Old quilts, old people...new quilts, old people or new people?!?

I am stuck in a quandary about appliqued center medallion blocks...if you make them more modern, does that make them weird?  Does human applique on a quilt have to look antique to be considered serious?

I have many favorites inspired by old quilts...like "Phoebe"...and there are so many delightful versions of this medallion out there.





These pictures are from Melinda in NSW, Australia.

Or this one from Kel in Australia.




That quilt has such a lovely, pastoral center, but the setting is what I call old-fashioned or dated.  If the figures were wearing more modern clothing, would it ruin things?  Would it make things seem more cartoon-ish?  

I find versions where the fabrics are brighter and updated, but the style of clothing still remains a little dated.



As I experiment with drawing medallion centers, I have to admit that dressing women in long dresses or skirts allows me to overlook and avoid certain details of anatomy and style that are difficult...like legs, nice shoes, etc.  

And big, floppy coats on the depicted men make things easier, as well.



This example is from Mayleen Vinson of the "Q is for Quilt" blog.  It was machine quilted by Jan Hutchinson.







This all made me start to think...does it diminish or undervalue the work to make the clothing more modern?

I have a hard time drawing life-like people...I get annoyed by the simplicity and cartoon-ish quality in my own work, yet I find it completely charming and lovely in the work of everyone else (we are all so self-critical, aren't we??).

This is the "center" of a center medallion quilt that I started for my parents' 40th anniversary quilt a few years ago (minus the embroidery details, that I still need to do).  It is a part of a larger center medallion that I started the fall before the accident and I showed it to them Christmas 2013, right after their big anniversary, since I obviously had not finished their quilt...

I drew them in the kind of clothing they often wore, and even gave them both stethoscopes, as they were both doctors.  They are surrounded by motifs that depict their interests, accomplishments, and beautiful home that they built together.

Drawing them in antique clothing just seemed wrong...they either wore hospital scrubs, jeans, or outside work clothes.  I put the piece away for two years and recently got it out to consider how to finish it.  Now it will be a much smaller project...a wall hanging, I think. It was going to be a queen-sized bed quilt.

Here is the whole center medallion, minus the embroidery details, which I still need to do...this square will be 34 inches finished.  I will think of some kind of border to put around it.

  
Every motif has meaning...the oak tree (property is covered with them), the pink dogwood (Mom's favorite tree), the peacock (we had one as a "pet" when I was in junior/high school), the chicken (they had them), the bird in hand (Mom fed every bird in the northwest corner of Alabama), the hammer (they worked on or built every house they ever lived in), the daffodil (favorite flower), the pine tree (it's Alabama...), the fish (had a catfish lake), the garden items and the animals.

The blue bird of happiness at the top of the piece is pulling a banner that will read, "The Good Earth," which is the name of the project.

Boy, I really need to go in and do all the embroidery details...that is a lot of "blind" animals and unfinished-looking artwork!

I've drawn and appliqued other people in modern garb...when I made Steve's "Boxer Rebellion" quilt a few years ago, from his old boxer shorts, I depicted him...from the waste up...without garb...

My 'totally-supportive-of-my-quilting-obsession' husband used to joke "that quilts should only be made from old clothes and scraps, like the pioneer women used to do."  Well...his boxer shorts were looking pretty ratty and thin, so I bought him new undies and made him this wall hanging (to hang in his office cubicle) from his old undies.  Ha-ha-ha...

I even quilted him "six-pack abs!

...take that, you cheeky bastard, LOL!  I won ribbons on that quilt, but I think the best thing was all the people that walked by it at the quilt shows and read the story about it on the tag.  My husband's undies were hanging in quilt shows...and in his office at work! Priceless...

But I digress...

The blocks currently hanging out in my blog header depict me and Steve through the years, and I drew us in mostly modern-looking clothes. This project is called "Contentment."

I am also wishy-washy on whether to embroider facial details or not...since I have done it on one, I will probably go back and do it on the others...

No faces on the next two blocks so I don't have to make a decision about whether to embroider faces or not!

I have designed a 16-inch center medallion for those seven blocks, along with five other 10-inch blocks to join the previous seven around it.

And when I did my version of the Civil War Bride quilt, called "Life of Riley," I drew a family portrait block of us at the time...kind of coming out of a wall portrait.  Again, I was unsure about embroidering faces, so I just stitched Steve's glasses and hid Riley's face behind a book (which is usually where her face was in those days...).

So I don't know how I feel about the modern versus antique idea of people depicted in quilts.  As people enjoy making new versions of quilts from our past, the dated clothing continues to be the norm. Maybe that is because people are using a lot of reproduction fabrics to make these quilts, maybe the older style of clothing is easier to applique, or maybe I am just nuts to be worrying about this at all!

Do you have an opinion on this??

