An Ode To The Past - QuiltCon Entry 2015

My entry for QuiltCon 2015. 

I decided to submit this at the last minute to live up to the spirit in which it was made.

First the story behind it. I worked for an investment bank in New York before recently moving to Seattle and this illustration adorned the wall of my office for the 10 years I worked there. 

It is a Bauhaus illustration by Wilburn Bonnell III (Circa 1971) with a quotation by James Agee. The Ad is from the series 'Great Ideas of Western Man' by Container Corporation of America. 

The writing on it:

In every child who is born, 

under no matter what circumstances,

and no matter what parents,

the potentiality of the human race

is born again;

and in him, too, once more, and each of us,

our terrific responsibility towards human life;

towards the utmost idea of goodness,

of the horror of error,

and of God

I saw it every time I walked into office and it was the only constant in the ups and downs of my career and the fast changing corporate climate. It did not mean much to me initially but its bold and masculine appearance was a constant reminder to me that corporate America did not favor the weak or the timid. I had to navigate my way through just like the fellow next to me. Through the years it served me well. So as a tribute to all the life lessons I learnt there I decided to turn the illustration into a quilt.

In order to make this quilt I needed five varying shades of gray fabric. At the peril of sounding like an ad for Kona solids, it really was my only choice. Found the perfect five shades of gray. The quilt top came together relatively easily. Very simplistic. I did not want to take away from the bold blocks so decided to quilt each block with a self colored thread to further enhance the texture. Each colored section is quilted in a square spiral. This was a laborious process on a domestic sewing machine, but worth it, I think.

I did not want to add a visible border to the quilt and was wondering what to do when I saw Victoria Gertenbach's tutorial on facing a quilt. Just what I needed. Frankly I had not heard of the term 'facing a quilt' till I read her tutorial. Newbie!!! Love the crisp edges.

For the back I used Quilter's Linen in black and a newspaper print I picked up at my LQS. It has notable events from history printed in the form of news items. Love the fabric, must find more. You can see the facing and the quilting more clearly in this picture.

I agonized about submitting it as a QuiltCon entry. Self doubt began to sink in: It was not good enough, other quilts were much better. It would definitely get rejected. I wouldn't tell anyone I submitted an entry this way no one will know it got rejected.......and then I stopped myself. This is not what the illustration meant to me. For all its worth one thing that corporate America has taught me well is to take rejection and criticism like a champ and move on! 

So there in the spirit of the idea behind the quilt here is my QuiltCon entry.

Linking up to: Fabric Tuesday, WIP Wednesday, TGIFF, Crazy Mom Quilts