February 23, 2010
i made this quilt almost 20 years ago, when i first moved to this town.
i don’t recall what initially moved me to make it only that i began experimenting with different dyeing techniques, using cold water dyes on unbleached cotton i tie dyed, moved on to shibori and then over dyeing and then stenciling and discharging. after i had a pretty good collection of luscious colors, i began tearing them into strips of various widths and lengths,sewing those together cutting them again at random then laying them out on the floor in my bedroom. i didn’t have any design or theme or pattern in mind i was just captivated by the color and feel of these fabrics and it became a puzzle to work through,one of my favorite pastimes.
i don’t recall what initially moved me to make it only that i began experimenting with different dyeing techniques, using cold water dyes on unbleached cotton i tie dyed, moved on to shibori and then over dyeing and then stenciling and discharging. after i had a pretty good collection of luscious colors, i began tearing them into strips of various widths and lengths,sewing those together cutting them again at random then laying them out on the floor in my bedroom. i didn’t have any design or theme or pattern in mind i was just captivated by the color and feel of these fabrics and it became a puzzle to work through,one of my favorite pastimes.
i used freezer paper to make the stencils of the figures and bleach to discharge rather than add color to define them.
then the stitching began. i started with stitching an outline around the figures before i started the little circles.
then the stitching began. i started with stitching an outline around the figures before i started the little circles.
i don’t recall how long it took but looking at it now it seems it had to have taken a hundred years! all those tiny little stitches! again it wasn’t planned but done on the fly, starting anywhere, sticking my needle through and stitching outward in a spiral until i got tired of it moving onto another spot from which to begin another spiral until they all “met up” with each other. there are a couple of spots where i didn’t spiral probably when i thought i’d had enough but i didn’t do very much of that i always returned to the spiral.
i went on and did a series of quilts with these fabrics but this one remains my favorite and always hangs somewhere in the house.
Planting Along The Verge 
that is amazingly beautiful. I love how the figures are so subtly there.
eileen
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thank you for commenting and welcome Eileen. i too like their ghostly quality.
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Really quite beautiful. Those quiet figures – my eye moves from one to the next, discovering their story.
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thank you and welcome Diana.
your work is beautiful!
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I can't imagine having this placed across my shoulders and not feeling cheered and comforted and perhaps having an urge to giggle at nothing just because pinks and reds and oranges make me happy.
xor
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Oooo Such rich and Beauty-full work, Yolie!
It's funny looking back at hundred-year projects isn't it – wondering where the patience and perseverance came from, sometimes, eh.
xxx
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Thanks Rebecca
it makes me feel this way too.
happy.
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Thank you Jaihn,
i wonder where the patience and perseverance have gone and why did they take my 20/20 eye sight!
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oh wow wow wow.
that looks like many moons of meditative stitching/
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it looks that way Melinda, but it wasn't as many as you'd think. there was obsession mixed in with the meditation. a strange concoction.
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