Mary Behr,
Hoboken, NJ , USA

Sin: Hiding Behind Excuses

It's always easier to say "No, I can't" instead of "Yes, I will try something new and scary and challenging today." These (de)merit badges
represent the silly---and not-so-silly---excuses I've used myself or heard from my closest friends.

The next time you're overwhelmed by "I can't," think the following instead:
" To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." (Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson)
" No, try not. Do or do not. There is no try." (Yoda)

The title "Just Symbols" can be read as the religious icons are merely symbols or that they are righteous symbols. I chose symbols to represent many different cultures and religions, and for their graphic quality. They were arranged according to graphic appeal and block color, with no regard to the meaning of a particular symbol, or what could be construed by placement of one symbol beside another. I used colorful blocks made from fabric scraps against a black background to resemble a stained glass window. This quilt also speaks to the beauty and unity that we could achieve by practicing religious tolerance.

Machine Pieced, Computer Generated Images, Fused Applique, Machine Quilting, Heat Set Crystals


I am often shocked - and always bewildered - by those who are rabidly anti-gay...especially when the reason for their mean-spiritedness is explained as being religiously faithful.

Frankly, I hope I am never able to understand it.

There are gods of many religions depicted - Christian, Buddist, Shinto, Hindu, Greek and Roman gods, pagan dieties - and a few good ole American gods and goddesses (James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Glinda the Good Witch...) Each of the gods and goddesses has a crystal 'tear' at their eye.

They are all looking towards the red 'flaming' area -
where there are photographs of some of the anti-gay demonstrators that were - in my opinion - beyond the pale. One man holds a sign that screams, "Gay? God Abhors You" ... another one states emphatically, "Fags Die - God Laughs." The hatred and anger in the eyes of these people startle me - and make me realize just how divided our country is. Over something as simple as
who people fall in love with.

Exploitation, intended or not, is the result of our country's hunger for products and services above and beyond the necessary. I hope that these images bring new thought to the mindless consumption of goods and services that dearly cost human life, wildlife and the environment.

Hand painted, machine appliqued and quilted. Pieces of used T-shirts made in Third World countries serve as batting for this piece. Embellished with decorative threads, shredded U.S. currency and tear shaped pieces cut from plastic water bottles.

Sharon Bowman,
Muncie, Indiana, USA

Sin: Stupidity

This quilt represents the sin of stupidity, as reflected in the stupid things people say. I believe people can choose to be stupid, and this quilt includes some spectacular statements from politicians and others (it is just a coincidence that they are all men, really!). Cotton, painted, hand stitched, fabric beads.

Sharon Bowman
Muncie, Indiana, USA

Sin: Conformity

Statement: In this era of wanting to fit in, to look and act like everyone else to achieve acceptance, along comes the Red Hat Society to feed that need. It is ironic that a group so wedded to conformity (red hats, purple attire) could be an outcrop of a poem boldly enbracing individuality! I decided to include phrases and images that might reflect the hidden side of the Red Hat ladies, and a woman who knows how to be unique.

Frances Caple,
Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland.

Sin: Chocolate

Materials: vintage fabric and lace with some hand dyed and shiny fabrics, cotton threads and batt.

Techniques: machine and hand appliqué with machine quilting.

Story and statement: I chose my own personal sin for the 8th deadly sin challenge, chocolate, I have always been a chocolate lover and that is when my will power is lowest, I was uncertain how to depict chocolate sin as a quilt but fate showed me the way by bringing some of my tehnique samples to my attention which were all based on a simple tree shape - a chocolate tree, then I thought of that apple tree in the first garden and realized if I was Eve it would have to have been a chocolate tree to tempt me.

Sin: Boredom

I believe that Boredom is the 8th Deadly Sin, because it is a state of mind we could easily overcome. I have tried to show Boredom as a state of "gray" with a door one can walk through, if one wishes, into a more interesting world. In this world, I have shown some of the things which keep me from being bored--activities, interests, travel, family, and friends. Others would probably choose other things, but the important thing is to "Just Do Something." It is too easy to not do, think, or feel, anything, and then become bored. Note: the picture of my husband walking our daughter down the aisle was taken by Dee Dunn, of Purcellville, Virginia, who has graciously given me permission to use it in this quilt.

 

Gerrie Congdon
Santa Rosa, California USA

Sin: Indifference

I have chosen the sin of indifference for this challenge. Throughout the history of mankind, the silence of humanity has often been responsible for the perpetuation of crimes against mankind.

