Spools

art 

is life

life is art

every human being 

is an

artist

(Joseph Beuys)

Mariner's Compass

open the door

breathe

and go

Colors

colors

make a world

of difference

Woven Straps

this here

and that there

alright!

Garden

In my garden

I sit

listening

Patchwork

step by step

it's all

patchwork

Hay(na)ku

I'm on a trip to Berlin right now, so I will write about my other Literary Quilts later.

From here I can post pictures of small things and I'll add little Hay(na)kus.

A Hay(na)ku is a short poem.

If my research on the internet was correct, a Hay(na)ku is a tercet, consisting of three lines and six words, arranged like this: first line one word, second line two words, third line three words, or the other way round: first line three words and second line two, followed by one word in the third line. There are combinations and variations possible.

The Hay(na)ku was invented by the poet Eileen Tabios, and was officially inaugurated on the web on June 12th, 2003, the Philippine Independence day.

For me it's just fun to play with words in this way!

Literary Quilt: The Prince and the Pauper (by Mark Twain)

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/PrinceAndThePauper.jpg)

Some people say Mark Twain's novel "The Prince and the Pauper" is a novel for children - I'm not so sure. But it is a novel in which rich imagination is tightly connected with facts, and a moral: "... kings should go to school to their own laws, at times, and so learn mercy."

"Set in 1547, the novel tells the story of two young boys who are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper who lives with his abusive father in Offal Court off  Pudding Lane in London, and Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII of England. The novel begins with Tom Canty, an impoverished boy living with his abusive family in London. One day Tom Canty and Prince Edward, the son of King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, meet and as a jest, switch clothes." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince_and_the_Pauper)

In my quilt I tried to reflect some of this playfulness, unconventionality, as well as this thought : give mercy. 

Moreover I tried a combination of both worlds, the world of the Prince and the world of the Pauper. So I worked in a coin, a crown, a fancy ribbon as well as "ragged" cloth. (It's interesting: I tend to find the right things when I need them, I found all these little things, coins and such, just lying in my drawer, waiting to be used just NOW.) :-)

But what I like best in this story is that Mark Twain describes so beautifully what books can give to a child: Tom covers himself with stories like a boy who is cold would do with a blanket.

So I chose these lines from the novel to write on the quilt: 

"... so he put in a good deal of his time listening to Good Father Andrew's charming old tales and legends about giants and fairies, dwarfs and genii, and enchanted castles and gorgeous kings and princes ... he unleashed his imagination and soon forgot his aches and pains in delicious picturings to himself of the charmed life of a petted prince in a regal palace."

I printed the lines on little pieces of cloth, I wanted them to look like pages from old books read in the straw, in a shabby hut...

In an attempt to meet the abundance of imagination in the story I quilted the piece richly. 

The quilt is for hanging up on the wall, or, alternatively, for using it as a blanket, a plaid. (plaid = originally a scottish travel-blanket, often checked)

Literary Quilt: The Three Brothers (by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm)

The Three Brothers

THERE was once a man who had three sons, and nothing else in the world but the house in which he lived. Now each of the sons wished to have the house after his father's death; but the father loved them all alike, and did not know what to do; he did not wish to sell the house, because it had belonged to his forefathers, else he might have divided the money amongst them. At last a plan came into his head, and he said to his sons, "Go into the world, and try each of you to learn a trade, and, when you all come back, he who makes the best masterpiece shall have the house."
The sons were well content with this, and the eldest determined to be a blacksmith, the second a barber, and the third a fencing-master. They fixed a time when they should all come home again, and then each went his way.

It chanced that they all found skilful masters, who taught them their trades well. The blacksmith had to shoe the King's horses, and he thought to himself, "The house is mine, without doubt." The barber only shaved great people, and he too already looked upon the house as his own. The fencing-master got many a blow, but he only bit his lip, and let nothing vex him; "for," said he to himself, "If you are afraid of a blow, you'll never win the house."

