"A Day of Hope" by Donna Hussain

A Day of Hope, A Quilt on Voting and Iraqi Women
by Donna Hussain

My quilt, A Day of Hope, pays homage to the women of Iraq who walked long distances to polling stations on January 30, 2005 to vote for a Transitional National Assembly, the first step in the democratization of their country after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The women then spent hours waiting in line to cast their ballots. In spite of the danger of suicide bombings and mortar strikes to disrupt the voting, Election Day was a day of celebration for Iraqi women. They had gained the right to vote and a promise that twenty-five percent of the Assembly seats would be filled by female candidates under the electoral system of proportional representation. Women were filled with hope that the election would lead to a future of peace and stability.

Sadly, the Transitional National Assembly failed in its attempt to establish a government acceptable to all factions in Iraq. Iraqis still live with violence and chaos, their dreams of peace blown to smithereens. However, the women and their Election Day hopes should be remembered. Perhaps embers of that hope still kindle in their souls. I sewed A Day of Hope to support this hope and to honor the women for their bravery, spirit, tenacity, and endurance.

My quilt depicts the women standing in line waiting to vote at the polls. (Males had separate voting lines.) Their faces are from photographs of Election Day that were printed in the newspaper. I scanned the cutout faces into my computer, then printed them on fabric that was ironed onto the waxy side of freezer paper.

Women in Line, Detail of "A Day of Hope"

For their clothing, I draped the women in three-dimensional shawls, black abayas, and burkas. Groups of Iraqi women usually have babies in their arms or children at their sides. On Election Day, however, they left the children at home given the threat of terrorism. I had a long internal debate whether the quilt was self-explanatory or needed a sign to explain the story line to viewers. If a sign had been posted at the polls it would have been written in Arabic. For the benefit of quilt viewers I chose an English sign instead: Women, Line Up Here To Vote.

The most challenging part of making A Day of Hope was the patchwork wall mosaic behind the women. The pattern of the mosaic was drawn from a book of Islamic geometric patterns. The problem was to figure out an easy way to sew the design.

After study, I determined that the pattern consists of three quilt blocks: a solid square, a block with an X, and a connecting block.

Three quilt blocks

The basic pattern is two rows of blocks. Row 1 has alternating X blocks and connecting blocks. Row 2 has alternating solid blocks and connecting blocks. Note that the connecting blocks in Row 1 have vertical deign elements. In Row 2 the connecting blocks are turned so that the design is horizontal.

Mosaic pattern

I always try to find easy ways to sew blocks. My solution for the X block is as follows:

• Draw an X block on paper the size of your choice.
• Cut a plastic template the size of your X block drawing. Place the template over the drawing and mark the center square on the plastic.
• Sew a patchwork block with a simple cross. The center square should be the same size as the center of your template. Measure your drawn X block from corner to opposite corner (for example, six inches) Each side of your patchwork cross block needs to be that size. (six inches square).
• The final step is to lay your plastic template on the sewn cross block as illustrated. Use your rotary cutter to cut along the sides of your template.

Making the X block

After sewing together the blocks of my mosaic design I used gold trim to outline and accentuate the patchwork patterns. The trim adds to the complexity of the mosaic design, creating a pattern of its own.

Trim pattern

Quilt trim

Once the mosaic was completed, I made the arch that frames the mosaic. I drew the arch with a compass on freezer paper, then cut out the center to create an arch pattern for the quilt. (Refer to my Bismillah: The Making of an Islamic Quilt post for detailed instructions on making and using arch patterns.) Arches

Then I ironed the waxy side of the pattern onto background fabric so I could mark the shape of the arch on the fabric. Unfortunately the gold fabric I wanted to use was purchased for a previous project. There was very little left so I had to piece small leftover sections together, a task that was complicated by the vertical stripes in the gold design. I always seem to have problems like this when I quilt. I start the sewing with a rough idea, but make most sewing decisions, like color and scale, on the fly. If only I planned ahead……

To complete the quilt, I added a patchwork frame to the arch, appliquéd the women figures to the bottom of the quilt, and sewed on borders.

Quilt arch

For the quilt back I used a light tan-gold fabric that unfortunately showed my machine quilting stitches to a disadvantage. To cover my double stitching and hide thread knots I sewed little gold beads, seemingly at random, on the back. I didn’t expect to fool the judges, but thought they might not make the effort to find mistakes to criticize. To my surprise one judge wrote, “How nice to find decorative beads on the back.”

