I have been working away on the quilts for my Housetop Quilts gallery show in January. Here are the two I just finished up last night. All washed and blocked, ready to go. They probably wouldn’t need to be washed since they are small wall quilts, but I use the disappearing blue pen on them, and it must be rinsed out. And when I work on the quilts with all the kantha embroidery on them, it takes months and they do get quite dingy IMO. I have three more I am trying to finish, and then I need to stop and make sure all the little annoying details are taken care of, like inspecting the backs for stray threads, and making some labels for them.
This first one is more of the traditional style of housetop quilts:
I really like the hand stitching enhancement I did with just a few lines of perle cotton. It has the words to the verse from Joshua 1:9 on it: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
And this next quilt is, I believe, the only quilt with a non-Biblical quote on it. I love this quote so much. I saved the scrap of paper that it was originally written on for ten years in a drawer!
The quote is from John Donne, and says “Since I am coming to that holy room where with thy choir of saints evermore I shall be made thy music; as I come I tune the instrument here at the door, and what I must do then, think here before.”
This type of stitching takes me months to complete. But I love every stitch. My inspiration for the circles was the verse in Hebrews that says “You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the Living God…and to countless thousands of angels in joyful gathering.” Since it was a seascape (it is a piece of hand-painted fabric) I also thought about seashell shapes. Something between angels and seashells–you choose.
A close-up shot:
The Housetop Quilts will be exhibited in Folsom, California, in the Art and Soul Gallery at Oak Hills Church from January 6-February 10, 2013. I will be there on Sunday, January 27 for a reception from 1-3pm. I’d love to see you there if you happen to be in the area!
debby quilts 