Friday, June 24, 2011

More Renovating

Continuing the renovation tour: the dining area is with the living room. During the gutting process, the head mason always took a short nap. Can’t blame him; his job is physically demanding and it was very hot. Besides sinking floors, large cracks in the walls required repair as well (the diagonal gray streak).



On the wall, Color Theme & Variations I (Oct. 1997, 50”x60”, machine appliquéd, pieced & quilted) has the same blue and green fabrics as Shells V, which hangs on the other side of the room.


The irregularity of the colored strips contrasts with the checkerboard, which brings order. Order and disorder, organization and serendipity, discipline and mayhem—can’t resist the binary oppositions that make up life. Or do we live in the middle and art allows for the expression of the oppositions and contradictions?


The light fixture is one of the most intricate macramé shades I’ve made and has held up well over the years. It must be over 25 years old.


The effect at night is lovely, like a Moroccan lantern or a carved Halloween pumpkin. I have played with the idea of hanging a more sophisticated modern contraption, but, the light shining through the design makes this piece irreplaceable in my eyes. 


Maybe I should hang some antique prisms (they’re sitting on a shelf in my studio waiting to be put to use) off the bottom edge, but, they’re such dust-catchers. 

Covering a small table, this black, white and gray quilt with hand painted fabric used to cover a couch. It's seen better days. The quilting still isn't finished--a functional UFO. Is that an oxymoron? Someday I'll get to it....

18 comments:

Agapequilt said...

Thanks for the visit.
Your blog is very beautiful and also your jobs.

Adele Thomas said...

I enjoyed the blues in your quilt, it is a stunning design. Very eye catching. I have a book about Moroccan interiors and there is a room all in those shades of blue. I also adore your macrame light shade, I am just about to make a macrame plant holder, I have a spider plant that came from France that hasn't variegated leaves (I like the plain green)Thank you for your blog, I love it so much I just read it to my husband =) x

Diana and LaDonna said...

Beautiful pictures...your quilts, design, macrame', all very inspiring!

LaDonna

Unknown said...

Your art work is stunning! I love the demension in the quilt and the lamp shade is just beautiful! Thanks for stopping at the Chicken Mansion!

angela recada said...

I found you through a comment you left on another blog, "Notes from the Voodoo Cafe," and am I glad I stopped by! Your life in Tunisia fascinates me, and I can't take my eyes off of your striped/checked quilt. It is absolutely stunning!

Thank you, too, for stopping by my blog before I had a chance to comment on yours. :0) It is so lovely to meet you!

Magpie Sue said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog too! Welcome to Blogland. :- )

Your quilts and other artwork are fabulous. So glad you've chosen to share them with us through your blog. I'm also really glad to learn that reading my blog opened your eyes to the hazards of the chemicals in our everyday environment. In addition to using a blog to motivate me when I don't feel like creating it was my hope to educate others a bit about the toxic soup we live in.

Karen Eade said...

Hello "Female, Tunisia"! I am so pleased to have stumbled across you. Your blog is terrific and I love the examples you have posted of your work. I do agree with your earlier remark about chickens: mine have just hatched 5 more - grrrr - and it feels like they are taking over. Looking forward to following you over the coming weeks/months.

Michala Gyetvai (Kayla coo) said...

Hello,
Thank you so much for your comment on my blog.
I love your fabric art, the collection of blues in your wall hanging are enhanced by the black and white patchwork.
M x

jane said...

Thanks for your encouraging comments on my blog. The internet is a great thing, putting stitchers in touch with each other, I imagine there are not that many in Tunisia. Your work is great, I love the bright colours;my favourite is war games 1, there is so much going on in it.

Jackie said...

Thanks for your comment. I've had a little read over here and its fascinating to see your Tunisian life. I went to Marrakesh a couple of years ago and took a coupe of photographs of shadows on mosaic tiles which this quilt reminds me of. I made a piece of felt in response but I didn't really manage to capture the beauty of the original picture.Its here if you want to look.
http://dogdaisychains.blogspot.com/2009/03/home-dazed.html

Korrie@RedHenHome said...

That quilt is amazing, and so are your macrame lightshades! What a beautiful, unique space.

Michele said...

The quilt is beautiful! It adds such color and life.....just amazing!

jackie said...

Your home is lovely, stunning colours - you make me wish I had kept my macrame lampshade. Sometimes I wonder why I blog, but it has given me hours of pleasure, for instance reading your story.
I'm sure your blog will be v. interesting to people and give you lots of fun.

Anonymous said...

Superb quilt whose shades remind me of the Jardin de Majorelle in Marakkech. Those deep blue colours blend in beautifully with the turquoise and soft green. I imagine the delightful light going through the macrame. Congratulations for your various artworks and decoration style.

Cheryl Razmus said...

Too freaky how much your taste is like mine. I have a black dining room set with a glass top. I love the quilt on dining room wall, the black and white and the lovely cool stipes of color, and although I've never made anything as complex in macrame, my light fixture is made by me in stained glass.

Kim said...

I'm really enjoying reading back through older posts! I also love to quilt, and my current passion is art quilting. Although my time lately has been taken up with making baby quilts for various young friends starting their families.
Anyway...
LOVE "Color Theme & Variations I"!!! The colors, the design, everything!

Michele said...

What a fabulous addition to the Quilter Blogs updates! I'm so glad you joined up.
Beautiful work along with thought provoking posts from the other side of the world.
Love it!

Unknown said...

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