This little bit of quilt is from my Crazy Quilt that my mom made for me...on each and every quilt she makes she always adds the special spider and her web...

It takes my breath away thinking that she is continuing the art of nearly 150 years ago....and each and every one of them are beyond magnificent.

I've known about the Crazy Quilters and the spiders along with their webs....but I needed to know why...why and how did this all become...

It just kinda happened...and here's some history for you...back in 1876 we had our first official World's Fair in Philadelphia - celebrating 100 years of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  And at this fair there was an amazing exhibit featuring English embroidery and Japanese art.

And the Victorian's ran with this; the quilting women, the artists, many were influenced in this time period of combining what they had seen themselves or what they were hearing from others..implementing this into a new art of Crazy Quilts.  With this art, they could add their fine embroidery and pour their entire soul into each and every square...

But how did the spider start and her beautiful web?  I have no clue - again, it just happened...during the era of Crazy Quilting the spiders and their webs were often sewn into quilts. And it's still done today...nearly 150 years later.  Amazed.

But it makes sense....after all, the quilter is threading her own web into a quilt, thoughts, hopes, dreams and plans...they have a history together, these two.

My assumption is the artist of this original game board was also influenced by the spider and her web from the beginning of the Era of Crazy Quilts. A pretty moving thought...all of this history woven into this game board.  In a way I'm telling their story; The Victorian's and their loves.

 

"Threads Through Time"

This is a reproduction based on a piece from the 1880's.  I have been wanting to paint it for so many years, but found that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make sense of the pattern...patience is indeed a virtue I'd tell myself, for one day I pulled it out again and stumbled upon what I felt was so close.  Threads through Time with a spider web...

After the drawing and painting I found myself stumbling on how to make the white lines, I didn't want to omit them altogether by doing black because I felt they really made the special web design....and it is about the web of good things....

So I experimented, knowing that I could totally ruin the piece and would be at square one....this happens....and I found after researching that one can put an oil paint on top of an acrylic (but not the other way around) - so the lines are oil paints.

I will admit, I didn't breathe much while doing...but I'm happy with my work conveying the look of the original artist.

Original piece is this small picture below...

The quilter and the spider have a long history together. As the spider works her threads through time, she represents an industrious, creative creature weaving webs to catch things like luck, wealth, and good fortune. Many cultures hold the spider in esteem, looking to her for wisdom and well being. Not unlike a quilter, not at all.

 "Threads Through Time"
Limited Edition of 10
19" x 19"
$265.00

colors of bright red, eggplant, light green, latte, sandstone, barn red and blue - white lines

This is a picture of the piece inside of my home....shown with "Circus Tent" and they work perfectly together.  A truly fun and unique grouping.

Threads Through Time - $265.00
Circus Tent - $285.00

Some things to consider - You have Options:

You can leave the center "home" block blank for a stronger graphic appeal  I wanted to include it because it was on the original piece, but it's so worn and hard to see.  There is always something 'warm' about 'home' too.

You can replace "home" with an actual spider....I think in the latte color would look nice.  Eggplant would be barely visible - and would also look nice...a trick to the eye.
 

If this piece touches your heart with it's design and history....I would love to make one for you...

Limited Edition of 10

Yep....it's my finest treasure!