A Day of Hope has been very well received. It has been accepted in a number of juried national quilt shows, including the International Quilt Festival in Houston, the AQS show in Paducah, KY, the Pacific International show in California, and received an Honorable Mention at the National Quilt Extravaganza XIV in Harrisburg, PA.

The quilting compliment I cherish most came from my high school English teacher, now in his eighties, whose wonderful paintings have political messages. After I sent him a photo of A Day of Hope he wrote that he was so inspired that he has taken his easel out of storage and is painting again.

California quilter, Donna Hussain, has exhibited in major quilt shows around the country, authored books, and is a regular contributor to Fiber Focus. Click on her name to see all of her past articles.

The photo shows Donna with her husband, Pascha.

"A Day of Hope" by Donna Hussain

Paradise Found: A Mola Quilt by Rayela Art

Paradise Found, a mola quilt by Rayela Art

For years and years, I have been promising my friend Diane that I would make her a quilt. Guilt has plagued me as for those same years and years as Diane has been one of those friends who walks the talk. She has consistently given support in the form of advice (as a chemist, Diane is a well of knowledge in all household and textile care tips), as a customer, as a knitter (I have benefited as the recipient of wonderful woolen goodies), as a book pusher (many of my favorite authors came through Diane's guidance), and much, much more.

Diane, AKA The Yin-Yang Knitter here on the blog
and DLouse on our Fiber Focus group.

Last April, Diane came down from Wisconsin to help me with my booth during the Quilt Show here in Paducah. I had just purchased a bunch of molas to sell on Etsy and we decided that I would finally make true on my promise of a quilt, using bird molas as the basic theme. Our booth was next to Bob (also a Fiber Focus member) and Helene's, who were selling fabric. Diane scoured through and picked a selection that she liked:

Aaargh! For all that we do have in common, our color palettes are not one of them. I prefer earthy, more subdued colors, while Diane's favorite color is bright yellow. However, I admit that her choices work well with the bright colors the Kuna Indians like to use in their molas. For months, the fabric sat in a pile- I just couldn't see what to do with it. Then, leafing through a quilting book I have, New Cuts for New Quilts by Karla Alexander, I saw what I could do.

The book shows different techniques for "stacking the deck", where layers of fabric are stacked and then cut in free form. Rotate the layers and you get repeat blocks, but with different fabrics. The quilt is very busy, so it may be hard to see the blocks, but the center is made of big, bold leaf designs, alternating the flaming oranges with lighter fabrics. The border on the top and bottom is another set of stacked decks and the sides alternate larger molas with forest greens. Perhaps some symbolism can be read into the reds and greens, referring to the destruction of our forests around the world and the hope that this paradise may somehow continue to exist.

Small molitas are appliqued throughout the center with large leaves protruding from behind them. The larger molas on the sides were sewn into the quilt as part of the piecing.

The quilt looks a lot better "live" than it does in the photos. Some close ups will help show the details.

Border Medium Size Molas:






Small Molitas with Big Leaves Appliqued in the Middle:




The Back of the Quilt
I like to bring elements of the front to the back of the quilt. In fact, I really like the simplicity this brings and often prefer my backs to the tops I've made. Most of the quilts I've made have been for other people so their tastes or designs have been dominant over what I would prefer to do. I long to play more with these ideas.
I also like the prairie points that go around the border of the quilt.

There was absolutely no way that I would be able to quilt this thing! Molas involve layers of fabric appliqued and reverse-appliqued so that they can often be quite thick. Diane hired our friend, Pam (another Fiber Focus member), to do the quilting. Pam is a professional long-arm quilter and did a great job! I told her I imagined vines and tropical leaves throughout the piece.

Pam Heavrin, Professional Long-Arm Quilter

Pam knew exactly how to translate my idea into reality! The quilting shows up best on the back.

Paradise Found is also about friendship and the collaboration we do together with our interests. Diane saw the vision, Bob and Helene had the fabric, I put it together, and Pam made it all stick! Plus, there is the international touch with the molas, bringing people and nature together. If the quilt were mine, I would have overdyed the whole thing to tone the colors down, but Diane absolutely loves it and that is what counts.

Molas are wonderful center pieces to work with and I hope this piece inspires you to look at the ones I have listed on Etsy. This quilt used 16 molitas, which could become quite costly, but simpler versions could be done. Molas are sturdy and work great to applique on pillows, jean jackets, bags, and other accessories. If you have ever made any mola projects, leave a comment and give us all some more ideas on how to use them!

