Out of the Blue

Once I came up with the final concept for this quilt, I struggled with the decision to share the meaning behind it.  If you've been following my blog you'll know this is 'Plan B', but as I worked on it, a reoccurring theme kept coming up.  As I researched the text covering this quilt, which relates to all things blue, from the various colour names to facts about the colour blue, one theme kept coming to the forefront...that of depression.  And so I decided to embrace it and really focus on what that means to me.

As such the quilt, like depression, is messy.  It doesn't have square edges and it doesn't lie flat.  The text itself is depicted as sort of a 'blah, blah, blah' droning on in an endless, flat fashion.  In the midst of the quilt is a deep, black hole, and from it there are lots of people struggling to escape...Out of the Blue.  Those numbers are important, because although depression is a dark and lonely place, the prevalence of people suffering depression is staggering.  And, while you are in that deep, dark place, you are unable to see that you are not alone, in large part because of the silence that still surrounds this disorder.  The quilt hangs from a rough piece of driftwood that has somewhat harsh, broken ends.

So, yes...I'm putting it out there.  To quote a friend, I'm putting on my big girl panties and I sharing this art quilt and the meaning behind it because the message needs to be shared.  As Clara Hughes says as the spokesperson for Bell's National campaign, LET'S TALK!

I've included a bit of information from the Depression Hurts website:

During their lifetime about 1 in 10 people in Canada will experience an episode of major depressive disorder (the diagnosis given to those suffering from depression) ⁵ 

Unfortunately many people, unaware of how common depression is, avoid seeking treatment because they worry what others will think of them. They feel like they’re the only ones. Depression is in fact a widespread medical condition:^6,7

• Depression is among the leading causes of disability worldwide⁶

I Need A Plan 'B'...

after

A few days ago I posted about an experiment I was trying based on something I had read online over a year ago.  Well, unfortunately either I am not remembering things correctly or I'm just unlucky. 

This is the piece I've been working on and after hours of piecing and wrestling with grass trimmer plastic to do the free motion quilting, it was supposed to shrink!  The small sample piece of wool that I tested shrank, but this piece, which is entirely backed in the same wool, unfortunately did not get the memo!  I used the sanitize cycle on my washer and the hottest setting on the dryer...You can be sure that if they were a pair of pants or a favourite sweater they'd now fit a Barbie, but sadly when I wanted, even needed, this to shrink considerably...nothing!  

I guess I can be happy that at least the dyeing process worked as I had planned.  If you compare the before and after images you can see that the after image, while still having a pleasing variations to the different shades of blue, has a more cohesive look to the colour.  But, instead of having a really interesting textural piece, I have a rather boring blue quilt...certainly not the 'fibre art' I was shooting for!

before

And so, I need to figure out a plan 'B'.  I have no idea where I will go from here...

What do you do with a very boring blue 'quilt' with funny plastic strips running through it?  I'll have to ponder this for a while and get back to you...

...'sigh'  

Forced Break...

I've been working on a monochromatic piece for our next GOE challenge and I'm at the machine quilting stage.  I went down to the kitchen to get a coffee, which I had planned to sip on while quilting, but when I returned to the studio I saw that Arbour, our cat, had other ideas. Obviously I couldn't quilt with her there, and I hated to disturb the spoiled brat... so I enjoyed a bit of a coffee break, checked my email, and just relaxed for a while before getting back to my quilting.  I did have to move her though because if left alone she would have likely slept there all day.

Arbour seems to have 'new bed' radar.  Any time there is anything new, whether it's in my studio or else where in the house (i.e., a freshly washed towel that hasn't been put away yet, or a new shirt my husband bought and left on the newel post to remind him to take it upstairs, etc.), if she perceives it to be comfortable  it becomes her new favourite sleeping place until it is moved or something newer shows up to replace it!

My husband Bill has been recently pointing out just how close the words pets and pest are...  (see my final comment in this previous post LOL)