A (Quilting) Room of One's Own

Gifting Season

2008-10-23T20:22:00.004-04:00

We were BOOed tonight. Last year, the family across the street began a neighborhood tradition of "BOO"ing. You secretly leave a pumpkin of Halloween goodies, along with a cute poem and a little ghost image at two friends' front doors. Then, these friends need to BOO two of their friends, and like the old shampoo commercial revealed, soon there are dozens and dozens of happily BOOed families. I found our BOO basket by the door when I went out to turn on the Halloween lights. Tomorrow, we will excitedly pull together our BOO baskets and then run them around to the children's friends. Such a simple thing, but it brings so much joy!

That's today's theme: bringing joy! One of our guild service projects is to make doll quilts for the Salvation Army and the local homeless shelter. Each quilt complete with a doll or teddy bear is given to a needy child. I finished my two quilts (due in November) this week:

The charm squares were a gift themselves, from my guild secret sister last year. I thought they'd make a beautiful little quilt for a lovely little lady. The border, which I love, is a remnant from the backing of my strip quilt posted last blog entry. The binding comes from a couple bright Fassett FQs. They turned out exactly as I wanted, but then they needed owners to snuggle.

So, today, after early voting (hint, hint), I ran my kids up to pick out two teddy bears to match the quilts. They picked out almost-twin bears to match the almost-twin quilts. Here are the teddies sitting proudly:

I can only hope the receipients are as happy getting them as I am giving them. And, as someone I early voted for today once said, "There has never been anything false about hope."

My next project is quilting my daughter's All About Me quilt, the top of which I finished last November. Sigh.

Yes We Can

2008-10-14T18:22:00.002-04:00

My politics in this election are fairly open--just check out my sidebar. So, I was excited when I saw that Denyse Schmidt and friends have made a wonderful "Yes We Can" quilt as a fundraiser for Barack Obama. If you'd like to support the campaign and possibly win the quilt, visit her personal fundraising site for Obama. Each donation of $10 gets you one chance at winning the quilt. Good luck!

Time's Winged Chariot

2008-10-11T15:19:00.013-04:00

Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it. I finished the work-y projects I mentioned in my last post in July . . . plus a few more. In August, I also took a vacation to one of my favorite places in the whole world. Here's my vacay self-portrait:

Here's a funny story about paying attention to details . . .

Our state natural history museum is having a quilt show: Quilting Natural Florida II. I was encouraged by several guild members to complete a quilt to enter. It seemed like a great opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zone, as I don't really "do" non-traditional pieced or appliqued quilts. So, I downloaded a bunch of photos of Florida wildflowers, meaning to design a wall quilt of a field of flowers. Well, since I spent most of the summer designing new degree programs, rather than quilts, the October 1 deadline really snuck up on me. So, for two feverish weekends in September, I worked like mad on my first ever original art quilt.

I first sketched a potential design that included the flowers I most liked from my photos: verbena, blue-eyed grass, black-eyed susan, firewheel, and echinacea. They seemed to have a good variety of color and shape so that they'd be distinguishable from each other. The sketch is on half a sheet of typing paper. (typing paper--man, am I old!)

Great. Of course, then I had to think for a very long time about how in the world I'd get from this sketch to a quilt. While I thought that through, I pulled the colors I wanted from my stash. This was really very fun . . . trying to get the right colors and also a sense of depth in the variety to capture the moving light.

I finally realized that if I simply selected my background and then cut paper shapes that approximated the size of the flower heads I wanted, I could place them and then use them as guidelines for drawing bigger flower patterns on fusible. I had already decided to use raw edge applique. This felt like some kind of Nobel-worthy breakthrough :) I started in the upper right corner and just worked my way across, flower by flower. I figured that if it looked awful, I'd just ball it up and pitch it with no one being the wiser.

Well, after the first black-eyed susan and echinacea, I was completely overwhelmed. It really seemed to work and was looking awesome (IMHO). And, it seemed really, really easy once I broke the code of how to transfer the drawing concept into fabric. It took a while . . . I listened to all of Christopher Buckley's Supreme Courtship just while drawing, cutting, and placing the design--then almost finished No Way to Treat a First Lady while quilting it. Here's the finished piece in whole:

And, in a close up of the quilting:

As you can see, I went to town with the quilting. The background is curliques in variegated blue, and then each flower, stem, and leaf has its own quilting design in matching thread. Oh, and each border has its own design, too. I especially like how the batiks work in the background and borders. In keeping with the theme of the show, I called it Flora-dah (get it!). The quilt is 27 inches by 23 inches.

Okay, here's the funny part, as I was putting together my package to mail it just in time for the October 1 deadline, I gave the application one last glance. Yep, it needed to be mailed by October 1 . . . 2009! So, I finished the quilt a year in advance. Sigh.

The upside: I love (LOVE) it. It's completely unlike anything I've ever done, as my Flickr album documents, and is (by my standards) a full-on success. I'm putting it in a different show this year since I can't bear to wait more than a year to display it.

On a completely different note, I won the summer strip challenge that Hanne organized. I posted the top months ago, but finally got around to quilting it last weekend:

The quilting is all curliques in a pastel variegated. I really liked how the jelly roll worked in this format--all the piecing and binding is from one JR, so I think I'll remake this for my family with a S'mores JR I have on the shelf.

Whew, that's enough catching up for now.

Brownie's Bloomers

2008-07-26T21:17:00.004-04:00

I finished the Hopkins's Aunt Agnes's Bloomers, which I'm calling Brownie's Bloomers because of the color palette.

I especially like the faded border. I found this fabric on a sale rack at one of my favorite quilt shops and bought the remainder of the bolt. It looks so worn and faded, while being brand new and workable. My ideal fabric!

I cleaned up my quilt room after finishing this project so I can use it as an office for the next few weeks to finish off work-y projects (degree program proposals, etc.). So, if I get to any quilting, it will be applique.

Fluttering By

2008-07-25T17:36:00.005-04:00

I just got the beautiful summer Four Seasons Quilt Swap quilt sent by Bea. You can see her lovely work at Capricorn Quilts. Bea lives in Germany, and she kindly included some genuine German gummi bears for my children (who have already gobbled them up!).

Here's the quilt--with bright, cheerful butterflies floating through the summer:

Now, here's the odd part. After taking this photo on the patio, I followed my dog to the back part of the yard. And, for the first time I can recall in the three years we've lived here, I saw a real butterfly on one of our flowering trees. I had my iPhone with me from taking the quilt pictures, so I immediately snapped several of the butterfly:

Clearly, it was attracted by Bea's quilt. It even posed like one of her butterflies:

Thank you, Bea, for such a summery quilt!

Projects Old and New

2008-07-20T17:02:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, I was cutting a piecing a small wall quilt that I thought would make it into a December show. About half way through, I realized it was horrible looking. The background was dull and didn't pull the fabrics together at all. People who don't quilt sometimes think that smaller quilts are intrinsically easier to make. Well, only if they don't have a lot of pieces. This one had a ton, and I was completely depressed when I realized how unattractive it was. Wanting to make sure I wasn't way wide of the mark on my assessment, I asked my husband to look at the quilt. Before responding, he paused . . . dead giveaway. So, I swept up the many pieces and deposited them in the circular file.

But, I needed to get right back on the house, so I looked over my shelf. I had a nearly decade old finished applique piece sitting there. It was my first ever hand applique, from a needleturn class taught by Mary Sorenson from her original pattern. (She was a fantastic teacher and I use the methods from this class to applique to this day.) I was compulsive about getting it right, so the piece is really nice. I'm especially pleased with the teeny vines, all needleturned. The applique heart vine just needed a border or two to be done. It's nothing I would ever keep, so I thought it would be perfect to show and maybe even sell.

I settled on a thin olive-y green inner border and a checkerboard outer border of blues to capture the blue flowers in the heart wreath. I dug all the blues out of my age old stash; some of these lines pre-date my children! Here is the finished quilt, which I called In the Heart of the Night:

The gallery curator has been bugging me about photos, so I sent her this one last week. And she immediately emailed me back that she wants to buy it. How funny . . . all because I started a crummy project and needed to bounce back with a better one!

This weekend, I went back to a quilt I had cut a couple weekends back. It's another small piece, from a pattern by Carol Hopkins Designs called Aunt Agnes's Bloomers. Lots of teeny pieces (3/4 in squares!). In my typical more-is-more strategy, I used 32 fabrics in the quilt, which finishes to just 13" x 18" before borders. I stuck with the pattern's color palette of browns with some pinks. (I think I'm on a pink and brown kick--over the past few months I've bought a slew of it in all sorts of varieties: cupcakes, chocolates, polka dots, modern florals, checks.)

The Hopkins patterns are designed for repro fabrics and involve a lifetime of cutting, seam matching, and pressing. All the seams are pressed open, which is fun for the fingers. Each little block in this quilt has 13 pieces.

Here's the array of pieces pre-sewing:

And, here's the finished top as I try out borders:

I'm going to use four of the leftover darker brown 1 and 1/4 in strips for an inner border (a different one on each side). In the background is a faux-faded repro that has a great mix of pink, tan, and gold/green that I'll use for an outside border. The quilting will be fairly straightforward--straight lines to emphasize the horizontals and verticals. It should be done next weekend.

I took these last two photos with my iPhone. I upgraded the software this weekend and have been hypnotized by Pandora, the build your own music station. If you haven't tried it, you need to. It works on any internet-connected computer in addition to the phone version and is free. I now have a slew of me-centric streaming radio stations each based on my favorites artists. So, depending on my mood du jour, I can listen to my Madeleine Peyroux station, my Kanye West station, my Amy Winehouse station, or my Gillian Welch station. How fun!!

Almost Swapped Out

2008-06-28T14:56:00.003-04:00

I just need to whip-stitch the binding, and my year of Four Season's Quilt Swapping is done. I am pleased with the results. I quilted this one like mad, with small white curlique quilting in the applique panel, wavy rays radiating from the sun, green leaves in the grass, and hot pink flowers in the side borders. I did make a judgment call not to blanket stitch the main stems on the flowers as it seemed too overpowering. I did one and actually took it out. Here's the nearly final product:

I got to finish the top and quilt most of it last night while my children had their first sleep-overs with friends, while they danced, watched movies, and committed general mayhem about the house, I sewed. One of the fathers came over to hang out with my husband for a while, too, so the family was engaged on many fronts!

I've also started the Book Awards Challenge 2; for full details, see my newly revived "Getting My Read On" blog. Should be fun!

Clafouti Weekend

2008-06-22T16:44:00.004-04:00

My husband pointed out yesterday that we had "two perfectly good tins of raspberries" in the fridge and asked what I was going to do with them. I shrugged; then later in the day, for some reason, the word "clafouti" popped in my head. I quickly googled several clafouti recipes and whipped together some yummy, custardy goodness (so yummy that a bite immediately disappeared):

So this weekend, we've been eating Clafouti and hamburgers, which I began craving after watching Camp Rock . If you've seen any of the eight billion showings of CR since Friday night, you'll know there's a scene in which Connie and Mitchie make what seems like hundreds of hamburger patties. So, I felt compelled to have barbequed hamburgers this weekend. If you have children of a certain age, you know that CR is a summer cultural milestone slightly below HSM1&2 and slightly above iCarly Saves TV. My children actually went to a Camp Rock party Friday night, complete with swimming, popcorn, and s'mores. We're already planning the Cheetah Girls One World party for late August, complete with an international buffet!

