Tomorrow (October 1) is the reveal for the latest 12 X 12 challenge, Shelter. I will post the final piece I did for that in the morning. Tonight, I want to share the piece I did first and that I ultimately rejected for the challenge.

I am not sure whether I have mentioned on my blog that I am doing a solo show based on our trip to Israel in May. The title will be Holy Land Pilgrimage: A Quilter’s Journal. I plan to show a page from my journal with a photo and an accompanying fiber piece based on that experience. So, I thought I could kill two birds with one stone and do a piece for the challenge which I could also have in the show. I love architecture and I was enamored with so much of what I saw in Israel.

The houses that climbed up hillsides and seemed to be built one atop the other was of special interest to me. Land is at a premium. The flat land is kept free for agriculture.The houses were mainly neutral and unadorned. There were many gray concrete structures which were unfinished and were add-ons to existing homes or built right next to them. Our guide told us that when a Palestinian family got enough  money, they would start building a structure and just keep working on it over the years as money became available. In general, the Palestine homes are very simple structures, with no roof. The Israeli homes generally have the red roofs.

It always tickled me when I saw a house painted in a bright color, such as the orange one above or the following:

I decided to use this photo for my design. I took some liberties with the colors and house design.

Here is the piece that was driving me nuts for days on end. I think the problem was doing this in a small format. It would look much better as a larger piece and probably would be easier to create!

Be sure to go over to 12 X 12 to see all the shelter pieces.