Alexander Henry "Rose Tattoo" fabric

Alexander Henry "Rose Tattoo" fabric
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Hey, I posted an entry with no pictures yesterday, did anybody notice? Can't have that! So here's one of the fabrics I bought for your viewing pleasure. (I have no idea how these fabrics are going to fit into the Muertos quilt - I just thought they were awesomely cool, and they fit in with the ideas I have so well. They may end up being on the back.)

One reason I bought the two fabrics with the roses is because I realized I have to put red into this quilt. One of my grandmothers just adored red, and I can't see how I can do a quilt that's a tribute to my grandparents without having red in it. (I was originally thinking of a palette with really pure brights - that is, cyan/magenta/yellow - but I have already backed off of that.) I was talking about putting marigolds into it already, so I was thinking that I would just add a red flower to the mix occasionally. Red goes well with yellow/orange, anyway. So now I am thinking black background, yellow-orange-red flowers around the edge, and inside that, anything goes, as long as it's bright!

(No, I have no clear idea what's going in the middle yet. Pictures, and of course there has to be a skeleton in there someplace, this is Dia de los Muertos we're talking about. But exactly what it's going to look like? I'm not there yet.)

(More of my skull-print purchases here, here and here.)

Summer Rentals

Summer Rentals
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Martha Walker of Arizona; entered in the category Mixed Technique the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Added: QNM has posted foundation patterns for this quilt - here.

I have been slacking on the exchange blocks, and I'm running out of time. I have six more blocks to do and only 4 weeks or so to do them in - although there are a good many more subunits made than that. I have got to get seriously going this weekend - or else I'm going to have to break my custom and work on them at home. (What a concept.)

I have been doing some planning, and even a little bit of research, for the Day of the Dead quilt. I looked at several webpages about how it's celebrated in Mexico (rather than, you know, in Austin) and that gave me some ideas. For example, it's traditional to make floral arches out of marigolds, so I want to work marigolds into it somehow - I'm thinking either as an arch or some other kind of a surround for the quilt. I have no idea whether I'm talking applique flowers, or beaded flowers, or what, though.

Catch-up entry

Houses in the Country in Costa Rica
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Maria de Los Angeles Artavia T.; from the exhibit "Shapes and Colors of Costa Rica" at the 2005 International Quilt Festival.

Wow, I haven't posted in two weeks, how'd that happen? Partly it's that I haven't had much to report lately, quilt-wise - I'm working on the swap blocks, and I went out of town one weekend so I didn't get to work on anything at all. Actually that's not entirely true - I took all the bits and pieces with me to start on the Day of the Dead quilt, and I sorted through stuff at my aunt's house, and I started a piece of embroidery. I had a piece of cyan-blue batik with swirls on it, and I started outlining swirls in reverse stitch, in heavy perle cotton (#5, to be exact). It looks cute, I should've taken a picture before now. The most entertaining part was trying to explain to my mother and my aunt and other assorted relatives about the Day of the Dead quilt. I don't think they quite got it.

Dia de los Muertos

Women of Juarez
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

The quilt above is tribute to Juarez murder victims, made by Sabrina Zarco and shown at IQF 2004.


So, I have had it in my head for a while to do something in a Day of the Dead theme. I'm really drawn to that style. I want to do something more or less in the vein of Sabrina Zarco's work - in this case that mostly means bright colors and lots of embellishment. I even went so far as to order stuff for it. (From the way-cool Manto Fev.)

But I hadn't really figured out what I was doing, specifically - not at all. For one thing, it makes me feel like a little bit of a fraud. I'm not hispanic, and even though in this part of Texas I'm around hispanic people and hispanic culture all the time, to one degree or another - and have been all my life - still, nobody I grew up with celebrated "Dia de los Muertos" - or if they did, they didn't talk about it much, anyway. It wasn't until I moved to Austin in the late 70s that I saw much of this style.

What I needed was a way to make this thing mine, and I think I've figured it out, at least partially. My grandmother - the last of my grandparents - died last month, at 92. It was hardly unexpected, since she had Alzheimer's and several other major health problems, but it made me think about incorporating my grandparents, all of them, into a quilt. I'm thinking now that this will probably involve pictures. It's something personal that's in keeping with the spirit of the thing.

(This seems to be the way I work - I have a bunch of disconnected ideas floating around my head, and every once in a while a couple of them bump into each other and make something new!)

Now I just have to find time to actually do it.