Birds of a Feather

Birds of a Feather

These birds are well travelled.  They have just arrived home and will be placed in their permanent homes soon.
The “birds” began their life in the imaginations of a group of four friends who are known as the “Frayed Edges”.  We wanted to enter as a group into the 2013 Edmonton and District Guild’s biannual show in 2013.  We are Wanda Cracknell, Penny Odegard, Karen Osatchuk and me.  A set of preprinted blocks was brought to the dining room table and we decided to each pick one we liked.  Our interpretation was to be in wool and what ever else we thought would make it ours and would display materials we liked to work with.  We worked independently and on a given date the 15″ pieces were revealed to each other.  Next we had to decide upon a way to join the pieces together.  Since the pieces were fun folk art interpretations we decided upon felt balls.
Then our piece was named and entered into the EDQG 2013 show in June.  It was accorded the honour of winning the group quilt class and received a beautiful ribbon. We took the pieces apart and they went to the individual makers.  Then Penny gave me her piece as a birthday gift.  It was decided that we would enter them in Quilt Canada for 2014.  So they were reassembled.  Quilt Canada thought that our photography was not quite good enough so the “birds” didn’t travel there.  HOwever since we had them assembled we sent an entry off to Grand National’s upcoming 2015 show “Connections”.  The were successful in being juried in and off they went for their journey to Ontario.
Here is our artist’s statement.
Birds of a Feather
Four friends with common interests including quilting, gardening, and surprise – birds embarked upon a piece inspired by a Sandy Gervais print for Moda fabrics. We each chose a bird that spoke to us, writ it larger and interpreted the chosen bird using wool, a material we all enjoy working in, as the base along with our imaginations and skills. At an appointed time the blocks were revealed with each one clearly reflecting the background talents of the creator. Hand appliqué, trapunto, needle felted wool, rug hooking, beading, embroidery and couching using a variety of materials and embellishments were employed.

The “birds” have now arrived home and have been taken apart for return to their owners.  While the piece was awaiting transit it hung in my living room and was so much admired by both me and my guests that I am going to make two different birds to replace the two that need to go home.