Monday, January 16, 2012

Work from the Circular Churchyard


(Above: Circular Church Angel II. 12 1/4" x 14 3/4". Crayon grave rubbing on silk; vintage doily, silk remnant, assorted buttons; hand and free-motion machine stitching. Click on image to enlarge.)

Last Halloween I spend a perfect day at the Circular Churchyard in Charleston. It was a "really big deal" because permission is needed from the congregation in order to create grave rubbings. (I blogged about it HERE.) Since then, I've been free motion stitching on the very large "collage" of grave rubbings ... on and off between other projects. But, I've also been hand stitching on smaller pieces. I took two with me to New York City. I stitched on the plane and on the drive to the Charlotte airport and back. Last week I finished them.


(Above: Circular Church Angel II, reverse. Click on image to enlarge.)

The little bit of "black" showing in the photo above is the recycled packaging felt used in place of traditional batting. The reverse is also "repurposed". It was an embroidered, vintage hand towel.


(Above: Circular Church Angel I. 14 3/4" x 16 1/4". Crayon grave rubbing on silk; vintage doily, upholstery remnant, assorted buttons; hand and free-motion machine stitching. Click on image to enlarge.)

I can't remember where I got this piece of upholstery material. I'm lucky. Lots of people donate random pieces of fabric and other used items to me. Whoever you were ... THANK YOU!


(Above: Circular Church Angel I, reverse. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Memory, a postcard. Click on image to enlarge.)

I didn't get a work juried into this year's Art Quilt Elements but I did get an email invitation to "Hang With Us", an accompanying benefit of postcards celebrating the tenth anniversary of this important show of contemporary quilts. So ... I made this piece. It's been mailed. I'm happy to support this event and hopeful that I'll have work accepted in the future! It's a REALLY, REALLY BIG DEAL!

4 comments:

donna!ee said...

WOW...what you've done with that grave rubbing is gorgeous! thank you much for sharing, blest be :)

Els said...

I love it when I see all these special pieces like the doilies in your work ! You're pretty lucky to have such special finds to work with ! (and an endless amount of old buttons ;-) !)

lynda Howells said...

your work is amazing and l just adore what l am seeing here..and all those buttons in the first image. I am in Lovexxlove the postcard too.Can't image why you didn't get into the Quilt comp this time..they must be blind!xxlynda

MulticoloredPieces said...

Beautiful angels--love the use of doilies and buttons. Very subtle colors.
best, nadia