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I
have always adored fireworks - the way they light up the night
sky,
spreading sparkling gems that glisten like diamonds, shimmering
until their
light is extinguished as they fall to the earth below. As a child
in Boston,
my father would bring me and my friends up on the garage roof
to sit and
watch the fireworks over Jamaica Pond (it's okay; it was a flat
roof :-). I
attended the first 4th of July Esplanade concert with Arthur Fiedler
and the
Boston Pops – the start of a national tradition with the playing
of the
1812 Overture, the cannons, local church bells, and, of course,
fireworks
over the Charles. I have seen the fireworks at Disneyworld, and
in small
towns across New England. It doesn't matter when or where – they
always
fill me with a sense of wonderment and awe.
I
spent the 4th of July, 2002, with my husband and a close friend.
We viewed
the fireworks in a rural town in Connecticut at the edge of a
field – we
had a magnificent front-row view framed by two large oak trees.
We might
have been a tad too close – we thought it had begun to rain when
we
realized we were actually being bombarded with ash!
I
chose the background fabric – a Heide Stoll-Weber from Free Spirit
–
because it had areas that reminded me of the smoky background
that one often
sees behind fireworks against a beautiful deep blue. Perfect for
a night
sky. The fireworks were first machine-quilted with Yenmet metallic
thread,
and then beaded with silver-lined and transparent Delicas. The
tree was
machine appliqued from a piece of hand-dyed fabric, and then #12
perle
cotton was used in the seed stitches to create the appearance
of bark and
leaves on the tree. The background was then scatter-beaded with
larger
silver-lined beads of various shapes and sizes.
Materials:
Heide Stoll-Weber hand-dyed cotton (commercial reproduction),
hand-dyed cotton from Judy Robertson, #12 perle cotton hand-dyed
by ArtFabr!k, assorted Japanese beads, Yenmet metallic thread.
Techniques:
cut-away machine applique, seed stitch embroidery, beading, machine-quilting.
