I used to be working on bearing the fruits of peace and justice, but now they're borne

Done, done, done, and on deadline!  Here it is, my banner, Bearing the Fruits of Peace and Justice, created for the United Methodist Church of Hartford.

About that deadline:  when I first got this assignment, the deadline for this, the third banner, was Easter or Memorial Day or whenever I could get it done.  Such luxury!

But in came a new pastor, and out went the request:  Was there any way I could have it done by April 10?

There was.  But producing this piece on that compressed schedule was somewhat intense.  In return, I hope for a measure of karmic cosmic brownie points.

NOW I'm talking to PINS???!!!

One of the challenges of this last banner is its sheer size, which presented not only visual and compositional challenges, but also very real physical challenges:  its slippery 7 foot length, its considerable, many-layered heft.

This is a challenge for pins, too, and I'm sorry to say that some of them just aren't up to it.  Witness these spineless pathetic pieces of...uh, steel, for example, which lack the courage to stand up and do what they were made to do:

When I work with one of these bending babies, I tell it to go f*** itself.  They fight back, though:  look at my finger!

Sorry this is so blurry, but trust me, I'm bleedin' here!

Nevertheless, I'm keepin' on keepin' on here.  Today I'm sewing on the binding.

Quilting the Quilt Sandwich

Today I took the newly-painted quilt backing, layered it with batting, and laid the quilt top over the batting and backing, creating the quilt sandwich.  Then I use a tool called a QuilTak to hold the three layers together so I can quilt them.

Quilting was not easy with all these feet and feet--okay, 7 feet--of heavy appliqued fabric plus backing plus batting.  Lotsa fabric to fit in the dinky space my otherwise irreproachable Viking Lily has to offer.

So now it's quilted. 

Next:  Cut 3" strips for the binding.

Sew the binding into one continuous strip, then pin to the edges of the quilt sandwich:

Almost there!  I'll sew the binding on tomorrow, then the sleeve, and then?  Fini!  Finito!

It turns out that the fruits of peace and justice are peaches

Yesterday I created the fruits for this third banner, "Bearing the Fruits of Peace and Justice."  It turns out that they're peaches.  Here's my thinking:  apples are too much to be expected, oranges would show up wonderfully against the tree but aren't uh...agriculturally correct for Connecticut.  I loved my nephew Michael's suggestion that I reify the concept by shaping a peace sign out of bananas, but bananas would lack credibility in Connecticut.  So I took some of my peachy, orangey fabrics and created this colorful harvest:

The fruits are three-dimensional:  some of them are little stuffed pillows, some are fabric yo-yos.

Now it's time to turn my attention to the batting and backing.  Today I painted the fabric that will become the backing and the sleeve.

It turns out that the fruits of peace and justice are peaches

Yesterday I created the fruits for this third banner, "Bearing the Fruits of Peace and Justice."  It turns out that they're peaches.  Here's my thinking:  apples are too much to be expected, oranges would show up wonderfully against the tree but aren't uh...agriculturally correct for Connecticut.  I loved my nephew Michael's suggestion that I reify the concept by shaping a peace sign out of bananas, but bananas would lack credibility in Connecticut.  So I took some of my peachy, orangey fabrics and created this colorful harvest:

The fruits are three-dimensional:  some of them are little stuffed pillows, some are fabric yo-yos.

Now it's time to turn my attention to the batting and backing.  Today I painted the fabric that will become the backing and the sleeve.

The dining room table, with both leaves, is the only surface in the house that's long enough for me to paint this 90" strip of fabric for the quilt back.