Friday, September 14, 2012

Off the Wall Friday

I FINALLY have the facings on both of my "bird" quilts! Yeah!!!! I still want to do some beading on the "snow" of the second quilt. I AM looking for some help in naming these quilts; I'm terrible at that, and they both need names. The story of the quilts may help. If you didn't read the story behind the making of these quilts, here it is. (If you read that already in a previous post, skip the next paragraph.) Pictures of both quilts are underneath the story.

I'm trying to get two or three pieces finished in time for entry into a SAQA exhibit--"The View from Here: Quilts of the Ohio River Valley. SAQA members from Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio." The theme is "What the artists think of and see when they view their home and surroundings." Pieces must be "quilts" and may be representational or abstract. The work should relate to our local environment or what we see from where we live, our home, backyard, city, or town. I have given this a lot of thought and have come to the conclusion that one of my favorite things to do when I'm home (besides working on my artwork) is looking at the view out my window into my backyard to watch the birds at my bird feeder. I particularly like to watch the birds in the wintertime when there is a nice sheet of snow on the ground. I like the stark contrast between the whiteness of the snow and the color of the birds. One particular winter day, ALL the birds on the ground were "those ugly" blackbirds EXCEPT for one beautiful red cardinal. I was really aggravated that the "ugly" blackbirds were dominating the bird feeders, eating up all my seed, and weren't even pretty to look at. After I had ranted and raved, I got to feeling bad about maligning the blackbirds. I realized that they need to eat too, and they can't help the fact that they aren't "pretty." That revelation led me to think about this on a larger scale. People who aren't considered "pretty" by society often have needs that aren't met--simply because of their appearance. We all can't be pretty.

Be sure to click on the pictures to get a closer look. I think you'll be able to see the beads if you click on the detail picture of Quilt 1.

Quilt 1
 Detail of Quilt 1
 Quilt 2
 Detail of Quilt 2
If you have any name suggestions, please leave them in a comment or email me privately. (I DO LOVE comments!)

I have made a little progress on my hexagon English paper piecing project.
Last week's picture
This week's update
It is harder now to see the progress, because each "round" takes more hexagons! Last week (in a comment) I had someone ask me what size this piece measures. Well, at its longest point it now measures 18". Whew, this will be a LONG process. At least, for now, I'm still enjoying it.

Be sure to check out all the other updates to Off the Wall Friday on Nina-Marie's blog. You can click on the "Off the Wall" badge on the right-hand side of this page to get to that site.

13 comments:

Sandy said...

Just a little thought - still waking up over here - maybe too cheeky. but one could be 'Black and White til Red Comes Over'
Sandy in the UK

Eileen said...

Beth - quilt #1 - "winter view", quilt #2 - "welcome" or "inclusion". they are both beautiful!

Lisa Chin said...

I'm terrible at naming quilts too. It always takes me forever to come up with something I love. Loving the hexagons. Those are some tiny tiny hexagons. How big do you plan on going?

Robbie said...

Love the bird quilt(s)! I just started to lay out my hex's to see how many more I may need!!!

Love your pattern...mine is a straight line so much easier than your project!! Enjoy seeing your progress!

Nina Marie said...

you know I'm thinkin' of starting my blogs out this winter with how many trapezoids I get English paper pieced - it takes forever doesn't it? Your hexies are doing great and the birds really look lovely with the quilting!

wholly jeanne said...

A "little progress" on the hexagons? Looks like a lot of progress to me! Beautiful works, all.

Anonymous said...

I think quilt 2 could be called "we can't all be pretty" but it could be interpreted as the red one being the odd man out and not the black ones. maz

Unknown said...

I just love the bird quilts! Nice job on quilting too. Very nice layout.

Deborah OHare said...

So glad I took the time to read the passage about how these quilts came about.
My suggestion for what it is worth is " The View From Within", because it is the view you get while looking out, but also because beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say. As a previous comment says, some will think the cardinal is the beautiful one, others the blackbird.

Anonymous said...

I always appreciate a great article or piece of writing. Thanks for the contribution.

Robin said...

Beth,
Thanks for stopping over at my blog a bit back.
Your second bird quilt is wonderful and I like Sandy's name suggestion.
Maybe we should have a once a month review of our hexie quilts. I finally got mine assembled on my trip (lots of car time) and now just need to find a suitable background for them.
R

Kit Lang said...

those are beautiful! Their inclusion in the show is well deserved.

Kit Lang said...

those are beautiful! Their inclusion in the show is well deserved.