American Pride

I belong to a handwork group that is very international.  We are small but almost entirely from different countries.  We are from Mauritius, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal and the United States.  Our group decided to make a sampler art quilt with images significant to our country.  These are two of my squares of American pride.  All of our quilt squares are to be in the colors of the Olympics. There is a group photo of the majority of our members at the bottom of this post.

My Street- Pretoria, An Art Quilt

About two and a half years ago Quilting Arts had a reader challenge that inspired me to do a quilt of my street.  I had just moved to South Africa at the time.  It was spring there, just before rainy season and the plants were all flowering.  Security is a serious issue in South Africa and I could help but remark on the juxtaposition of the heavy security and massive walls with the delicate beauty of Jacarandas and Fever Acacia in bloom looking like they were a part of a beautifully landscaped garden. 

The quilt is 12 1/2 x 16 1/8 x inches  (31.75 x 41 cm.)  The background is a gelatin print on cotton.  I used cottons and silk fabrics and plastic mesh screening. I used several techniques: couching of wool, cotton, polyester & plastic fibers, embroidery, beading, applique and painting with fabric paints.

Quilts from the December / January Quilt Show

The quilts above are the two I finished for the art quilt show. The top one is titled "Sycamore" and the bottom is "Tree of Life."
Sycamores have a bark that does not expand as it grows and so the bark splits open as the tree ages. This was the inspiration for my quilt. The Sycamore quilt is made from layered sheer fabrics in silks, polyesters, cottons and cheesecloth. While it is hard to see in the picture, the side panels are quilted Sycamore leaves. I used a colored pencil to color in the sky in areas where the leafs did not overlap. After layering and apliquing the quilt fabrics, I used a natural sponge to paint layers of textile fabric to simulate lichen. Lastly, I have added a couple of beads as accents.
The second quilt is an exploration of a traditional theme, the tree of life. I painted a commercial stamp with diamond shapes onto cotton I prepared. I then cut out and appliqued the tree onto blue-violet silk. The flowers are sequins and the leaves, hand-painted, cut-out cotton shapes sewn on. I then painted each of the animal shapes with fabric paint and again appliqued them to the silk.