The Endeavourers’ Reveal Day — Spices
I am part of an online art quilt group that creates small pieces for quarterly themes. This time the theme was Spices. When we gathered up theme suggestions a few years ago, I had come up with this one, because I am always enticed by pictures of markets in travel magazines. But even though it was my suggestion, and I had had a few years to think about it, I didn’t have any definite plans to what to do.
Then I bought a whole photo collection of a world-traveling couple in an estate sale, and paging through, I found these two pictures:
Colorful bowls of spices and dyes.
Piles of spices.
I decided to stick to very simple forms to represent the bowls and pyramids of spices, but to use the sorts of materials that I think “spice up” a traditional quilt — handwoven fabrics, hand-dyed wools, felt, batiks, vintage velveteen — and to augment them with some hand-stitching.
Spice Market, 24″ x 30″.
Detail 1.
Detail 2.
I could definitely go back and quilt this more heavily, and add a lot more hand-stitching, but overall I love this piece. It was so nice to pull out a lot of fabrics that I wove back in the 1990s, and finally use them in something where I can look at them every day.
To see how others in the group interpreted this theme, you can visit The Endeavourers blog!
I love this! You’ve chosen such perfect colours and fabrics, I can almost smell the garam masala, the ras-al-hanout, the cloves and the fennel, the sage and the sumac. What a gorgeous piece. I’d love to see this theme elaborated into something bigger and more 3D, maybe…
Thanks, Kate! And I do love the names of the spices too, they are so musical. They really need to be embroidered into the background. 🙂
Beautiful!
I don’t travel internationally (or haven’t yet), but I’ve always thought it would be fun to see a spice market. I think you’ve captured the essence well. I like the texture of the various stitches and the colorful bowls!
Thanks, Wendy, and I loved your take on the theme too!
I love seeing your hand-woven fabrics–just lovely!
Thanks! I loved that stripy pattern and I wove it in many colors and fibers. It was perfect because back then, before internet shopping, I would buy remnants of yarn cones from mill-end trucks that came to Houston, and I could mix them all in to have enough for a warp. 🙂
Good job, spices are something I have always had an affinity for. Fun piece.
Thanks, Susan!
I love it! Thank you for showing the details.
The quilt is amazing, but what is also amazing is that you found the photo collection of a world traveling couple at the estate sale and honored their travels by being inspired on that quilt!
Yes, their photos are amazing! If you ever need a photo reference for just about anywhere around the world, let me know — I’m sure they will have covered it! 🙂
I love this quilt with all it’s hand woven and stitched detail. I think you have combined richness and extravagance with simplicity in a way that really captures the spirit (at least in my imagination!) of a spice market 🙂
Thank you, Janine, for your kind description!
You are so clever! I would never have thought to seek inspiration from an old photo yet here you are, working your magic. I’m glad you found a way to use your woven pieces into something you can enjoy. I popped over to the Endeavors blog posts as well, and enjoye the variety of offerings. This must be such a fun group.
Thanks, Alys! I do love seeing how everyone else in the group interprets each challenge.
Yes! I love the variety of fabrics and textures!
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