Paradise retrieved ?

There are some discussions going on at the Quilt Art mailing list about the Journal Quilt project. Some are having problems, feeling a pressure from guidelines.

Doing something "unique" or "new" applies to me, that it's new for me. Sure enough, there must be many who have done the "same" I am doing. But it's not the "same" for me. I'm new to this field and it's all new for me. Just knowing that someone has already climbed Kilimanjaro doesn't make it any less of an accomplishment for others. This is the first time I do journal quilts.

I don't have access to all the cutting edge material, like Tyvek, Angelina fibers, Xpandaprints, Bubble Jet and what not. Actually, I think I found single use overalls people dress up in while painting walls which I think is the same material as Tyvek. But labouring in incorporating that into a journal quilt is not my cup of tea at the moment. My journal quilts are very unique and new for me and in my culture as well, so what more is there to ask for.

Plain, old cotton does the trick for me. And yes, I use some tulle and ribbons and feathers and panty hose to jazz it up (when I care to). But that's beside the point. For me the journal quilts is a vehicle to project the life of my soul out into the real world. I am fascinated by being able, at last, to have the means to actually see before my very eyes the images that until now have only been the figment of my imagination. My inner life takes on a bodily form, the words of my soul become flesh. Anyone familiar with the metaphor?

Posted by Ólöf I. Davíðsdóttir 19:46

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March page finished

It was finished earlier this week. The title is "Blank page". It took an unexpected turn as I noticed a fresh blood stain in a piece of tulle I had cut to place upon the top. It took some time to find my physical injury and to decide if the stained piece was a keeper or if I should cut another one.

It's staying on the quilt, the blood stain circled.

I made four "blank" lines of the silver fabric, ovelayed the tulle and used my machine to write on them: This blank page is my DNA report.

So if there ever is a controversy ower who made that quilt, a DNA test will clear that isssue.

Posted by Ólöf I. Davíðsdóttir 22:28

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Observing vs. fondling

I've been thinking about the act of touching quilts. Oh, I love to touch textiles. I go to the fabric stores and run the palm of my hand across the bulks of fabric. They each have a different feel, even though all are labelled 100% cotton. It's a feast to my senses.

We are so used to the feel of fabric. Our clothes caress (and sometimes torture) our skin from the day we are born. Fabric becomes a token of comforting security. My younger son detested - and protested - being undressed until he was two months old. A terrible nuisance when he had to be changed or bathed.

There's a quilt, my second art quilt, hanging in the hall of my home. Everyone who enters my home for the first time walks straight to it and strokes it. The raw edge appliqued motives on the lower half of the quilt are starting to ravel to the point that I think I need to put a no-touch sign next to it. Why am I too timid to tell people to stop destroying my work? It's a beautiful, vibrant piece, beckoning to be caressed.

It is difficult to restrain oneself from touching, I understand. But I have discovered a whole new take on the matter.

I've never seen an art quilt in the flesh exept my own. This kind of work is not around in my country. Next week I'm giving the first ever class of artistic quilting in my favorite quilt shop. I haven't had the option of touching art quilts!

The only access I've had to art quilts is on photographs. Webpages with detail shots are my favorite. I buy books on-line to learn. I would eat them if I thought it would do me any good! To learn, I've had to limit myself to observing in a very focused way. And I think it actually has done me a lot of good. I haven't had anyone to ask how something was done, no one to explain to me what I see.

To the point of being forensic I've had to figure out what was done first, what was done next and so on. I've payed attention to the effect of details, picking up ideas of different ways to do the same thing and coming up with yet another way to do it.

I will share this with my students, encourage them to try it out for themselves and let them try it out on one of my quilts.

Posted by Ólöf I. Davíðsdóttir 09:59

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Filling in the blanks

It's long due that the March page gets done. I started working on it today, at last. It's not as blank as the title indicates. Chequered in various blue fabrics it reminds of a crossword puzzle. Some fill-out forms can make one extremely puzzled, to say the least.

A completely blank, white piece of paper can be quite threatening. A pencil in hand and the first mark can take a lot of courage because once it's there, there's no turning back. It's very much the same with a piece of fabric. The first cut is a point of no return. It cannot be mended. The project can also take on a will of its own, telling the maker what happens next. It becomes a flow of actualized ideas taking on a bodily form.

Posted by Ólöf I. Davíðsdóttir 18:44

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