandary 