I have been invited to share my quilts in April 2015, in a tiny little alumni gallery at Otterbein, now a University, when I graduated, a College. It's tucked underneath the stairs on the lower level of the Courtright Library, but it's sweet nonetheless. They specifically asked me about my work recycling fabrics from thrift shop clothing. Since normally that is the focus of my clothing, rather than the quilts, I'm creating more artwork just for them.
I visited the Otterbein thrift shop a couple time for materials, I puttered around all summer in the Art Barn, but this weekend, finally, I got started. I used some discharge paste and the stamps I created last year at QSDS on a scrap of linen skirt, and the sleeve from a man's shirt. I'm thinking along the lines of "spirit houses", places in the mind where we hold memories of cherished people, places, events and moments. The spirit of those memories live on in their houses, but sometimes we forget to visit them for long stretches of time. Sometimes, we even forget who or what lives in the little house there in the back. So I'm trying to investigate!
Here is the discharged fabric.....
....and here is the first stage of the first piece. I've laid out the backing fabric, batting, and the background of the face of the quilt, and I'm going to do some of the quilting next. Then I will begin layering the focal point, a larger "spirit house", and as I do, I'm hoping I will make the final decision regarding exactly who or what lives in this particular house. That big light circle at the top is a really lovely silvery gray piece of oriental satin from the Otterbein thrift, from Hong Kong or so the selvedge says, and represents the silvery moon.
