Learning Something New: Creating a Siddi Quilt

Creating brings hope and healing. Inspiration comes from tending a summer garden, taking an on-line class, walking out of doors, listening to podcasts and books on tape, meeting with kindred souls on zoom, particpating in free on-line webinars, and learning about the world I live in.

Here's my list of favorites:

1. Trying different plants in the garden, planting dye seeds, Navajo Sun Flowers and Indigo plants.
2. Participating in on-line interactive workshops such as Siddi Quilts with Sujata Shah.
3. Taking three mile walks through Cotton Wood Park, Summerlin, Las Vegas, NV.
4. Listening to pocasts; two favories are Berne Brown and LeVar Burton Reads.
5. Finding interesting books on tape; my latest listen; "I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness", author Austin Channing Brown. 
6. Attending SAQA Regional Meetings, Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild meetings, and monthly Art Quilts, Etc meetings.
7. Watching Webinars/videos; two favorites are; Botanical Colors (Feedback Fridays), and Textile Talks.

All these activities keep me connected to things I love and engaged in making. This month I took a class with Sujata Shan..  She shared techniques and gave a brief history about the makers of the Indian Siddi quilts and their traditions. Working from the outside to the inside, each piece of cloth was hand sewn with a running stitch.  I used a milners #1 needle and aurilfil size #12 thread.

Finished quilt; 20 x 20 inches

 Sometime in a more recent past, I was given a pineapple motif panel that was partially complete.  I finished it by adding diaginal siduku lines and cross stitch.  Adding a border to the panel a pillow cover was made.  It was fun to complete something that started out plain and developed into a functional piece.

Pineapple Pillow Cover

 

Detail - Varigated cotton

Go gently ... go safely, go create !

Submissions to Martha Sielman's Bird Book

Good morning world.  Almost to the very last minute deadline, I entered three pieces for a Bird Book Martha Sielman's is creating.  Knowing Martha's background in art textiles, the book will be an exciting array of birds and creative techniques. Look for publication in 2023.  The pieces I entered are work completed earlier in my artistic ventures.  Different techniques were explored and applied.

1. Bird - Embroidery on paper

1. Material used in the making of Bird are 8 and 12 weight embroidery threads on enco dyed parchment paper.  The paper was stabilized with light weight fusible interfacing making a surface that survived a heavy stitch without being torn by the threads or the large needle.

2. Raven's Wing was sewn using free motion and machine stitches.  The background, behind the raven is a printed and photo transferred feather.

3. Eco printed water color paper serves as the background for Raven. I saw the outline of a raven in the print and followed that for the hand stitched raven image.

2. Raven's Wing

 

3. Raven on Eco print