Quilters' Block

I have been stuck on this module for months. I absolutely cannot find a way to enjoy doing it. What has to be done- hand quilting- is not fun on this piece and is extremely time consuming. Catherine, my tutor, has told me to get rid of some of the layers. But I have no vision for this.

I have cleaned my house numerous times and even choosen to go for runs rather than tackle this albatross. flickr and its instant gratification is not helping. I know I have to dig deep and do this but I have some ironing that needs doing.

I talked to my fibre friend Rhonda today who has re-inspired me to take needle to cloth and perservere through this obstacle. The next C&G module has some great looking activities that I can't wait to start but I'm holding myself back until this monster is quashed.

By Friday I pledge to have the quilting completed and posted or no more flickr for a week!

Accepted Unexpected

Last week Helen received an e-mail saying her "Time to Resurface' piece had been accepted into the Canadian Quilters' Association national juried show in St. John's, Newfoundland. Helen's work is fantastic and this was great news for her especially since she is planning to attend the show. Not for me though. No news is bad news in this case. I started consoling myself on the virtue of digging deeper for the next time. I rationalized that I enjoy fibreart for the process and for my own pleasure not for the recognition of people I don't even know and...on and on in a depression inducing cheerleader manner.

Today, I received the two, official rejection letters in somewhat bulky envelopes. To my shock, since I had already reconciled rejection, both entries had been accepted!! My first time entering a juried show and twice lucky. It makes turning 50 tomorrow a little easier to bear. I posted this dancing anthirrium on flickr but it seems appropriate that it should do its dance in this post.

P.S. Will someone please rescue me from the clutches of flickr!!???

TIO's Santeria Dancer Done

Finally, I have paper pieced the bitty bits together. The whole time I'm thinking why wouldn't a person just do hand piecing. The template making and basting and whipstitching and removing basting and paper just seems like an excessive make work project.
"What ifs" crossed my mind. What if the back became the front and the papers were left in. I'm thinking love letters, photographs, painted paper..." What if"a dramatically contrasting thread was used as the whipstitch,it would show on the front leaving a subtle ciliated texture.
The use of many red/brown, green/browns and yellow/browns kept the skin tones vibrant. The batiks with light areas adds a bit of glow and depth to the abstract skin tones. The skin proved to be a challenging subject to abstract. I really had to look. Was it a shadow, highlight, contour? How did the seam lines contribute to controlling the viewers eye?
The colourful head scarf and clothing framed the face abstraction very well. TIO's photograph was a wonderful image to explore in such great detail. If you have a moment you will not be disappointed to see some of his other images. http://flickr.com/photos/66179962@N00/1840462551/