Wednesday, June 26, 2013

the other lady

When I first spotted Kristy of Quiet Play's Ahsoka block, I couldn't help but think of this one piece of artwork from my room growing up.  I call her "The Lady," but my husband prefers "The Creepy Lady," "The Ugly Lady," ...you get the point.  She's a pretty sizable mixed-media collage, pieced from a colorful array of tissue and (you guessed it!) fabric.  (Her floral face and half-moon mauve eyes are probably responsible for my husband's current sentiments toward her, but alas, I digress).

To me, Kristy's Ahsoka seemed like her own sort of Lady, just in a paper-pieced (as opposed to torn paper) form.  So when she mentioned she needed pattern testers, I jumped at the opportunity (hey, why not start something new? Certainly wouldn't be out of character...).  

So I made her.  Another Lady:


She's pieced entirely from scraps.  I was going for a mirrored gradient look, but exhaustion must've gotten the best of me.


Whoops!  Let's just call that mix-up my non-Amish mistake, shall we?


The good news is, in the process of rummaging through my one giant scrap bin (note to self:  color-sort that, stat!), a new quilt idea dawned on me:  scores of scrappy Ahsokas.  But not just with the predictable (albeit proper) green + blue 'do, instead coordinated "hair stripe" accents in every color of the rainbow (!)


I'm sure you're wondering why a non-fan would commit to paper-piecing a yet-to-be-finalized-but-significant-nonetheless number of a themed block.  First of all, I do love a good PP'd block (side bar:  Kristy's got lots of them!)  But to be fair, I guess I look at this block and I see my Lady rather than the lady it's meant to represent.  And because I'll always have a soft spot for that artsy fabric figure from my youth (who knows what kind of influence she's had on my right-brain endeavors?!), I'm in love with the idea of some sort of Lady-inspired creation that might equally win over my daughter.  (Especially since my husband won't let The Lady anywhere near her room because he's worried she'll get nightmares).

Or maybe they'll both be scared of this, too... Guess that's a risk I'm willing to take ;)

In the meantime, I'll leave you with an image of The {Original} Lady (propped up against our back door to give you some perspective) so you can decide for yourself.


P.S.  No offense taken if you think she would've given you the heebie-jeebies as a child.


P.P.S.  Or if she still does ;)  You can sort of see a resemblance though, right?!

Linking up with Lee!

10 comments:

  1. It reminded me of Cleopatra head sculpture my parents used to have. They have to hide it since we were so scared of her. Your PP one is looking like a queen not scary at all but you can ruin it with a face :-)

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  2. This entire story reminded me of the episode of Friends with Gladys! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1nfnMUmqiA

    Pretty sure there's a relevant episode of friends for almost every situation in life. :p

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  3. I think if you take the time to make this quilt you will never regret it. Good memories from you childhood are always worth evoking :)

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  4. Huh... I kind of like The Lady! This story reminded me of a piece of abstract art that hung outside my bedroom door when I was a kid and I was absolutely CONVINCED represented a beaked bird-monster. Maybe I should exorcise that memory with a quilt version!

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  5. Ahsoka turned out great! Love that she brought back art-related memories from childhood - very cool!

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  6. Good for you for sticking it out with the paper peiceing. I tried it once and was not a fan but I will try it again because the quilts turn out so wonderfully.

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  7. We also had a print I did Not like when I was young. I think it was a Breugel. One of his crowd or wedding ones. So now, of course, his prints make me have a warm and cozy feeling.

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  8. I agree with Sarah! it totally reminded me of Friends and the episode of Gladis lol.
    The block looks great... has some kid of Cleopatra feel.

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  9. Love her! And i totally think a scrappy Ahsokas quilt is definitely in order!
    On an unrelated note, i finally printed out the Sam block you sent me. I printed on card stock... i think i may try EPP with it! Just one for now though!

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  10. Quilting imspired by lego, inspired by StarWars? Awesome.

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