GRAND TETON PEAKS FROM THE IDAHO SIDE (Driggs, Idaho)

Detail View

Full View

 I grew up in southeastern Idaho in the United States just 60 miles west of Grand Teton National Park.  The Teton Peaks are a constant part of the landscape of southeastern Idaho and western Wyoming.  We saw the Tetons nearly every day, and trips to Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park were regular occurrences.  The Grand Teton Peak rises 13,775 feet above sea level and 6,530 feet above the Jackson Hole valley.  The peaks dominate the landscape and when I see them I can never seem to take my eyes off of them.  It appears to me that the Tetons are always ready to disappear into mist--like Brigadoon.  They never really seem to be solidly in front of me.  It is an old legend that a mysterious race of people lives inside of the Grand Teton and that maybe the mountains are not really of this Earth but are the construct of another world.  To me, they flicker in and out of reality.  I have tried to capture that essence of the Teton Peaks with my third quilt for 2014.  I printed a photograph of the Teton Peaks onto fabric, but I only used small parts of that photograph in my quilt to suggest that when one looks at the Tetons, the mountains move into and out of reality, becoming ghostly and ethereal.

Frances
 

 

 

VOYAGE 2014

 

This is my 3rd piece, it doesn't have a title yet. Again from a Zimbabwean rock painting. It's architectural design is very interesting. I used hand dyed cotton and a wonderful Mulberry bark cloth I found at the Birmingham show last year. It is much harder to use than the bark cloth from Uganda. I stenciled the giraffes using acrylic paint and a stencil I had made from paper.

 

 

 

Voyage 2014

"Ancient Beehive"

My second piece was inspired by an ancient rock painting from Zimbabwe, probably the Drakensburg Mountains. I used some of Magie's wonderful fabrics from Ghana and Gambia and some hand dyed cottons. The edge of the hive is trapuntoed and I machine quilted using rayon threads.

No need to cook

No need to cook - May 2014

The strawberry season is in full flow here in the south of France. The locally favoured and grown variety is the Gariguette, known for being smallish and full of sweet flavour.

I printed some cotton fabric in the colours I wanted, using my Gelli plate. Some of this fabric I used in the two sided border. The background was quilted with the words “gariguettes” and “fraises” (strawberries) and the large strawberry was fused before adding quilting and hand embroidery. The small strawberries were fused and machine quilted.

We have a punnet of Gariguettes waiting in the kitchen for tonight's dessert!

Glacier

One of the aerial views I wanted to do was a glacier. A diffcult one, but the pounded fabric I created last month was the perfec starting point. I unrolled and split a cotton ball and added this to add a bit more white to the quilt. Covered everything with a black tulle and stitched through it. This is how it turned out:

Raffia cloth

Piece no. 2 from me.  Raffia is my cloth this time.  Once again I'm in The Congo - but in the Kuba or Kasia region - towards the south of the country. There are a number of different types of kuba cloth.  Embriodered, Applique and 'velvet' or cut pile.  They are all made from raffia cloth.  Raffia cloth is difficult to weave and as raffia fibre cannot be plied a woven piece of raffia can only be as large and the longest length of raffia fibre.  The cut-pile cloth is the hardest to make and now the hardest to find as a new cloth. 

I have combined two types of kuba cloth here - embroidered and velvet, featuring a small piece of velvet on a background of 'embroidered' cloth. To imitate the embroidery I have stitched rayon yarn onto  the tea- dyed background.  (Best thing to do with tea in my opinion!!) 

Plain Raffia cloth was once used a currency.  3 m long embroidered and appliquéd Kuba cloths are used as dance skirts in ceremonies. 

Stonehenge, Wiltshire, England - February 1978

This is the second in my "Earth" series of places in the world that have made a lasting impression on me.  I visited Stonehenge on my first trip to England in February 1978.  At that time, visitors to the site could walk among the stones.  I could feel the power and intensity of Stonehenge and I also felt a connection with the ancient people who constructed the site--no doubt I had some relatives in that group since much of my ancestry comes from England and northern Europe.  We visited Stonehenge early in the morning, the after a light snowfall the night before.  The surrounding plains were white with snow and the massive rocks really stood out against the white background.

For this quilt, I used one of my photographs of Stonehenge.  I sent the photograph off to Spoonflower and had it printed on fabric.  I cut out the stone shapes and appliqued them onto a piece of color gradient fabric.  I added the velvet and foil fabric in the shadows of the stones to help illustrate the inherent power of Stonehenge.  As you walk by this piece, the light changes on the foil strips in the velvet fabric and makes for interesting light effects.  I agonized over this piece for weeks before I finally put it together and I must say I'm very happy with the results.

Frances

Rivers

Our main source of life on this planet is water. I was attracted by the bright blue color of the rivers etching the land. It is more vivid when you fly over and look down to see it curves between mountains and forests.

Through fabrics I depicted it by using bright light blue fabrics cut through the brown/green batik fabric.

 

Shoshi

Just add butter and pepper- April 2014

Just add butter and pepper- April 2014

Surrounding our village there are several fields in which asparagus (asperges) is grown. It is ready to be cut during the months of March and April, using an asparagus knife. We prefer ours to be green, slender and tender, cooked lightly and eaten with butter and pepper.

The asparagus and triangles are fused to the background fabric, the blade of the knife is painted and the lettering machine embroidered. I love machine quilting, so there is lots of that.

I have choses Trees of Africa for my theme for this year,

The first one is the Baobab.

The Baobab is also known as “the tree of Life” or “The Cream of Tartar Tree “or the Brood Boom.

Recent carbon dating done on some of the old large tree has shown that they have dated back about 3000 years.

 The folk stories about the Baobab tree are interesting. One story is that the Baobab tree was not very happy when all the other trees around him were beautiful trees ,so  he complained to God. This made god very angry , and he uprooted the Baobab and re planted him upside down!!

The fruit of the Baobab (cream of tartar) is rich in Vitiam C , antioxidants and probiotics

The Baobab is a good source of water for the indigenous people. They drill a hole in the bark and then plug it with mud, which they can remove later to  obtain more water .

The leaves (which are rich in Vitiam C and potassium tartrate) are boiled in water and left to soak. Once drained., this  water used in small doses,  can be used to help cure malaria, asthma, coughs and other chest ailments. Some people believe that it also helps prevent diabetes, arthritis, allergies, heart conditions and ageing. How much of this is true.. is unknown !!!

The young roots can be cooked and  eaten.

Elephants , Kudu, Nyala and Impala enjoy eating the leaves of the Baobab tree.

Fibre from the inner bark is used to make rope, baskets and nets.

Bees, bee hives, are often found in the hollowed out areas of the Baobab.