I opened the box today before leaving for work. I took pictures of the unboxing but in my rush I forgot the camera at home.
I'll upload those pictures when I get home tonight. What I found inside this box, is a
treasure. When I hold it, I feel like I'm touching threads that have borrowed the glow of millions of stars. Erica, you have outdone yourself. I'm truly blessed to own something that has had so much love, dedication, talent, and beauty poured into the fibres of this piece.
That being said, I've taken A LOT of pictures here at the studio, and then went through and pulled out the ones that best reflect the amazing piece I've received. Even though this is just a few shots of the many, it's still a lot. So, I'll be using thumbnails to save those of you have slow internet some precious page loading time.
Please click on those thumbnails and see the detail. It will blow your mind!
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There was a note when I first opened the box, telling me that my vacation photos have being developed (SOOOOOO CUTE! She totally played up my life as a photographer!
)
On lifting that out, there was some fabric (GORGEOUS YUMMY!), some extra beads saying just in case (in case of what?! I dunno. This was expertly sewn!!!), and a piece of photo paper showing three images.
Then, as I lovingly and gently unrolled the bubble wrap, the most wonderful thing happened! A roll of fabric film unfurled revealing quilted images of places I've been to and long to go to! Introducing her quilt - Around the World in 35 Days.
(Lovingly named as such due to my travel-bug and the fact that she took 35 days to create it!)
Angled View:
Lets take a look at the details of each image, and go over the many techniques she has used. I'll also show the up-close and intensely textured amazingness. This is where I again beg you to click the thumbnails and see it bigger!
At the top we have
India. My personal history with India started with sponsoring Selvi through World Vision when I was 13. I travelled to see her in 2008, and to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity as well.
(See my blog for videos of the trip) It was my first experience on another continent, and it opened my eyes and my heart.
Seeing that Erica_Tattoos included it at the top was very sentimental to me. I'm touched. The colours are amazing. She even gave the woman the bangles, made of tiny little beads. Look closely at the pink fabric. She textured it using invisible thread - HAND SEWN! - and it now has a wavy texture that is just sinful to touch. Looking at it you can just feel the blazing heat of the setting sun.
Detail View:
In the middle we have
Japan. I was supposed to be leaving in just a couple of weeks to go there and stay with a friend. However, with the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation, I had to cancell my flight. Seeing this image of Mt. Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan, is just inspiring! I had wanted to do the hike there. The cherryblossoms are sewn so deilicately and look like they could tickle eachother in the wind.
Take notice of her beading of the mountain. She used two types of beads and made it seem as though the snow were fresh and sparkling! The flowers are hand embroidered and delicate. What a lovely flash of pink on a cool background. Colour and fabric choices are supurb!
Fuji-san Detail:
Cherry Blossom Detail:
At the bottom we have
Africa. I'm not sure what country she meant it to be, but I've got a few on my list that I'd love to see. There's so much hope there amid so much suffering. And so much natural beauty in a place that can be a rough climate to farm.
In this image, you can see the most impressive beaded area on the entire quilt! Look closely at that tree. That ENTIRE tree is individual seed beads!!! It's so tight, not a single space to see through it. I'm blown away. Utterly blown away!! The amount of time this must have taken... oh man.
Detail of Tree:
On the back, she used a really cool fabric!
And at the bottom she weighed it down with some really heavy beads.
The label is adorable. A little hard to see in a picture, so I bumped it up in photoshop a bit. The actual red is more like what you saw on the zoomed out backing.
I know this has already been a super long post, but I just have one more thing to say. Erica, you've done a beautiful job. I can see the love and effort that went into this and it well exceeds anything I could have ever dreamed up. I'm so blessed to have had you as a partner, you've been awesome the whole way through. Thank you sooooo much for this piece. It's not just how well you made it, but how close you made it to my heart.
