Cats
I don’t think it’s any secret that I am a cat person. Perhaps not as passionate about them as when I was a child, but I still love having a friendly cat around the house to admire my quilting and to test my quilts.
This week though, cat art seemed to specifically catch my attention all over the place.
It started with a picture of a mummified cat I saw on Kathryn Kerr’s site for her 365 challenge sampler……
Cat-spiration
The particular cat mummy Kathryn referenced is the same one as in our colour board. And it was introduced to me by Kathryn in the context of the log cabin block, where she pointed out the antiquity of the log cabin as a decorative design. So of course I had to investigate that further. I read all about the British Museum’s cat mummies, their origin, and the appalling destruction of most of their cat mummy peers to make fertiliser. Yup, apparently cat mummies make great fertiliser. Sorry, Brits reading this…. you definitely should not eat your veges!
Ever since that internet wandering, I have had log cabin and cat quilt designs in my head begging to become squirrels. Not going to happen for now of course, but at least I have an idea for the next time I need a vintage-inspired quilt! 😀
And Danny Amazing-ness
In the meantime I am dreaming of being reincarnated as Danny Amazonas, with or without my cat in tow. I was fortunate to see some of his amazing work on Friday. I’d most definitely agree to cat-sit this piece of cat textile art any day!
If you ever get a chance to see Danny Amazonas – take it! His work is amazing. He is generous with his descriptions of his technique. And he gives interesting, intelligent talks without a whiff of grandstanding. My kind of person and artist. I just wish I’d realised he was teaching a class in time to have booked a seat! Probably a good thing though, since it ran on my wedding anniversary……
Anyway here’s a taste of the work he had on display. Enjoy!
Danny’s work is textile art, not quilts, in that they are varnished like paintings and have no batting. Here is a close up of his freemotion zigzag invisible stitching he uses to secure his work.
Embellished Flowers was the overwhelming theme this week in our link ups
All my friends in the Northern Hemisphere must be really looking forward to Spring…. as there seemed to be fabric flowers everywhere this week!
Cherie from Cherie’s Quilting Journey is starting a hand embroidered project with pretty crayoned flowers. Here is her bouquet after tracing and colouring…. now we eagerly await the embroidery.
Jeanette of @quilted_collie on Instagram played with stencils and paints on her fabric last week and came up trumps with this pretty little bag.
I like keeping an eye on Jeanette’s instagram – she tries so many fun techniques.
And Denise of For the Love of Geese took us on an abbreviated tour of the Quilt Expo in Elsah, Illinois. Denise had an impressive display of her own paper pieced quilts in the expo. And she showed us this folded flower quilt of her sister’s; which I particularly like, having made a folded flower quilt myself. There are many other quilts to see in Denise’s post, so head on over and feast your eyes there too.
And then please share your own Beauties…..
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Good Morning Dione! Wow, Danny’s art is just gorgeous. I can only imagine how much time is involved in each piece. I will watch for a class or discussion featuring him and his collection. It certainly would be worthwhile to see. Very interesting about the mummified cats. I can’t say I’ve ever given it a thought that animals would be wrapped. ~smile~ Roseanne
Love Danny’s work and would love to see it someday. Those cats are quite interesting. I love cats and had them as a child, but now we are allergic in my house, so we have a nonshedding dog – different but wonderful too. And, yes, spring can’t start soon enough.
Isn’t it fascinating the designs we use and call quilt blocks today were used centuries ago in design? I’ve learned something new today, who knew they loved their pets as much as we do. Thank you for sharing my sister’s quilt. I sent her a text this morning with a link and I think you made her day.
Thank you so much for the feature!
Good morning. Wow what a wonderful post. These are awesome. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Dione, thanks for the fascinating cat information 🙂 and introducting me to Danny Amazonas. What incredible art!
That is some incredible art work! Amazing colors! Thanks for the intro!
Hi Dione,
Thanks again for the shout out. Embroidery going slowly. It seems like it’s time to go to the eye doctor. It may be time for tri focals. The art quilts are just spectacular.