I finished another Foreclosure quilt this week of a neighborhood in Modesto, CA.
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| Modesto Foreclosure Quilt, 2011. Cotton and cotton voile with kantha stitching. 12" x 36" |
I felt the need to do a lot of kantha stitching on this piece and wasn't sure why at first. Something about this stitching reminds me of plantings in farm fields. There are a lot of farms surrounding Modesto and I suspect this neighborhood was once farmland. So perhaps it's fitting to show it this way.
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| Modesto Foreclosure Quilt block detail, 2011. |
The city has one of the highest foreclosure rates in California. There is even an entire neighborhood that was under construction that was just abandoned mid construction. The remaining residents feel helpless with half-built houses sitting across the street.
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| Modesto Foreclosure Quilt lot detail, 2011. |
It's hard to think that these cities will somehow survive and hopefully rebuild. My next piece though, based on a neighborhood in Cleveland, will show that it can be done if the neighbors and city work together.
13 comments:
amazing! i love it how you can translate all this history into a quilt!
i love the red in this one..
of course, i'm curious where this is.
for a bit of time, i tracked all the new housing starts in the area for a small company and it was so sad when everything began shutting down...
There is such a powerful "quiet" about this work. Looking at it gives me goose-bumps, and I can almost hear the absence of children playing where they once played... lives no longer lived in homes that no longer remain. I think this one may be my favorite so far. The red and the white are beautiful and you have my deepest respect for all of that wonderful hand stitching, as I know how labor intensive that process is. Very well done.
Beautiful stiching Kathryn. I like that it made you feel like you were sewing the fields. I'm looking fwd to seeing your work for the Cleveland neighborhood and how you will represent the rebuilding.
wow,Kathryn..this was a lot of Gutermann thread ;)
I love those pieces,they have a lot of pureness in them i guess like farmers.
Amazing work,love it!
it too makes me think about the children and what once was a childhood home for them.
it is a truly wonderful piece.
Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments on this one! I used up an entire spool of that guterman red on this one thanks to Victoria's great suggestion of doubling the thread. @Inklore, I have to dig through my studio notes but I will tell you soon what the streets are!
Red and white is always a favorite combination of mine. Add to that kantha stitching. So lovely. And powerful.
Very wonderful. Thank you. :-)
my goodness, kathryn, this is GORGEOUS.
I have posted your Modesto Foreclosure Quilt - linking it back to your Flickr page - on my Tumblr page and on my blog -- I am your personal PR slave - because I love it!
Thanks Morna, so sweet of you! Love your blog! @Sonya and @Katrina, do you know you both live in the same city?!
Thanks, Kathryn!
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