Books on the Kuna, Molas and Stacking the Deck,
available on Amazon
Purchases through this widget help support this blog.

Note on Commissions: I am available for commissions. I enjoy doing them, especially if I have some freedom in coming up with ideas. A similar quilt to Diane's (in terms of labor) would be around $1,500 plus cost of materials and another $300 or so for Pam to quilt it. I especially enjoy working on memory quilts that honor a person or occasion. I will not be able to start on any new projects until after the New Year, but will happily work on commissions after that.

Paradise Found: A Mola Quilt by Rayela Art

Rayela Art Online Quilt Classes

Applique Details from "God Save Us All"
Quilt by Rayela Art

Several years ago I taught a couple of quilting classes at the now defunct Textile Art Centre in Chicago. Loved it! Several of my peers now teach online and I thought it was time I joined in the fun. Part of the joy for me was to see how each person interpreted an exercise in their own way. One theme, many voices. As I have not taught these classes before, I don't have any photos showing examples of what a finished quilt will look like. The above photos are not very good ones, but are details of an appliqued quilt I made for a friend of mine.

I am offering two classes, Window to the World and Sew My Self. Both classes are aimed at helping people break out of patterns and kits into seeing in a new way and achieving skills to design their own quilts using applique. As a big believer in recycling fabric, both also can be made with scraps, old clothing, or other fabrics you might find at a thrift store. The cost of materials, therefore, really depends on the participant.

Time Commitment for the Quilt Classes
The classes will run through the month of November and require a minimum of 40 hours to complete. Perfect time for creating an heirloom Christmas gift! (... If you celebrate it...) Each class will have four lesson plans that will have photo and written descriptions. We will meet on a private, invitation only forum. Participants will also be able to critique each other and brain-storm over ideas. I will also work on a piece for each class so that you can see my process.

Skills Needed
Basic sewing skills, ability to draw free hand or with rulers, comfort with working online and ability to follow through on tasks. We all live busy lives and it is easy to put off a lesson until tomorrow, but the reality is simply that mastering any craft requires time. We will discuss shortcuts and present options so that the participant can choose how much time they want to dedicate to their projects. Be sure that you have at least 10 hours a week that you can dedicate to this in order to complete it in a month. Maybe peer pressure will help those of us who have a tendency to accumulate "ufo"s (unfinished objects)... Both classes can be done completely by hand, although a sewing machine will help it go faster. I usually mix a combination between machine and hand work, but you can use what you prefer.

Deadline for Signing Up
October 31st. Use the Pay Pal buttons below to pay for and sign up for the class. These will be your receipts.

Window to the World

Pick your favorite window in your house. Look at it. Imagine it in fabric. You will learn how to graph it out and translate it into a finished piece. You can look out on to a real world or your fantasy world. Finished size will be around 2'x2' depending on the shape of the window. The class is made up of four lesson plans, a new one posted each Monday:

November 3 Graphing it Out and Fabric Choices
November 10 Freezer Paper Templates
November 17 Sewing and Adhering Options
November 24 Finishing

Window to the World November 2008 Class
$60

Sew My Self

Outline your body or that of someone you love. If you do yourself, this will be a self-portrait. A child's body would be faster and easier. Dress the body with actual clothing and explore ideas in texture, movement and color. Limbs and faces can be expressed in many different ways. Finished size will depend on on participant's body choice, but will most likely be a rectangular wall piece. The class is made up of four lesson plans, a new one posted each Tuesday:

November 4 Drawing the Profile
November 11 Dressing the Body
November 18 Applique Choices
November 25 Finishing Options

Sew My Self November 2008 Class
$60

When we are finished, we will have a "gallery exhibit" here on Fiber Focus and you will be able to write about what you learned and how this class has helped you see in a new way! Even experienced quilters often need a push to help them experiment with new techniques and fresh ideas.

When you sign up I will send out a questionnaire that will help me shape the class to fit the needs of the participants involved. Come join us! This is going to be a lot of fun!

See my post on Arpilleras for more inspiration.

Rayela Art Online Quilt Classes

Baghdad Burning, A Powerful Quilt by Donna Hussain

Baghdad Burning

When I first became a quilter my quilts were traditional geometric patterns that required only basic quilting skills. By taking advantage of classes sponsored by my quilt guild and local quilt stores, I have learned many advanced quilting techniques over the years, which I try to incorporate in my quiltmaking. Recently I have been sewing pictorial art quilts, like Baghdad Burning, an artistic stretch for me.

