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"The Three Sisters"
A Tri-Nation Collaborative…a lesson in this for all of us.
FULL STORY Helen Godden, one of the 3 woman involved has been a quilter for only 5 years yet has won many awards both national and international in such a short time. Helen Godden from Canberra the capital of Australia tells the tale from her perspective “Down Under” "Part of my previous award wins include trips to the “mecca” of Quilt Festivals at Houston Texas. During my last 2 visits to Houston I have met many people and gathered a few very dear friends I hold close to my heart. That is one of magic joys of a huge Quilt Festival like Houston that attracts so many kindred spirits, you are bound to meet a few soul mates, bossum buddies, true blue mates, even adopt a few quilty sisters. Well that is certainly the case for 3 of us. Annette Hendricks from Chicago and I met in 2006 as award winners in Husqvarna Masterpiece exhibition. We become very close very quickly and talked about combining our efforts, despite distance and creating a collaborative entry one day. Then 2006 I was back in Houston as I was awarded Master of Innovative Artistry with Mekong Gold AND 2nd in Husqvarna Masterpiece exhibition with Imaginasaurus. In the aftermarth of the Winner’s Circle announcements, we met Gail E Thomas as she stood mesmorized in front of Annette’s 1st Prize quilt in Portrait category “Moondance” We three had dinner together, kept chatting, and completely bonded and adopted each other as life long sisters with our passions in art, colour, textiles and design. By 2 am we had a plan for a collaborative quilt involving all three of us, an American, a Canadian and an Australian. The epic adventure for this quilt and our relationship had just begun. In Chicago, Annette pieced a large quilt top using her hand painted cottons and created 3 simplified huge flowers in strong reds and purples and greens. Then the Quilt top tripped to Canada where Gail painted our 3 portraits superimposing them upon the three flowers and intertwined the portraits with images of the story of the Dragon, the Coyote and the Dragonfly – a Native American story of the powers of balance in Nature. Gail is a professional portrait artist and does amazing work. Then the Quilt got its shots and passport and swam Down Under to Australia to me in Canberra. With deadlines looming and the need to make allowances for shipping, I had 3 weeks to machine quilt this piece from top to toe. So I bit the bullet, called Zone for over a week and got to work on her. The quilt was lovely to work on as I had my dear friends face’s smiling and watching me from the sewing table. She was such a joy to stitch as I studied each area and came to know every brush stroke Gail had made and all the detail Annette had pieced into the work. As I free-motion stitched adding texture and detail, I poured my heart and soul into the quilt as had my two anxious sisters. Then back to USA for Annette to finish! The crazy woman, she loves a good deadline as I do and she really wanted to add our written story to the quilt as it is such an integral part of how it all came together. So with limited time she decided to paint a new back for the piece incorporating her beautiful hand writing and wrote the entire tale of our meeting and combining of talents for all to read.
Here is the Tri-Nation Tale as it appears on the back of the quilt to complete the story. The Three Sisters Once upon a time, so the tale is told, there was a cunning coyote and an amazing dragon who was able to shift shape magically. The coyote called out to the dragon, daring it to change its form. “Can you change into an elephant?” the coyote challenged. Instantly the dragon transformed into the large beast. “Can you change into a rabbit?” The dragon did so without effort. Finally the coyote taunted, “I bet you can’t change into an itty-bitty dragonfly.” Without hesitation, and with no thought to the consequences, the dragon transformed itself into a dragonfly. To the dragon’s great shock, the last metamorphosis was instant, complete, and irreversible, and the dragon has remained in this form to this very day. This myth is woven throughout this collaborative story quilt crafted by three artists from three different countries: Australia, Canada, and the United States. Each artist incorporated her own image as well as her animal totem, identified in the story. Thus the quilt includes the blue-gray-eyed Canadian with her blue-eyed dragon, the American with her howling green-eyed coyote symbol, and the Australian, whose blue-green eyes are mirrored in her companion dragonfly. Mailing the quilt from country to country, they worked together stage by stage, weaving this tale of magic and myth, and watching the metamorphosis unfold. To read more about these amazing quilty sisters go to
"Seasonal Sisters" (Very much still In progress)
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All images, artwork, and designs are property of the associated artists. No reproduction
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