Nearing Delivery

I figured there was no point in looking in the cabbage patch or waiting for the mythical stork to deliver my next challenge piece so I made a start yesterday. I've had a concept design bubbling for weeks and my fabrics all ready to go but somehow I decided to create something completely different.  Just a little hand stitching and I'll be ready for 12 July.

Has anyone seen my klaf?

My Mythology quilt is well underway and needs just final touches. I have chosen to carry on my map theme, make it a little more abstract yet and to work with the concept of urban mythology. South African urban mythology, of course. You would, I am sure, expect nothing less of me.

So I am finding it a little hard to remember exactly why, given that I started with my idea from the get go and never deviated from its africanness, it was absolutley essential to the authentcity of the piece that I ordered a klaf.

From Israel, nontheless. A klaf being a piece of kosher parchment. And I mean animal skin partchment not paper parchment. So I paid a lot for a small (but irrelevantly religiously acceptable) piece of sheep stomach. Because it was vital.

And now I have lost it.

And I can't remember why I needed it.

What is wrong with me?!

Myth making

My 12 x 20 piece for the myth theme is well underway, but I'm at a decision making point right now that I'm not very happy with.

I wanted to try layering three sheers over each other with the hopes that each one would influence the other. Brilliant right?  In theory only.  I am using silk organza from Exotic silk because it's very sheer, and I think it has the best possibility of working in this method.

I'm down to two layers now, hoping something will show up from the bottom piece.
I'm taking a class with Carol Soderlund this fall at Coupeville, Washington called Layers Upon Layers. Not soon enough for this piece, but I haven't given up yet.

A little progress

I've got the fabrics and the idea.Sewing time is scheduled for very soon.

Mission Mythology: Completed

Wow, I'm so happy to tell you that I've finished my mythology quilt. Here's a sneak peek. As you can probably tell, it's a face, and a female face at that. Once I figured out what I was going to do for this challenge I was itching to go with it. It seemed like forever since I had created a female face on a quilt. I can't wait to see what the other Twelves create in this challenge.

Slowly working

Deborah asked us where we were on our Myth challenge since it's been a little quiet here.

This is where I sit right now. Since I knew we'd be on the road for most of this challenge, I chose something pretty straightforward and very portable. I haven't had a lot of time to work on it amongst our visits and sightseeing, but it's coming along nicely, if slowly.

I prepared my "ground" before packing up to leave Hawaii, and filled a little bag with my thimble, lots of floss, a needle book, and tiny scissors. Now, when I have a quiet moment, I can pull out my work, and hopefully, by the 12th, have a nice little Myth themed quilt.

Deep in Research

Where to even begin with mythology? It's so broad, right?

Desperate for inspiration and focus, I sat down and googled "asian mythology." Several people have used the word "zen" to describe some of my work and I am draw to an Asian spirit in my design. (Whatever that means...) So, it seemed like a decent place to start.

Eventually, I got to Buddha and that reminded me on an amazing exhibit I saw at the Crow Museum in Dallas. The exhibit was titled Traditional Transformed: Tibetan Artists Respond. I was particularly fascinated by Gonkar Gyatso's work.

Here is an image from Gonkar's personal blog from an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston.

His work is also on the cover of this book.

His work takes many forms, but I really love the work he does with STICKERS! I'm interested in his very contemporary and pop-culture interpretation of such traditional imagery and mythology.

I remember spending lots of time at that exhibit in Dallas looking at a collage of stickers in the shape of a Buddah with the specific traditional proportions marked out. Something like this.

I could spend days and days looking at images of Buddha and thinking about the patterns, proportions, lines and decorative elements. In fact, I created a Pinterest board and I'm lost in Buddah rabbit hole.

Speaking of Buddah rabbit...