Happy New Year, and may 2014 bring you many good things. As I write I realize there will be sadness and difficult times too. Like in a quilt, where we use the "ugly" and "muddy" and "maverick" scraps of fabric along with the pretty ones to enhance the play of color and movement, so too in life.
I made this little piece before the snow started falling. I picked a grape vine leaf and traced it on a piece of goldish-green batik fabric. I drew some veins on the fabric leaf with a ballpoint pen and machine-stitched some of the veins with metallic gold thread. The deep purple fabric behind the fabric leaf is a monochromatic print with cranes in flight, the lines of the cranes echoing the shape of the grape leaf. The stripes are Kaffe Fassett and the solids are his shot cottons. I hand stitched with perle cotton to finish the square. It was serendipity that the stripe in the bias binding matched up perfectly at both ends. I was going to mail this piece to the quilt museum in San Jose for a food-theme exhibit, but once I finished it I couldn't part with it. Grape leaves are special in my heritage. I learned how to pick and stuff grape leaves from my Armenian grandfather.
This is my mother, only child of my Armenian grandfather and my Norwegian grandmother. She is very resilient and grows more beautiful with each year. We'll celebrate her 90th birthday on Saturday. The photo was taken at a Christmas tea in December.
My mother has had ovarian cancer for over 6 years. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy every three weeks. This photo was taken around Thanksgiving at one of her treatments:
She has stayed very engaged with the world. My sister and I were her guests at the recent St. Paul AAUW's Christmas tea:
For a good part of 2013, I had a foot problem following bunion surgery and my mobility was limited. I whined. At the same time, my 89 year old mother was taking group tap-dance lessons.
This is a postcard I whipped up. There are three eggs (clustered knots of silver metallic thread) in the bird nest below the cluster of purple grapes. Eggs are a good symbol for the new year.
Wishing you a blessed 2014!
Andrea
You're so right about the sadness and the good times. Difficult times hit us all and yet there are times when you feel like you're on top of the world. Your Mom looks like a neat woman. Tell her happy birthday for me and best wishes on a cancer free 2014. I hope that you have a healthy and happy 2014 too.
ReplyDeleteThe holidays can indeed be a mix of happy and sad. Your mother sounds so very special. All the best to both of you in 2014. I like your grape leaf quilt! Very creative and the hand quilting is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you might consider changing your Blogger settings so that you can receive email replies to the comments you leave on other blogs? Right now you are a "no-reply" commenter. There is a way to change it. Google "Blogger change no reply" and you will see a lot of helpful links with step-by-step instructions how to do this, if you choose to.
Thanks for your kind comments on my string ring dresden and end-of-year collage. Have a great weekend!
Andrea! OH MY, first of all, thank you so much for coming over and for leaving a comment! I read that you are in Minnesota? SO AM I! I live in Northeast Minneapolis and teach in Edina!
ReplyDeleteYour quilt is stunning! Quilts are very special to me, and your description of your process reminds me so much of the metaphor of life....so many patchwork pieces, so many threads to bear.....peace to you and your mother. Anita