Monday, February 22, 2010

Revisiting My Past in Quilting and How It Ties Into Lampworking


Last week my kids were on break from school, February school vacation week. My kids aren't babies but I still find they occupy my time and getting to my torch, in a creative frame of mind, isn't always easy for me when everyone is around. You know how it goes.....Mom, mom, MOM, Mom....and on and on it goes.

I was feeling a need to do something with my hands. For the past month I had been thinking about this gorgeous quilt top I created a number of years of ago. It has been sitting in my attic in a box of unfinished projects. I decided this week would be a good time to dig it out and see what I needed to do to finish it.

Quilting is great because it can travel easily, it doesn't require a lot of space or tools, and it can be picked up or put down at a moments notice. The perfect project to occupy my mind and my hands with a house of full of kids who may (or may not) require something from me at any moment.

I used to belong to a quilt group, the Tewksbury Piecemakers, and one year I was in charge of the block of the month. This is the quilt, each individual who participated in the monthly block, created. The pattern arrived with a picture of the finished quilt made of 1930's inspired fabric.


Although this fabric is beautiful, it is not my style. I chose to create my quilt using my absolute favorite fabrics, Bali batiks. Oh I can not tell you how much I love the batik fabrics. The colors inspire me so. In fact I often make beads based on the batik line of fabrics. So here is the quilt I am working on right now.









The flower petals are sewn as individual pieces, each one stitched by hand. A technique referred to as applique. The variety of solid colors with subtle variations I find to be pleasantly appealing.



By now you may be asking yourself and just how does all this tie in with lampworking? I am inspired by the batik fabrics and more often than not I translate a fabric I love into a glass beads.
Here is an example of some beads for sale in my Etsy shop:



A close up shot. I find it difficult to capture in a photograph the beautiful depth within these beads. And thus...quilting and lampworking combined.

2 comments:

I always appreciate your thoughts and comments, so please feel free to share. I encourage kindness in all words.
Ema

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