I've also grown kinda weary of blanket stitching my swap quilt (too much turning), so I decided to design a quilt to repay a longstanding quilt debt (hard to explain). I decided to use a Sanctuary Jelly Roll I've had for a while. I cut 24 of the strips into three chunks: 20, 15, and 8 inches; then sewed these back into 42 inch long strips in three varieties, mixing the order and fabrics. I sewed these strips together so that all of the seams were staggered and saved the remaining strips for random pieced borders and binding. It went together quickly and turned out lovely (IMHO)--soft and cottage-y, with enough variety to add movement and character, and a nicely popping red:

I'll quilt it before summer ends so that "my debt is settled" (it really helps if you say the part in quotes with the Scottish brogue of Davy Jones from the Pirates movies, a la my son).

On to the remainder of my Sunday chores . . . the gymnastics trials will make such perfect cleaning tv.

Back to Work

2008-06-08T18:48:00.009-04:00

I spent most of last week in Austin, Texas, one of my absolute favorite cities. I was running around like mad the week before the trip, preparing for end of year school events for both liddle kiddles, packing, making arrangements, and trying to pre-catchup on work and the statewide meeting I'm leading this coming week. So, I didn't really pay attention when my thumb started to ache a bit the day before we left. By the time we got to the airport, it was thobbing with pain (which is great when you're jostling with two car seats and a princess backpack through security). My husband suggested we stop by an ER when we landed, but I voted for dinner first, knowing that two of our party needed some food and running around time after the flight. So, after some burgers and Amy's at Phil's Ice House, we finally went to the ER. Sure enough, I had an abscess. I don't know what hurt more, the infection or the cure! But, within a day, my thumb was good as new--if a little icky looking--and certainly nothing that a yummy room service breakfast couldn't cure.

I love going to places where I know enough about the terrain that I can navigate around and not get lost. While my husband conferenced at the lovely Driskill, the kids and I roamed the town--shopping, site seeing, and eating!! This was bliss, as it's usually me stuck in the hotel or conference center for days while my husband gets to play tourist with the children. The kids' godparents even flew out from LA to join us. Here are a few iPhone (best phone ever!) photos of our trip:

The first, a breezy night at Shady Grove.

The second, the Austin bats making their way out from under the Congress bridge. The bats are the blurry specks just above the tree line (gobs of them!). In this picture, my son can pick out the exact bat he says "looked him in the eye."

And, third, Barton Springs--no better place to go when it's 100 degrees!

This weekend, it was back to our routine. Cleaning, laundry, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, and--oh yeah--cleaning. I picked up some carrot/onion bread at the farmer's market outside my daughter's dance studio--and made little egg muffins this morning with the remnants of the loaf:

They were cute and delicious for brunch with chicken/apple sausage. I went baking mad today. In addition to the little egg baskets, I made mini cheese/garlic muffins (for guild tomorrow), mini corn muffins (to go with the Mexican lime soup we had for dinner), and am about to put two jalapeno/cheddar bread breakfast casseroles in the oven as office surprises for our respective returns to work tomorrow.

I also spent some time last night and today working on my Four Seasons Summer Swap. My partner had very broad likes and no clear dislikes, so from the list she provided, I went with 30s repro. I paged through some books and found a nice sun and flowers combo in an old Teri Christopherson book, but I didn't like the setting. So, here's my thinking now (it's in process and not completely blanket stitched):

I think I'm going with three borders of unequal width to amplify the feedsack-ish look. I like the pink prints running up the side borders to pick up the reds/pinks in the flowers and the seafoam green to ground it--almost like grass. My goal is to finish it next weekend.

Oh, and go see Kung Fu Panda--way cute!!

Quilting Bloggers

2008-05-31T08:02:00.002-04:00

On the right side bar, you may notice a new button. It's for the new Quilting Bloggers site, created by Michele Foster. The site is an interactive database of (you guessed it!) quilting bloggers. What's neat is that they're organized by country and state--or province for you Canadians, so you can see the work and musings of quilters in your own backyard. Think about submitting your site.

Graduations . . . of a sort

2008-05-27T22:51:00.004-04:00

It's graduation week. My son "graduates" from PreK and my daughter from K. Both have parties in need of cakes, so I'm on call to create sand castle cakes (from my miraculous bundt mold, what a great investment) and some triple layer, moussed, chocolate calorie killers. I made 10 cups of swiss meringue butter cream this weekend, so I'm halfway there :)

One of my son's teachers has been so perfect for him while he was in the PreK version of our private elementary school. She completely understands boys, loves pirates, and always had time for him--no matter if it were the nine-billionth time he asked her to draw Jack Sparrow. In the time he's been at the school, he's advanced light years, largely because of her selfless interest in him and his success. So, of course, I've made her a quilt:

I've become fascinated with the new Moda Layer Cakes. This is the Fresh Squeezed line with fabrics from my stash mixed in for the border and binding. I simply crosscut each square, first into four smaller squares, then into eight triangles. I mix-matched the triangles when piecing the half-squares, and then sorted them into pinwheels when piecing these into blocks. I really love how this turned out. The colors move all over, and the quilt is so warm, sunny, and summery. It just screams, "picnic, please!" Piecing all the triangles was definitely a bit of a bore, but I listened to the end of the Spare Wife to get through it.

The quilting is basic in the ditch to pull out the triangles and then swirling curliques in the border in a sherbet-toned variegated thread.

I found two more layer cakes on sale at our LQS over Memorial Day (Maypole and Dandelion Girl), so I'll be playing around with them some more in the future.

Oh, and I got an iPhone!! Yipee :)

New Banner

2008-05-19T19:50:00.005-04:00

Thanks to this vlog tutorial, my rudimentary understanding of Photoshop, and a mini-tutorial from my husband, I created a new banner for my blog. Yay!!

Civil War Blocks Redux

2008-05-18T13:02:00.006-04:00

In a previous post, I mentioned that one of my cats had pee'd on my completed Civil War blocks--an act of aggression I viewed as being rather uncivil, quite frankly. Well, I decided to start over on this project. I didn't necessarily take her action as a comment on my fabric choices; instead, I believed it to be her comment on being locked in my sewing room over night. However, I thought I could take a new direction with the do-over. At first, I thought I would do two sets of blocks, one from the CWD book in repros and one from the CWLL book in pastels. But, because the blocks are so small (6.5 in), I became a bit overwhelmed with the prospect of picking all the fabrics. Then, a wad of unused jelly roll strips and remnants from a previous quilt caught my eye. The pieces in these CW blocks are so small, they lend themselves easily to jelly roll strips. So, I pulled out the wad, through it in a basket and started off.

Here are my "second" first eight blocks:

Not in any order, they're Back Home, Americus Soldiers' Relief Society, Another Battle, Queen of the West, Baptism, Selling the Livestock, Sugar Cane, and John Morgan. The jelly roll strips come from two different lines: Sanctuary and Allspice Tapestry. They are nice muted, cottage-y tones with some more vibrant browns, reds, and blues tossed in for good measure. They add a poshy cast to the blocks and make them seem of a family. Because I focus on just one block at a time, it's amazing how quickly the blocks come together. Some of these are so intricate, I'd never, ever make a whole set of them, but making just one is completely manageable.

With this quilt, I also started keeping a quilt journal. Alma Allen from Blackbird Designs passed around a couple of her journals at the workshop I took from her and Barb Adams a couple weeks back. It was such a cool look into her creative process, that I tucked it in the back of brain to roll around a while. After grading college composition papers for years, I have HORRIBLE handwriting (such that one of my husband's great amusements is reading aloud his interpretation of the grocery lists I write for him), so I've never been a big journal-er. Plus, I do my introspection introspectively and only talk it out once I've reached a solution or stopping point, so I never felt a need to write this kind of stuff out. But, I loved the notion of pasting in my fabrics, jotting down the inspiration, using lots of arrows, little drawings, etc.

Then, when I saw a journal covered with buttons at Target yesterday, I knew it was the universe (or at least Dayton Hudson) sending me a message: Just Do It!! Here's my new journal, my basket o' jelly rolls, the CW books, and my indispensable iPod/speaker combo. Right now I'm listening to more trash, Alex Witchel's The Spare Wife.

Have a wonderful Sunday!!

El Dia de las Mommies

2008-05-11T20:25:00.004-04:00

This has really been a full-on Mother's Day weekend.

We started on Friday by seeing Baby Mama (okay funny, but not 30 Rock funny) and then coming home and finally watching our Netflixed Waitress (really funny and touching, and heartbreaking given Adrienne Shelly's murder and her own daughter's role in the movie). I immediately iTuned Baby Don't You Cry from Waitress--contrary to the title, it will make you cry.

Saturday--Starbucks and then ballet in the morning with my daughter--during which I shopped the Farmer's Market outside her dance studio: netting 2 red mandevillas, 2 purple native plants that look like posh dandelions, a slew of veggies, and some excellent carrot/onion bread. A quick zip to the gift shop for BOGO Webkinz for a last minute afternoon birthday party. Dinner and M's day presents for my mom (and dad). At the end of the day, I cleaned my quilt room and found that my cat had pee'd all over my Civil War blocks--long story--so I'll be starting that project over!

And, today, I got perfectly imperfect class-made gifts from my son and daughter, another awesomely cozy Pajamagram from my husband, and a full day of quilting while finishing the Shopaholic and Baby audiobook. Now, I'm blogging while doing some advance baking for a Teacher Appreciation Lunch this week (a chocolate cake, that after a day chilling, will grow up into a chocolate buttercream frosted triple layer cake with raspberry mousse filling). The extra batter is now heartshaped chocolate-chocolate chip mini-cakes, quite delicious when warm and served with white milk. Yum!

Here's my M's day project--the Jammie Quilt. If you glance at the blog regularly, you may recall my Domino Challenge quilt. Well, it's all quilted now, and I should be able to bind and clean up the loose threads on most of it tomorrow at Guild.

It's big--about 66 x 66. I love the brightness of it--so summer!

Here's a closer look at the quilting--I did a lot of different things depending on the shape/section:

The blue/red is the backing. I figured the more color the merrier. This is a Dargate Book print, I think.

Hope your Mother's Day weekend was delightful!!

Beautiful Spring!

2008-05-10T14:03:00.002-04:00

Look what arrived in the post, all the way from Wales:

My swap partner, Andrea, made this adorable 30s repro wall quilt for me as part of the 4 Seasons Swap. It's handquilted in a gorgeous salmony pink, including the cute spring blossoms in the counter-squares. Even the binding is scrappy. And, her label is also pieced. I'm so lucky to have been gifted with this thoughtful, clever, and beautiful quilt!

Back to the Blog

2008-05-04T10:03:00.008-04:00

The phrase "I've been at sea" sometimes means that one has been lost or without a direction. Well, I've actually had too many directions lately--too many work world changes to chase down like a mom running after overactive toddlers careening from bright thing to brighter thing. So, I haven't had much blogging--or quilting time. But, I did find some family time to go literally to sea! We took a Disney cruise during the kids' spring break, and it was a wonderfully timed break for us all. Just looking at the lovely blue sky portrait of the ship below brings a sense of peace:

I've also had to do a bit of work traveling recently. I spent almost a week in Rochester, NY (with an evening dinner event at the supercool George Eastman House). I'd never been there, and the city was surprisingly charming and full of spring life leaping into color. When I came home, I had to jump quickly into my Four Seasons Quilt Swap spring quilt--so I was thankful for the inspiration (and the cool pink and orange wallet I bought there!).

