On Tuesday I went to a neighbor’s apartment for a private showing of her quilts. Little did I know what was in store for me. Deborah showed us 14 quilts she had designed and made and some other needleart of hers. First up was one of her earliest quilts, a crib quilt for a granddaughter made 20 years ago. (Click on the images to enlarge.)
In this detail, you can see the heart-print fabric and ribbon included in this quilt.
Below is the label on the back of the well-worn quilt.
Next came her entry in the Hoffman challenge, an annual event in which people are invited to submit textile art using a particular Hoffman print fabric.
Here’s the print with which Deb worked. She described it as hideous.
But after she had cut it up and pieced it in her own design, it looked like this.
In this detail you can see the hand stitching she added for texture and to modify the colors.
Here’s the label on the back of the challlenge quilt.
Next she showed us the H quilt she had made for granddaughter Hannah, whose favorite color is green. Notice the interlocking “Hs”. This is a double-bed size quilt. I could not get far enough away to photograph the whole quilt.
Then came this gorgeous full bed quilt made with neckties. When Deb’s sister’s husband died, he left a huge collection of neckties, which the widow wanted to use as a quilt. Never having made a quilt, she sought Deb’s advice but she simply couldn’t do it. Finally Deb, who had not wanted to take away this grief-work from her sister, delicately asked whether she would like Deb to make the quilt. Her sister said, “I thought you’d never ask!” To the 100+ neckties sent to Deb, she added some blue and blue star-printed material—all silk. And she found scores of poems about stars which she sent to her sister, who chose ones she most liked. Deb embroidered these poems as part of the border.
In this close-up of a corner of the quilt, you can recognize the tie silks.
The design is Deb’s.
Here’s one of the poems:
Each time the word “star” appeared, Deb highlighted it with metallic thread.
After that we saw another large bed quilt made in celebration of her grandson’s high school graduation. Like my own sons, he’s been sailing all his life. Because I had my camera on the wrong setting, I failed to get a picture of most of the quilt, but I can show you the central motif—an historically accurate representation of a sailing ship, worked after much research.
All the details of masts, sails, and rigging are correct. There were waves below and a starry sky above.
On the back of the quilt Deb had created two little sailboats to carry her words.
Here she credits the source of her image.
Also on the back of the quilt is a message in semaphore.
Each character was pieced.
One of Deb’s sons had a leaky fireplace—in winter it leaked heat out and in summer the heat leaked in. He asked Deb if she could create a quilt to use as a fire-screen. Here’s the summer fireplace quilt:
and here’s the winter fireplace quilt:
Since the edge of the fireplace is iron, Deb put magnets on the backs of the quilts. They hug the fireplace smoothly.
Here’s a detail of the fire, made with satiny shiny and metallic fabrics.
For the son who had no use for a quilt, Deb made this little pillow. She printed a photograph of his children on fabric, then used tiny straight stitches to outline some of their features, creating the illusion of three dimensions, In fact, the baby’s nose is actually dimensional.
Another pillow was made from a paper collage Deb created and photographed or scanned into her computer, then printed on fabric and stitched to outline.
Here’s the paper collage:
Here’s the pillow:
After Hannah’s mother died a few years ago, she asked her grandmother to make a quilt in her memory. Hannah had very definite specifications. She wanted the quilt to be exclusively red, black, and white. She had some concepts she wanted represented on one side and on the other side she wanted images of memories she treasured of her mother.
Deb rendered the concepts symbolically as a stylized flower.
On the other side of the quilt she created four images. This one is of Hannah’s mother dancing in the kitchen with Hannah in her arms. Deb’s finger is pointing to the tiaras worn by mother and daughter.
In this close-up you may be able to see the joyful expression on Hannah’s face and her mother’s high-heeled shoe she is wearing.
Another memory of playing with her mother, wearing the tiaras again.
Beneath are shoes, which both of them especially liked.
This image was based on a photograph of mother and daughter on a beach.
Hannah’s mother loved polar bears, so Hannah wanted one on the quilt. Deb added the cub, much to Hannah’s delight. The bears are a light-weight velvety velour, as best Deb and I can describe the fabric.
Four years after his wife’s death, Deb’s son asked her to create a quilt using his wife’s clothing, which he still possessed. He delivered several bags full of clothing for Deb to work with. She made this wall-hanging quilt:
The fabrics are embellished with buttons from the clothing, with other ornamentation from the clothing such as lace, with charms and pins of special meaning, and with beads and Swarovski crystals. Some details follow.
This shoe pin was one of several that Deb and her DIL exchanged with each other.
The image on the other side of the quilt was cut from the DIL’s t-shirt. A nurse, she admired midwives and this image celebrates midwifery. Although Deb didn’t intentionally do this, the concentric hearts design reflects back to the heart crib quilt at the beginning of this show.
Deb makes things other than quilts. For her bat mitzvah Hannah asked her grandmother to make her a prayer shawl, a talles. As with the memorial quilt, Hannah knew what she wanted on her talles—the Biblical story of Miriam, Moses’ sister, who saved his life. On one end of the shawl, Deb created the scene of Miriam placing the infant Moses in an ark among the bullrushes where the Egyptian princess bathed. The bullrushes are silk ribbons.
On the other end of the talles she created the scene of Miriam and other women singing, dancing, and rejoicing after the princess took Moses to be brought up in the palace.
A close-up of Miriam and another woman with the infant Moses in the bullrushes:
Over the mid-section of the shawl, Deb placed branches with buds on one side and full blossoms on the other. The bat mitzvah signifies that a girl has become a woman in the eyes of her community. Here are some buds:
Silk ribbon embroidery, I think.
And here is Hannah wearing her talles. Note the opened blossoms on her right.
That’s not all. Following is a shot of Deb’s husband, Dr. Phil London, wearing a shirt pieced by Deb.
And the artist herself, wearing a mob-cap made by her sister while her hair grows out following chemotherapy.
After the show, we enjoyed refreshments and good conversation.
What a delightful afternoon!
Dear JoWynn,
many thanks for sharing pictures of these great quilts. I wish I were there. Warm Greetings Elisabeth
Holy smokes!! What a gifted artist. Thank you SO much for sharing these. The older I get, the more I believe we just need to take care of ourselves and those we love; not save the world:-) Your friend Deb has done an outstanding job at sharing her love thru her work. Amazing.
absolutely amazing! the first one w the heart stole mine. i find the design very unique.
absolutely amazing! the first one w the heart stole mine. i found the design very unique.
Dear JoWynn
What a wonderful way in which to start my day! Those photographs were like visiting a Quilt Exhibition!
What an amazing array of artistic quilts and, of course, an array of skills by the artist.
A brave artist too…please thank her for allowing us all to share her wonderful quilts and also to wish her well in the future. May good health surround her for many years to come…
Jill
…absolutely breathtaking! i’ve been trying to choose a favourite. i’ts impossible. every creation is beautiful. please thank Jill for sharing her talent with us….and to think she is a neighbour of yours JoWynn. do you feel a sense of excitement to continue with your creations?….or are you contemplating other adventures? thankyou for sharing your life with me…the up’s and the down’s.
much love to Ernie and to your Self.
namaste.
Wow, what an artist.
That was a very impressive and inspiring show! Deb is a wonderful artist!