What do you see?
July 19, 2008 4:35PM | Filed Under Technique:Quilting, Twelve by Twelve |In You Can’t Go Home Again, fellow “Twelve” Karen has written about returning, as an adult, to the home you grew up in. Somehow you see things differently. With recent events, I have been recalling visits to my grandmother’s house. In my lifetime, she lived in a four locations but the modest decor rarely changed. Amongst her wall ornaments was a simple black and gold cut-out stencil - a kind of optical illusion that I remember squinting at as a child. I transferred the image to fabric using Shiva paintstiks with a freezer paper stencil. What do you see?
And yes, I did consider using this as the basis of my “illumination” 12×12 quilt which is due on 1 August (US time). After trying out some quilting (click on the first version above) I decided against it. I quilted around the “blobs” (which is all the Laundry King can see) and experimented with some “grid” quilting but the remaining puffiness bugs me. Besides, plain black fabric catches lint and dust and is a pain to photograph…
I can’t make out what the design is. Any hints?
Comment by Terri — July 19, 2008 9:42 PM#
It’s too soon for hints! but come back and look in the morning…
Comment by Brenda — July 19, 2008 10:44 PM#
It is a siloutte of a lady looking towards the floor,
very easy to see once you have found it.
Comment by lola — July 19, 2008 10:45 PM#
The Laundry King must be very left-brained. I am almost balanced left/right brain and once I covered 2 of them with my hand the woman jumped off the page at me. Three of them must have been confusing my brain.
Comment by Paula, the quilter — July 20, 2008 12:30 AM#
I’m squinting… can’t make it out.
Comment by Deborah — July 20, 2008 1:05 AM#
I saw nothing but blobs and then all of a sudden the face was there and now I can see nothing else. I really like your background quilting on the first one, but I suspect the effect is different in real life where the puffiness is more apparent.
Comment by Kristin L — July 20, 2008 1:43 AM#
It’s weird, I couldn’t see it until I looked at the rust colored one. Then it popped out. I guess the others had so much contrast it confused my brain.
Comment by Leslie Todd — July 20, 2008 3:42 AM#
It took a while but - yup, there she is!!
Comment by Helen Conway — July 20, 2008 7:17 AM#
I must’ve looked at it a million times in NZ but it wasn’t until now I saw the face!
Comment by Amy — July 20, 2008 9:11 PM#
nup, can’t see it I knew what it was cos I got told when I was a kid too… but no idea. Maybe it’s too early in the morning….
Comment by Chantel — July 21, 2008 6:44 AM#
[...] is for the benefit of Chantel and anyone else who couldn’t work out the blobs from the other day: As Lola correctly noted, it is the silhouette of a woman looking down. The illuminated outline of [...]
Pingback by Look Again : Serendipity and the Art of the Quilt — July 21, 2008 9:47 AM#
Ooh! I see a face in silhouette — the cheekbone, mouth, long nose, expanse of forehead… What an interesting image!
Comment by Diane — July 22, 2008 12:46 PM#