Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Arrgh!

And that's not in the pirate sense of the word!

DH and I were watching TV last night. I was so upset by the violence in the program I had to get up and go do something else. I soothed myself by making a couple of collages in my studio journal and then got ready for bed. Unfortunately, I was so stimulated by the creative juices that I couldn't go to sleep for hours! Now I'm unable to resurrect that creative energy because I'm sleep deprived. Arrrgh!

One day last week I finally picked up my needle and thread and finished beading my journal quilt for May. Remember this?


Part of the reason I got stalled on it was that I didn't know what to use for the backing. I like my backs to relate to the fronts in most cases, and particularly in this case because of the gravity of the subject. In another case of serendipity I was online one day some time ago, probably looking at sale fabric. There was a lovely antique map print that I had to have even though I had no apparent reason to buy it (that I knew of at the time anyway). Turns out it was perfect for the back of this little quilt. I was able to fussy-cut the portion of the world map that featured both China and Burma. I chose the easy route and used it for the binding as well.

So here's my completed 8.5" x 11" quilt that commemorates the cyclone that devastated Burma and the earthquakes that rocked China early in May of this year:


To recap, the heart is made of a silk chrysanthemum damask. Both the color white and the chrysanthemum are symbols of mourning or lamentation in Asia. The pieced background symbolizes the robes of the Buddhist monks who did their best to care for and comfort the survivors. The beads represent the tears shed for lost loved ones.

Technically this will be the last quilt in my series of 12 journal quilts for the Bead Journal Project of 2007-08. I still have the tops from February and April to embellish though so I'm not actually done yet...

9 comments:

  1. It's beautiful and very significant. Love the white silk with the very Chinese red.

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  2. Very nice. I like the symbolism in this.
    i always take the easy route and bind my quilts like this!

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  3. This is a beautiful little quilt, and I love the symbolism in it. Spare and yet eloquent.
    That's so tough when the NEED to create comes at a time when you're supposed to be doing something else, especially sleeping. I hope you get your mojo back soon!

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  4. darn, the photo doesn't enlarge for me to see the beads...it is truly gorgeous and poignant. what a wonderful series of quilts to enjoy and be inspired both to make and then to have.

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  5. I love the sentiments. Like Cher, I can't enlarge the photo so I can't see the beading, but I'm sure they lovely.

    As you know, I'm a sucker for red and white!

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  7. Aloha! I love your blog! So happy to have found you. I greatly admire the way you have adapted to life with chemical sensitivity: productive and inspirational. Brava!

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  8. That's nice that the right fabric came along at just the right time! It looks wonderful and the story behind it is terrific.

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