Cambodian Girl, Portrait Quilt

Well, I finished my quilt from the Portrait Quilt Workshop. I finished it months ago, but never put it on my blog. I am really pleased with the way it turned out.

There is a story with this completed quilt. My first finished project involved sewing the four faces together, and fashioning a quilted frame around it. I entered the quilt in our guild’s quilt show in September 2015. The judges liked it, but made a couple of comments about the way I set it in the frame. I was a little upset, but then decided to take the judge’s words and listen to the comments that had merit, and ignore the rest!

Here’s the quilt:

This little girl was selling postcards outside of a temple in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our guide recommended that we not buy the cards from her, as she was a part of a child gang. We bought a set from her, as we were worried about what would happen to her if she didn’t return with money. My husband took a picture of her. I know that the issue of responsible tourism is a difficult one. It is often recommended that you don’t give children money, but items like pencils, pens, and notebooks. When a child is begging for money or trying to earn money, it is very hard to turn them down.

I took the postcards that we bought, and cut them up and sewed them into the header on the piece. I left everything with a rough edge, and sewed yard around each picture. I used Derwent Inktense pencils to color the blue and green faces. The purple and the red are done with crayon. It was heavily quilted or thread painted. I did a different background for each face.

Happy quilting ….

Nancy