"Balance" - Fiber Art and Haiku - July 30, 2011

"Balance" - Fiber Art and Haiku -  July 30, 2011

Look at how you stand...
Life is full of challenges...
Maintain your balance...

    I designed and made this fiber  art piece to go with  a haiku about balance.  I used cotton fabric, fancy yarn and shells on this piece.

(un)balanced

Balance - yin and yang
Competing priorities
Pushing and pulling



This may be my favorite piece so far. It is "8.5 x 11" like my other pieces, but is not square - the quilting distorted the dimensions and so I left it that way.

July - Balance

The first thing that came to my mind when I saw our word for July was "The Ape Who Guards the Balance" (Amelia Peabody, anyone?)  A bit of research told me that the book title refers to Thoth, the ancient Egyptian deity who weighed the hearts of the deceased to determine their fates.

Using an ancient Egyptian god in a Japanese poetic form wasn't going to fly, nor did I want to make anything death themed, but those scales stuck with me.  Then I thought of juggling the things I have to do and the things I want to do.  I googled juggler images and turned up an Egyptian tomb painting of female jugglers.  Still ignoring the obvious sign from god to make an Egyptian sort of quilt, I came up with this one.

The juggler is based on the tomb painting (which is in the public domain), but the face and eye were modernized.  I drew the scales while looking at various scale images, and scanned a real skeleton key to trace.  They key bit came from a book-on-tape I was listening to at the time, can't think what now.  The line was "the key is balance".

Techniques include fused applique, stitched down with monofilament, machine quilting, and hand embroidery (the chains holding the scales).  The haiku is written with a Liquid Gold pen.


trying to juggle
too many balls in the night
balance is the key

July Haiku Art - Balance

What balance means to me these days is the attempt to put the mind and body into a balanced or integrated state as we do through Yoga practice.

My quilt incorporates the words: "Shanti" which means peace and "So Hum" .  So Hum is a mantra that we use for focus while doing deep breathing.

The Haiku

close your eyes breathe in

jasmine scented air swirling

find your center - stay

 

Shanti 2

 

Balance

My found haiku reads:

they float through the air
dance on the tips of their toes
The dancers take joy

Steam-A-Cheese

This is my first project for the Haiku Art Quilters, and I hope it is OK. I made a small quilt, only 5"x7", and it represents my dilemma. Do I stop to make meals, or do I continue to quilt? Ironed cheese, anyone?

Cooking and quilting,

I'm often torn between them.

Where is the balance?

Ann In Fallbrook,CA

balanced diet

Haiku -


A balanced diet -
Coffee, chocolate, chips and wine

Any arguments?

This bit of sillyness is made on handdyed background. The cake is velvet and metalic knit with beads as nuts. The wine is layered and painted with shadows. The chips are two layers of organza and one of tulle all bonded with misty fuse then heated with the heat gun for shaping. What a fun one this was!

YIN AND YANG

My Haiku for July : Balance

Perfect harmony

Masculine and Feminine

The Yin and the Yang

I simply drew a couple of Zentangle type symbols for my journal this month. Too many challenges at the moment, LOL.

Cherie

JULY PROMPT: BALANCE

It's time again for the word prompt...this months word given to us by Carole is...Balance. There are so many ways you can go with this one. I can't wait to see what turns up .

Remember the form is 5-7-5 syllables (for this first year at least). If you can do it in the week, great...if not, post when you can...it's never too late!

Cherie