Transported Soul

(Above: Transported Soul, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 14" x 19 1/2". Crayon on silk collaged with vintage doily onto severely light damaged, recycled curtain. Vintage and buttons. Hand and free motion embroidered.)

(Above: Transported Soul, detail. Below: Reverse.)


To read more about this Grave Rubbing Art Quilt with images that can be enlarged, please click HERE!

Weep Not For Me, Grave Rubbing Quilt

(Above: Weep Not For Me, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt. 21 1/4" x 16 1/4". Crayon on silk collage with vintage linens and doily on a scrap of material acquired at a local household auction. Vintage and new buttons, including what might actually be "horn" from Austria and also "buckle" like plastic/celluloid notions. Hand and free motion embroidered.)

(Above: Weep Not For Me, detail. Below: Reverse.)


To read more about this Grave Rubbing Art Quilt with images that can be enlarged, please click HERE!

Time Flies, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt

(Above: Time Flies, Grave Rubbing Quilt Series. 34 1/2 " x 35". Crayon grave rubbings on silk and polyester collaged with hand and free motion embroidery. Recycled felt batting. Vintage linens for reverse.)

(Above and below: Details of Times Flies.)

(Above and below: Details of Time Flies.)

(Above: Detail of Time Flies. Below: Reverse.)

(Above: Reverse Time Flies. Below: Detail of reverse, Time Flies.)


To read more about this Grave Rubbing Art Quilt with images that can be enlarged, please click HERE!

The Virgin of Guadalupe, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt

(Above: The Virgin of Guadalupe. 21 1/2" x 15". Crayon on fabric rubbing collage with vintage doily, severely light damaged curtain salvaged from an office, and buttons.)

(Above: The Virgin of Guadalupe, detail. Below: Reverse.)


To read more about this Grave Rubbing Art Quilt with images that can be enlarged, please click HERE!

Eccles, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt

(Above: Eccles, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 24" x 30 1/2". Crayon on fabric collaged with 19th c. black lace on severely light damaged but recycled curtain from an office building. Recycled black felt "batting" from a kayak/canoe store. Hand and free-motion embroidery.)

(Above and below: Details from Eccles.)

(Below: Eccles, reverse.)


To read more about this Grave Rubbing Art Quilt with images that can be enlarged. Please click, HERE!

A Bud On Earth

On Earth a Bud. Crayon on fabric; vintage lace, linens, and buttons. hand and free motion machine embroidery; beads and artificial flowers from a local cemetery arrangement.)


The rubbings on this piece came from Birmingham, UK; Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA; Colma, California; and Wiscasset, Maine. While working, I think about the various decades and locations from which these gravestones come. It is amazing; we are all connected....all over the world and throughout time...in our common passage from life.


To read the original September 7, 2009 blog post about this art quilt and view the images that can be clicked on for enlargement, please click HERE!


(Above: Detail of A Bud on Earth, including the tiny artificial flowers collected recently from the cemetery dumpster. Below: Reverse of A Bud on Earth.)

Skull and Crossbones

(Above: Skull and Crossbones, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 13" x 13 1/2". Crayon on silk collaged with doily and severely light-damaged, recycled fabric; buttons, hand and free-motion machine embroidery.

(Above: Skull and Crossbones, reverse.)

To read the original October 8, 2009 blog post about this art quilt and view the images that can be enlarged, please click HERE!

Greatfully Dead

(Above: Greatfully Dead. Grave Rubbing Art Quilt. 11 1/4" x 17". Crayon on silk collaged with vintage doily and recycled materials. Hand and free motion embroidery.)

(Reverse of Greatfully Dead.)

To read the original October 8, 2009 blog post about this art quilt and view the images that can be enlarged, please click HERE!

Cats Leave Pawprints on Our Hearts

(Above: Cats Leave Pawprints on our Hearts. Grave Rubbing Quilt Series. 12 3/4" x 15 1/2". Crayon on fabric rubbing from Pet's Rest, a pet cemetery in Colma, CA on the back of a Decision Portrait Series piece that didn't work out....recycled! Vintage buttons and doily. Hand stitching. This is the only one in the series with any "color"; it seemed appropriate.)