When the appointed time had gone by, the three brothers came back home to their father; but they did not know how to find the best opportunity for showing their skill, so they sat down and consulted together. As they were sitting thus, all at once a hare came running across the field. "Ah, ha, just in time!" said the barber. So he took his basin and soap, and lathered away until the hare came up; then he soaped and shaved off the hare's whiskers whilst he was running at the top of his speed, and did not even cut his skin or injure a hair on his body. "Well done!" said the old man. "your brothers will have to exert themselves wonderfully, or the house will be yours."

Soon after, up came a nobleman in his coach, dashing along at full speed. "Now you shall see what I can do, father," said the blacksmith; so away he ran after the coach, took all four shoes off the feet of one of the horses whilst he was galloping, and put him on four new shoes without stopping him. "You are a fine fellow, and as clever as your brother," said his father; "I do not know to which I ought to give the house."

Then the third son said, "Father, let me have my turn, if you please;" and, as it was beginning to rain, he drew his sword, and flourished it backwards and forwards above his head so fast that not a drop fell upon him. It rained still harder and harder, till at last it came down in torrents; but he only flourished his sword faster and faster, and remained as dry as if he were sitting in a house. When his father saw this he was amazed, and said, "This is the master-piece, the house is yours!"

His brothers were satisfied with this, as was agreed beforehand; and, as they loved one another very much, they all three stayed together in the house, followed their trades, and, as they had learnt them so well and were so clever, they earned a great deal of money. Thus they lived together happily until they grew old; and at last, when one of them fell sick and died, the two others grieved so sorely about it that they also fell ill, and soon after died. And because they had been so clever, and had loved one another so much, they were all laid in the same grave.

(by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Household Tales, translated by Margaret Hunt, London: George Bell 1884, 2:148-150)

What I so much like about that fairytale is: no cruelty! Only an attempt to find a solution to a problem in mutual agreement. By searching for excellence and friendly competition. There are no losers or winners. The fruits of their labor are for the benefit of them all.

This is the line from the fairytale I worked into the quilt:

"Go into the world and try each of you to learn a trade." 

(photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg, www.alaude.de )

Here is another picture of my quilt, I like how the sun played with it!

Literary Quilt: Robinson Crusoe (by Daniel Defoe)

http://writer.germanblogs.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/robinson-crusoe-von-daniel-defoe.jpg

This quilt tries to capture the mood Robinson Crusoe was in after he was able to make the inhospitable island his home.

Crusoe no longer viewed himself as a passive victim but built a residence on the island and provided himself with good food.

Thus for him island life - for a certain period of time- was no longer only a disastrous situation he had to suffer through, but more and more a source of enjoyment and pleasure.

(photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg, www.alaude.de )

Robinson Crusoe had not yet discovered the famous single footprint in the sand, Friday was still to arrive in his world. So such a footprint is not to be found on my quilt.

I tried to capture his mood of joyful solitary life on the tropical island, the fascination of discovering new exotic fruit, animals, landscapes.

The words I printed on small wooden pieces read:

"I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition." and

"...This gave me sometimes such secret comforts that I cannot express them."

(quotations from the novel)

The small green sack cloth bags at the bottom of my quilt are an invitation to collect some exotic things and keep them there: maybe a mussel or a feather or a pebble which is found on a lonely path in our world.

Literary Quilt: The Color Purple (by Alice Walker)

(http://soul14pages.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/the-color-purple-alice-walker.jpg)

(photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg, www.alaude.de  I love that picture, thank you, Arndt!)

"Sure, she was the poor girl who everyone called ugly and who had such a hard life, but there is something inside of Celie that you can really admire", said actress Jeanette Bayardelle in an interview with the Chicago Sun Times. She played Celie in the Chicago production of the musical "The Color Purple" which started in May 2007.

When I was working on the quilt I was thinking about what made Celie so strong ... and I came to the conclusion that she always tried to find such a "color purple in a field".  Only the singer Shug Avery made that perfectly clear to her and was able to put it into so fine words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbQ-cyGFE5o

Therefore I stitched the following quotation from the novel into the quilt: 

"I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it..."

