Reflections

While working on my latest offering I was pondering on how my tastes had changed. When we moved to our present home five years ago I was heavily into the primitive style of crafts and decorating. Not that anything is wrong with that but, since being in this walk, I have found that my preferences have changed from what they had once been. And except for some touches of prim in my kitchen I never really got started decorating our new home in primitive style.  I couldn't understand why I was going in a different direction. I think I may now have an answer to my query.

When the northern tribes of Israel fell into idolatry, Yahweh exiled them into the nations where they were assimilated. Their identity was lost hidden from future generations until these (the last) days. They forgot who they were and who they belonged to. They became like the commoners. They ate, dressed and acted like the common people. They surrounded themselves with the common. But the scales are falling off of the eyes of many of the decendents of that generation driven into the nations and they are waking up to their true heritage. I count myself among them.

And so, 'primitive' or 'common' is no longer a large part of my mindset. I now understand that I am no longer a commoner. I have a place Yahweh's Kingdom family. This change in style can be described in a number of words: courtly, cultivated, dignified, exquisite, genteel, graceful, luxurious, majestic, ornate, stately, refined, rich, sumptuous and so on. I tend to like rich brocades and paisleys in my creations along with gold and/or silver trimmings. Please don't think I'm trying to be snobbish or uppity here, just trying to explain why my work is changing. However, I am primarily a quilter although I dabble in many other creative endeavors. So I will still quilt and keep on decorating my kitchen in a farm-like motif.

Now for today's project. I have a narrow (under 6 inches wide) section of wall that needed to be filled. I'm delighted to share this wall hanging with you.

The base was constructed by adhering a piece of stiff interfacing (a item I've had knocking around my stash for untold years) to the back of paisley fabric with heat activated bonding tape. Interfacing that is heat activated on one side will also work. Then I sewed a backing material face to face with the paisley like you would a pillow and left the top opened. After turning it right side out I stitched the top closed.

Proceeding to the fabric that the letters would be adhered to I decided on the size, cut out top and back, sewed them face to face and turned them right side out. I sewed the edges of these 'tabs' closed after turning them under but I believe that was a mistake. On making these again I would just trim the tops with pinking sheers and top stitch closed because they will not show when the hanging is completed anyways.Then I added narrow gold trim around the tabs.

NOW THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT:  Next I drew the letters to be used on paper, turned the paper on the backside and traced the letters with a heavy black marker. I traced the BACKWARDS letters on the paper side of Heat and Bond. Then I cut out the letters with a safety margin around them and adhered the heat and bond letters to the BACK OF MY FABRIC. Next the letters were cut out, the paper backing of the heat and bond was removed and the letters were adhered to the front of the tabs.

Next I positioned and sewed on the M of  'Shalom', then the nest letter O. Then after measuring the spacing between those two letters, I spaced the remaining letters appropriately. this gives kind of a three dimensional effect.

A crystal bead was sewed to the point of each tab.  Lastly two rings were added to the top of the backing to hang my creation by.

An added note: For you non-sewers - each piece could be simply bonded together using a heat and bond type product. The hanging could be either made of fabric or felt. A blanket stitch could be used as edging, glitter paint could emphasize the letters, etc. Use your imagination and have fun with this. If you have questions leave a comment and I'll respond either by email or in the comment section.