"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.

Momento Flori- Taiwan

Have a small bit of an obsession with skulls and Memento Mori (Latin translation: "remember (that you have) to die"). 
Memento Mori is the medieval Latin theory and practice of reflection on mortality, especially as a means of considering the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all earthly goods and pursuits. It is related to the ars moriendi ("The Art of Dying") and related literature. Memento Mori has been an important part of ascetic disciplines as a means of perfecting the character, by cultivating detachment and other virtues, and turning the attention towards the immortality of the soul and the afterlife.

I think previous generations had a healthier approach to death than we have! We hide from it and try to evade, when it's as necessary as breathing and something we all face. As a society we elevate the young and beautiful and marginalise the older and wiser. Our arrogance and greed is destroying the air we breath.

In art, memento mori are artistic or symbolic reminders of mortality.

Growing up in a strong Catholic country, I was surrounded by religious symbolism and paraphernalia which can have a very strong effect.

I'm also a country girl at heart and a highly sensitive introvert, I'm happiest when out in nature and away from crowds. The natural world nourishes the soul and I'm always mesmerised by the beauty and design of the natural world.

It makes me so sad to see what we are doing to the wonderful planet, I fear for what my children will have to face.

So my Taiwan piece is "Memento Flori" a reflection of the beauty of the natural world and the transient nature of all things.

I used a new photo transfer method that I'm playing with and used images of natural forms from Ernst Haeckel's "Art Forms in Nature" which I photoshopped.

Had great fu playing around and building up the design!

I also looked at the work of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, one of my favourites.

Finally got round to stitching!

Close up

Some colour added.

Final version ready to go!

Three Done - One to go

I completed the third piece for my series entitled "Forces of Nature" for the Voyage group.

This piece is entitled "Danger Below" and it is an iceberg. Again, these are all my own hand-dyed and surface designed fabrics. The exception is the top layer of the iceberg above water. That is a random, loosely woven piece given to me by a friend.  I think it makes the perfect iceberg!!

DANGER  BELOW

The fourth and final piece for Voyage this year is started. Plan is to have it completed before I go to Duluth for the Minnesota Quilters Association annual Quilt Show 2015.  More about that later!