On the background, I have painted in red, graffiti style, some of the names of places and the crimes and atrocities from my lifetime. They are: Columbia, Sarajevo, The Congo, Iraq, Germany, Darfur - Sudan, Kosovo, South Africa, USA, Auschwitz, HIV-AIDS, Abu Graib, Hate Crimes, Genocide, Apartheid, Death Squads, Ethnic Cleansing, Segregation.

I have chosen our current president as the icon of indifference (not to say he is the only one, just the most prominent in our times). I have screen printed his image over the graffiti background, in 3 poses. Hands have been appliquéd over the eyes, ears and mouth to represent see no evil, hear no evil and speak of no evil.

I found some significant quotes by famous people that I have printed on fabric using screen printing, the printer or by image transfer using a solvent. I embellished the piece with some organza printed with linear lines to represent being behind the bars of indifference, Then I over stamped with various abstract designs to represent how we trample on
the rights of others.

Pieced fabric; - Meander quilting; - Row edge appliqué.

Embellishments: organza, beads, color, thread, crystals, buttons

This piece of fabric reflects how I see the world once in a while – focused on the negative site and missing the entire positive around us. It’s all a matter of perception."

Jayne Hill,
Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, England

Sin : UFO's

As 2005 had already been designated my "Year of Finishing Up What I Started", UFO's seemed a natural sin for this Quilter.

I really believe the 8th Deadly Sins are Trashing our Environment, Destroying the Planet and Lack of Concern for the Other Creatures with whom we share the world, but I'm not confident in my artistic abilities to portray them adequately in a quilt.>> However, UFO's are something I am good at!

Here, all the left-over blocks, workshop samples, blocks I received in "swaps", projects I started and thought "Whoa, never going to make a whole quilt of this!" and some items purchased in "Quilter's Rummage Sales" have redeemed their Sin by becoming a quilt! For an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist who likes everything finished, this is a wonderful result! In some cases, these items have been sitting on a shelf for years gazing reproachfully at me whenever I walked past. Now they are all used up, and the cleared shelf is empty!

"The UFO Quilt"
68 x 77 inches

Sat Sansar Khalsa-Best,
Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

Sin: Procrastination

Fused commercial and hand dyed, painted, shiva paint sticked fabric- angelina/tintzl/sheers clock, painted cellophane teeth, puff paint trees, and numbers, small clock parts (don't show in the picture) ribbon. Machine quilted

Artists Statement: I had started on a piece 'indifference' inspired by a speech by Elie Weisel given to then President Clinton at the Kennedy Center. It was a very dark piece, also my job in the ICU was extremely difficult, and the world seemed almost without hope. So, rather than turn on the gas and stick my head in the oven I decided to do something that made me smile. Procrastination. I think most of us do this at least sometimes in our lives. I visioned the woman being eaten by a clock monster and it just came together. I had just used some of the techniques in a class in Quilt
University with Linda Schmidt, and enjoyed using them further.

Sin: Political Hypocrisy

36/41 inch

Pc prints, hand dyed fabric, machine pieced and free hand quilted on bernina 217

I believe the eighth deadly sin is POLITICAL HYPOCRISY, the only moral sin in a relativistic world. If one adheres to a belief in moral relativism then the only wrong one can accuse another of is saying one thing but doing another. Everything else is relative.

In the world of politics our leaders often set and expect high standards from their colleagues, but not of themselves. Their hypocrisy that allows them to say one thing but do another, has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people. We
have many examples including:

ISRAEL – The Oslo Peace Accord was signed on September 13, 1993, but violated less than 24 hours later by a Palestinian bus bomber.
BOSNIA – The 1995 Srebrenica massacre of Muslims by Serbs took between 8,000 – 10,000 lives. U.N. soldiers stood meekly to the side and handed over lists of names of men who were separated from the women and children, and were never to be seen alive again.
CHECHNYA – An agreement of non-violence was issued in August 1996. Its failure, and the 18 months of devastating war that followed, claimed 80,000 lives and left 200,000 people homeless. The dispute continues to this day.
LEBANON – In 1975 an insanely complicated civil war broke out between Muslims and Christians. U.N. forces entered Lebanon but withdrew after suffering heavy losses. In 1984 Syria intervened, sending in 16,000 troops. This triggered cruel fighting and ethnic massacres. Lebanon still suffers under the heavy hand of Syria.
RWANDA – More than 1 million Hutus and Tutsis have been killed by each other in the massacres and reprisal attacks that gripped this country during the 1990s. About 94 % of the dead are Tutsis and about 80% of the dead are men. Hutus killed Tutsis and Tutsis killed Hutus while the international community failed to intervene.
IRELAND – A 700 year old struggle has taken a new path in our time. Terrorist bomb attacks leave masses of casualties among innocent people on both sides.