I sank into my quilt room chair overwhelmed. Where to start? I had delayed this project a bit too long to go crazily creative, but I also didn't want to cheat my swapmate. Then, my eyes lit on a Strawberry Lemonade charm pack. It perfectly suited her stated color preferences. And . . . I designed (as in, with my own little brain) a quilt that would use all of the charm pack. Voila:

I used the lighter prints for background, drafted two flower patterns for the layered blooms, and used buttons for the flower centers and accents. I made the binding from the remaining charm squares. I called it "Strawberry Spring," and quilted the word "spring" in there among the meandering. I hope my swapmate likes it. Based on her blog, it seems just her style.

Then, I turned my attention to my daughter's Kindergarten teacher's baby quilt. Each of the children in the class decorated a 6.5 inch square. Each was unique and captured the child's personality to a 't'. I added one block to make 25, which is whited out since it had her personal info on it. It's put together with a simple pillar and post setting, and "hello" and "baby" are quilting throughout the sashing. Here it is:

My daughter gave her the quilt at a special shower breakfast last week, and tears were had by all :) The teacher is leaving the school after this year, so the quilt is doubly special as it represents the last class she'll have there. I didn't cry when she opened the quilt (only when I was making it--ha!), but I did cry when she took me aside to tell me that all her students are special, but she knows that one day she'll hear about the great accomplishments of a few--including my daughter. Given that I work about 9000 hours a week at a job I love, am frequently out of town on trips I usually don't, try to keep up with my writing projects, and have all the working mom guilt that goes along with this--I felt so good to know that I am still stirring the pot in the right direction at home. That coupled with a super cute note from my son's preK teachers that he is definitely ready for Kindergarten (he skipped a level largely on verbal wit and native charm!) really made my week.

Then, yesterday, I spent a whole day in a quilt workshop with the Blackbird Designs women, Barb Adams and Alma Allen. They were just wonderful--clever, giving, gracious, funny, and just plain nice. I got just a wee-bit finished on the workshop project, but learned oodles of great tips for machine applique and bias stems. Plus, I got to do some active browsing (read: buying) at one of my absolute favorite shops: Olde Green Cupboard.

Today, I'm in house and porch cleaning mode with the liddle kiddles as my workforce. Wish me luck!!

Getting Old

2008-02-24T17:41:00.004-05:00

Because this is my birthday weekend, I've been able to do some sewing. Of course, most of it has been on a quilt for one of my daughter's aftercare teachers, who was injured in a car wreck--but it's still sewing! The teacher is very bumped and bruised but not permanently hurt. Though, my experience is that bumps and bruises hurt plenty all on their own. The teacher is a huge fan of a very specific college sports team, which you might be able to suss out from the picture of the quilt below:

I took the picture rather quickly, so it's a little blurry, I think. The binding is pieced because I made one too many strip sets and wanted to use it up somehow; it still needs to be sewn down. All of this fabric is from my stash. My daughter picked out the colors and matched the strips--and pushed the pedal every once in a while.

I've been listening to the Monsters of Templeton while working on this project and the Civil War blocks that will show up below. It's really a great book--surprisingly so: Imagine a very dissolute Stars Hollow with a more rancorous Rory and Lorelai. One thing I realized during listening though is that I am OLD. I am almost as old as the narrator's mom . . . and I used to be the narrator. It's freakily hard to make that perceptual shift when engaging in a narrative. Sigh.

Luckily, I will be 60 before my children graduate college--and people keep telling me that they will keep me young. By which, I am assuming, they mean in debt and constantly working so that I cannot possibly retire. Woo-hoo!

As the new button on the side bar denotes, I've joined the Civil War block madness that's sweeping the blogosphere. If you've paged through either of the books by Rosemary Youngs that have inspired the recent craze, you'll recognize that I grabbed some low-hanging fruit with my first four blocks (from the upper left): Abomination of Desolation (possibly the best quilt block name ever!), Special Blessings, Soldier's Box, and Yankee Papers .

And, I've lost 19 pounds so far! And, it's Oscar night--fantastic whip-stitching viewing. Happy Oscars! Happy Birthday, to all!

My Very Own Domino Challenge

2008-02-16T22:36:00.008-05:00

I'm a charter subscriber to Domino. I'm not sure why; maybe because it first began publishing when we moved into our no-longer-new house a few years ago. Maybe because I simply love getting magazines--especially those that are really just catalogs in disguise. Anyway . . . every once in a while, Domino runs an editorial spread in which its decorator du jour (read, some intern) tries to turn an outfit into a room. (Clarification: The goal is to create a room that captures the essence of the outfit.) It's a wacky idea that somehow always works.

So, this weekend, I've decided to engage in my very own Domino challenge: make these pajamas into a quilt!

My husband, who knows my heart spookily well, got me a kicky Pajamagram for Valentine's Day. Here are my jammies:

In case you're wondering, they're covered with little chicks engaging in me-like activities, all labeled "Cool Chick." After thinking about this project for a while, I grabbed a long-on-the-shelf stack of Amy Butler prints and went in search of a pattern. Believe it or not, this is the one I chose:

I've had this pattern forever but never made it. The flash blurred the pattern designer's name, it's by The Cranberry Cupboard. Now, you're likely looking at this pattern and seeing little to no link to the jammies. It's so country. But wait . . .

The pattern needed 20 FQs, so I added some Westminster/Rowan/Fassetts from the shelf to my Amy Butler stack. So far, so good. But, it also needed over a yard of background. Well, one of my parameters for the challenge was that I needed to use ONLY my stash--because I started it on Friday and wanted it done this weekend. So, I auditioned several tone-on-tone, neutral prints, none of which really seemed to capture the spirit of my endeavor. Then, one decidedly non-neutral print caught my eye, and with the bravado that comes from a middle age wasted on Domino, Lucky, and Cookie, I decided to take a leap of faith and go for it. I have to confess that I completely felt like Kay Thompson in Funny Face as I cut into my background, though rather than "Think Pink" I thought orange.

And, here is the almost finished project in wall paste up form:

I had some serious moments of doubt last night while sewing and even cut up some more neutral triangles to try out over the orange paisley print. But, I decided to sleep on it. When I looked at it again this morning in the clear light of day, I simply loved it!

And, I think I really managed to turn my new favorite jammies (which I'm wearing even now) into a quilt:

What do you think?

This project was so much fun and really pushed me way, way out of my comfort zone. So, I encourage everyone to take the Domino challenge!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-13T21:04:00.003-05:00

Yes, this is an entire kitchen's worth of Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing.

Can you feel the calories?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Baby Quilt

2008-02-03T16:13:00.000-05:00

One of my daughter's kindergarten teachers is pregnant, so she drafted me to make a quilt. I felt in the sewing mood, so I whipped out the top this weekend. My daughter actually helped me "sew" a bit and got a lesson in assembly line cutting and piecing that I'm sure will change her life :) I started from a pattern (Cobblestone something) in a baby quilt book I've had for a while. But, I changed the colors and added a more complex set of borders, including the checkerboard. I used a lot of my 1930s stash fabrics and tried to make it suitable for either a boy or a girl. This era of fabrics seems to cry out "baby"!

I'm going to get all the kids to print their names on the label. It should be cute!

I listened to another several hours of Jeffrey Eugenide's Middlesex while working on the quilt. I think the whole book is about 18 hours long. The story is more engrossing than I might have thought, and my parents lived in Grosse Pointe for a while in the late 80s and early 90s, so a lot of it seems very familiar to me (and makes me long for Detroit-proper Coney Island hot dogs!). Now, off to prepare for Hannah Montana in 3D!!

Winter Work

2008-01-27T17:11:00.000-05:00

Look at what fantastic surprise came in the mail last weekend:

It's a gorgeous Four Seasons Quilt Swap (FSQS) quilt from Ms. Jan. Like me, she lives in warmer climes and opted to focus on our shared winter fruit: the orange. (I've actually still got them hanging from the tree outside.) The quilt is so very lovely and is in colors that are way-me, so much so that I own at least three of these fabrics. The quilt now graces my dining room. Thank you!

As the arrival of the winter swap quilt suggests, it's the end of January, and I'm finally posting for the new year. Yipes. Well, since I last posted, I have lost 13 pounds, which is nice. (Or, as my newly-six year old daughter with the metabolism of a tweaking hummingbird says, "You look less fat than you used to." Ah, children.)

I also got called an "artist" in a review of a quilt show in which three of my works were featured--similarly nice. The reviewer wrote that I have "a modern inclination shown to great advantage in 'Heralded Hydrangeas.' The contemporary design uses folded fabric boxes to represent flowers layered on a two dimensional stem. This method gives depth to the small piece - it wouldn't be large enough for a cat bed - and takes this work from craft to art." What's funny is that--while I do have a strong appreciation for contemporary/postmodern art--I so-completely-don't have a modern inclination in the vast majority of my work.

I finally finished the combo jelly roll quilt shown previously in top-only form. I decided to quilt it to emphasize the boxes:

I called it "Cottage Comforts" because the mixed-up, shabby-chicness of it reminded me of Cottage Living magazine and of our summer-rental beach cottage. I liked how the polka dot backing added yet another pattern. (It's a bit wrinkled since it was dragged all around the state over the holidays as I finished the binding.)

And, I planned and (this weekend) actually finished my own FSQS winter quilt: Father Christmas. My mystery-swapmate said she wanted something Christmas-y but not religious. So, I found a few coloring book images of Father Christmas and adapted them into an applique pattern. This was actually a bit harder than I thought it would be as I had to simplify things to get them to look right. I really like the result:

I wanted it to look like Father Christmas making his way through the starry winter night, and it seems to work that way.

Well, I've either re-caught the cold I had earlier in the week (which I think is impossible) or caught its mutated cousin (which is totally possible). So, I'm off to dig into the chicken soup that's steaming away on my stove and get ready for the SAG Awards, hoping to see some love shown to "There Will Be Blood." Go, red carpet!!

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T12:07:00.001-05:00

Ho-ho-hopping Back into the Blog

2007-12-20T14:32:00.000-05:00

Yep, about once a month--I was right. So, here I am again, squeezing in a blog entry between running errands in advance of the ever-approaching Christmas countdown. Since I last wrote, I've hosted a cookie-decorating party for 13 squealing kindergarten girls--which was enormous fun! I organized the party because I had about 2 pounds of Swiss Meringue Buttercream left from Thanksgiving baking. The SWB frosting recipe came courtesy of my awesome cake decorating class. We learned that, chocolate ganache, cream cheese, and royal icings. Plus basic simple syrup and foundation mousse recipes so that we can dress those up as desired. I also learned how to make chocolate plastic. The first complete cake I made (chocolate cake with coffee syrup, chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache icing and white chocolate magnolias) cracked in half on the drive home. But, it still make great eating! We ate half and my office ate the other half . . . literally in minutes. Here are some of the other cakes I've made:

Two Christmas party/gift cakes: chocolate with coffee syrup, raspberry mousse filling, chocolate ganache icing and chocolate cream cheese piping. One's an 8 inch; the other a 9 inch.

