Pearls, pearls, pearls

The Quilters' Guild is "celebrating its 30th anniversary" by inviting members to submit a new piece based on the topic of pearls, for a juried show. For the longest time I had no inspiration at all on this; then this pearly choker surfaced - it had come from a car boot sale, irresistible at 50p.

But a week before the deadline, something clicked.The working title for the quilt, which I thought had to be 24" square, was "The Pearls of Gees Bend" - and that title influenced the hand quilting.
The fabrics are recycled velvets and some shiny stuff too, intuitively juxtaposed. After a little hand quilting, it became obvious that more pearls were needed - but all I had was this broken necklace -

After a quick visit to the bead shop (and for a mere £16!), I had a copious selection of pearls of various sizes and tones - but decided to stick with the tear-shaped ones (85p a string). Also, I toned down the gauzy-gold centre section with a bit of black net. And turned it sideways. And bound it nicely.

While working on this I developed a sudden interest in narrative in art, and wondered what story - or stories - it might tell ... who made the intricate (but nasty) choker; who wore it, what happened next? The final title is "Then, her tears fell like pearls."

It was fun making it (from nothing-in-particular comes something) and I don't care what happens to it now -- on to the next -- a week before the deadline, again!