To read the original October 4, 2009 blog post about this art quilt and view the images that can be clicked on for enlargement, please click HERE!


(Above: Cats Leave Pawprints on Our Hearts. Reverse.)

Here Rests the Body

(Above: Here Rests the Body, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 17" x 13". Crayon on fabric grave rubbing done in Birmingham, UK. Vintage doily. Hand stitching.)



To read the original October 4, 2009 blog post about this art quilt and view the images that can be enlarged, please click HERE!


(Above: Here Rests the Body, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. Reverse.)

Young, Strong, Beautiful

(Above: Young, Strong, Beautiful, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 14" x 12 1/4". Crayon on fabric grave rubbing done in Birmingham, UK collaged with vintage handkerchief and Victorian era black lace. Buttons purchased while in Austria. Hand stitched.)




To read the original October 4, 2009 blog post with images that enlarge, please visit HERE!

(Above: Young, Strong, Beautiful, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series, reverse.)

Here Lyeth the Body: Grave Rubbing Quilt Series

(Above: Here Lyeth the Body, Grave Rubbing Quilt Series. 23 1/4" x 26". Crayon on fabric, vintage tablecloth, hand and free motion machine embroidery. Batting: Recycled black felt. Reverse: Vintage quilt top and linen.)



To read the original August 24th post with images that can be "clicked on" for enlargement, please go HERE.


I stitched most of this Grave Rubbing Quilt while riding in the car to and from Washington, DC. The free motion machine embroidery, edges, and back were completed upon my return. The "black" crayon rubbings came from Eccles, UK....just outside Manchester. The "brown" crayon rubbings came from Birmingham. The heavy kantha styled running stitch, however, had almost obliterated the embroidery that decorated the tablecloth. I used a black crayon to bring out the highlights and am really pleased how the "grayer" shade really helped tie the elements together.

Sacred

(Sacred, Grave Rubbing Quilt Series. 18" x 31". Crayon on fabric grave rubbing on severely light damaged, old office curtain with an overlay of 19th c. black lace; recycled black felt; vintage buttons. Hand and free motion machine embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)


To read the original, August 5th blog entry with images that can be "clicked on" for enlarge, please go HERE!



I made this grave rubbing in the cemetery outside Chester Cathedral in England. The stone was flat on the ground, weathered, and used as part of the public walking area around the building. It dated from the early 19th century (circa 1820) and had the largest and most ornately carved word, "Sacred". Amazingly (and probably because it was flat on the ground!), I got this excellent impression.


The words on the gravestone were generally selected by a family member or mourner. They represent a then "present day" statement about a loved one who just became part of "the past". Yet, these words address those who come in "the future"....like me...like all those who will come once I, too, am part of the past. I love this notion of shifting time....past, present, and future all captured in the words left in a cemetery.

Using recycled and vintage household linens is part of my part to express this notion of time. The aprons, tea towels, pillowcases, buttons, lace, doilies, and recycled material all had a completely different "life" in the "past". I am using them in my "present" and hoping that they will be seen now and also in "the future". (I hope this makes sense!)

Death the Divider

(Above: Death the Divider, Grave Rubbing Quilt Series. Crayon on fabric. Hand and free-motion machine embroidery. Vintage pillowcase with crochet and severely light damaged materil. Vintage buttons. 38 1/2" x 19 1/2". Detail below.)

From the original, July 27th blog post with images that can be "clicked on" for enlargement:

This piece was mostly stitched in Minnesota. I returned to finish the free-motion work, add the buttons, and create the unique back from vintage linens. I'm particularly happy about the new "sleeve". Until the workshop at the University of Minnesota, I didn't realize that the sleeve needed to incorporate "space" for the hanging rod. (This seems pretty obvious now....but I just didn't "get it"....probably because I don't actually hang all this on my own walls.)

Obviously, I remain under the kantha stitch spell. This piece is really "thick". I use recycled black felt from a kayak shop for the center. Most stitches were done a "poke at a time"....but, even so it was very mediative. Also, this was the first grave rubbing quilt that I didn't free motion around the individual letters. The words came from Birmingham, UK (I think?) and the floral pattern came from Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA.