Hasu

Hasu means lotus in Japanese.
As I said in an earlier post, this project underwent many transformations but the lotus remained a constant focus all the way through. When Gerrie gave us this theme of "Metamorphosis", I first thought of Kafka and Ovid, for obvious reasons, and also of Buddhism because impermanence is one of the main features of life in Buddhist thinking.
Lotus being a very important symbol in Buddhism, I quickly found myself going through my photo folders looking for images of lotus. I chose a few pictures taken in Kyoto and Arashiyama during my last trip to Japan.
With this quilt, I wanted to show the beauty of the lotus plant with its roots in the mud and its ephemeral flowers almost open and rising towards the sunlight.
Here are a few details...
Next is one of my source photos. It was taken in Kyoto in summer 2010.
There are so many amazing things to say about the lotus. Do you know that all parts of the plant are considered as edible in Asia? And have you heard about the lotus effect?
I could easily see a lotus-based series in my quilting future. I haven't used the roots (mmm... delicious!), the open flowers (gorgeous), nor the seed heads (so graphic) in this quilt. So much more to explore.
In the meantime, I am off to the Twelve by Twelve blog to see what the other members of the group have done!

Chicons au gratin

This is what we had for dinner today. A typical Belgian dish, easy to prepare, delicious in winter. (Yes, it is still freezing cold!)
While the chicons (Belgian endives) are slowly cooking, prepare a béchamel sauce (butter, flour, milk, salt, white pepper, nutmeg), add a little grated cheese.
Roll each cooked endive in a small ham slice.
Arrange the rolls in a baking dish, top with the sauce, add more cheese.
And bake for about 15-20 minutes. Et voilà!

Bon appétit!

My metamorphosis quilt is ready. Hopefully, there will a little sun tomorrow and I'll be able to take the pictures.

I can't wait to see the other Twelves' quilts on Sunday (Feb 12th).

I'm quilting

It isn't finished yet, but it's coming along nicely.
Just in case you're wondering what happened to my poor dandelion quilt, here's a picture I took just before I threw it away. ;-)
And this was another metamorphosis attempt... after the dandelion idea and before the option I finally decided to follow...

Whitework and colourful quilting

It's been cold here, very cold.
Yesterday we finally got our first real snow of the year. And this morning, I took a few pictures through the window...Spider whitework... very pretty...
a close-up...
Back to my "Metamorphosis" quilt for the new Twelve by Twelve challenge...
I must say that my project had to undergo several major metamorphoses in the course of the last days!
The idea of transforming the dandelion quilt into a lotus quilt was rather nice but I had to admit that it wasn't working at all. So, I decided to change gears and direction.
I finished piecing the quilt top yesterday.
Here are some fabric leftovers...
A little peek at the quilt...
and another one...
I've just started with the quilting. I had to go out to buy some green thread. I walked to the shop... Brrrrr....

From dandelion to lotus

I took a few pictures before cutting up my dandelion quilt.
I made a very quick sketch inspired by lotus pictures taken in Japan in summer 2010. As you know, the lotus flower is an important symbol in Buddhism.
With this sketch, I just wanted to get a rough idea of the colour distribution on the new quilt. I'm even not completely sure yet of all the colours I will use, and I also want my design to get much more abstract than this.
But now, I know how to cut up the dandelion, and I'm going to do it as soon as I'm finished with this post.
Then I plan to build my piece rather freely on the design wall. I want to get away from my landscape quilts where I had to follow my sketches closely and measure almost every piece of fabric.
As a little recreation, I couldn't resist playing a few minutes on the computer with my source picture. I saved these two versions. I don't plan to use them for this quilt but they might prove useful for another one.

Back to quilting

Carla Sonheim's class is over. I had so much fun. I definitely need to keep this habit of drawing a little everyday.
Here's a picture of my desk yesterday night just before I cleaned it up...
And here's the little guy of the other day. I think he became a little gal in the meantime.
Now it's really time to start working on my Metamorphosis quilt. The deadline is February 12th!

Did you see the last exciting news about Twelve by Twelve? You didn't? Look here then. A 6-page article in Quilting Arts magazine. Nice, isn't it?
There's also an article about us in Patchwork- und Quiltjournal, and yes, it's official, I am a cover girl. ;-)
Ok, enough boasting for today! I am off to my studio now to try and cut up that rejected dandelion quilt.

Two more creatures

An imaginary creature in watercolour and pencil,and a quick scribble of my beautiful boy...
Yes, we also draw real creatures in Carla Sonheim's class. :-)