Show at Max's Cucina

Gramma's Quilt

Today was my friend Mike's birthday so we went to the charming restaurant Max's Cucina where two friends and I are having our show "Appreciating Diversity." The meal was delicious! And as an added bonus, I sold Gramma's Quilt. The owner had called me yesterday to say the piece that was hanging in that spot, Sunrise Mirror, had sold and could I bring another to put in its place. So I brought the Quilt, and it sold right away. I have mixed feelings because I really like this piece.

Grandma's Crazy Quilt Mosaic

I have a beautiful crazy quilt made my either my grandma or an aunt back in the early 1900s. A crazy quilt used up a lot of old fabric pieces left over from other sewing projects. The edges of the pieces were stitched with lovely designs, maybe a picture or two went inside the quilt somewhere, and the overall all look was warm and homey. 

So I thought, why not make one as a mosaic! Here I'm working on it, trying to get the perfect pieces and colors for the stitching and the "fabric" pieces. It was really fun to work on since I could mix and match colors of glass, Van Gogh glass, ball chain, Swarovski crystal beads, silver jewelry and leftover pieces of English Transferware china. 

Sometimes I would take it out in the sun and work in it too. Here it is almost finished. Below it is all filled in and ready for grout. I mosaiced the edges also using vitreous glass in the colors of the piece. And, of course, there is a little kitty in the middle. 

Grandma's Crazy Quilt

So next I have to figure out a grout color to use, maybe black, and finish it up. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

New Work

I've been working on many new things getting ready for our show at a local restaurant. Here is a pretty in pink heart. I found the base at a thrift store and I added some china pieces. I cut the center out of one of the plates for the center of the piece. This one has two holes near the top so I'm going to try putting a pretty ribbon for hanging.



The next piece below doesn't look very good in the picture but in person I'm finding it quite interesting. I have a crazy quilt stitched by one of my aunts way back in the 20s or 30s. I decided to try to make a mosaic that looked like a crazy quilt.

And finally here is another piece I found at a thrift store. A key! My dad was a locksmith and the large round key on the right was one he made for me to open the door of my house. So I decided to find some interesting keys and populate this wooden piece. I also painted it turquoise and threw on some gold glitter. Then I glued tempered glass on top. It isn't grouted yet because, as usual, I'm not sure what color grout to use. I'm thinking of something in the gold family also. Maybe I'll use a couple colors of grout to add some interest. 

So I just thought I'd let you know that I haven't reneged on my goal of making a new mosaic a week. I'm still at it and loving every minute of it!