Monday 1 February 2021

Memories: The Yellow Chair

 We were taking a road trip, heading north, along the shores of Lake Superior. Just before leaving, we had heard of the death of a friend. She had lived for many years in a cabin on Lake Superior, and we had enjoyed staying at her cabin and visiting her. We decided to pull over and walk the shore a bit in her honor. 

As I came down to the shore, there sat a yellow chair. An ordinary yellow kitchen chair, like those I remember growing up. The bright vinyl back and seat, with aluminum legs. It was just sitting there, empty, facing the lake. 



Perhaps it was the poignancy of the moment, but I wondered what memories that chair held. Did it sit in company around a table, filled with the swinging legs of little ones enjoying cookies fresh from the oven? Was it grandma's chair, where she sat as she shucked the corn for dinner? And how did it come to be on the lakeshore? Who brought it there, and why? What memories did it have to tell about life on the lake? Did the old man sit in it while tossing a stick for his dog? Was it a resting spot as the fisherman waiting for a bite at the end of his line? And now it sat empty, looking a bit forlorn and sad. But oh, what memories it must have. 

The greenery behind the chair is simply green scraps pieced together, spliced with light green added, then squared and sewn together. The sand was also improv piecing without the added splicing. The chair is added by raw edge applique. 



This was an enjoyable challenge, and I'll share more details about its construction on my blog this Wednesday. I continue to have fun with each theme, finding ways to challenge myself and create something unexpected. Even that builds fond memories! 


14 comments:

  1. Love it, Wendy. I really enjoyed your commentary too. Weird, though. Really...how did it get there???

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    1. I still wonder about that, too! And why? I'm curious if it's still there, too.

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  2. I love this - it is so evocative and poignant. it just so perfectly captures the feelings evoked by abandoned objects and questions they raise about their history. They look so lonely and lost, but they represent such a lot. Who knows what amazing memories are attached to them!

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    1. Thanks, Catherine. I so often wonder about abandoned homes and items, and wonder about the stories they could tell.

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  3. I think we all would have wondered how that yellow chair ended up there Wendy :) Your lovely improv quilt is a fitting tribute to the mystery of the chair!

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    1. Thank you. It was just such an odd thing, sitting there rather forlorn, and yet a bit proud. I'm glad I thought to snap a photo!

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  4. Wendy, I really, really like this quilt. We had similar yellow and grey chairs around our kitchen table the when I was a child. I often think about the memories old, abandoned houses must hold. The chair, the background, everything just right.

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    1. Thank you, Maureen. It wasn't what I expected to make for this theme, but I'm happy with it. It was an enjoyable process as I constructed it.

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  5. If only objects could talk, what stories they would have to tell! I love the way you've taken this chair, seen unexpectedly on your travels, and pondered on the memories it might hold and immortalised it in a quilt for us all to wonder at speculate about :)

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    1. Thanks, Janine. What I enjoy about these challenges is what I end up making, which is often far from what I think I'll be making! I enjoyed this one, very much!

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  6. I was just reading a novel from 1930, High Wages by Dorothy Whipple. The main character, Jane, says that as a child she wished that whole street fronts would suddenly give way so that she could see what was going on inside those houses and know all of the stories within. I think a lot of us share that feeling, and you captured it with your chair!

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    1. Thank you. When I see the abandoned homes as we travel (remember that?), I always wonder what stories they could tell!

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  7. I love that found objects can inspire so much and the connections we can have with inanimate things. Lovley piece and now that yellow chair is a part of your memories and ours now in reading your thoughts prompted by it. I like how that echoes.

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    1. Thank you. I often wonder if it still sitting there . . .

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