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)

First post of the New Year...FINALLY!

I think I am finally "over" the holidays...the tree came down yesterday and we have finally put the Polar Vortex behind us.

We had a great holiday season...I actually had all 6 siblings together at one time for a few hours at my parents' house.  I was so overcome with ho-ho-ho that I forgot to organize a picture.  You have to realize that along with these siblings come nieces and nephews from 12 months to 24 years of age.  That's a whole lot of craziness contained in a single moment of time.

I spent 10-11 days in Alabama and really enjoyed the mild temperatures...maybe that made all the below zero temperatures and wind chills even harder to deal with during the Polar Vortex. 

We received a fresh layer of snow today...sigh. 

Look at this quilt stand that my Dad designed and made for me in his wood shop for Christmas!  Isn't it fabulous?  
 

Now here it is with a quilt on it...a quilt that his mother (my Grandmother) made for his sister (my favorite Aunt).  He wanted to make it big enough to see almost the WHOLE quilt.

I just love the antique glass door knobs that he used on it.  I am hoping that it will just fit at the foot of my bed, although that is not a very good place to show it off.  

Unfortunately, my second-floor bedroom doesn't get a lot of traffic. Right now it is in the living room while I play with it.  I may need to rethink its location...

I could only fit a small project in the car for the holidays, so I took a music block and the center medallion for my parents' anniversary quilt to hand applique when time permitted.  After Christmas I put some stitches in, and since coming home I added the last two little bits...a fat squirrel and a bluebird carrying a banner.

They will benefit from the finishing embroidery...there are a lot of details missing.  ALL the hand applique has been finished on the center medallion (and the next music block!), so my portable project will now be all the embroidery embellishments.

Now that the holidays are over, the big push to finish the hand quilting of the first music quilt is ON, baby!  That is my home project...it is just too big to take anywhere.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year...I hope to catch up with blog reading and answering emails soon!

In stitches,

Teresa  :o)

The "Good Earth" - Happy Anniversary Dad and Lee!

This is the unfinished center medallion square of "The Good Earth," an original design to celebrate the 40th anniversary of my parents. This central square will measure between 28-30 inches and will anchor the rest of the quilt design.

More than half of these motifs have been hand appliqued to the background square, some are just prepped and glue basted, and 3 motifs are still in the drawing phase. 

There are a lot of embroidery details that need to be added after all the hand applique stitching is finished and the piece is soaked to remove the glue.  The embroidery will really make the designs pop and make them look more detailed and correct.  My dad needs his glasses, birds need feet, fruit and veg need stems, some pieces need to be outlined, dogwood blossoms need centers, wheels need spokes, etc.

There are a lot of details in this square that sum up their love for each other and their love of the land.  They are both physicians, which is why both of them are wearing stethoscopes around their necks. 

They have improved or built almost every house they have lived in for the last 40 years, hence the hammer in my Dad's hand. 

They have set out thousands of pine saplings and have a small catfish lake.

They have worked to protect the trees on their properties, and have planted a lot of young pines to go with the mighty oaks, other hardwoods, and the endogenous dogwoods that thrive in the north Alabama environment.

They have planted thousands of daffodil bulbs that bloom in February through early April every spring...just beautiful.

The fish...they need some embroidery details as well.

They have chickens for egg laying and used to have a beautiful peacock when they lived near the Birmingham Zoo (he was an escapee when I was in high school in he mid-1970's).

The chicken is roosting in a mighty oak.

I experimented with fussy-cutting a favorite Kaffe Fassett fabric for the peacock tail...he needs some embroidery details as well...like his lovely head feathers.  He is sitting in a pink dogwood tree.

I will have a lot of French knots to do at the centers of all the dogwood blossoms.

My grandfather passed down his gardening skills to my Dad.  Lately, they have been growing green beans, squash and collard greens.  

There are lots of deer and other wildlife on the property.

They have fruit and nut trees, a muscadine arbor, and amazing blueberries.  My Dad has all kinds of machines...tractors, off-road vehicles, earth-movers, but loves an old-fashioned push plow.

 The muscadines (a kind of grape)...

The apples and blueberries...

Lee has an amazing green thumb and loves growing flowers and shrubs.  She is constantly trying to outsmart the deer (who really appreciate all of her gardening efforts...).

The squirrels are welcome to all the acorns and hickory nuts they can carry, but stay away from the pecans, walnuts, and bird feeders!

This will be a bluebird of happiness at the top of the square carrying the banner and hearts.

It seems like a special anniversary...for all of us.  They are celebrating 40 years, and we celebrated our 20th anniversary in October.  They have set a beautiful example of a strong, productive and purposed-filled marriage for their seven kids. 

Happy anniversary and I love you very much!

In stitches,
Teresa  :o)