Project Quilting 13.3: Kitchen Influence

This week's Project Quilting Challenge theme, Kitchen Influence, invited participants to create a stitched project inspired by something from the kitchen.

The day before the challenge theme was announced, I received a package from my brother and mother containing silverware and kitchen utensils from my great grandmother, Gram. Check out that spoon, worn to an angle from all her stirring over the years! I have fond memories visiting her in Stony Point, NY where she'd cook us corn fritters and her famous mac and cheese recipe which I make from time to time.

As I reflected on other kitchen memories, I thought back to my childhood home and the bright floral wall paper in the breakfast nook. Thankfully I found a photo that contained a small snippet of that wall paper which you can see along the left side of the photo below (which is then zoomed in on the right).

As I started to gather supplies, I sketched out a very rough idea that would combine both childhood memories...

The next evening I used some green Dazzling Metallic acrylic paint to stamp the handles of the silverware and utensil onto white prepared for dye fabric. There was a bit of a learning curve in order to get a clear impression which involved several layers of old washcloths and batting. I stamped both sides of the silverware as oftentimes one side yielded a better and/or entirely different design!

I also started to pull out and fuse some scraps to create a trio of flowers using her cookie/biscuit cutters as inspiration for the flower head and the stamped handles as leaves. 

I wanted to create a flower to represent each of my brothers and I. Here are some of the protype flower parts using very basic shapes...

Which were finetuned with a few more details...

Each flower was placed onto a white background and framed with fused scraps. I found the perfect black and white print featuring rows of forks and spoons but only had a 5" charm and a few 2.5" charms, so I included a bit on each panel mixed with other color-coordinated scraps. 

A few messages of love were stitched into the various scraps, but otherwise, the quilting was kept fairly simple using a variety of 40wt threads in coordinating colors...

Initially I had planned on using the black and white flowers as the background but it was way too busy. Instead, a green blender print was used for the background with vertical strips of the floral print used above and below each panel.

"Gram's Garden" Finishes 24" x 16"

This piece was made in honor of Gram and her many talents: cooking, gardening, and sewing. I am now the caretaker of her Singer treadle machine and now several cooking utensils. As I touch these family heirlooms, I think about the joy she experienced using them, and channel that joy into my own art. 

Thank you Gram for nurturing my creativity and sharing your joy with me...