Pick-up Game

A pick-up game in baseball, and in other sports as well, is an impromptu game of players that are there at the moment of play.  There can be some fairly random participants.  It is not a serious endeavor, rather, something played and enjoyed at that moment.  Really, just play.

Even though I posed this challenge, I had no idea of how I would approach it.  After weeks of mulling, going to my studio and tidying, which is my practice when I'm looking for inspiration.  As my husband tells me "Go play in your fabric".  It worked!

It occurred to me that I should approach this as I were to invent a game.  Taking only fabric from my scrap bin, I challenged myself to create a playful piece.

It was great fun.  A bit like a archeological dig, truth be told.  I uncovered bits large and small that I hardly recognized...old friends.  Some of my hand-dyed, some discharged, vintage, African, Australian Aboriginal designs, and Japanese.   All right there in the bin.  No wonder my granddaughter has such fun playing in it.

Playing with Scraps 18" x 27"

Holi Joe

Thanks Diane Wright for the "Play Time" challenge! What a nice way to wrap up our Viewpoints 9 cycle. My inspiration for this challenge is the colorful Indian festival of Holi, which is coming up on March 6th.



I have been "working on" a portrait of my Dad for over a decade. I have many times started and stopped and put various sketches on the back burner.  My previous attempts at a portrait revolved around this one black and white photo that was used on my Dad's funeral mass book (ask your Catholic friends what that is).
As I considered the Holi festival, I thought about playing, laughing and repairing relationships. So in in that spirit, I decided to "repair the relationship" between my memories of my Dad during his life and the associations I had with this one black and white photo. I lifted the pressure off myself to create a serious portrait and just had fun with it. This one uses every color EXCEPT black and white.
I loved the freedom I felt in creating this piece. Every time I added a new tie dyed piece of fabric to this portrait, the results were surprising and it made me smile. It still does. I look at my dad's face and it makes me happy. And it seems like a truer version of "Joe" as I remember him.

Technical details:
Finished size 18"x20"
Tie-dyed cotton fabrics, cut and layered then quilted using hand-guided machine stitching

We all dance around the sun

 We all dance around the sun 36"square

Thanks Diane, this has been a fun challenge on which to end this second round. I have been concentrating on printing fabrics with the plants and foliage I find in my local Australian environment so it seemed serendipity that when the challenge was announced, I had this gum and flowering wattle fabric waiting. I have added 9 colourful butterflies as representative of our members.

No matter which part of the world we live in, we all dance around the sun on planet earth.

Materials: cotton, wadding, threads, dye, textile ink, fusible
Techniques: Hand dyed and printed, machine applique, machine quilted.

Living Color

My inspiration for the "Play Time" challenge is the upcoming Indian festival of Holi.

Holi is celebrated at the approach of vernal equinox, on the full moon. The festival date varies every year, per the Hindu calendar (this year it will be March 6). Holi signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, a celebration of color and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forgive and repair relationships.

In India during Holi, people of all ages laugh, yell and run around like children at play. It is not unusual for kids to hide around a corner waiting for an unsuspecting stranger to walk by… so they can squirt them with water or throw fistfuls of colored powder on them.

By the end of the day, people are like human tie-dyes, covered head to toe in colorful splashes.

Play time

It's with a sense of achievement that I approach the end of the second round of challenges in Viewpoints 9. Having been given permission to play by Diane, I have been having a nice time, sitting in my air conditioned sewing studio, listening to an audio book and stitching on my quilt. I am well ahead of the deadline as I already had a hand printed fabric that worked well with my chosen idea.

This is a detail of my hand printed fabric that used flowering wattle, gum and grevillea.

Cutting binding strips to finish the quilt.
I love seeing the varied interpretations from the talented members of this group and I love grappling with the challenges. Here's to a wonderful 2015 with more to come.