Fangirl squee!

Recuerdos de Familia
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I figure there's some quilts you guys might be more interested in than others, and this is probably one of those. Plus, something pretty cool happened I want to squee about.

I've had it in my head for a couple of years that I want to make a Day of the Dead quilt one of these days. I had already started thinking that before I ever saw this quilt a couple of years ago, but I think this one got me thinking about it even more. This is by Sabrina Zarco, and it was part of the "Small Wonders" exhibit at the big Houston quilt show in 2004. (I don't remember how big this one was exactly, but I would say possibly about 18" square. Not very big at all.)

(Also, you know how I complain about my aunt? Well, I went with her that year to the quilt show, and you know what her reaction to this was? "You're taking a picture of that?" she said. Sigh.)

OK, so anyway, I am mentally planning a Dia de los Muertos quilt, and I finally got sort of an inspiration - at least a vague one - about what I want to do. It's supposed to be about remembering your family, so I thought I would make it sort of a tribute to my grandparents, and put their pictures in it and stuff. I still don't know exactly what I want to do design-wise, but that's still further along than I was. And I wrote an entry about all this on my quilt weblog about a month ago, with a picture of another of Sabrina Zarco's quilts, because I like her style and I think it's particularly appropriate for the subject. I like the heavy embellishment on them and the bright, bright colors. And the squee part of it appeared on that page earlier this week - a long comment from Ms Zarco herself!

It's not actually the first time that's happened - another person whose quilts I had admired e-mailed me a couple of months ago - but I particularly admire these quilts and was excited to get any kind of encouragement from her about this. (I really like what she says about the Dia de los Muertos tradition, too.)

I was thinking that I really can start working on this a little bit even before I really know what I'm doing - I have beads and various embellishments, and doing that kind of handwork is terribly time-consuming, anyway, so it'd be good to get a head start. So I'm trying to get together the supplies so I can start doing a small piece of embellishment. If I like it how it comes out, I'm sure it can make its way into the quilt somewhere. (I have a couple of projects that have to take precedence over this one, anyway, but handwork is something I can do in bits & pieces when I have a chance.)


Oh, also, on that general subject - I guess of Day of the Dead IS becoming commercialized, as Sabrina said, because look! Day of the Dead dishes! (Courtesy of Samantha, who says that that's her wedding china!)