I wrote that in a "shy" way to mirror that process: we have to look very closely and intently to discover "a color purple in a field", and when we found something like this it is important to honor that it's there. 

great music, great dancers here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smVSP7jS470&feature=related

(photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg, www.alaude.de )

Literary Quilt: The Remains of the Day (by Kazuo Ishiguro)

http://www.weltbild.de/media/ab/1/011/814/011.814.356.jpg

It is rather disturbing to think about a different life while seemingly all is settled, isn't it?

Especially when you realize that you are getting older; decisions have been made, perspectives for the future are clear, nothing is up for discussion. Nothing new in sight.

To think of a different life can be looked upon as absolutely childish. You start to play with the basics again. You spell words in a new way. You give words different meanings.

What I learned from this wonderful novel is: Maybe it is necessary from time to time to ask questions. Would I rather live a different life? What are my wishes?

(photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg, www.alaude.de )

I made this quilt to encourage myself and everyone else to not be afraid to ask questions. To think and feel and act like a child. To try things out. To move. So that I don't regret anything in the end. Life is wonderful. I don't wish to waste one day. 

I love that book!!

And the movie! With Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, a dream team. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1_5yToFwxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdJmQBhG_7o&NR=1

"And you get to thinking about a different life." (quotation from the novel)

Flying Geese

My Bird

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

(music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg)

Here is Judy Garland singing this song in the movie "The Wizard Of Oz" from 1939:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HRa4X07jdE&feature=related

I have so wonderful friends who inspired me to do all this here. Thank you!

Literary Quilt: The Isabel Fish (by Julie Orringer)

(photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg, www.alaude.de )

You can find Julie Orringer's story "The Isabel Fish" in her collection "How To Breathe Underwater". Nick Hornby wrote: " 'How To Breathe Underwater' is an outstanding collection of stories." (in: "The Complete Polysyllabic Spree" by Nick Hornby).

(picture from www.greenlightbookstore.com/ book/9781400034369)

I immediately fell in love with Maddy, the 14-year-old girl who nearly drowned in a pond after a car accident. Despite her panic attacks she now learns scuba - diving because she hopes to go to the Virgin Islands and watch the fish and coral reefs underwater there: watching and examining the underwater world is her passion.

The story descibes the victory of love, passion and stamina over desaster and fear.

Maddy learns scuba-diving in a YMCA-swimming-pool, that's why my quilt has this inner part with "tiles". But the fascination lies in the deepness and freshness of water, just running and flowing its own ways.

The line I worked in is a quotation, it reads: "Tonight, for the first time, I'll begin to know what my fish have known all their lives: how to breathe underwater."

Nice Little Things

Literary Quilt: Where The Wild Things Are (by Maurice Sendak)

The illustrations in this picture book are marvelous, so marvelous that I had to find a completely different approach to take up the main ideas of this beautiful story.

(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl84R0lYVj6VO4gaUpDQwG76zLUoyiciHZBhhC30VqJaozPS0BW-4HGYHDCZCwRklOC44CohSpXriqnsqOA2_C_LWcByufrL_V_-kuXrTkX7hKTBKHjDtNHJ-tx7w8m79ncUqbZmG0UzHr/s1600/Where-The-Wild-Things-Are.jpg)

In the middle of my quilt I fixed the crown of the boy - a phantasy-crown, uneven, strange.

The crown and the scepter are the essential tools the boy needs to keep the fascinating Wild Things at bay: he must be the king, who looks straight into the eyes of the evil creatures. He likes to play wild games with the them, but luckily he is not willing to be eaten up by them.

The "scepter" is constructed like a boy might have done it when playing with some wooden building blocks. It can be removed and any kid can play with it.

On my quilt the "Wild Things" are represented by five pairs of eyes. The observer probably has to search for them since they are partly hidden behind the thick leaves.

I arranged the eyes of the "Wild Things" in a way that shows that Max, the boy in this story, is able to put them in their place. I also added some pieces that may underscore the wildness of these "Things": a sharp green jade tooth, some sharp pieces of glass for example.

Furthermore I worked in five single squares, meant to be a counterweight to the "Wild Things". These squares show some playfulness and good humor, something the boy could develop in his life at home probably. The borders and the checked table cloth, which makes the outer border and the back of the quilt, show that the boy actually has a secure and warm place to return to.

