Greetings from the White House

 

"Greetings from the White House"  Fabric Postcard  6" x 4.2",  Hand embroidery,  fusible applique, machine quilted.   Created for Project Quilting Season 12 challenge "Fussy Cut"  

The challenge this week is "Fussy Cut",  which in quilting means to carefully cut fabric so that a particular motif is centered in part of a block.    Here is a traditional sample:

Another version of fussy cut is to carefully cut around an image to applique it onto another piece of fabric, a technique called "broderie perse".  

I started this challenge on January 17th, just 3 days before the inauguration of  Joe Biden as our 46th president, I knew that I wanted to CUT the current occupant OUT of the White House. 

So I started with an embroidery of the White House: 

(and yes, for those who know me well, there are 2 shades of gray floss because I started with a small bit of gray and ran out!) 

Next I found a clip art image of a man falling, and redrew it to look like 45,  cut him out as a black silouette then placed him on his signature ridiculous hair. 

I placed him at the base of the White House, as if he was falling or being kicked out.  

I used Steam-a-Seam II fusible, which is slightly sticky before it is ironed down, allowing for rearranging these elements during design phase. 

Since I plan to make a series of these "Greetings from..." postcards, I printed the words in various fonts using Spoonflower services. 

The dark blue shapes are there to provide value contrast for the letters "The White House".

I've also fussy cut a US Flag from this piece of fabric. 
The flag is a little too large, but its what I had on hand. 

When selecting that dark blue, I found this piece of fabric, and realized it looked like the fireworks, that exploded over the capital the night of the inauguration, January 20th.  So I prepared a small piece, then fussy cut fireworks to place above the White House. 

I used a grunge white fabric for the letters, to look like white marble.

Here is the layout before quilting. 

I quilted through this piece and the Timtex so its stiff like a postcard.   Then added cardstock to the back before finishing the edge with a zigzag. 

When photographing I realized the top of the letters HOU were lost against the white banner, so I simply drew in a blue border with a pen. I wouldn't do this on a quilt that was going to be washed, but this is a postcard!

- - - 

After the election in November 2020, with the drumbeat of the conspiracy theorists, stoked by #45, there was some concern that he would not actually leave on January 20th.  The insurrection on January 6th made it clear that there were enough people following this line of un-reasoning that the peaceful transition of power was not guaranteed.   In the end, he left with a grudge by not attending the inauguration of the next administration.  Good riddance! 

The people of the United States, using the peaceful power of the vote, cut a wannabe tyrant out of our government.  I worry about all his followers. I hope that we can somehow regain a shared understanding of facts.  But I don't see that path today. 

More than ever, peace, 

Paula