This was our final class cake: white with simple syrup, italian cream filling, swiss buttercream frosting and piping, gold-dusted royal icing snowflakes, and a fondant poinsettia. I had so much fun in the class and now feel super-confident in making cakes that look great and taste delicious. The baker who taught the class has a mantra that the cake comes first, the decorations second--so she uses fondant sparingly and focuses on yummy frostings.

And, of course, the first thing I did after finishing the class was sign up for Weight Watchers . . . seriously. Not because of the class, really, but because I need to shed some "makes me tired" weight. I have pear-shaped genetics, so I'm not kidding myself, these hips aren't going anywhere. But, I can be more mid-sized and energetic.

I've also managed to complete one new quilt top. This one's based on the "baby cakes" quilt in one of the newer jelly roll quilt books (can't remember the title and it's upstairs). I increased the number of blocks and used some extra strips for the border rather than go with the big, single fabric one in the pattern. I simply paired strips and then cut each into 2-4 pieces at random to get a staggered set of seams and some border movement. I used 2 jelly rolls for the quilt--one Shangri-La and one Allspice Tapestry--and have enough strips left for binding and another small project. I really like how the two different fabric lines play off each other; the contrast between the more romantic one and the more stylized one gives the interplay a good energy.

I listened to Steve Martin's "Born Standing Up" while I sewed this quilt. I really recommend it; he reads the book and his voice gives life to the memoir wonderfully.

I have one other quilt to finish this break--a baby quilt. Then, back to my own projects.

Now, off to watch the stunning conclusion of "Clash of the Choirs"--otherwise known as, "What Won't I Watch During the Writers' Strike?" or "Just Give it to Patti LaBelle."

Monthly

2007-11-17T07:36:00.000-05:00

I seem to be posting only monthly lately. Too, too busy. I also caught some creeping crud that left me feeling kinda consumptive--but I balanced this wasting phenomenon by learning to make perfect vanilla and chocolate cakes, swiss buttercream frosting, chocolate ganache, and cream cheese frosting in my cake class. So, I'm still nicely rounded out :) My cake class has been so much fun; it's at the town's top bakery. There are just 6 of us in the bakery's kitchen using all the real baker's stuff and getting cool inside secrets. Last Monday, we learned how to make "chocolate plastic" to mold flowers, leaves, and the like; and I also made chocolate ivy leaves by painting on leaves. Fun!!

My children have been sucked into the Webkinz universe, which means I've been spending odd hours playing Quizzy's Word Game so my babies can afford backyards and interactive stoves, refrigerators, and treadmills for their furry obsessions. (Hey, what's so virtual about this place again?) But, one nice quilty outcome is that they want to make quilts for their WKs. Here's the first endeavor:

My daughter (who's 5 and 7/8, just ask her) picked out all the fabrics and then arranged the squares. She wanted a quilt that looked like a rainforest, which is where Pandi the Panda lives. She also pressed the foot pedal on the machine as I sewed and actually picked up speed regulation fairly quickly. I quilted a flower in the middle of each square. Now, I have to make a pirate-themed quilt for Baby Pongo the Dalmation and some pink confection for Ashley the Rainbow Pony.

Here's a quilt I've never shared, but I found it in my closet during a cleaning mania two weeks ago (during a Housewives of Orange County marathon; it makes me feel so much better about my own life):

I made this in 1998 (insert aging cough here) right when Kumiko Sudo's book Fabled Flowers came out. I love hydrangeas and wanted to create a mythical hydrangea plant that could flower in both violet and pink. Over 50 different fabrics make up the origami petals. The background is a fabric that looks like homemade paper with flower petals embedded in the fibers. Here's a closer look at the petals:

I had completely forgotten about this little quilt. I've included it in the three quilts I'll be showing at the college this year. The quilts are shown in the President's Lobby throughout the winter holidays along with trees that student clubs decorate and then donate to families in the community. The whole lobby twinkles, and the display really brings a calming sense to the manic panic of term's end, when nerves of faculty and students alike fray.

My daughter keeps peeking her head around the corner begging to play on Barbie.com, and my son needs a pirate beard and mustache, so I'm off with this request. Consider signing up for the Winter segment of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap (click or see side button). It's great fun!!

Crazy Busy

2007-10-14T18:09:00.001-04:00

I have just been crazy busy, so I've neglected the blogosphere. No posting, no ring-surfing, no nothing. Just lots of traveling and the like. I did get to watch Grey's Anatomy while in Seattle, which gave me an odd thrill!

Here's some catch-up . . .

While away on one of my trips, I received this absolutely beautiful quilt from Anne Ida as part of the Four Seasons Quilt Swap.

It came all the way from Norway, with a chocolate bar! She said she envisioned it as a table topper, which is exactly how I'm using it.

This was the trip when I came back to town at night in the middle of a thunderstorm and found that my headlights didn't work. This was one straw too many for this camel, and I immediately (I mean next morning immediately) went looking for a new car. I bought a Camry hybrid within two days and love it. Plus, I feel super virtuous when driving! Oh, and the lights work.

Given all I've been rushing around doing, I haven't had much time for quilting. I did start and finish a baby quilt for a friend, but forgot to take a photo. It was still warm when I dropped it off with someone to deliver to the shower on my way out of town. I actually used a UFO from who-knows-when that was in bright brushed plaids and backed it with a great, bright Amy Butler print in orange, yellow, and purple.

I'm in a finish-it-up-and-get-it-out cycle, I guess, as I also just put borders on another UFO; it has been sitting around for over 5 years! I was also going to quilt it right away, to strike when the iron was still sizzling, only to realize I'm out of batting. So, I ordered a bunch, which will hopefully arrive within a week or so. The quilt came from a pattern out of an old Cabbage Rose book. I can't believe I made all those flying geese. I clearly had too much time on my hands before I had children.

It's hard to tell, but the background for the stars is a novelty print with little salt and pepper shakers. I'm going to call this, "season to taste."

One of my trips took me on a consulting visit to Kentucky. I flew into Nashville and rented a car to drive about an hour into the state, and as I approached the Tennessee/Kentucky border, I got so excited. There was a sign featuring a bunch of quilts that read, "Paducah, exit 4." Of course, as soon as I crossed the border, I realized that I was at exit 89. Oh well, I'll go back one day.

One late night in some hotel room, I was checking email and found a message saying that I've been dropped by the Quilting for Pleasure blog ring because I hadn't posted in a month. The message caught me by surprise and seemed to undercut a bit the jolly tone of the blog ring title. There was something about the email that really irked me--especially given how many folks in the ring barely post about quilting at all--so I think I'll take this as a message from the powers that be to go quietly into the Q4P night and drop the button from the sidebar without a fuss.

I start a cake decorating class in a couple of weeks. Not one of those frothy Wilton things, but a class with the top cake-maker in town. I'm really excited! So, if my work turns out presentable, I'll post some photos down the road. The good thing is that even if the cakes are messy, they'll still be super yummy!

When I Was Young

2007-09-03T17:09:00.000-04:00

My daughter's kindergarten class sent home "parent homework" on Friday, and like every good student, I sat down to do it the night before it was due :) Each of us (mom and dad) are supposed to draw a picture to illustrate a story of that begins "When I was young . . . ." It goes along with a book the class is reading. Both my kids love hearing stories from when I was little, and I tell them all the time. They have their favorites (like when the dying bat fell smack in the middle of our picnic table or when my Uncle Terry thought there was a spider on the wall and--in his attempts to kill it--kicked a hole clear through to the next room). But, when I got this assignment, I immediately got a picture of the story I wanted to illustrate and knew that I wanted to do it in fabric. So, I dug through my stash to create a picture of the summers when I would pick berries around my grandma's cottage:

I really liked how this turned out. When I showed it to my daughter, she asked if this was a competition we could win (she likes winning), so I think she liked it, too. I've offered to accept a commission from my husband to make his. We'll see.

Fruits of My Labor Day

2007-09-02T16:17:00.001-04:00

It's only halfway through the holiday weekend, and I've finished the fall swap quilt. Here 'tis:

And, here's the quilting--swirling loops with the word "fall" secretly included:

I had fun on this little project. I've been listening to Antonia Fraser's Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King, which is fairly engrossing, while working on the quilt. I think most of the appeal has been to secret myself away in a world where I get to sew and everyone speaks in a plummy brit-accent. What a perfect world! Now, off to work on my next BOAF block.

This is turning into a dream weekend. I finished a co-authored article on Friday before I left work--freeing my weekend for a rainy, sewy, laundry-y, movie-y, reading-y time with the family. Plus, we had Mole at our fav Mexican restaurant on Friday and now Tikka Masala from our fav Indian restaurant tonight. And the US Open is on. Yee-haw!! Life is good! Enjoy your labor day.

Falling Forward

2007-08-26T08:59:00.000-04:00

I had a mini-creative crisis yesterday as I worked around the other Four Seasons Quilt swappers' blogs. I've been crazy busy for the past couple weeks: I went to Chicago (pre-storm) to promote my textbook for the sales reps, finished summer grading, began a yearlong city leadership program, tried to finish an article, wrote my convocation speech (day of!), and kicked off our term; the kids went back to school, including one starting kindergarten, and we planned a back-to-school bash; etc. So, I'd let my little fall quilt sit unattended for some time, and when I zipped around the blogosphere, I saw that many of us seem to have come up with similar quilts. For a while, I started off in a new direction, and then decided I didn't like it and came back to the original plan. Here's where I am now:

I abandoned the border, as it seems I can neither read directions nor measure correctly (which may come from working on projects at 4 am), and my quilt was too big. But, luckily, I realized this after adding the borders (sigh) and found my seam ripper right where I left it--on the floor near the pile of fabric I keep meaning to put back into my stash. (I am so far from being the queen of organization that I have no idea how I accomplish anything.) I went light with the leaves so that they'd show. I was too lazy to find a leaf pattern in a book, since I was so happy to just be sitting in air conditioning after a 3 hour outdoor birthday party in the heat and humidity, so I drew these free-hand. I really liked the results. They aren't as light as this photo suggests, as I'm still learning the iMac photo editing program. They're more golden with a darker gold, tan, and purple leaf pattern, which will be accented with the blanket-stitch that's coming next. I'm thinking of quilting it with the word "fall" as the repeating pattern. Now, on to a whirlwind of cleaning in prep for the "lemonade tea party" coming in a few hours.

Small Fall

2007-08-12T21:27:00.001-04:00

Here's a quickie of the fall swap quilt I'm arranging/rearranging. I finished grading some essays and can't find my outline for the chapter I'm writing (and conveniently left my laptop at work on Friday), so I decided to start cutting. The quilt has 64 different 2 1/2 squares (2 inch finished) and will have a cabbage leaf Kaffe Fassett border that's also 2 inch finished. Perfect for a table-topper or the like. This isn't the final layout; those two plaids (one real, one faux) in the lower right are too close for me, as are some of the reds. I will likely use the pieced center as a backdrop for some appliqued falling leaves.

Totally different topic: We do a real Sunday dinner each week. Tonight, I made the Meatballs and Macaroni soup from Rachel Ray's 2nd 30 Minute Cookbook--extra easy and a very big hit. Here's an odd thing about Ms. Ray. I dropped a reference to her in my freshman comp class then apologized, thinking that a class of 60% male 18-20 year olds wouldn't get it. They all watch her show. Who'd a thunk it? So, I'd recommend this as an ideal fall soup (even though it's about 190 degrees here and we still ate it).

Monkey Pox!