There are many more examples of political hypocrisy: our leaders promise one thing but do another. Innocent lives are destroyed.
The politicians keep talking. WHEN WILL IT END

Materials/Techniques: My piece is made primarily from 100% cotton with small additions of silk organza (toilet paper) and hand-dyed silk (kleenex). The toilet "seat" is formed from cotton over Timtex to give it more body and make it somewhat 3-D. After hand appliquing the various pieces and machine quilting overall, the shadows were painted on the toilet to give it more depth. The floor tiles are created by quilting through the layers with a double needle. The small quilt in the backgound is made from a photo I took of a shell which I then manipulated in Photoshop and printed out onto treated fabric. The inner border of the small quilt is beaded.

No, I don't really believe the "sin" of leaving the toilet seat up should be punishable by death (although I have occasionally come close to murder at 2am!)The real 8th Deadly Sin I am suggesting is that of taking myself too seriously at times. I sometimes need to remind myself of those things that are truly important in life and those that are not and learn to laugh at the latter while taking time to enjoy the former!

Kimberly Marcus,
Tarrytown, New York USA

Sin: Willful Ignorance

For this piece, I used conventional photo fabric for the inkjet printer. I used cotton fabric along with a combination of fusible and sewn appliqué. I also have a curtain as a 3D embellishment.

My 8th Deadly Sin is Willful Ignorance. I chose this because after the election of 2004 I felt that many of the voters willfully ignored the true state of affairs in this country: a deceitful, hypocritical and greedy cadre of neo-con men, spiraling the country into massive debt and assaulting civil rights using fear and deception, which toomany people were all to willing to ignore.

Ann Louise Mullard-Pugh
Las Vegas, Nevada

Sin: being an agnostic

The piece will offend many people....I will not be showing it at my next guild meeting! But I feel assaulted and offended by many, including some friends, that assume that I welcome their sharing their devotion to their God. The U.S. is moving to a Christian theocracy, a scary thought to those of us that do not share their convictions.

I would hope the piece can be shown but I also know that sometimes things get too controversial for a general public form. It will be a sad commentary but I do understand if it happens...it will prove my point. I made the piece to express my frustration at the lack of tolerance that is growing in the country.

Virginia O'Donnell
Portland, Oregon USA

Sin: Self-centeredness

My piece focuses on the sin of self-centeredness. I observe often that some people only follow the rules if it is comfortable for them to do so, never thinking how their actions will affect others around them. The most obvious one is when drivers continue to turn left long after the light has turned red and holding up all the other drivers who also have an important place to go. I also see it in races for the biggest houses, on the highest hills with the best views, filled with every imaginable decoration and toy. I see it in pursuits to be first, the best, the richest. It goes beyond using your talents well—it’s how a person ignores every one else’s feelings to get to the “front of the line.”

THE MAKING OF “IT’S ALL ABOUT ME”

I used a digital camera to take pictures of 2 friends posing to get an image of a person pushing others back. I was able to print text from my computer program to pieces of my own dyed fabric for the flags of color and for the “me’s.” The fused images are all surrounded by satin stitch and I used free motion quilting to add texture to the background.

Cathy Ortelle,
Cotati, (Sonoma County), California, USA

Sin: Ignorance

I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge in the best sense. It not only challenged my process; it challenged my ideals. Hand-dyed fabrics were stamped and overprinted. I painted Tyvek in primary colors to draw the eye around the quilt. Fused Angelina fiber embellishes. Machine applique and quilting.

 

"Ignorance is Not Bliss"
29" W x 43" L

detail

Louise Perrin,
Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada

Sin - Tailgating
(to drive too closely to the vehicle in front of you)

Materials/techniques - 100% cotton commercial printed fabrics, bridal netting, bead and other embellishment and embroidery to be added later, machine applique, machine quilting.

The challenge I had in creating this piece was how to portray the sin of tailgating visually. I decided to use the image of a very large truck crowding a little car in a place where the car had no place to go, something I have experienced on more than one occasion. This created considerable fear in a new driver, as the trucker had no apparent reason to do so, especially when I was obeying the speed limit! This is especially irksome here in Saskatchewan, where I usually drive on the vast expanse of a four lane divided highway that doesn't have a lot of traffic most of the time. Tailgating also happens when people pass you and pull in so close that you don't have enough room to safely stop should it become necessary. This piece is meant to portray both actions - leaving the viewer wondering whether it is the 1st or 2nd vehicle at fault here.

