Weave Me the Sunshine ~ Project Quilting 11.6

Music makes pictures and often tells stories

All of it magic and all of it true

And all of the pictures and all of the stories

All of the magic, the music is you...

John Denver 

Sunday our last Project Quilting challenge was announced. I was in North Dakota spending time with 3 of our grandchildren and didn't look at the challenge post until the next morning before I packed my car and headed back to South Dakota. After  five days of lollygagging around and ignoring the unfolding drama of reality, reading the news on Monday and facing the 400 mile drive I can honestly say I was just a bit depressed. I was thankful for something creative to think about as I meandered my way back home. 

The challenge for the week was to create something Vibrant and Vivacious, something bright and colorful to brighten the dreary days ahead. 

The first thing I do anytime I get in the car to go anywhere is find something good to listen to on the radio or my phone. Sometimes it's NPR and the news, other times a book, but on Monday I just wanted music. Music to help me forget all the crazy going on in the world that morning. 

Growing up music was everywhere in our lives, our Mom always had something playing on the record player and usually she was busy doing whatever moms do and singing along. Operas, movie soundtracks, musicals, folk music, religious music, you name it, we listened to it all. 

Sometimes when I am stressed or worried about something the lyrics to a song will get stuck in my head and play on repeat, it can be annoying when the song repeats for days,  or even months, but I honestly think sometimes it's maybe a hidden message to keep me moving in a positive direction. 

Northeastern North Dakota is still blanketed in a deep crust of snow, Sunday night it snowed some more. The first 100 miles of my trip home were on snow packed roads, and the sun was shining bright. The folk song "Weave Me the Sunshine" by Peter, Paul and Mary popped into my head and it has been playing on repeat ever since. I had my inspiration for my challenge quilt! 

"Weave Me the Sunshine" is a song of hope and solidarity, something we all need during the days ahead. 

 I was tired on Tuesday after my day of driving so I didn't do much except read the news, take a nap and try to get laundry done. I knew what I wanted to do for my project but I wasn't sure how I was going to create it. 

After supper I decided the week wasn't going to go by any faster and I probably should start making a plan. I dug through my batiks because they are dyed fabric not printed so I knew their bright, vibrant colors go all the way through the fabric. 

My plan was to WEAVE a sunshine :) I wanted the sun to be woven in a circular weave and not straight lines, it took a couple of attempts to figure out the best way to achieve this. I finally settled on wrapping my thread around a coffee can lid. Since I am not a weaver I probably didn't do it correctly, but it worked!

I took my fabrics and cut them into skinny strips and then realized I would need something to actually weave with. I didn't want to use a large needle because even though my strips were fairly thin, they would still be a headache to thread into the eye of the needle. While digging around trying to find something to use, I found a bar straw/pipe cleaner machine lint cleaner, perfect! I cut the straw down, the pipe cleaner was large enough to slip the fabric into and then manipulate so the fabric was locked in while I was weaving. 

After weaving my little sunshine, I tied off the ends of the thread and left some along the bottom to represent the rain. I had a dotted piece of blue batik I wanted to use for my background fabric, and I quilted swirls and lines on it before attaching my sun. I wasn't going to sew the sun down because I wanted it to hang free, but it wanted to curl so I did tack it down in a couple of places. 

Since I didn't know what I was doing in the weaving department, imagine that, my center was a bit crazy looking, so I added some strips of bright yellow and trimmed them to hide the blue threads and give it some depth.

The top photo is the front of my weaving, the bottom is the back. Good thing this isn't a weaving challenge! LOL

 I used a multi colored checkered piece of batik to bind it. When I started it was 8 x 10 but finished it is about 7 x 9 after trimming and binding.

 The threads representing the rain didn't want to hang straight so I found some larger beads and attached them to the ends to give them some weight,

As the entire world journeys now together into the unknown, may we find hope and solidarity,  and may each of you find a song in your hearts and sunshine to brighten your days~ Peace 

~ Weave Me The Sunshine ~ 

Peter, Paul and Mary  

They say that the tree of loving

Shine on me again

They say it grows on the bank of the river of suffering

Shine on me again, and

(Chorus)

Weave, weave, weave, me the sunshine out of the falling rain

Weave me the hope of a new tomorrow, fill my cup again

If only I could heal your sorrow

Shine on me again

I'd help you find your new tomorrow

Shine on me again

(Chorus)

I've seen the steel and the concrete crumble

Shine on me again

The proud and the mighty all have stumbles

Shine on me again

(Chorus)

Only you can climb that mountain

Shine on me again

If you want a drink from the golden fountain

Shine on me again 

Weave, weave, weave me the sunshine out of the falling rain

Weave me the hope of a new tomorrow, fill my cup again