2007-08-12T14:36:00.001-04:00

I really am thinking of calling this quilt--now finished--Monkey Pox because of all the little dots. Although it looked a bit wonky pre-quilting, it actually finished up delightfully flat. I quilted it in a bright variegated cotton thread with big looping swirls. You can see those more closely here:

I had just enough of the Funky Monkey stripe left from my monkey-stash to do a kicky binding alternating the blue focus stripe with the orange focus stripe. All-in-all, I like it very much and think my little great nephew will, as well.

I mentioned before that I'm doing the 4 Seasons swap. Well, a few days ago, my sister stopped by to raid my stash for solidy-tone-on-tones. I pulled all my fabric bins out, and we found all the fabric she needed. So, yesterday morning, before I sat down to quilt Monkey Pox, I decided to grab "some" fall tones before boxing the mess back up. Well, I pulled over 60! fabrics without even breaking a sweat. This should be interesting.

A Picture of Me

2007-08-11T08:13:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a post on Tazzie's blog, I finally have a picture of me that I'm comfortable posting on my blog . . . my Simpson's Self. So, there I am, in my profile. You simply upload an image to the Simpsonize Me site and adjust the result. After I did it, I called my kids over to the computer, and my son said, "It's Simpson's Mommy." So, I guess it really does look like me!

iMac Photo Experiments

2007-08-04T21:26:00.000-04:00

I'm working on learning iPhoto as an editing tool. I should say that I've been using computers for over 20 years, and this is my first Mac. So, it's like learning to write with my left hand--but on a very pretty tablet.

Okay, here are the fabrics I pulled pre-lockdown retreat (see previous post) for my daughter's All About Me quilt. It's an Atkinson pattern, which means a ridiculous amount of cutting but fairly straightforward sewing. When I got to the retreat, I realized I seriously underestimated the border fabric required. So, I did buy another white ground fun print.

Here is the resulting quilt, with lil' miss skinny legs in the background. (Seriously, I think someone slipped me a DNA cocktail when I was pregnant with her, as she's such a little slip of a thing.) The actual pattern asks for solids in the borders, but I wanted to brighten it up and had yards of the two white grounds in the picture above, so I thought, "what the heck." I think it worked nicely. This is a full-size quilt top. I'll be outsourcing the quilting on this one.

Then, while at the retreat, I also partially cut this Cheese and Crackers (another Atkinson pattern) quilt from Funky Monkey fats and some Funky Monkey dotted white. I had actually purchased a bunch of this when it came out, and this is the second quilt I've made from this massive purchase. So, here's the original fabric set:

And here's the oddly oversaturated picture of the quilt top. What's nice is that the photo calls attention to the stretching I had to do to make the pieced borders work (insert sarcasm here). I'm still looking for the iPhoto feature that can auto-correct this both virtually and actually. This is a lap size, I'll be quilting it, and I'll quilt out the poochiness--which I doubt my 1 month old great nephew will mind much :)

Finally, this is my latest BOAF block. I still need to take the massive seven block photo.

So, that's what I've been doing for the past month.

The Long Hot Summer Just Passed Me By

2007-08-04T07:33:00.000-04:00

I don't know where summer has gone. The post's title comes from an old Style Council song that really captures the steamy malaise summer can bring. I haven't been suffering ennui, but I have been suffering from overscheduling. For some reason, I decided to teach a freshman comp course in the latter half of summer. While this unpaid gesture has been great fun and I love my students, it--of course--doesn't release me from any of my other worklife obligations. So, I've been running from pillar to post keeping it all up in the air. I'm currently behind on one presentation, one journal article, one service committee, and an entire house of cleaning. Somewhere in the dustier recesses of my brain, summers used to be slower, more relaxing times. Hmm.

We've been switching over computers--got a new iMac, so sleek--so I should get some photos up later because I actually have been sewing. I went on a cool quilt shop lock-in retreat with some ladies from my guild. We got to sew on our own projects for three days (Fri-Sun), while the wonderful shop owner gave us meals, snacks, and company. It was ridiculously fun to have the run of a closed quilt shop. I felt like Corduroy in the department store.

While there, I cut and pieced a full-size quilt for my daughter and began a lap quilt for my new great-nephew in New Zealand. Those are the photos I'll get up later. While sewing these, I've been listening to Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles, unabridged. The story of this sad, petulant princess really makes engaging soap opera.

I've also signed up for the Four Season's Swap (see badge on the right). This looks to be great fun, so if you're not over-swapped right now, think about joining!

I'll post pictures this afternoon of all my quilty endeavors once I improve my Mac-literacy.

Starry-Eyed

2007-07-07T17:59:00.001-04:00

First, thanks for all the responses to my quilt mini-manifesto. One thing I did want to address was the nostalgia question that Atet (whose blog is wonderful) raised in her comment.

I definitely have a nostalgic streak (sometimes even just for last week!), but even with that, I don't tend to romanticize the past unconditionally. Back in the day, my major field of study was the English Early Modern period (c. 1485-1800), and--if you're not looking through the lens of Barbara Cartland--it's difficult to romanticize the lives folks lived then. They were rough and dangerous and arbitrary. And, I'm not saying that trendiness is new. Back in the Early Modern, trendiness was certainly a la mode as was anxiety of about the ideological import of trends (as when the middle class began to dress too ostentatiously, leading to great fears of class confusion). I could go on for a bit about this and move it up through the current quilting era (dropping in references to the 1971 Whitney show, Walker's "Everyday Use," and more), but it would likely interest just me.

On to the present . . . I did finish the 24! stars and bottom border of the Harvest Moon quilt. My fingers hurt!

I love stars. A couple months back, I was in Chicago for a meeting and zipped over to the Institute, which I also love. I stumbled into an exhibit on Ambroise Vollard, who was the first French art dealer apparently. The works they gathered together were grand, but even more impressive was the design of the exhibit. It was set in such a way that every painting popped. In one corner, I came across a Van Gogh that was new to me. I have seen the famous starry painting several times in various exhibitions and museums, but this one, Starry Night Over the Rhone, took me by complete surprise. It was displayed in a darkened room and lit to perfection. Each star twinkled and the river rippled. I could feel the slight breeze as it bent the light of the stars through the atmosphere. I was captivated by how the painting made one feel the night--the kind of night when the stars don't illuminate the night sky as much as let you know that it's a very dark world up there.

I'm no Van Gogh (which is not altogether a bad thing), but in selecting fabrics for this quilt, I wanted my mix of blacks and golds/oranges to generate some movement in the quilt's "sky," and the background I selected for the larger applique piece has a bit of white in it to do the same. More on the center later; now I'm off to make breakfast and read the Times.

Abandon Hip

2007-06-24T15:52:00.000-04:00

As my side bio notes, I read the NYT every Sunday morning--though I live no where near NYC. So, in this morning's edition, there's an interesting story about hipster crafters at the Renegade Craft Fair (see http://tinyurl.com/2tm8ve).

Reading this piece made me revisit a train of thought that's been moving at a slow rumble through my head for a while . . I think ever since I read a piece on QuiltersBuzz (a buzz marketing blog) about how all the new fabric lines all-in-the-mode-of-AmyButler have made quilting fresh and new again.

In a nutshell, here it is . . . on a very real level, I don't want quilting to be hip. One of the things that drew me to quilting in the first place is that it wasn't edgy. In other parts of my life, I love the new and the hip. I get Cookie, Lucky, and Domino. I have a spanking new BlackBerry. I listen to self-burned CDs on which Tony Bennett fades into Ghostface Killah fades into Deerhoof fades into Hem. But, quilting has always been that Milk and Cookies Yankee Candle-scented part of my life that's been a sovereign nation free from detachment, irony, and kitsch.

If you've read my blog for a while, you know that I was asked to enter a few quilts in a gallery show at my college around the holidays last year. So, since I'm still stitching away on my next 10 stars for the Harvest Moon quilt and have no new photos, I thought I'd finally share what I wrote for my artist's statement:

I became a quilter for comfort. I was seeking a respite from graduate studies and wanted something that was not postmodern, did not involve footnotes, and would not try to out clever my already too clever rhetoric. I wanted a billowing bolt of nostalgia on which to rest my weary head.

To this day, I find every aspect of quilting comforting. The hand, weave, texture, tone, shade, pattern of the fabric. The deceptive depth of even the thinnest batting. The moments alone in my quilting garret pondering projects. The thumping sound of the machine as it brings together disparate elements whose only similarity may be that they all once came from a seedy cotton ball. The meditative aspect of machine quilting as I wind first this way, then that, either assuring that the lines do or do not touch in just the right way. The accidental interplay between colors and shapes that surprises at last--no matter how well planned I think the project is.

I once read that women on the prairie would piece an entire quilt top, then painstakingly take it apart, and begin anew to create another, and another. They did so to stave off the madness of long days and longer nights in the oppressive heat and numbing cold. A window opens with each piece of fabric in these quilts; the life revealed in the faded prints, dropped stitches, and hard-earned stains. There are days in each of our lives when we inhabit this prairie. And, like all art, quilts are there to comfort and sustain us, to challenge and push us forward, to make us see life anew.

Now in the interruption-studied 21^st century, I quilt for quite the opposite reason than did my prairie ancestors. I long to finish. My heart races as a stack of pieces joins into pairs, sets, blocks, a top, a layered sandwich, and then a finished piece. As I turn the corner on the last bit of whip-stitching on each binding, I can barely contain my excitement. Done! This progression convinces me that some things actually do end—and that this end is frequently both lovely and useful.

New Discoveries

2007-06-17T15:43:00.000-04:00

I've managed to pull together the June BOAF block:

In the actual pattern, the side block is a Drunkard's Path. But, I don't do curves. I learned this after a couple Karen Stone classes. I'm a straight-line girl. So, I changed Block B to accommodate my quilting disability.

Thanks to a post by Tonya, I learned about Picasa and edited my photo this time using this super-cool free program. I think my photo is a bit sharper than the previous ones. My whole world is a bit blurrier now. While I was at the beach, I was working on my Harvest Moon stars whilst watching The Starter Wife--not as good as the book, but still great fun--and I noticed that my eyes just don't seem to be bouncing back from near to far as they used to. I've worn glasses since I was 7 (and I'm a bit older than that now) and have been dreading the day I need to move to bifocals. I'm afraid that when I see the eye doctor this week, that's exactly what I'll hear. Sigh.

My other new discovery since my last post is Audible.com. I'm a total multi-tasker. I don't watch tv without cleaning or folding laundry. I don't cook without catching up on Fresh Air or Diane Rehm. And, pre-children, I used to listen to books on tape while quilting. Well, it turns out the library doesn't keep my current quilting hours (after 10 pm, before 6 am), so I never have an audiobook around. Then, I got to thinking that there has to be something online. Lo and behold, Audible.com. I have to pay (unlike the library), but I get the book I want on demand (unlike the library). I'm currently listening to Smile When You're Feeling Blue, which is a classic made-for-miniseries novel by Elizabeth Berg that fits perfectly with my quilting spurts.

I went through out half that book finishing my last Lucky Star quilt. My former AVP loved it and teared up when she got it. It's such a nice feeling when you give a quilt to someone who will treasure it!

Starfish

2007-06-02T12:15:00.000-04:00

We just returned from a week at the beach, where we try to go at least once a year to refresh our sea legs. We go to a little island (Tybee) and stay in a funky-retro renovated cottage. There are few things that beat the sight of my kidlets little bottoms trudging over the dunes to the big waves. We collected shells, warmed in tide pools, crashed the sea, saw dolphins and amazing dive bombing pelicans, played old maid, and generally just vegged. The children's godparents were able to fly in from the other coast, which made this visit particularly delightful.

