My friend Trudy is a remarkable soul. Her Birthday is today and I feel privileged to have her as a friend and a mentor. This quilt otherwise known as Dragonfly Carnival, my fourth submission for our quilt show is the result of this friendship and came to be all because of Trudy. I will hang it with love for all to see.
To explain, here's a short narrative of this wall hanging. I think it was in 2010 our circle of friends quilting group gathered at Trudy's house on Lake Champlain to work on a Ricky Timms' style Convergence wall hanging. Yes, she's very hospitable and gracious that way. We all brought fabric to work on and Trudy was teaching us since she had made several of these already. Yes, she's an excellent teacher, so wise and can read people intuitively. My fabrics wouldn't work well enough and Trudy gave me some of her Ricky Timms fabric to make mine, yes she is that generous and she had just returned from another of Ricky Timms conferences with another friend Cathy. So we sewed, laughed and shared our day each making most of this. Now during that time in my life I was still trying to "work with " all the medicines I need to take for the spinal cord injury and my brain was and still can be in a fog at times. Not too many troubles though with sewing on it this that day and like all other days it came to an end.
Life goes on... you know the drill. Anyway, fast forward to the next year and while at a quilting retreat in Odgensburg I brought my wall hanging to work on since it languished as a UFO. Thankfully, I was sitting next to Trudy. I assembled the center top and knew something was wrong with it but truly couldn't figure it out. I pondered for about half an hour and finally mentioned that I knew something was wrong it but with the Rx's and health issues I was just going to let it be and continue on with it having it represent the struggles I was dealing with. She also noticed something amiss but didn't say anything and asked if she could look at it to figure it out. Yep, she's that kind of person that knows yet doesn't force herself on you until asked. Well she found the err in the construction and kindly offered her insight. Being receptive to it, we ripped out the problem and I continued on sewing it together and being much happier now it proceeded. Another weekend of sharing wonderful times with close friends. That brings it to the next year when I finally made the time to lay out the fabrics to align colors best so it could be finished with the borders. I know, I'm a slow stitcher and finisher but that truly is okay with me. It was sewed all together and there it sat again while I dreamt on about it. There it was as a top, now what to quilt on it?
Ahhh, finally inspiration came, dragonflies! A spirited symbol that she and I both admire. Off again on my merry way until the time to quilt the borders and there it sat. So I registered this wall hanging in June for the October quilt show to push me to get 'er done and stop this dalliance.
The above photo shows a dragonfly head that I wasn't super happy with and was working on. It looked like a derriere(or breasts) with eyeballs stuck on it! What's that phrase I use lately? oh yea, "perfectionism is a very crippling agent to creativity". Anyway I progressed along with the deadline looming ever closer. The next photo shows a couple of the dragonflies and you can click on any of the images to get a better glimpse of the details if you wish.
Next came the finishing touches, piping and binding on it. Here's where I shared a peek about it in a September post.
The label was made when I was feeling silly I guess, it really stretched out my artist's skills, lol.
So here she is- the fourth quilt show entry and it's all because of Trudy- the Dragonfly Carnival.
Jane
1 comment:
Love your label! You are so funny, lady! The quilt is beautiful. The colors just glow all together.
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