"Und er segelte zurück, 

fast ein ganzes Jahr 

und viele Wochen lang und noch einen Tag

bis in sein Zimmer, wo es Nacht war

und das Essen auf ihn wartete,

und es war noch warm."

(last photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg, www.alaude.de )

Literary Quilts

With a Literary Quilt I try to visualize what I see in a book.

For me a Literary Quilt is a daily reminiscence of a friend.

Because a book I love is my friend for life.

Over the next weeks I will talk about some of my Literary Quilts.

Sometimes I give a Literary Quilt to someone who loves that piece. Perhaps you read in my first post "My Lupine Studio: Welcome!" how I handle that : He / she then decides what to give me back in return. My "Lupine" is about exchanging gifts. So I don't have a price list.

I also love to work with persons who would like to design their own Literary Quilt on a book they love. I can try to do that online, too. Or: I'd be happy to learn that someone just starts to work on a Literary Quilt, just because this post here served as an inspiration!

"Everybody's got a fairyland of their own." Mary Poppins (by P. L. Travers)

This is a photograph by Arndt Laude, Hamburg (www.alaude.de):

A Short History Of Quilts

Sometimes people ask me: "What exactly is a quilt?" 
Well, I found it difficult to answer this question so quickly. There are so many interesting things to know about quilts! So I began to write something down. I am grateful to my sister Hildegard who patiently edited this, because her English is so much better than mine!!!
If you like, here is for you to read:

    A Short  History  of Quilts

Well, what exactly is a quilt?

Quilts are usually known as bedcovers, but you can also find quilted wallhangings, cushions, placemats, clothes and bags for example.

The quilted bedcovers in particular are generally associated with feelings like warmth, love, friendship, trust, hope. These bedcovers are made to protect the loved ones when they are most vulnerable. In former times they were also often the only pieces of decoration in a home. Since these quilts were usually crafted by a circle of friends, neighbors or family members, then dedicated to friends and family members and passed on from generation to generation, these carefully designed and crafted bed-quilts were treasured as a memory of everyone who had worked on it or had used it in maybe hard and dangerous times.

Originally a quilt was more a sleeping bag. A quilt by definition is a "sandwich", consisting of a top layer of fabrics, sewed together with a backing layer and batting material which goes between the top and the backing. In the past, every imaginable material was used for that purpose, from corn husks to straw and raw cotton or old blankets. Quilting-stitches then beautified the object and kept the batting from shifting or becoming lumpy from use.

Historical sources mention quilts from 16th century England, but as far as I know there are no items left from that time. From what I learned from experts I can say that the first quilts which have survived until today are bed coverlets from the 17th century showing some embroidery. 

Pieced (so called "patchwork") and appliqué quilts were not very common in England before the second half of the 18th century.

The earliest pieced quilts not used as bed covers, however, date from India (6th-9th century) and from the Middle Ages in Europe (banners, clothes).

Presumably the typical pieced and stitched quilts came to England from India, Persia and China in the 17th century along with the beautifully painted Indian cotton. The typical piecing design was a central medaillon with four related corners, flower motifs and wide borders. A typical ancient Indian motif is the "tree of life", but regularly arranged design elements were also frequent.

The stitching itself was done in three different ways: 

- diagonal rows,

- following the outline of the main pattern,

- following an independent pattern.

Since the 17th century, the material of choice was cotton because it could be easily worked with, it was colorful, durable and washable. Cottons were affordable, the block style arrangement was a rational way to go. Leftovers were collected and stitched together. Gradually more sophisticated designs developed. White cotton was used to achieve a more aesthetic effect.

Towards the end of the 18th century printed fabrics came into use in England and roller printing allowed an increase of production.  Prices were reduced, cotton was more widely available which encouraged quilters to try out something new, to experiment with designs, motifs and patterns.

Around 1870 the sewing machine was invented and allowed to manufacture larger overall designs, squares, borders, the log-cabin-block and also the "crazy quilt", the ultimate in style but hardly a functional cloth. From now on a person who created a quilt also followed artistic goals.