Mary Richling
Omaha, Nebraska USA
Sin: Credit/Charge card debt

Size: 24.25" x 25"

Technique: fused fabric, cutwork applique, machine embroidery, machine quilted, and airpen fabric painted.
Materials: cotton fabrics and batting, fabric paints, silk thread quilting on surface with 2ply embroidery thread in bobbin.

Artists statement: I feel that credit debt has spun out of control in our world. Institutions make it too easy to take their money, at a considerable personal cost for persons with little or no self control. The quilt block used is in this piece is “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul” which speaks for itself. The lower edge of the quilt is falling apart like so many lives deeply in debt. The quilting is a concentric circle to a bottomless hole...if you can’t get ou

This shows two persons, heads in the clouds, stepping over the obvious, walking right over them as if they weren’t there, as if their problems didn’t exist. They are fine people, they don’t dirty their hands on “the problems of the poor” they are rich, they do all they are required to do, as shown by the symbols they hide under. If they would at least try to understand the person who is less fortunate, less lucky, who are hungry, jobless, different …( include this if you want too…) This is “Bushism” at work.

Fused and appliqued, using commercial fabrics and polyester organza.

The Seven Deadly Sins are choices one makes that takes them away from knowing their true self. In our modern society, we are unwilling to give up the constant external input that keeps us company, but prevents us thinking too hard or living deeper than the surface. Television keeps us company at home; Ipods fills our head with music on our walks; and we grab the cellphone the instant we leave our garages so we don't have to drive"alone". This constant NOISE is my nomination for the Eighth Deadly Sin.

Maria Rubingh,
Cincinnati, Ohio USA

Sin: Indifference

Created to fill the requirements of both the Straight and Narrow Challenge and the Eighth Deadly Sin Challenge sponsored by the Quiltart list.

The Eighth Deadly Sin I chose was indifference. The old quote "The opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference" applies here. I have met people who coast through life without anything but ironic watchfulness. In a sense, this choosing to disengage enables all other sins, for if one truly loves one's world or one's neighbor, how can one harm or allow harm to come to her? The averted eyes, cool color scheme and blue veiling attempts to convey this. In addition, the confined space of the piece suggests the self-imposed "narrow"-mindedness of this state.

"Indifference"
10.5” x 59.5”

detail

Meena Schaldenbrand
Plymouth, Michigan US

Sin: Crashing that Diet

This quilt has been reworked as many times as my diet. A dream sewing machine patches up holes in a diet that is always under construction...

Alternate route advised: hamburgers
Barrels of excuses
Cones : vanilla/chocolate..caution crash!
Diet Detour
Expect Delays : no exercise
Frustration Ahead: fat
Gridlock : guilty pleasures
Humor, help with bandaid
Issue at work: eat...no yes, no .. Incubating bright ideas: lightbulb
spool
Junk food
Kindness: "Kisses"
Longterm relief : low sodium, Loser
Mouth: calories
No parking, standing, stopping, no kidding!
One way Optimism, out of lunch
Parking meter: Plan: eat light
Questions..fat, calories;The Queen of Diets: Spoon head, eating light, calories in mouth, artist palette vegetable body; fork arms instead of paintbrush; legs: bottles (metal cans )
Road rage: recycle recipes
Stop: size..its your choice
Think Thin
Ultimate Parking Lot: hips, thighs
Vegetables: nutrition ;Vanity plate of Imagine car : visualize success
..become a
Winner; workout zone
X : No sugar
Yield
Zoom...skeleton : the End of construction / diet

Materials and methods:
Stitching with Metal pop cans, foil "Kisses", paper cord sewing machine needle , wiremesh cones, aluminum window screening shopping cart, charms,
trims

Janice Simpson
Marquette, Michigan USA

Sin: Excessive tattoos and body piercing

The 8th Deadly Sin……Excessive Tattoo’s and Body Piercing

Gilda Rose…a rose by another name is still a rose……

This diva was shopping at Wal-Mart’s and was described to me by a friend…excessive tattoo’s, body piercing, bare belly, and when she opened her mouth ,it looked like a drawer in a jewelry shop!! (If recognized.. this is truly fictional).