I drew my inspiration for Baghdad Burning from a number of sources: my respect for my husband’s Muslim heritage, my appreciation of the beauty of Islamic art, architecture, and décor; my interest in the lives of women throughout the world, and my despair over the war in Iraq. But how could I express these feelings in the fabric of a quilt? For several months I wrestled with this problem before realizing that the quilt should have symbolic images: a tiled mosaic or tapestry to represent the culture of Iraq, a fire to represent the devastation of battle, and an anguished woman to represent innocents whose lives are ravaged by war.

The first steps in construction of the quilt were to design the pattern for the background mosaic on graph paper, then shop for fabric and a pleasing color palette. With luck I immediately found a decorative fabric of gold swirls on a green background which shifted gradually to gold swirls on brown. Green scorched to brown. Perfect for a fire. This one fabric turned my “perhaps quilt” into a feasible working design. I then found matching fabrics, a blue for the background, a soft purple, and golds for the quilt that that looked well with the chosen scorched green.

Scorched green fabric

The unburned mosaic quilt blocks were easy to sew: the burned sections were the challenge. I spread all of the fabrics from my stash onto my bedroom floor to look for pieces that could be used to represent smoke damage.

Burned and unburned sections

I frequently use interlacing designs made with bias tubes for my quilt borders. In Baghdad Burning the interlacing border needed to be damaged on the right side of the quilt. I first tried to dye a section of the border for the burned portion, but the lacy trim would not absorb the dye. Instead I changed the color of the bias tubes and background, then covered the burned section with two layers of black tulle.

Burned interlacing border

To help me draw templates for the appliquéd flames, I looked at photos of forest fires on the internet. That is where I got the spiky shapes for my smoldering flames and hints about the color of fires.

Flames

For the major focal point of Baghdad Burning, the woman’s face, I adapted a technique I learned in a class with the quilt artist Sandi Cummings. Sandi makes stunning colorful quilts with dot-matrix black and white photos for the heads of her quilt figures. I clipped a small face of an Iraqi woman from newsprint, enlarged the face on my computer, and printed it on lightly-colored fabric. In order to run the fabric through my printer I had to first iron the fabric onto freezer paper for stability.

Face

The woman had to be a large figure in order for her facial expression to be seen. But how could I give her all black clothing visual interest? My solution was to make a pleated three-dimensional skirt, and to quilt heavily the fringed shawl with parallel lines of stitching. Unfortunately, photographs of the quilt do not show the contrast between the two blacks that are apparent to the eye when viewing the quilt on display.

Baghdad Burning has not been a prize-winning quilt, but it draws the attention of those who pass by at quilt shows. I would very much like to know your reaction to the quilt. Please leave me a comment at the end of this blog.

Baghdad Burning has been juried into the International Quilt Festival in Houston, October 30-November 2, 2008. If you attend the show you can see the quilt in person.

Note from Rachel: I saw Baghdad Burning at the AQS show in Paducah that took place here in Paducah this past April. I was zooming down the rows of displayed quilts, saw Baghdad Burning and stopped in my tracks. This quilt led me to find Donna and invite her to become a regular contributor to Fiber Focus, which she graciously has! If you attend the Houston show, do make the effort to find this quilt. It is powerful!

California quilter, Donna Hussain, has exhibited in major quilt shows around the country, authored books, and is a regular contributor to Fiber Focus. Click on her name to see all of her past articles.

The photo shows Donna with her husband, Pascha.

Baghdad Burning, A Powerful Quilt by Donna Hussain

Arpilleras: Market Scenes and Political Protest

Market Scene arpillera from Earthlink Handcrafts, $45
from the artisans from CIAP Peru
This beautifully crafted Arpillera is made by a group of women
from the Kuyanakuy Artisans Assoc.
They live in the marginalised areas of Lima
This scene depicts their earlier village life
before they became refugees from the civil war of the 1980s.

I spent my junior year of college in South America; one semester in an Urban Studies program based in Bogota, Colombia and the second at the Lutheran seminary in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Bogota has a fascinating museum that showcases traditional crafts from the area, Museo de Artes y Tradiciones Populares. Housed in a former monastery, Colombia's rich heritage of weaving, ceramic art, basketry and woolen products are displayed with honor.


