Saturday, January 15, 2011

Favorite Place

My list of favorite places is long and sweet and, while none of them are in Kansas, they all look a lot like home.  I chose to illustrate the first backyard I remember with the view from my bedroom window.  The woven background represents a patchwork of backyards mine was part of.  The tree was an ancient, gnarly, Golden Delicious.  Perfect for climbing, hiding, reading.  Of course all this brought to mind ( to haunt me!) Yeats' "Song of Wandering Aengus" and "the silver apples of the moon, the golden apples of the sun."  As much as I like the poem, I soon regretted choosing metallic fabrics as they are so difficult to work with and to photograph.  I fused two pieces of fabric back to back, cut out the shapes and tacked them onto the quilt with handstitched stems and veins which worked fairly well.  My favorite challenge thus far as I revisited a very pleasant time and place.

9 comments:

  1. Judy - you do such great work! I love your piece. the tree is
    beautiful and I like your idea of putting your memories to work.

    Great job! Shirley

    ReplyDelete
  2. You did an amazing job with those metallics, I can only imagine how hard they were to work with. They really compliment your picture, beautifully done! You have also triggered some wonderful memories that I have, I spent a lot of time in trees as child too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Another tree lover salutes you! The metallics are lovely, worth the work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am a tree climber from away back!! Use to spend a lot of time up a tree, just thinking, and this brings back so many wonderful summer days up in it or laying under one, just day dreaming away.
    Your piece turned out so nice, great job!

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a beautiful piece of work Judy and with so may memories. You metallics look wonderfu. Yes that are hard to work with but well worth the effort.
    Can you tell me what size it is?
    Delia

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you all for your generous comments. If it were square, Delia, it would be about 10 inches.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Judy,
    I love your interpretation of this challenge and the metallics are just beautiful and I love the bead work. I was a tree climber as a kid, so thank you for making me smile.
    Cheryl

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a wonderful piece. I too love trees and grew up watching two gorgeous chestnut trees change with the seasons.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love your piece, the beading, the metallics, the shape, theme...everything!

    ReplyDelete