The pink marbled fabric for the background was hand dyed and given to me by a friend. When I saw the fabric, it spoke to me as a part of the 8th deadly sin. Then I began to gather fabric’s and embellishments. I found a Barbie watch with a broken stem just right for Gilda Rose (it had belonged to my daughter as a child). I’ve furnished Gilda Rose with lot’s of tattoo’s, rings, ear-rings, jewelry and body piercing’s. When making a pattern for Gilda Rose, I drew a sketch. Then cutting from freezer paper till the shape was what I wanted. I then transferred pattern to fusible-web and ironed on my design. My last detail on the 8th deadly sin quilt is the lightening streaks couched with yarn and seed beads.

Challenge: starting and finishing, meeting the deadline, not procrastinating, of course. Figuring out how to show the sin and theflip side. The process has really got me thinking about my "sin" and my life.

I used textile markers to write time related phrases over each section of the quilt. In the center section featuring busy clock fabric and a watch photo transfer, I wrote phrases about procrastination: cutting it too close, running out of time, hurry up, fashionably late, time's up, down to the wire, etc.

In the outer borders with the calm celestial fabric, I wrote phrases about good time management: in plenty of time, a stitch in time saves nine, slow down, etc.

Finally, over the millennium hourglass blocks, I wrote clockwise: time flies whether or not you're having fun. Yes, I finally got to use some of my year 2000 fabric and it was only 2005..

Julie Zaccone Stiller
Boulder Creek, California, USA

Sin: Inattention

My biggest challenge in creating this piece was
narrowing down what I wanted to express. I had all
kinds of upsetting imagery and words swirling around in my brain, so I did a visual journal over the last few months from the newspaper and newsmagazines. I also did some writing, and what I boiled it all down to was "Inattention". Sins allowed to happen by a people (America) who though basically good are NOT Paying Attention!

Priscilla Stultz,
Fairfax, Virginia USA

Sin: Listmaking

I chose this particular subject because I find that I tie myself to lists. If it is not on my list, it is not getting done. Sometimes my husband will come upon one of the multitude of lists lying around the house and put his name as #1. Lists for some people are an organization tool to me they dictate my life. It is time for me to lighten-up a little and enjoy the unexpected and spontaneous.

The quilt was made from a personal photo using pen, hand dyed fabrics and thread.

Sin: Obedience

My sin is obedience and while obedience is in itself not a sin, extreme obedience to political ideologies, family traditions and religion that go against the very desires and intellect of the individual is. At first my intentions were political and my early designs reflected that but as I worked on the design and it grew it became less about politics and much more about the strong oppressive tradition of religion and culture that exists in some family's and how in this day and age some people will still submit themselves to the authority of the family and live lives not of their choosing and against their deepest desires.

Michelle Verbeeck

Sin: Racism

There are many prejudices and discriminations deep rooted in our societytoday. We know they exist, yet manage to turn a blind eye not only to the acts themselves but also to the peoples whose lives are scarred by these misdeeds of humanity.

Racism is invisible to some people just as this quilt would appear to someone who is physically colorblind. We choose what we want to see and only when we are exposed to the realities of life does life itself take on new meaning.

These injustices are perpetuated out of the gnorance of fear and hate; the distorted beliefs that feed intolerance, rear their ugly heads and remind us all that we still have a long way to go in the battle against racism.

"Are You Colorblind?"
60" x 18"

Sabrina Zarco,
Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Sin: Apathy

I started out creating a quilt about intolerance. My art work is inspired by my daily life and work. Every other year the legislature is in session in AR and this year they meet. As a community activist and artist I use art as a tool in my work with different communities. One of the political and religious groups, they are not really separate here, were running on the fear and hate ticket again. This time they decided to discriminate against several different groups of people. I worked on the quilt by machine and by hand so that it could travel with me as I work all over the state in some of the targeted communities. As I talked with people it began to surface that even bigger than intolerance was the discussion of apathy. People know that change is needed and injustice is all around but they look for someone else to step up, do the work and speak out. Reminds me of the quote about how eventually no one is left to speak out. So the quilt began to grow and then I realized it! It was not one but two quilts. I asked people what they thought was the tool that promoted fear and apathy and the winner was the television. So I combined computer enhanced images and commercial fabric to make the quilt. The intolerance quilt will be complete later, since the apathy quilt was "screaming the loudest."

Vivien Zepf,
Thornwood, New York, USA

Sin: Entitlement

-- Techniques used: Applique, beading, calligraphy, embroidery, photo transfer, stamping
-- "Sin": A sense of entitlement
-- Artist statement: In our world of priviledge, it angers me that so many people can be so self-absorbed, convinced that their time, effort, and/or " position" are of greater value than anyone else's. These people have a terrific sense of entitlement. I've decided to make a tongue-in-cheek representation of some of the signs of a sense of entitlement so they're easy to recognize.