I saw my first arpilleras in this museum, 3-d appliqued tapestries of village life. The museum had a couple of enormous pieces, covering a whole wall with people engaged in every kind of activity, all carefully stuffed, embroidered and brightly clothed. The scenes evoked happiness, life, and productivity. That was over twenty years ago and since then, the technique has spread. I don't know which country started it, but arpilleras are also found in Peru, Ecuador and Chile and have become increasingly more diverse in their themes. Lucuma Designs, a Fair Trade Organization, carries a huge selection of beautifully crafted arpilleras, from traditional designs to wild dinosaurs and other themes.

Fruit Market, $179

Dinosaurs, $167

A couple of years after graduating from college, I worked for Chicago Uptown Ministry, a Lutheran project that provides direct service to low income people in one of Chicago's most populated and ethnically diverse neighborhoods. One of my roles there was to provide different craft activities to the people we serviced. I introduced the arpilleras to a group of women and taught them how to make the 3-d images. Then, I asked them to each pick a window from their apartments and try to translate what they saw on to fabric. I regret not having taken photos of their work... the results were absolutely wonderful. The best one was done by a Native American woman who already had some sewing skills. She had a part of the MacDonald's arch showing up in her window, lots of interior details, and she even cut pieces off of her actual curtains to use them in her little tapestry!

I find this whole process very interesting. Women who knew very little about South America could relate to these pictures and see how to speak of their own lives. And, Latin women, as well, have taken arpilleras beyond the market scenes or touristy vistas to document moments of tragedy, despair and outrage. This has been especially true in Chile, where women would meet clandestinely to sew together as a protest against human rights violations under the rule of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1989).

El Exilio en Chile documents some of the experiences and positions many exiles took during this time. The arpillera above shows people fleeing the country and going into exile in Argentina, Uruguay, the United States and other countries. The Needlework Manifesto, a fellow blogger, has this Chilean arpillera on her blog:

The piece asks, "Where are the detained who have disappeared?" Like many other South American countries during the 1970's, Chile lost thousands of its youth to torture and death for speaking up against its dictatorial regime.

Professor Marjorie Agosín, a Jewish exile from Chile, has received many awards for her work in human rights and her literary achievements. She is a professor in the Spanish Department at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Over the years, she collected many of these protest arpilleras and compiled them into a book, "Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Life: The Arpillera Movement in Chile, 1974-1994". Amazon's description of the book:

"This book tells the story of ordinary women living in terror and extreme poverty under General Pinochet's oppressive rule in Chile (1973–1989) and how their lives did and did not change following his reign. These women defied the military dictatorship by embroidering their sorrow on scraps of cloth, using needles and thread as one of the boldest means of popular protest and resistance in Latin America. The arpilleras they made—patchwork tapestries with scenes of everyday life and memorials to their disappeared relatives—were smuggled out of Chile and brought to the world the story of their fruitless searches in jails, morgues, government offices, and the tribunals of law for their husbands, brothers, and sons.

Marjorie Agosín, herself a native of and exile from Chile, has spent over twenty years interviewing the arpilleristas and following their work. She knows their stories intimately and knows, too, that not one of them has ever found a disappeared relative alive. Still, many of them maintain hope and continue to make their arpilleras. Even though the dictatorship ended in 1989 and democracy returned to Chile, no full account of the detained and disappeared has ever been offered. This book includes a history of the women's movement, testimonies from the women in their own words, and, for the first time, full-color plates of their beautiful, moving, and ultimately hopeful arpilleras. Anyone interested in the history of contemporary Latin America will want to read this powerful story."

The book has a forward by Isabel Allende, one of my favorite authors and another Chilean exile. She wrote a book, "My Invented Country" which looks at her time in Chile and has a fascinating insight to the concept of memory, reality, and history.

Most of us will not have such sorrowful stories or memories to tell through our work. We each do, however, have our own specific experience. I take two lessons from this post for myself: art is a powerful voice in society and in everything I make, I try to make it my own. Whether abstract or figurative, decorative, functional or visual, every piece we contribute reflects a collective voice of our experience as a people, moving forward with our own stories in the larger market of life.

Related items you can buy through Amazon:

Arpilleras: Market Scenes and Political Protest

Images of Labor and Rest in Art Quilts

When work becomes play and play becomes work...

