Mandala - Completed At Last

Oh how I struggled with this!  It started simply enough with a challenge issued by a local gallery for my ArtCGirlz group to do a show...creating mandalas.   Since mandalas are supposed to be personal, what better than music for me to use.  I already had the theme and I had a circular patterned rust dyed fabric.  I found the center motif and printed it on fabric and appliqués to the rust dyed fabric.   Easy enough.   I then decided to stencil paint the word "PEACE" around the circle as music often brings peace....relief from the everyday stresses.   So far so good,  

I then found the saying "When Words Fail... Music Speaks" and decided to ink stencil it onto the fabric. Still working good!  

  Then I decided to machine quilt the treble clef flourish symbol....Big Problem!   Have you ever tried to quilt through rust???   My machine needle locked up every time.  No matter what I tried it wouldn't work and I decided to quit.   I folded it up and threw it In the bottom of the closet.  About the same time I began to question why I don't do more with my music....I was trained after all and the process of thinking through that led me to concur  with my decision to just stop and not do this project after all.  But like most things, I kept thinking and pulled it back out and tried again and then threw it back again. Finally I decided to add beads to hold things together.   Before that I tried the treble clef sign once more, changing needles, thread, holding my breath and barreling through.   Once I started with the beads I really began to like it more,  then I found a perfect border.....circular, mandala like and I quilted it in circles.  I kept adding beads to the point where I finally don't hate it!  So, it is completed and will hang in the show!    

You can see our show at Blue Pearl Yoga Studio Gallery on Main Street in Batavia,  all of us who are showing have had "journeys"... Personal to us, which I hope will result in the public understanding the intent of this show.