While there, I managed to complete the first 14 stars of the Harvest Moon small project from the Yahoo-PrimFolkApplique2 group. I can't remember the last time I did needle-turn, so I'm really happy with the results. I'm completely old school when it comes to needle turn--no glue, no freezer paper, no prebasting. Just trace, cut, pin in place and we're off.

It's amazing how satisfying it can be to turn each little corner and fold under each ragged seam. Such a sense of completion!

If you're interested, I've added a set to my flickr page that shows just the BOAF blocks, so I can watch this quilt grow block by block.

Oh, and someone asked about the quilt shown in the last post. This is a pattern, Lucky Star, by Teri Atkinson. It's a wonderful card to have in your deck. It takes forever to cut, but always seems to turn out beautifully and it accommodates any type of fabric theme--from juvenile to batik.

The Stars at Night

2007-05-26T22:22:00.001-04:00

I finished putting together the top for my departing avp's quilt. I really like the way this turned out. I don't typically make a quilt from fabrics from a single line. Almost all the fabrics--except a few homespuns and the background--were from a Fig Tree Quilts line. It made me feel like I was making a quilt for APQ :) The green in the stripe isn't as minty as it's coming out in this photo--thank goodness. I took the photo at night and was too lazy to walk downstairs again to flip on more lights before snapping it.

I've made this quilt at least four times, each in different moods, and it always works. It's neat seeing how the quilt takes on the flavor of the fabric.

I was driving my daughter to a playdate this afternoon, and on the way there, I realized that I passed the back of our house. Of course, it wasn't our house, but it was the same model in a different subdivision. So, after dropping her off, I doubled back to see how they had painted my house--just to get an idea. It looked nice, but I like our scheme better. (I also now know how to fit a pool on the back without losing all the wonderful light we get from our 2nd story windows. Just in case.)

So, it's the same with this quilt. It's always but never the same. I'll make time to quilt it next weekend, well in advance of her goodbye party. The rest of this week I've got to get motoring on the rest of my hand applique'd stars. Why am I doing this by hand again? Think, think . . .

Oh, and I probably need to start counting to 100 when the urge to buy fabric comes on. I broke down and bought a Moda jellyroll of the Sanctuary line. It was a difficult day, and in the end, I thought the Moda version of the roll was better for me than the bakery version. Tough call, though.

Cutting Through the Afternoon

2007-05-13T20:44:00.000-04:00

This is my fifth BOAF block--freshly finished this afternoon. It plays nicely with the others, and I really like the blue of the bell flowers and the illuminated look of the vase. I've pulled the fabrics for the next block, too, but I'm spending the rest of the month finishing the appliqued stars for the Harvest Moon quilt. I need 14 by June1. I have 5, so I should get there. My mother's day gift was the right to sew all day if I wanted. I sewed and cut part of the day but also baked, cleaned, read the NYT, visited my own mom, caught up on my blogging, and cooked. If my luck holds, I'll get to watch Entourage and walk on the treadmill before the night ends. It's been a good day!

I thought I'd have done more quilting since graduating, but I've had what I'd characterize as a post-book, post-PhD attack of the vapors. I was just so darn tired (and resentful, actually) of running ragged that I took a couple weeks off. I read a novel and lots of magazines, caught up on a couple Netflix movies that have literally been sitting around since February (so that's how they make money!), started walking on my treadmill again, and just hung out with my family. Now, of course, guilt is setting in, and I feel like a laze-about, so I'm kicking it in gear to avoid any onset of type-A anxiety attacks.

So, here's my first new project. Of course, the week after I walked, one of my assoc vp's (and, of course, my best avp) got offered her own vp at another institution--much deserved. So, while I'm scrambling to fill this position, I thought I'd make her a congrats/good-bye/good luck quilt. I pulled my favorite, minimal-effort-with-maximum-results pattern from the shelf: Atkinson's Lucky Star. Here are the fabrics:

I always forget how much (MUCH) cutting is involved in this quilt (though once you plunk down in front of the machine it sails through). I listened to two full hours of the Diane Rehm show online and roasted a lemon/garlic/rosemary chicken while cutting this baby. I want the finished quilt to fill the spectrum from medium to minimal contrast so that it looks faded and soft. I think these fabrics will do the trick.

Did I mention that they are all from my stash--even the two yards of background. When did I buy all this stuff?? These are all from a Fig Tree line (Day in the Country) that I clearly loved--or got as a gift. I seriously cannot remember. This is why I have a no new fabric in 2007 pledge. Though, I've really been tempted by those Moda Jelly Rolls . . . such a clever idea! But, then I look at my vault of fabric and count to ten--or twenty.

Flickr-ing

2007-04-15T10:59:00.000-04:00

I've been inspired by the little Flickr badges on several quilting sites to sign up. It will be a few days before my photo content is approved for publication (can you imagine having this editorial review job??), so I don't have the flashy badge. Until then, here's my Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltingroom/.

Star(t) Quilt

2007-04-14T05:54:00.000-04:00

I've been in pre- and post-defense land for the last month. On the day of my successful defense, my division leadership team surprised me with an extraordinary lunch. Then, my husband surprised me with a five day trip to NYC, where he surprised me the first morning at breakfast with a table full of friends who had also flown up for the long celebration, and then surprised me again at Tiffany's with a lovely silver bracelet engraved with my new academic title (Dr.) and the date of my defense. I surprised myself by agreeing to let a woman at a Macy's street fair paint my face like an aquarium filled with two kissing zebra-striped fish. My children surprised me by actually being interested in some works at MOMA. And, in line at Magnolia Bakery, the luminous Naomi Watts surprised me by being very cute and playful with my little roustabouts, so she is now my very favorite actress.

It took a while for everything to sink in--and it's still sinking. The honest-to-goodness page proofs for the first two chapters of my co-authored textbook arrived via FedEx yesterday, and it's an odd experience to see the words that flowed from my weary brain at all odd hours while I worked on this project made manifest in oh-so-professional form.

So, I've cleared the decks for new adventures. And, in one, I returned to the local quilting guild. Years ago I was guild vp and workshop chair, but I grew tired of herding the cats at both work and play . . . so I left. This time I've returned to be "just a member" and was delighted to find a few of the women I so admired still keeping time with the group. This should be fun. One thing I did at the meeting was applique--by hand!!--the first two stars of my online group's next small project quilt, Harvest Moon by Blackbird Designs:

It was actually very, very fun to make these stars, which is probably a good thing since I'll need 29 (!!) of them. It's my own peculiarity that I love seeing the raw edges become closed and smooth. I have the same feeling when I sew pieces together and bind a quilt. Closure! It's such a rare commodity everywhere else in my life.

I also ran around the blog-ring to catch up on everyone's work and was surprised to see that one of the group has dropped out. In her goodbye message, she wrote about the realm of art quilts and becoming a quilt artist. Her work is fantastic, creative, original, and wonderful, and she is without doubt an artist. But, aren't we all in some way? I am always a bit saddened and even a little angered when "art" becomes a divisor and when our creativity becomes tangled up in a reinscription of the high/low dichotomy that has historically kept women (among others) on the outside looking in.

My artistic tastes are quite catholic. I could sit for hours in front of a Holbein, de la Tour, Chagal, Matisse, Sargent, Kahlo, Rivero, Twombly, Bearden, Motherwell, Nevelson, Neel, and so, so many others. I grew up as an English grad student in the days when theory ruled the roost, so I cut my teeth on the intersection of aesthetics, textuality, and ideology, and can cleverly discourse on Kruger, Baquiat, and Holzer with the best of them. But, I've never been as gobsmacked by a work of art as I was when I stumbled on Liza Lou's shining force of fury and celebration, Kitchen, one day in Minneapolis or rounded the corner one rainy afternoon in DC and came across James Hampton's magisterial and poignant The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium General Assembly. These are works that were most decidedly walled out of "art." Long before she was awarded the McArthur genius grant, Lou was essentially kicked out of the art academy for working with beads. And, the thought of Hampton working in unacknowledged quiet passionate reverence in his small garage on The Throne brings me to tears every time.

When the art/not art question raises its head, I always think back to these less-famous lines from Robert Frost's "Mending Wall":

"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence."

I love the pun in that last line. I'm happy to stay on the side of the fence where my 29 hand applique'd stars sparkle with a comforting and joyful low art glow.

Aargh!

2007-03-15T22:58:00.000-04:00

My son has a thing for pirates. When I say "a thing," what I mean is that he has memorized entire sections of dialog from Pirates of the Caribbean 1 & 2 and can deliver them in a mean Jack Sparrow imitation; he has enough swords to merit an official "sword basket"; he regularly wears a belt and shoulder belt, bandanna with pirate dreds, and pirate hat; he has a bathtub-ready Playmobil pirate ship fully manned by an odd hybrid family of Playmobil and POTC pirates that is regularly attacked by a tiny octopus "Kraken"; he intends, one day, to marry Captain Jack Sparrow and have a pirate baby (look, I'm there with him on the last one). Perhaps we are enablers, but he's so darn cute, especially when I draw on a little mustache and beard. Plus, I'll take a pirate over a power ranger any day. So, I tracked down some POTC fabric and made him this quickie quilt and will make him a new nap quilt with the same fabric, too. What we won't do for our children!

I've also managed to pull together the do-not-attach-until-later row that goes with the fourth Birds of a Feather block:

I am so liking this quilt! The more fabrics I put in the happier I am.

I had off this week and thought I'd do more sewing but came back from a conference last week with the flucold and was sick for about five days straight, so I did more reading and tv watching than sewing. I watched everything from a fascinating documentary about Lew Wasserman to the new PussyCat Dolls reality show to all my TIVO'd Heroes that I missed while working on my dissertation (this is my new Buffy/Angel). Then, when I felt better, I only wanted to clean the house and catch up on work. Maybe I'll get more quilting done after I defend my diss in a couple weeks. Here's hoping!!

Back to Life

2007-02-28T22:29:00.000-05:00

Gosh, remember SoulIISoul?

Well, I've finished copy editing the last textbook chapter and wrote a quick preface for instructors, which is the only remaining element for our developmental editor to review. Done, done, done!!

Then, I spent a long, long, long four day weekend working and reworking my dissertation results chapter until I finally received an email from my committee chair with four magic words: "Chapter Four is fine." Then, quickly revised the last chapter to fit with all the new stats in four. And, with a very quickly beating heart and a full-on belief that I would be hit by a truck or struck by lightning or taken up by aliens at the very moment I crossed the threshold of the graduate school, I dropped off my dissertation for editorial review. Now, all that's left is the defense in late March, and I'm done, done, done!!

Somehow in there I also threw an unbirthday party for my daughter and 12 other screaming 5 year old girls, complete with a tower of Little Mermaid wave-frosted cupcakes and a sand castle bundt cake filled with strawberries.

So, after this crest of anxiety-inducing deadline crunchwork, I finally get to quilt again. Yee-haw! I'm even thinking up new projects (like a pirate quilt, aargh).

Oh, and the picture that's below is a response to questions I've had about how I'm applique-ing the BOAF quilt: machine blanket/button-hole stitch. I'm using a color called "milk chocolate" on all because I decided that switching for every color would make me loonier than I already am. You should be able to see the stitching especially on the pink and red trumpet flowers.

