"Memento Mori-Stampi"

And finally the fourth quilt this year and challenge completed!
So this one is a little different to the others, in so much as the others where natural forms, shells and daisies. This one is made from "postage stamps" or more importantly stamps from my own collection.
I think it was probably one of the first collections I started as a child, I loved the colours and patterns of the stamps. I was given my pocket money and spent it all on little packets of stamps from different countries. I loved trying to find out where the countries were in the atlas and can remember having particular trouble locating Yemen. I still have them all in five folders, very dusty but lovely to look at!

So here is number four:

"Momento Mori-Stampi"

Background is hand dyed cotton. The skull is photo transferred images of some of the Irish Stamps    (for the year that's in it, centenary of the 1916 Rising, very big event in Irish History) from my old collection.

"Memento Mori- Bellis Perennis"

Daisies of all shapes and sizes but particularly the small kind found in gardens with the pretty pink edges on the petals have always been my favourite flowers.

Flower symbolism associated with the daisy is purity, innocence, loyal love, beauty, patience and simplicity! Daisies are often depicted in meadows in medieval pantings and are believed to be over 4,000 years old.

I can remember sitting as a child and making daisy chains and creating necklaces and crowns many times. I still love the flower and once picked a bunch of Dog Daisies and didn't realise until the following morning where the name came. I walked into my kitchen to the smell of smelly wet dog, needless to say they haven't appeared inside again!

Had a bit of a fascination with Ladybugs as a child too, used to love to let them walk across my hands until one pooped on me!

So here's number three:

"Momento Mori- Bellis Perennis"

"Memento Mori- She Sells Sea Shells 2"

As usual when I start preparing materials for a quilt I get a bit carried away and end up with enough fabrics for ten quilts!! I had such fun choosing and preparing the shells for the first piece that I still have loads left over. 

Anyhows shells have also been a part of my adult life and I have wonderful memories or collecting shells on a beach in Kerry year after year with my kids when they were tiny tots. My daughter Isobel  made a big mosaic mirror for her room with them and there's still at least two buckets of them sitting in my studio, somewhere!

So here's number two:

"Momento Mori- She Sells Sea Shells 2"

The background fabric is hand dyed cotton. The shells were put onto fabric using a photo transfer method. The skull was assembled and stitched to a black background first, then cut out and appliquéd to the background fabric. Machine quilted using a YLI variegated thread.

"Memento Mori- She Sells Sea Shells...."

It's only been this week that I have had a chance to get stuck into my "Treasured Memories " pieces.
I have had the research and some of the prep work done for ages but lots of other projects have kept me very busy these last few months!

So here's my first piece:

                                            "Momento Mori - She Sells Sea Shells....."

Momento Mori (we all must die) is a medieval christian practice of keeping a reminder of death near, not as a morbid act but to remember that we all must die and so should live life to the full. 

I have been using the skull image as a theme in my work for several years now and still find new ways of exploring and playing with it. I'm a huge horror and science fiction fan and ever since Buffy the Vampire Slayer brought vampire and horror into the mainstream I don't feel like such a weirdo working with this sort of image!

I spent a lot of time by the sea as a child and have lots of memories of collecting sea shells and bits and piece on the sand.

I found old drawings of shells and used a photo transfer method to put them onto fabric. They were then stitched onto a black fabric and then appliquéd onto a background and quilted.