"AIREDALE ATTITUDES"
Made by: Candy KramlichSize: 29 inches wide x 26 inches long
Adapted from an Airedale paper placemat from Europe, circa late 1980's, artist unknown and a couple of photographs
I lost two long time friends this past year - Joey Fineran, one of the founders of Airedale Rescue, who was one of my early Rescue mentors, as well as being an Airedale breeder and exhibitor and Samantha Curran of Evermay Airedales, an Airedale breeder and exhibitor and big supporter of Airedale Rescue, who befriended me when I moved back to NY back in 1986. This wall hanging is dedicated to the memory of these two very special ladies - special in the world of Airedales and special in my life. They will both be very much missed in this world by many, many people.
This wall hanging is inspired by an old Airedale paper placemat that I had framed. It was made back in the 1980's by an artist in Switzerland or Austria and brought back to the US by Virginia Sauerwein (RIP), who worked for the UN and was a charter member of the Airedale Terrier Club of Metropolitan New York. She gave me quite a few of them to sell for ATCMNY Rescue. I picked several of the poses that would work in a small wall hanging and enlarged them and then traced the Airedales onto freezer paper to make each pattern. The background is formed by blocks using several cream colored, lightly patterned tone on tone batik fabrics. I wanted vibrant blacks, rusts and tans for the appliqued Airedales that would pop on the cream background, but a couple of the Airedales have the more muted coloring of softer coated Airedales. The sashing is a warm black fabric with a tiny tan print. The larger center block measures approx. 11" x 11" and is surrounded by the four corner blocks measuring approx. 6" x 6". I used several 5" x 5" charms for added interest and texture in the pieced background of the center top and bottom blocks, which measure 4" x 11". The two middle blocks on each side measure 4 1/2" x 6". The embellishments (buttons aand fabric in the shape of a ball, a butterfly, teddy bear, dog bone, little "ants", and rabbit) add a little dimension and fun. The machine quilting is relatively minimal, just outlining along the edges of the block. I am not that adept at quilting and was afraid if I outlined the figures, I might ruin it and I worked too hard and too long on the appliques to risk a big mistake in quilting. My biggest challenge on this wall hanging was measuring. My 3 previous wall hangings were either 4 large same sized blocks or 1 large background. This wall hanging has various sized blocks and I had to figure out how to make it come out fairly even! No matter how many rulers I used or how many times I measured, sometimes things came up a little short. How frustrating. I could blame it on the rulers being warped, but I doubt all 3 of them were!
A HUGE thank you to Marianne Perry who came and spent several hours with me one Saturday. She embroidered on all the eyes and noses while I worked on appliquing the last block! I also appreciated her input and suggestions. Since I had a deadline that was fast approaching, she saved me several hours of work with the embroidery and gave me one more thing to check off my list as DONE! And it was so very nice to have someone to chat with making the time and work seem to go faster.
I'm proud to say no blood was drawn this year or fingers sewed to the fabric. Oh wait, that's not true - I did sew my pointer finger to the back of the last block, but no blood thankfully. It didn't hurt and I didn't realize it until I went to turn over the block and my finger was attached to it! I'd also like to thank Rebecca Eash for making the label for me as well as sending me a box of tiny appique pins which made my life so much easier. I used a different technique this year where I pinned all the fabric pieces for each block together before I started to hand applique. It helped immensely with keeping the Airedales centered and actually went a little faster because I was not duplicating work where the pieces overlapped. Sew once, instead of twice. Because I got a very late start on this, I was afraid I wouldn't finish it in time. I was really under the gun on this one.
I hope whoever has the luck of the draw to own this wall hanging will like and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed stretching my fledging talent in this craft. I don't envision myself doing a full blown quilt, but I do enjoy making the wall hangings.
Here are some progress photos.
 |
| Planning out the wall hanging using paper cutouts & paper blocks |
 |
| Auditioning Airedale fabrics |
 |
| Pinning fabric pieces to block backgrounds |
 |
| Checking out the layout before starting to hand applique and I made a switch removing one block and making a new one with a differnt pose |
 |
Assembled Top that took 8 1/2 hrs
to assemble! Quite a challenge for me. |
And $10,000 Milestone Incentive, Lead Crystal Neil Harris Airedale Figurine to the person whose donation puts us at $10,000
Candy, I had to laugh (in sympathy) as I read your story. Sounds like every time I've picked up a needle! But congrats on persevering and working through to finish the absolutely beautiful work of art. The tiny 'imperfections' you see (and the winner won't) are what make this a true heirloom.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Libby. Marianne Perry came over today and showed me how to use some of the presser feet that came with my sewing machine and we talked about needle sizes and stitch lengths, etc. So I will be practicing the next few months before starting next year's wall hanging!
ReplyDeleteWe love this wall hanging and we love the name! Outstanding job, Miss Candy!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful work Candy!
ReplyDelete