How I Didn't Get to My Quilt Retreat

2007-02-11T11:43:00.000-05:00

Well, I got out of my statewide meeting almost an hour early, so I was psyched. Rather than change out of my suit and three-inch high pointy-toed pumps, I decided to head straight for the retreat, to get even more sewing done. I was zipping down the road on my two plus hour drive from the capitol to my retreat city along an Interstate that runs through a very rural part of the state. I was listening to Bill Buford's Heat on tape--which should have been more interesting than it was. I was about half way through a state forest when I heard a sound from the dash of my car. When I looked down, I saw a flashing red "STOP!!" with a little oil can symbol and a note about oil pressure.

Here's where I will interject something about the forests in my half of our state. Think back to grade school, when you did Venn diagrams. Now, take a piece of paper and draw four circles. Label these four circles "recently released felons," "folks cooking meth," "white supremacists," and "survivalists," and have them intersect in various ways. Then, overlay this with a clear sheet labeled, "folks possessing automatic weapons." You would have a fairly accurate population map of our Northern forests. I'm sure there are regular ol' campers in there, too, but they seem to get shot and/or disappeared with surprising regularity by one of the folks in the other four circles. So, when the light went on, I thought, "Um, yeah, I'll keep driving till I hit an exit."

When I got to the exit, which was entirely populated by one run-down gas-n-sip, I first called my husband to scream about how much I hated my car (a VW 1.8T Passat, a model with remarkably common and documented oil sludge problems), then called AAA. AAA said they'd be out in about an hour. So, I sat in my car; charged my phone; watched birds (very helpful for my BOAF project); became fairly certain a guy in a flannel shirt lived in the brush behind the gas-n-sip; refused to get out of my car to talk to an odd guy drinking Red Bull (who seemed to be trying out very lame, proto-serial killer excuses to get me to engage with him--example, could I walk to the end of the gas-n-sip to show him which way was West on the Interstate--yeah, nice try); listened to a young guy lie to his boss on his cell phone about where he was; and, in general, felt more and more depressed about the likelihood I would not be going to my retreat.

A little over an hour later, the tow guy came. I've taken to calling him Detroit Rock City (DRC), which was blaring at full steam out of his truck when he pulled up. We both first had a conversation with an older man whose car had also broken down and who seemed to be attempting to jack my tow truck. Not happening. Then, while working his chaw, DRC hoisted my car on the flat bed and gallantly opened the door for me to climb the four feet up into his truck, which I gamely did--even in three inch heels.

He then turned to me and, still working his dip and his cup, said, "So, you want to go to Bob Smith's?" "Is that a service station?" I asked. He half nodded. I then just threw it all out there for him: I'm from a city in a different part of the state, I'm going from meeting to meeting, I have no idea where I am, I just need the red oil light to go away, and I have no idea who can do that for me. "Well, I don't know if that's Bob Smith's place," he said. "Is is kinda close?" I asked. When the answer was yes, I said, "Well, let's give it a go." So, he then hauls off down the county road going fast enough that--in a flat bed tow truck with a Passat wagon in the back--we are passing people . . . frequently. We chat about the ashes flying around us--somebody's burning something somewhere, we observe. And, I wonder how quickly one dies when in a tow truck crash. Then, boom, he pulls off to the opposite side of the road at Bob Smith's . . . which doesn't look promising.

We both get out of the truck--me a bit more slowly, since I am wearing heels and getting out on the side of oncoming traffic. By the time I get in to talk to Bob Smith, it's clear this is a non-starter. Bob says to DRC, "I haven't worked on a car in over 5 years. Why do they send people here?" Bob is watching Fox News with three other guys, all leaning back in a way that is so typical of small town life in my state. Except the story is about Anna Nicole Smith's death, which makes it all even odder than it already is. "I got another idea," says DRC. So, I follow him back to the tow truck.

"I'll take you to Another Auto Shop (AAS). It's just up in town. I take my cars there. Only place I'll go," says DRC. "Sounds great to me!" I say with enthusiasm. "Where is 'town'?" "Just a few miles up the road. They don't rip you off. Plus AAS has its own part shop." "Fantastic!" I say with overdetermined glee. I buckle up, and we're off. DRC and I share laughs about others' driving abilities. Apparently, "half the people get their driver's licenses from Sears Roebuck and the other half from a box of Cracker Jacks," an observation with which I agree--while secretly deciding that if this whole thing suddenly goes bad, I will be forced to seek common ground with DRC by admitting I was once a member of the KISS Army. But, it doesn't go bad at all. We pull into town, head to AAS, and DRC introduces me to his friend and mechanic: Tommy.

At that point, Tommy is standing around with a couple friends--or fellow workers, it's hard to tell--poking at a car engine with, I kid you not, a knife. So, standing in a dirt-sandy lot filled with a surprising number of trucks and cars that will likely never see the open road again, and being snowed on by ashes from some fire somewhere, I tell Tommy my story. He pops the hood and makes a snide remark about my car's plastic dipstick. He's a bit shorter than I am, but I manage to look him in the eye and say, basically, "Look, I know this car is a trendy piece of junk. I completely share your disdain for my vehicle and the hipper-than-thou parent lifestyle that it represents. But, I bought it, and I'm driving it, and I just want to get home. Can you help me do this? Please." All is now right with the world. Tommy and I bond over our mutual distaste for VW products; he shares that he had to replace the motor in a Beetle last week and it was the worst day of his life. So, he adds a little oil to my sludge-mobile, describes how the oil filter works, tells me what to do if the light goes on again, gives me directions for the quickest way to get to my home city, invites me into his inner circle to laugh at some guy whose PT Cruiser needs a fuel pump (apparently there are cars held in even lower esteem), and charges me . . . $2! I give him $3, which makes him happy, and head off to find something to eat, as it's now about 4:00 pm, and I haven't eaten since the meeting's continental breakfast.

I pull into a Wendy's, call to vent at my husband, head in, sit in the bathroom stall, look at my filthy pumps and my dirty, grease-stained legs, and just start bawling. Two minutes later, I feel much better, wash my face, and commiserate with the counter girl whose co-workers are having a screaming drag out in back. I take my disgusting cheesy-bacon-mushroom burger and caffeine-rich diet coke to my car. Promptly drop a plop of cheese goo on my dress, sigh, and head off for home. Tommy's way out is perfect, and even driving slightly slower per his instructions, I'm back in my town within 75 minutes.

I then chat with my mechanic who notes that my husband informed him that I don't like my car. "No," I say, "I hate it, actually. But, whatever." I then pop the hatch and sit in the back of the wagon--next to my sewing machine--in the quiet close of the day waiting for my husband and kids to arrive. I call my sister, who's at the retreat, and we swap stories of hated automobiles. She notes that it was probably lucky that I was wearing a suit and heels since it likely made them all feel sorry for me. Looking at my completely dusty and scuffed pumps and my cheese-stained suit, I agree. Then my family pulls up, and I head home.

That's how I never got to the quilt retreat. But, I still got to sew, and watch Star Wars movies with my kids, and snuggle with my husband while watching some TIVO, and sleep in my own bed. And, I got to learn that some people are still nice and helpful. So, it wasn't terrible after all.

And, the Grammys are on tonight. I'll bet DRC is watching!

Four for the Road

2007-02-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

Here's the last BOAF block I'll layer before I leave for a statewide meeting followed by my quilt retreat. I'm hoping to get all four stitched down while I'm away. Then, I can meet all the online group deadlines that will pop-up while I'm finishing and defending my dissertation and finalizing all the substitutions for denied permissions for my textbook. It will beyond-wonderful to have both of those off my plate . . . forever!!!

If you have the BOAF book or patterns, you'll notice that I skipped the legs on these birds, and if you read the last post, you'll know that I did the same on the last block. I've decided that they add an unnecessary aspect of reality to the block that just creeps me out--stumpy bird legs. I like my birds free-floating :) I've been using up a bunch of my Baltimore applique-type fabrics in this project; all the gradients and washes. They're adding a nice sense of light and shadow. Below, you'll see all four blocks together, along with my dog's errant paw. She just loves fabric!

My next block background is a homespun plaid that will bring in the light/dark alternation of the zig-zag but in a very different fabric type. I've really enjoyed digging through my stash for this quilt and am so glad I didn't do a block of the month. It's been a nice stretch for the other side of my brain that's been languishing lately in favor of SPSS. I'm also trying to figure out how to explain all the blue I'm pulling. I'm not a blue person (in mood or color palette), but from the first block, I've been attracted to it for this project as a kicky accent. Intriguing.

Another Block

2007-02-03T15:50:00.000-05:00

This is the third Birds of a Feather block. I changed mine a bit from the pattern--subtracting a couple leaves and adding a center circle to the vines. My bird's tail also crosses over one of the vines, and I took away the bird's legs, because I found them a little creepy. This may sound a bit weird, but I think the bird looks kind of noble :) It's funny how easy it is to anthropomorphize almost anything, including a purple piece of fabric. I guess that's our constant push to make meaning and tell stories. I had a discussion with a couple friends this week who name their cars. One was recently in a crash, and his son had become so attached to the car (which was totaled) that he wept when they couldn't get it back and wanted to go say goodbye to it. My friend is avoiding naming their new car just so they can avoid the issue in the future. I've never named a car--though I have cursed mine once or twice and pleaded with it a few times.

Here's what all three blocks look like together so far:

Obviously, they aren't really arranged this way in the quilt, but I like the way the colors are coming together. If I have time, I'll also pull together block four before I leave for a quilt retreat next weekend. Then I can blanket stitch them when I'm not in class. Okay, now on to clean the kitchen!

Busy Bee

2007-02-02T06:41:00.000-05:00

Ack, I feel badly that I haven't posted in a while. Yesterday, we did the big reveal of the first Birds of a Feather blocks in the Primitive Folk Applique Yahoo Group. I couldn't help but notice how much busier my block was than the others. Some were bright, some were subdued, some were dark--all were lovely. Last night, while the kids were in the tub, I pulled through my stash to set aside fabrics for the next two blocks, and then, after getting them tucked in bed, I went back to the fabrics I pulled and realized that they fit perfectly with the busy-ness of my first two blocks. So, I began to think about how our quilts reflect our lives.

My life is busy. That's not a complaint, just an observation. Here's what I've done this week . . .

Presented at a local day long meeting full of state legislators and staff and then met with a US Senator later that same day for a meet and greet. (He has super staffers who actually remember you from meeting to meeting!), then . . .

Attended a funeral for an extraordinary retired faculty member, then . . .

Wrote a state grant concept paper, then . . .

Revised my data set just one more time, ran and double-ran my research correlations and regressions, then . . .

Met with my dissertation chair about finishing my dissertation. My advisor again changed my dependent variable (to a different DV which, thank goodness, I had already calculated just in case), knocked out three of my independent variables, made me identify two new IVs . . . but still blessed my regressions and results. (Yay!!) And offered to co-author a chapter with me in a new book. And offered me adjunct teaching post-PhD. (All big yays!!), then . . .

Worked on copyediting my textbook and stressed out because our instructor's manual author backed out, then . . .

Attended another funeral for a staff member (this one from my immediate office), then . . .

Called to get permission to fax in my graduation application since I got caught by two calls on my way out of the office and wouldn't get to DoubleSportChamp U before the registrar closed, then . . .

