What's Shakin', Minnesota?

 It took me forever and a day to come up with an idea for this challenge. In the end, I went with what I was pondering in the first place (isn't that always the way it works??), although I had to idea it would be in the context of Minnesota. 

My idea first began thinking about fractured quilts, and my final project used a little bit of that idea. My inspiration was earthquakes, and then I came across this interesting link from the Minneapolis Star Tribune about earthquakes that have hit Minnesota. Growing up in South Dakota, I do recall one very mild earthquake event that hit my area, but have not experienced any since my relocation to Minnesota. 

For my quilt, I decided to take a piece of fabric with a bit of a nature scene that made me think of Minnesota. I traced out the state outline onto SoftFuse and fused it to be back of that fabric. Then I cut the the piece into 1-inch strips. I fused it onto Grunge fabric in a deep teal that made me think of the lakes of Minnesota (since we are the land of 10,000 lakes) in a staggered arrangement, hoping to give the idea of being shaken. I stitched around each strip using raw edge applique with a cream thread. 

So that was pretty simplistic. I pondered whether I could add anything else, and considered some wording, but in the end decided to go with simple. Here's a view of the back, with the same fabric I used for the state outline. 

I had a little bit of fun with the quilting, and decided to quilt a siesmometer readout design over the fractured state outline. Thinking it would be a quick quilting idea, but it took me longer than I thought it would. I used a light variegated cream thread, so that it would show against the teal but fade into the state outline. 

Hopefully you can see that in this angled shot, where the light picks up the quilting a bit better. 

I'm looking forward to seeing the other interpretations of this theme. It was a tough one for me! 

Wendy

Relentless Static

I turn to quilting for respite from all the terrible happenings that surround us, so this topic, A Headline from a Newspaper, was a stressful one for me.

I wanted to create a portrait as a reminder that all of the tragedies happen to real people; people who have to live through the events that are so terrible they cause panic and depression even to others who are thousands of miles away and safe.  The headlines take over our heads; we cannot get away from them.

"Relentless Static"

The batik fabrics in the background, with their contrast and motion, suggest the constant surge of noise and hazard we are subjected to.  Even if we turn it off, we know it is there.

Her face is fragmented and she "can't keep it together"; pieces are blowing through the atmosphere around her. Her once starry eyes have turned into that deer-in-the-headlights look as she tries to cope with every new barrage.

The halo of orange around her head, and the spiky orange stitching, show how these headlines keep us at a level of high alarm.

 As I worked on this, I thought about how many hours my fellow teachers and I spent trying to instill a sense of teamwork and unity in our students, who came from all over the world, and how satisfying it felt to see a good group discussion, or a proud presentation.  And then in contrast, I thought about how now my friends' conversation turns so often to fears of others taking away what they think they are entitled to, and I wondered how much of that comes from headline overload.

Also as I worked on it, when I was auditioning fabrics, and chose those with nature motifs, I immediately felt a little better. I would like to make a companion piece, with the headlines I wish I saw every day, like, "TxDOT Plants Native Flowers Along Highways," or "Congress Works Together as Well as Fifth Graders Do," or "Art Classes Added to Curriculum."

Man Walks on the Moon

 

This quarter, I couldn't really complain about the theme because I chose it myself so apologies to anyone who struggled with it as much as I did. It was a long time ago before the headlines became Brexit, Brexit, Brexit, Covid, Covid Covid. We don't take a newspaper anymore and, although, from time to time I used to notice an interesting or amusing headline, whilst waiting in the post office (which is also our village shop), as soon as I wanted to make a quilt that came to an abrupt stop.

I had no more luck searching the internet, where the only front pages in the first thousand or so search results seem to record deaths of celebrities, wars or terrorists attacks. You could be forgiven for thinking nothing positive ever happened in the world! 

So, with the deadline fast approaching, I resorted to quilt pictionary.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing what everyone came up with :)

On a lighter note...

The news can be quite depressing at times, and you really have to hunt for the good news some days.  When I saw the headline that Ed Sheeran was going to be playing in Thomand Park next May, (home of Munster Rugby) in Limerick, (my home town) I knew that was going to be the headline I'd pick for inspiration for a quilt.  Something happy and fun.

My sketch of a guitar in fabric scraps.

Limerick sits on the Shannon, founded by the Vikings and has a city charter older than London.  Limerick also has a population of about 100,000 people so we don't get the big gigs that often.  Most people go to Dublin. 

Ed Sheeran is also really popular and tickets sold out really quickly.  One of my very best friends from childhood has a birthday the week in May that he's playing so I took a chance and bought 3 tickets when I saw the extra tour date go up.  I kept my fingers crossed my friends are ok & happy to go - they are! We are all so excited to have something to look forward to.  After so much lock down in the past 18 months it feels a bit strange.  

So once I had decided the headline, I knew I wanted to make a guitar themed quilt.  I got as far as 3rd grade classical guitar in school and don't play very often but acoustic guitar is my favourite kind of music.

 Two weeks ago, I was asked to teach the ticker tape workshop I had put together a good number of years ago and one of the samples I had put together in an unsewn state was an abstract guitar.  This sample was showing how you can create shapes and create emphasis with scraps of different colours or values.  

I decided to finish it off and pulled out all my orange scraps.  I quilted it with straight lines echoing around the curves of the guitar and some extra lines on the guitar strings to make them look like they were after being plucked.  Ticker tape is a quilt as you go method and in this piece I didn't sew around the scraps just quilted over them in a raw edge state.   

I used an Ikea frame and modified the mat to make it bigger to frame the guitar and hang it on the wall.  The whole family loves it and its wonkiness.  It makes me smile when I walk into the living room and it definitely brightens up the space.  Ticker tape quilts are a lot of fun and sometimes you just need to play.  It's good for the soul!

Beach Belles

 I thought that I had this theme sussed ages ago but, then, naturally, I changed my mind at the last minute :)

We are hoping to get back to our holiday house in France soon, we haven't been able to visit since October last year. Like many others our summer holiday this year was a home stay and that, according to the headline below has resulted in a huge increase in the price of that Edwardian staple - the beach hut!

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/jun/06/why-the-humble-beach-hut-is-the-new-des-res

 

 So, my quilt for this month's theme is a look back at the beach hut in it's heyday.

Once again, I turned to the Crafted Applique technique that I used in this raindrop for a previous challenge for my strolling beach belles.

She looks very swish for a stroll along the beach, doesn't she? I would love to have an occasion to wear a hat like that!

For more information on the construction of this mini quilt head on over to Celtic Thistle Stitches 

 

I look forward to reading about my fellow Endeavourers responses to this challenge, as always I am sure that I will be amazed and inspired :)