First - the Story

Just in case you don't know, Challenge 3 was to choose an easily recognizable, popular song and interpret the lyrics.  Since I have had official confirmation that my responses, the photo of the quilt, and the quilt itself have been received, I feel I can post this. 

The following are McCall's prompts/questions and my answers.

How did you choose which song to use?  At first I was flummoxed.  What easily recognizable, popular song did I know?  I grew up with classical music including opera.  Surely an aria would not do.  I thought and discarded Gilbert and Sullivan operettas as no longer easily recognizable, but at least that put me on the right track - musicals.  Having wanted to create a night scene for some time, the choice of "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera became the solution.  The specific lyrics I used were, "Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams!  Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before! Close your eyes let your spirit start to soar and you'll live as you've never lived before.  Softly, deftly, music shall caress you.  Hear it, feel it, secretly possess you.  Open your mind, let your fantasy unwind in . . . the darkness of the music of the night."  The music accompanying these lyrics appears in the blocks at the top and bottom of my quilt.

In this interpretation of those lyrics, a grandmother has her grandchildren visiting while their parents are away.  The children's mother has told her that the children seem fearful of nighttime.  During the week they've been staying with her, their grandmother has been able to coax them to leave the safety of the lit porch to chase and catch fireflies.  The night depicted in my quilt shows the grandmother, with a quilt wrapped around her against the chill, successfully drawing them to her pond to see the wonders and the beauties of the night.  The granddaughter still clings to her, but she is reaching to the wheeling dragonflies.  The boy, with adolescent bravery, is sitting with his back to his family (although still touching his sister) and is releasing his fireflies.  The grandmother is trying to teach them that fear can paralyze you if you let it, but if you "open your mind, let your fantasy unwind," face the menace in the night, and look for beauty, you can conquer at least some of your terror.  While the menace is still there (the owl as the phantom but also wisdom, dragonflies with their scary names, a dark pond, looming trees, falling stars, and even the unusual golden harvest moon), the phantasmagorical night sky is alight with beauty.

What was the most difficult part of this Challenge?  I knew exactly what kind of design I wanted to make but also knew it would look overwhelming and difficult to beginner and possibly even to intermediate quilters.  So my challenge was to create an elaborate night scene in the simplest possible way.  Instead of using bias strips for my "cosmic swirls", I used easily manipulated ribbon and cord.  Instead of hand embroidery, I used the wonderful stitches available on my sewing machine almost exclusively.  Instead of hand appliqué, again I used a machine stitch for all the raw edge appliqué on this quilt.  Stars and their points can be scary, but the ones on my quilt are cut out as one-piece, raw-edge stars and applied with a machine stitch.  Quilters would have the option of replacing the open hands with extended fingers on my quilt with a closed-fingered hand.  The owl is fussy but simple.  His many parts are constructed with ease using 2-sided fusible material.  My trapunto method is also simpler than the traditional one.

What most the enjoyable part of this Challenge?  The help and support of my family and friends, listening to Samuel Ramey singing "Music of the Night" over and over, and watching my ideas come to life in my quilt! 

Tomorrow, the photo.