Mermaid's Treasure

This beautiful deep sea nymph sits atop an altered cigar box, amid just a few of her favorite things.  A Chinese lantern, coins, gears from a ship long forgotten, a bejeweled cross and shells which she painstakingly collected off the coast of Trinidad.  Jeweled sea anemone adorn the walls of her sanctuary, while fish and sea horses glide by.    

The box measures 7x7x2 inches, the clasp and hinges are the original hardware. Golden acrylic paints were used to paint the box and Golden's molding paste for the stenciled shells along the sides.  Sea weed and broken nets are interpreted by hand-dyed cheese cloth in turquoise and green which cling to the bottom and run along the sides.  It is then further embellished with Golden's gold mica and garnet flakes.  

The piece is signed and ready to be put in the mail today.

Enjoy!

Mud Flat

Growing up in Trinidad, summer vacations meant endless hours of almost uninterrupted reading, the Mayaro beach house and visits to places of interest, e.g. the Pitch Lake and/or the Caroni Swamp; because you knew when you returned to school, you would have to write that dreaded essay, How I Spent My Summer Vacation.  One of my favorite places to visit was and still is, the Caroni Swamp.  Sure it’s buggy, muggy, dense but so fascinating and teaming with life.  The Caroni Swamp is the meeting of the Caroni River and the Gulf of Paria and home to Trinidad's national bird, the Scarlet Ibis.  This area is a maze of saline mangrove channels which often form small lakes, islands and mud flats, the evening feeding grounds for the Scarlet Ibis.

This piece which measures 10.75"x8.75" is named Mud Flat

 

I decided not to bind this quilt but to face it, as I wanted the design to flow all the way to the edge.   It’s dense, organic, flowing.  The colors are reminiscent of the mangrove, the crabs and other life forms that dwell in this wetland.  Silk rovings, burlap, hand dyed cheesecloth, yarn, rayon and metallic threads, sea shells and beads are all on this needle felted wall hanging.  There is a sleeve on the back where a dowel can be inserted and it is ready to be hung.

Enjoy. 

Cool Caribbean Lime

The last days of May in Plantation Florida were just perfect.  And what do you do on perfect days in South Florida, why, you dye fabric.  I was able to dye just four yards before the wind picked-up and forced me and my bottles of dye back indoors.     

I used 100% PFD (prepare for dyeing) cotton and Procion MX dyes.  I chose a limited palette of five colors, lemon yellow, magenta, turquoise, bright green and amethyst.  In my last attempt to dye fabric, I used way too many colors and so the result was somewhat muddy.  

I like the results I got this time.  Dyeing fabric is part technique and part magic.  The magic occurs during the curing period, as color migrates across the cotton fibers, the longer it cures, the greater the migration and the result is more intense colors and surprising designs.  This particular dye lot cured for twenty-four hours, washed in hot water and Synthrapol, photographed and ironed.

  I love the rich, vibrant colors, they remind me of Boccoo Reef, Tobago.  Enjoy!

First Encounters

Quilts are such beautiful things.  It is unusual to find quilts in the twin island states of Trinidad and Tobago where I grew up.

Our neighbor married an English woman and one afternoon while my mom and aunts were discussing their sewing projects over a cup of tea, Suzie brought over her quilt.  There was great excitement, as I don't believe we had ever seen a quilt in progress.  She was making the quilt for the coming baby's room.

Years later, when I married my husband and moved to Detroit MI, we visited the Detroit Museum of Art and there I saw for the first time, the most breathtaking Japanese art quilts.  The beauty of the silks, the attention to detail, the perfect stitches, made your heart stop.

Since that time to now, I have seen hundreds of quilts; at quilt shows, quilt shops,  hanging on laundry lines in back yards and museums all across America and it is important to remember, that whether the quilts are hung on a wall as art to be admired, covers a bed, cradles a child or comforts a woman/man, it is a thing of beauty.  It was made with care and thought, strength and determination.  It is the quilt maker's gift to the world.