Blue Chair Mantra

I am so delighted to share this art quilt with you. I finished it last week and I'm just thrilled with the results. What a great feeling... to finish a piece and have it (mostly) turn out the way I had hoped and envisioned. This does not always happen.

 Blue Chair Mantra, 60x24"

It was created as my entry for a invitational juried show. (You may have seen several other art quilters sharing their pieces for this same show.) I've submitted my entry and I would be thrilled to be included in the exhibit which will premier at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach and continue to other IQA shows.

You may remember I was working on the stones in this earlier blog post. I love the way the StencilGirl image coordinated with other elements of the quilt. You see my beloved Y stitch in the image below too.

Here is a detail from the top of the quilt. There are nine houses sitting on that hillside. They loosely represent the nine homes Jeff and I have shared in our 20 years of marriage.

In the early stages of creating this quilt, there was a big dead space in the mid to upper left.  I debated several options about how to fill that space. I felt it was a bit risky and unexpected to add this floral motif with a tulle overlay, but I went for it and I think it works. It involved lots of pattern making, stitching, careful cutting and peeling away teensy tiny bits of tracing paper. I love how you can see the green viney image through the tulle.

I lifted the floral shape from this bit of yellow fabric that fills part of the sky. Handwriting, frayed edges, hand embroidery and a stitched sheltering arch -- some of my favorite elements.

 

The chair is made up of a few different blue fabrics. Here you can see the maroon French knots at each little bud on the vine image. Plus the same floral image stitched without the tulle overlay to add dimension and texture.

For me, a chair represents the idea of waiting for clarity when I'm seeking enlightenment or the answer to a question. When I sit still, I can absorb all that is around me. Being restful doesn't mean I am idle, but rather active and intentionally engaged. I think it's important to repeat this process regularly in small and large ways. Repeated... like a mantra.