Today I realized this little piece that had been hanging around for so long had more to say than I thought it did.  Today I realized it had a story to tell, well, a poem at least.  From the beginning I kept having the word "free" pop into my head when I was working on this piece, reminding me that I feel like a free bird now, not a caged one.   So today, I thought of pulling out one of my favorite poems to become part of this piece.  Maya Angelou wrote, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings," and the first stanza fits this piece so well:

                                                          "The free bird leaps on the back of the wind
                                                           and floats downstream till the current ends
                                                            and dips his wings in the orange sun rays
                                                                         and dares to claim the sky."

     Have you ever been in an abusive relationship that left you feeling like a bird trapped in a cage?  And then one day some kind of catastrophe happened, like a hurricane, and your cage was knocked down and the door flew open and you knew you had to escape, or it would be the end of you?  But you didn't want to leave, because that cage was the only thing you had ever known, and you very much loved and needed and wanted the person keeping you in the cage in your life?  Knowing you could never, ever replace that person made you not want to be let go.   But then, against your wishes, you were freed from the cage by some awful thing, free to be all that you were created to be, but the freedom was scary, and you desperately wanted to be back where you felt comfortable or at least knew what to expect, but you knew you could never go back there?  It was a dark place to be until one day, you pulled back the curtain and felt the sun on your face and realized at last that you really were FREE, could really see the freedom right in front of you!  Free for the first time in your life, unfortunately it's bittersweet, because you didn't want to be free from the person keeping you in the cage, you just wanted to be free of the cage.  You just wanted the person keeping you in the cage to stop trying to keep you bound, and just let you be free WITH them...

     I had fun with this piece using one of my favorite techniques, reverse applique (fancy way of saying cutting away the top layer to reveal a layer underneath), in this case a dark navy piece of hand dyed fabric.  The top fabric was sun printed last summer with these paints.  I have the primaries in the transparent paints, and they can be mixed together to achieve other colors.  Sun printing is a fun activity to do with little ones too.  You simply dilute the paint--2 parts water to 1 part paint, apply it to the fabric on a surface that you can carry out to the sun or leave out in the sun.  Lay objects or cut outs of objects, in this case I used various leaves and a couple of pretty branches, on top of your fabric and leave it in the sun for one hour (if it's windy, you can use pins to pin down the leaves or objects, I tried feathers that day also and they did great!).  An impression of the objects that you laid on top of the fabric will turn white-ish after the sun has done its magic, and you will see amazing details in it (if you look really closely in the top left side of the outlined Japanese Maple Leaf, you can see the imprint of some Japanese Painted Fern leaves that I used (ferns make me all goose bumpy, I LOVE their texture!)  You let the fabric dry completely, then iron it on high to heat set it.  After heat setting you can throw it in the washer and wash it, then dry it and you'll have super soft fabric to work with.  The fabric I used in "Breakthrough" went through two rounds of sun-printing, to give it a more layered look.  I then sewed a Japanese Maple Leaf shape onto the fabric, outlined with thread some of the other leaves that sun-printed, cut away areas to reveal the navy underneath, added the three copper painted fusible squares and then machine quilted in two different patterns with two different colors of thread.  It is placed in a black gallery style frame, and is ready for hanging.

Don't forget to check out the new Studios page on my site, it's nestled under the Home Page.  I'd love to hear what you think about it!

Yeah!!!  I finished the commissioned piece for my physician and friend, Kathy McNutt MSN, RN, ANP-BC at Marion Wellness and Disease Management.  Visit her there through this link.  Her office is in the most beautiful location in Marion, NC.  She has the sweetest doggies that greet you, she's on the Quilt Trail, and she even has the Gypsy Mountain Blueberry Patch (which you can see from her office,) where you can pick blueberries any time you want for FREE (a small donation for upkeep of the property is appreciated).  Kathy asked for all of the scriptures in her quilt to be about healing for her patients, and they are.  She picked the title, "Healing Branches," which I think is just perfect.  She plans to purchase a light to go over it and is planning to put a plaque below it with the title.  She wanted it hung just inside the door of her lobby, and I think it matches her soothing blue walls perfectly!  I hope she and her patients will enjoy this piece.  Thank you so much, Kathy!

I'm very excited to be working on a piece for my physician and friend, Kathy McNutt, MSN, RN, ANP-BC!  She asked for a piece with blues and browns in the background and wants all scriptures to be about healing.  She wants to hang it in her office lobby for her patients to look at and read while they are waiting to be seen.  I was overjoyed when she asked me to make a piece for her, and I knew immediately that Kathy got my work and it's entire purpose!  It is made to be pretty, but it is also designed to inspire people and touch their hearts through the scriptures!  Scriptures are so powerful!  I can tell a difference in my own home, just having them hanging on our walls!  It's amazing.  So, I'm posting a little teaser of the piece here and, being really careful not to give too much away....no peeking, Kathy!?...

My niece turned eight this year, and oh, how I miss her!  I kept putting down her art quilt and picking up other things that I "needed" to get done, just not wanting to finish it.  I think it's my way of holding on to her.  These quilts tie me to her in a deep spiritual and emotional and psychological way.  Always as I'm working on them I think of her, things I'd like to say to her, things I'd like to do with her, places I'd like to take her and things I'd like to share with her and teach her.  I offer up many prayers on her behalf and ask God to bless her in many ways.  Through these quilts, I get to keep loving her, this niece I've lost, who was like a daughter to me.  In this quilt, the verses are from Proverbs 3:15-18--"She is more precious than rubies, nothing you desire can compare with her.  Long life is in her right hand, in her left are riches and honor.  Her ways are pleasant ways and all her paths are peace.  She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed."  What more perfect words could there be?