September 1st was Labor Day here in the United States. The day is meant to honor all who labor by taking a day of rest. Many go on picnics, have barbecues, or just sit and watch TV. I thought I would take a look at some labor and rest images in art quilts. Art quilts are often abstract, but pictorial ones, if well executed, can depict powerful stories and evoke feelings of empathy or longing. Click on the image to go to the original site where I found it.

Just the Two of Us, Courtesy Sherry Shine

Sherry Shine specializes in the use of acrylics or thread work in her quilts. This one is part of a market series. The caption reads, "This quilt features two women at the market communicating about the fruits of their labor."

"The Farrier" by Paula Batterman-O'Dowd

Excellent use of applique gives movement, depth and adds a 3-d perspective to this quilt.

Portrait of a Textile Worker

This project is so fascinating, I have to quote from Terese Agnew's (the artist) explanation of her work:

"Portrait of a Textile Worker makes one person among millions of unseen workers, visible. Her image was constructed with thirty thousand clothing labels stitched together over two years. The idea came from a simple observation. One day while shopping in a department store I noticed huge signs everywhere -- Calvin Klein, Liz Claiborne, Kathy Lee and so on. They were all proper names. I'd recently met two garment workers and realized that by contrast, their identity was rarely thought of and often deliberately hidden. That anonymity could be undone by assembling a view of one worker using the well-known names on apparel she produced. The portrait is based on a photograph of a young textile worker in Bangladesh by Charles Kernaghan*

The project began with a massive campaign to get the labels. Thousands of people responded, painstakingly cutting out garment tags one by one. I used the labels in numerous ways to create the image. For example, text on a contrasting background was used as a gradation, text borders were ironed back leaving a unified block of tiny words to form specific tones, names were used as segments in a line and combined with others like lines in a drawing. From twenty feet away, the composition is a representational image of a remote place. As you move closer, the illusionistic devices dissolve into labels as intimately familiar as your own clothes.

I have always been fascinated with how the work of art becomes an artwork. Twenty years ago I started out as a public sculptor. My early work included large-scale installations that engaged hundreds of people in the art making process. Their involvement demonstrated the potential for people's labor to become a form of public communication. Iron Workers and Engineers that participated in various art projects for example, contributed to the visual message in significant ways. In 1991 I started making art quilts in addition to sculpture. It is often solitary, repetitious work. In Portrait of a Textile Worker however, the repetition of thousands of other people cutting their labels is retained in the piece. It amplifies the presence of the woman we finally see."

Terese Agnew © 2005

The piece is a protest against sweat shop labor. Please visit her website to learn more.


Angeles Segura made this quilt where she is dreaming that she could dance and wear folkloric dresses. The Center for the Quilt Online has a moving interview with her where Angeles talks about how making (and selling) quilts help her combat poverty and depression in her home.

I found it much easier to locate images of rest and celebration. Remember, making a quilt is a serious time commitment! I'm sure that most people prefer to spend those hours contemplating and recording something pleasant in life, rather than all of its daily drudgery and toil.

Gone Fishin', photo courtesy of Kathy McNeil

This quilt won a couple of awards and is a tribute to the "great rivers of the United States and the young men whose dreams created a nation."

Church Picnic

Faith Ringgold must easily hold the reputation of the most famous folk art quilter. Her quilts, exhibited in major collections all over the world, record the African-American experience with a style that is all her own. Faith paints with acrylic and then embellishes the piece with quilting and other elements. Visit her website and her blog for more quilts, stories and song.

Sunday Morning, by Esterita Austin

Esterita uses paint and her own fusing techniques to achieve wonderful layers of depth and color. Her website gives more information on her workshops and other resources she offers.

Elle and Louise by Ang Meister

Running through the sand, this quilt was based on a photo of her two daughters. Meisterang's flickr photos show several of her other quilts, all using applique extensively.

Americans either work too hard or not enough. While some put in 60-80 hours a week in dedicated enterprises, others slack off and do the minimum to get their check. I have often longed for a more European system where three or four weeks of vacation allow for time off to experience new things, to step back, re-evaluate, come back to the task with new energy. Everybody is so busy! For many, work is just the means to pay life's way, but for the lucky ones, work is play and play is work.

How is it for you? Is your labor an act of love or are you caught in something you don't want to do? And, what about your creative outlets? They are a lot of work, too, but hopefully they bring a sense of accomplishment and joy in your work and play.

Images of Labor and Rest in Art Quilts