The process of piecing, sewing and quilting a bedcover was no longer only a work of a circle of friends or family members to meet family needs; more and more quilts were made to also reflect the love and creativity of the individual artist who made it: quilts became selfportraits. Sometimes this was also an emancipatory act. Women leading a hard life of working on a farm and at home showed with their beautifully crafted quilts their knowledge, ideas, dreams, courage, perfect control, nurture, sensibility, creativity, introspection and action, an unbreakable will.

This is true for example for the famous American Amish women who created quilts in a stunning special design with unprinted cotton fabrics. Their characteristics are the special naive choice of bright, rich, contrasting colours and the delicate quilting designs which gave these Amish quilts an aura of intensity. Typical design motifs for piecing are for example the Center Diamond, Bars, the Star in some variations, Four- and Nine-patch designs, Sunshine- and- Shadow-designs, the Log Cabin, squares in the center and in the corners as well as wide, sometimes multiple borders. 

For the quilting process Amish women often used circles, fruit and plant motifs. Since Amish women were not allowed to show pride in individual creative expression because of the beliefs and the religious rules of their close-knit community, the relatively inconspicuous quilting was the tolerated opportunity to show inspiration and unconventional thinking. 

The Amish had immigrated from Europe during the 18th and 19th century, mainly from Germany, and settled in Pennsylvania first and later also in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri. Amish women learned quilting in the New World from their neighbors whom they called "The English", then gradually developed their own style which mirrors certain elements of their way of living. Some people think that the extensive use of borders in the Amish quilt work represents the boundaries Amish people placed on their own lives: obedience, humility and simplicity and also resignation to God‘s will were expected from each member of the community so that a quiet contentment, "Gelassenheit und Ordnung", could arise in the community as well as in the soul and heart of each individual.

"Amish quilts are masterpieces created by deranged angels." (Jonathan Holstein, Whitney Museum of American Art)

A similar popularity and public acknowledgement have recently been achieved by the quilts of African American women. Their ancestors, most of them working in the fields, in the garden and doing household chores during slavery, like the Amish women were rooted in a strong community with the church as the center of their everyday life. But in contrast to the Amish women most African American women had an important additional source to feed their creativity: music. Many famous African American quilters, male or female, were also very good musicians and singers of spirituals for example. Their quilts also illustrate their musicality : harmonies, contrasts, rhythm, repetition, improvisation, variation on a theme..."Do it as you feel." Therefore African American quilts often show freehand quilting, lively irregularities, the embrace of imperfection and spontaneity. 

 "How I start to make a quilt, all I do is start sewing, quilting, and it just comes to me....No pattern. I usually don‘t use a pattern, only my mind." (Lorraine Pettway, African American quilter) So typical African American motifs are called "checkerboard variation" or "improvisational strips" or "crazies". There are two types of African American Quilts: the bold geometric design in vivid colors or the story quilts. The use of crosses and diamonds in both types, imagined as providing protection by the representation of the four directions of life (birth, life, death, rebirth) , shows that these quilts - like all quilts - are made and used in order to provide warmth and security for the loved ones.

"When I was a child growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Grandmomma could not afford a blanket, she didn’t complain, and we did not freeze. Instead she took pieces of old cloth-patches – wool, silk, gaberdeen, crockersack – only patches, barely good enough to wipe off your shoes with. But they didn’t stay that way very long. With sturdy hands and a strong cord, she sewed them together into a quilt, a thing of beauty and power and culture." (Jesse Jackson, speech to the Democratic Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 19, 1988)

These special elements of historical quilt-art are still being used by quilters all over the world, sometimes in regional or individual variations . In addition a quilt can now be designed as a piece of modern art, as a painting in fabrics so to speak. 

The art of quilting and the acknowledgement of a quilt as a work of art have widely been (re)discovered since Jonathan Holstein and others curated the famously acclaimed quilt exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1971.

On that occasion David Shapiro wrote: "Here is a spirit in answer to Rimbaud‘s almost naughty call for women to be poets. They already were."

(The pictures show examples of my work. And: I found much useful information in this book: Patsy and Myron Orlofsky, Quilts in America, Abbeville Press Publishers, 1992)