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Rosh Hashanah Papercut Quilts
(Or: Apples and Honey on Waikiki Beach).
A couple of years ago, as Rosh Hashanah approached, I
was reading a book called
'Traditional Jewish Papercuts; An Inner World of Art and Symbolism,' by
Joseph and Yehudit Shadur. (University Press of New England, 2002).
Here's one of my favorite quotations from this wonderful book, describing this
19th and 20th century folk art:
"It is naive and exuberant, but also
disciplined in a haphazard way. It is decidedly baroque in its obvious
appeal to the emotions, its fluidity of movement, florid designs,
freedom of line, and richness of motifs---all within a formalistic
symmetrical composition." (p. 47).
Since I am highly suggestible, this caused me to
become exuberant with
naive, yet haphazard ideas for florid papercut-style quilts.
So two days before the holiday― instead of cleaning my house, coring the apples or milking the bees― I doodled the virtual
design above, and cut it from a rather lurid
green-apple fabric, center. The design includes apples, honey implements,
dishes, turban challot, shofars, and a great big star in the middle.
With characteristic restraint, I deliberately omitted the kitchen sink.
I machine-appliquéd it to a
honey-colored background, and set apple-red prairie points all
the way around. It's 18" in diameter, and makes a fine challah
cover (for a round challah on steroids) or ―as I use it―a decorative
banner.
Alas, the tragic color combination, born of haste,
makes it difficult for me to look at.
The following year, two days before the holiday, I
starting working on the red-and-white variation above, a hand-appliqué.
Red and white! Apples and High Holy Days! Right? Wrong! I was going
great guns while waiting to drive the kids home from Sunday school. But
then three different moms ―plus, I swear, the RABBI ―stopped dead in the
social hall to ask me if I was making a Christmas wall hanging (They all
KNOW I'm Jewish!). That dampened my florid exuberance. So now I
own TWO Rosh Hashanah wall hangings that would benefit from a thick
layer of paint.
C'est la guerre. Fortunately, making papercut style
quilts can be relatively quick and easy. Books and articles (in print or
on the web), about Hawaiian quilting, Tahitian quilting, reverse
appliqué,
simplified stained glass techniques, Baltimore Album quilts, and/or Mola will suggest
a range of approaches, from slow'n'meditative (you'll finish by Rosh Hashanah, 5798,
assuming your fellow congregants don't compare your work to Santa's
couture) to fast'n'fun
(I finished the green quilt above within a week, and made it to services
on time, too.)
If you do make a quilt about Rosh Hashanah---and/or a papercut
style quilt---we'd all love to see it!
And have a sweet New Year!
--Cathy Perlmutter
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