Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Crosses

I hope you are having a blessed Sunday. As Catholics we are watching with growing concern the destruction of Catholic churches and statues around the country. What happened to freedom of religion in the United States? This should be a worry for everyone, since burning one church means people can burn others. The anarchy in our country...I don't know quite what to say. But let's move on to today's SQI. I used crosses in SQI in 2014, but it seems apropos to cover it again with perhaps a few new pins. 

And a few quilts with crosses. These are a different style than in the 2014 post. 

 

Old wooden cross ~~ finished

Our church fair is coming up in just a few weeks. Richard and I try to do something extra to donate. This year we decided that he would make a cross from some cypress wood that he has in the shed and I would add a short Bible quote. First, the cross. 

I asked him to include as much of the character of the wood as possible. I love this piece. After he made the cross, sanded, and painted a clear-coat of varnish, he delivered it to me. 

I decided on the quote from Psalm 86:11, "Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth." 

It took several attempts, but eventually I got the foil adhesive cut and "weeded." Then came the difficult part: deciding on a layout for the quote. 

It's possible to choose a layout, put all the letters in, then realize that there's a problem. Thank goodness for cameras. I find more errors looking through the viewfinder than any other way. So back to the letters. I gently, carefully, slowly removed all five, keeping them in line and spaced correctly with a strip of tape that wanted to stick to everything. 

in the sun

in the shade

Then I took it outside to take pictures both in the sun and in the shade in the hopes that I might see any additional problems. I will go back and add "Psalm 86:11" in small letters. I just can't decide where it should go. Any suggestions?

Edited to note: I've added the quote text and decided it would go just below the end of the quote all the way to the right. And I like the finished product. Plus, thanks Anonymous for the tip: I've fixed the photo-loading problem. (I hope.) Every now and then Google just won't cooperate.

"Modern Crosses" Revisited

Over the summer Richard and I visited the Great Lakes region, traveling in our camper from one state or national park to the next. We planned to be gone three or four weeks, and I knew that would be much too long to go without sewing. 

So I decided to put together some quilt kits to sew when I'd have a bit of down time. We do have to rest, after all. One of the kits that I enjoyed was this modern bright cross quilt. 

By the time we returned home, the top was completed. That meant loading the quilt on the long-arm and having fun as soon as we returned. 

I quilted the negative space in lines, some echoing the shapes between the crosses, others just straight or diagonal. The crosses, though, got a special treatment: I quilted each color with a different motif. Pink has shells, green has pebbles, orange in scrolls, yellow in tiles, and so on. To keep track I had to write the motifs and colors down, but that was an easy fix. 

This one is perhaps one of my favorite quilts. I love the bright colors, the fun design and the quilting. Just for added interest, I extended the quilting colors on some of the crosses. The back is also very pretty since the thread colors create a muted design. 

Because I love this one so much, I decided to put it in the Bloggers Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side. You should run over to see the many (really very many) beautiful quilts and vote for your favorites. 
Happy Quilting!

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: Crosses

This weekend our church, Church of the Little Flower, held its annual church fair.  We generally raise money for several projects. We are very blessed that the community and people from many other places as well come to support us.

Since I've had our church and its needs on my mind all weekend, I thought I'd look to the cross for some inspiration.

And so now the cross quilts!

National Ornamental Metal Museum

A couple of weeks ago, while we were in Memphis, we took the grandchildren to a different kind of museum.  The only museum "devoted to the advancement of the art and craft of fine metalwork," the National Ornamental Metal Museum has a variety of classes, exhibitions, and an onsite fabrication facility.  

We enjoyed the fabrication building and spoke with students and artists for a few minutes, but the number of photos from the museum indicate that the museum exhibits were the hit of the visit.

There were three different exhibitions going on at once.  The first floor rooms held an interesting exhibit, titled "Adorning the Table" devoted to kitchen and table items.  Of course, these are pieces of art, not utilitarian pieces, but some of the pieces look quite real.  

 A second exhibit, "A Kind of Confession" is meant to highlight "conversation about American identity and aesthetics" (museum website).  Although my least favorite exhibit, my favorite single piece comes from this room.  

This piece is about the black servant dressing her mistress, but I can easily see it as a seamstress fitting a customer dress.  I also was very impressed with the mirror and took a second picture to so that I could get it into the photo.

 Part of the museum's permanent collection is displayed upstairs along with a final exhibition, called "Beauty in the Boundary: Gates, Grills, and Fences."  I love wrought iron work and found these pieces to be especially interesting--with hard lines softened in a variety of curves, scrolls, and even human shapes.

Also in this section are several crosses and other items.

I'll leave you with a few photos of artworks outside the building.  A word of caution should you ever visit the Metal Museum: noon on any day in July is not the ideal time to walk through the exhibit gardens.  Even parking oneself in the shade is a hot proposition.

For more photos from the Metal Museum go to my "worked, iron" board on Pinterest. 

Have you visited a museum of a different aesthetic?  Tell us a little about it in the comments....you know how we love comments!