Karmann Ghia: "Gone but Not Forgotton"

I have never been into cars. They just don't do it for me. I mean, I do love a good heated leather seat, and can totally appreciate how some of them are fun to drive. But for me, they're just a means to a destination. If the heater works, if the ride is comfy...I'm cool.

 

Exception: I love me some VW Karmann Ghia's. This is a pic of the 1971 Ghia I owned up until recently:

 

 

After a few years of owning a classic car, I can say with certainty that it is better to look at them than it is to own them. I would drive it, perfectly healthy, into the garage. Two days later, I would come out to find it dead for some reason or another. It got to the point that it was pissing me off more than anything, so I decided it was time to sell it. $3000 in mechanical work later, I drive to the appraiser's. I was happy to discover that it was valued at just over $14,000 and drove out of their parking lot feeling pretty good about myself and the car.

 

Less than one mile from the appraiser's, and only a few blocks from my house, an elderly woman ran a stop sign and hit me. Minor damage...huge cost. I will keep the long story of what followed (and therefore, the cursing) to a minimum level. Suffice it to say that an insurance battle followed and a buttload of frustration. At the end of it all, I decided to just sell it "as is" to some guy who thought he was sharking me. I let him think that, but I know he got it for a dream. I just needed to be done with it. I needed it gone.

 

I don't miss it like I thought I would. But I still think they're beautiful. They're sexy, they're funky. And they make perfect subject matter for pictorial quilts:

 

 

 This is a shot of it when I thought it was done. Thread lines with free motion quilting, as usual, and then I added in some pencils and some paint. For some reason, this piece just wanted to appear cartoon-y, so I went with it.

 Detail of the car.

 

 

 

But once again the blank space bothered me. The road was just too big and shiny. Because I'm a sucker for punishment, I decided to add in some texture to the road...a sort of rocky, cobblestone look. These little circles don't seem like much, but they take forever. I'm glad I took the time, though, because it's much more eye-catching this way. I haven't hung it on the wall yet (it's still on my design board) but I often find my eye wandering over to it now that the texture is on the road:

 

 "Gone but Not Forgotton"