Finalized the agenda, rooms, speakers, food, technology, etc. for a statewide meeting (because the outgoing chair was distracted by his own move and let things slip a bit, sigh), then . . .

And, of course, I also did my day-to-day meeting-to-meeting job--which was surprisingly full of mop-up activities this week; played with my liddle kiddles and finally just gave up the ghost and let them sleep in the same bed if they were very, very good; filled out unbirthday party invites for my daughter while making rice pudding (ah, comfort food); made sure my son had his drawn on pirate moustache and beard as needed; researched 529 plans with my husband and made summer vacation plans; found out we might have a slab leak; stressed about not exercising after my co-worker died of a heart attack on Monday and got my booty back on the treadmill (to work off the comfort food); blah, blah, blah.

So, I'm thinking this is why my quilts tend to be busy. One day, maybe my life will grow subdued, but I doubt it :) (As Jay-Z says, "You wuz who you wuz when you got here.") I'm drawn to busy-ness, to the rush of plaid against floral next to dots by the stripes. I like it when some things aren't distinct enough, when the lines aren't clear enough, because that's a depiction of my life: a blurry rush where meaning comes from the mixed up blend not the separate ingredients. We are what we sew and we sew what we are, I guess.

Another Fine Nest

2007-01-23T22:36:00.000-05:00

Because my February will be monstrous with work, travel, and dissertation, I'm getting a jump on the Birds of a Feather group project. Here's my second block:

I really like the way the zig-zaggy background worked here. I also discovered that fusible cut on the bias works just like any other bias, so I was able to whirl my vine around just fine. I'll now be able to take both blocks to my quilt retreat early next month to blanket stitch them. Here's how the two blocks look together--they won't be sewn in this order at all (and, in fact, go in different sections of the quilt), but it gives a nice idea of how the fabrics are playing off each other:

I'm happy I took on this project. It's pushing me to look at my fabrics in different ways and take some risks with patterns and colors.

Also, many thanks to everyone who wrote nice things about my dog--who's a girl, actually. I'd like to put in a plug for adopting rescued animals, especially adult ones. We adopted her about six months ago from a rescue group and couldn't ask for a more wonderful pet. She tolerates us all: kids, grown-ups, and cats.

How I Know I Have Enough Fabric . . .

2007-01-20T18:19:00.000-05:00

Because my rather large dog can sleep in it . . . and it doesn't even stop me from finishing a project because I have two other completely full storage boxes of repros to work with :) And, I didn't even have to break open the full box of plaids!

Empty and Full

2007-01-20T15:31:00.000-05:00

This is an entry about my psycho Type-A tendencies--and how they sometimes do pay off.

Because I don't have enough to do :), I recently signed up for a Yahoo group on Primitive Folk Applique. Prior to my joining, the group had decided to do Blackbird Design's "Birds of a Feather" as a year project. Well, of course, I was several weeks behind, so I immediately ordered the book from Amazon and downloaded the first block from the KCStar website. I rewarded myself for finally whipping all my dissertation raw data into meaningful variables and finding that several of my independent variables are statistically significant (YES!!), and spent my Grey's Anatomy time tracing out all the Block 1 pieces. This morning, I set my daughter up on Stardoll and my son in front of Pirates of the Caribbean II--with the scary bits redacted by me during the watching--and got to work. By the time my husband woke up, I was done with this part:

I took a quick break to run to the grocery store, eat lunch, get the kids down for nap, and throw the roast together in the slow cooker. Then, managed to do this:

I'm doing it with fusible and blanket stitch, so now I have just the latter to complete. And, it's all from my stash! The only thing that I'm uncomfortable with is the brighter yellow/green on the big leaves, but I'll work it and the same tone into other blocks so that it stands out less. It also brings some light into the quilt to give it movement. Plus, it's from my stash (did I say that already?).

Too, Too Much

2007-01-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

I was reading around the ring the other night and found a post on someone's blog (I forget where, it was late) about having too much fabric. I immediately felt the shame of recognition! This is the fabric I pulled from my stash for a project at an upcoming quilt retreat. See how it all falls together (sort of, I'm still on the fence about that Fassett)--quite a coincidence :) Clearly, I bought most of this at some point for some project that I can no longer recall. And, it has been sitting, for who knows how long, in a plastic bin just waiting to be used. When I was finishing up the Welcome quilt (shown in a previous post), I pulled out a fabric that was marked 1997 on the selvedge. So, it had likely been been sitting around for 10 years! Good gravy! So, one of my resolutions for this year is NOT to buy any more fabric--or books--or patterns. I need to show some love to all of the glorious fabric that I just-had-to-have last month, or last year, or last decade. And, unlike my eternal promise NOT to buy any more shoes, I really mean this one. (Seriously, who can resist the allure of Piperlime, with the individually wrapped shoe boxes and the cute notes and the awesome clearance prices?)

When the Welcome is Finished

2007-01-06T23:12:00.000-05:00

Yay! It's done--and boo! I once again put the hangars in direct line with the white hanging hooks, making the top all wavy. But, it's already after 11, and I'm ready to crawl into bed to read and watch SNL with guest host the remarkable 2nd-act-er Alec Baldwin and the remarkable all-act-er Tony Bennett. So, I'm thinking it's fine for tonight. I really liked the way the border turned out. I had to think it through a bit to get the L's to align as I wanted, and I love the way these two burgun-reds play off each other. I also managed to take a photo of one corner (without flash-blinding it) to show the quilting.

I did simple echo channel quilting every 1/2 inch around the square, but it's been so long since I've done straight lines in my borders that I was quite proud of it. All in all, a perfectly satisfying small project that now serves as a lovely greeting for all who stop by (including my postperson, who leaves me extra JoAnn's flyers with nice notes about how she likes my quilts!).

Welcome, New Year

2007-01-02T23:18:00.000-05:00

This is my latest work in progress. I packed away "The Merriest" until next Christmas season, and wanted to put together something new--quickly--for the new year. I plopped down on the floor of my quilt room to run through patterns and found a long-ago purchased one from Little Quilts with a bunch of letters. I thought about spelling out "Welcome" but didn't want a longish banner. Then, I realized I could arrange the letters in a folky nine-patch with some fillers. By the way, the four patch fillers you see here aren't yet sewn, so don't fret about my seam matching ability. I just laid the whole thing out to see if the colors worked. I tried out about 10 different borders before deciding to split the difference and will go with "L"s of the two I liked the most. I really do like the way this is turning out; it looks just odd enough to have character. Currently, it's only arranged on my ironing board, and I hope to have it all finished by the weekend. Welcome, new year . . . just two days in, I'm already too busy for you but am willing to give it a go if you are :)

Cookie Night Catch-Up

2006-12-23T00:04:00.000-05:00

Tonight was cookie night--gingerbread, sugar, and chewy chocolate; all are safely packed away for family gifts. I've been making my Christmas cookies from the same special cookies-only edition of Martha Stewart Living since 2001. Say what you will about her personality (and ethics), every darn recipe I've made from her cookbooks or magazine comes out wonderfully. This year, both of the kids were old enough to help with the decorating, which was both hilarious and horrifying. Luckily, good taste and good taste need not go hand-in-hand.

Since I'm feeling productive, I thought I'd go through my picture file to see what I haven't posted. I'm realizing that I never posted the quilts I made for my son. So, here goes.

The first is based on a Country Threads bulls-eye pattern. I think it was *the* pattern that inspired all the raw-edge cut-n-piece blocks that appeared a few years back. His nursery was blue and yellow, so I knew my color scheme--and again, all these fabrics were from my stash at the time. Here's the weird thing--I know exactly when I made this quilt because I was sewing it the morning of the Columbia shuttle disaster. Initially, I just had on CNN because it was background noise. Then, I looked up because I started to hear those eerie calm tones in the NASA radio announcements; the same ones you hear from doctors when things have really gone wrong. I had already decided to name the quilt "Digable Planets," as a nod to a long-ago trip hop band and to the fact that I had put up star curtains in his room, but the events gave the name an edge that otherwise wouldn't have been there. I quilted it with lots of spirals. At a distance, the disjointed blocks in this color scheme have a real Eric Carle-feel to them that I like very much.

I made both of my children a pieced and an applique quilt. Initially, I bought the Monsters pattern for another quilt for my daughter, but life intervened (literally). So, I redirected this project for my son. As it turned out, the Monsters quilt suits him perfectly, my wee little beastie. When he was still in his crib, I would take both children over to touch each monster at night. They especially loved the green one in the lower right with perle cotton "fur." Now, it hangs above his bed, and he fiddles with the bottom when he tries to fall asleep. So, at least once a week, I rehang it to get the weird wrinkles and warps out. This pattern was a block of the month through a neighboring quilt shop, but I skipped the massive triangle overload border in favor of a plain one (quite honestly, time was of the essence at that point). I still love this border fabric; it's such a fun red. The blocks are closely stippled on the interior, and the border is looping squiggles. I remember that I initially stippled a couple blocks in variegated primary, but it was so distracting that I ripped it all out and did it again in plain white.

Fresh Market Madness

2006-12-03T22:13:00.000-05:00

I have succumbed to Fresh Market Madness, which is now an official disease in my town. I went on the first day it opened, went back two days later to buy even more for a party we were having that night, and then stopped by the next day to buy meat on the way home from a party. Clearly, much of this is my way of dealing with the stress of my friend's death (on the day of her funeral I bought a giant blow-up snow globe for the lawn). Still, nothing beats tackling a quilt room cleaning and new project empowered by Peet's coffee and gourmet ginger cookies :) A guaranteed way to beat the blues. So, I have several photos to tell my story.

The first three are of my quilt space, half of a room I share with my husband's video and music editing system. What's extra nice is that the window directly overlooks the backyard, so that I can watch the kids play while I work. The project on the wall is done now and more pictures follow. I bought a bunch of stock cabinets to organize my life at my last house and they've come in very handy repurposed for the quilt room. I also used to have to keep all my fabric in the garage, hence all the labeled plastic bins. You can see all my dissertation materials on the shelf above my sewing machine; I use this same desk to write my diss in marathon multi-day sessions when I can manage some time away from work. That's Jack on the chair.

Earlier I mentioned that I was working on a new holiday quilt. I've called it "The Merriest" after a June Christy song on my Holiday iMix. It's kind of an abbreviated version of the APQ cover quilt this month. All of the fabrics, including the border, were in my stash, and I even had the black to white variegated thread that I used to quilt the border. I quilted the interior with looping squiggles in a bright variegated and the border with loopy-linked stars. The applique is simply iron on. The quilt is hanging next to the front door, so I couldn't see even machining it. I finished it today and then whipstitched the binding while catching up on TIVO'd Ugly Betty's. I really like it. There are four of each item because we're a four person family :) I also took a close-up of the quilting.

This Is Not Your Year

2006-11-27T22:37:00.000-05:00

That's the title of a song by the Weepies, one of my absolute favorite bands, and it kind of sums up my feelings today as one of my dearest friends died early this morning after a short but mean battle with cancer. I was going to post images of the quilt shown in sandwich form below--now finished--since I really like the quilting I did in the border (linked leafy vines), but the pictures all came out blurry. I have no idea why. This weekend, I had to finish one feature for a chapter in my book and write a grant on a topic I know very little about and worry about my friend. So, I, of course, finished a quilt and completely organized and cleaned my quilt room. Then, plowed through my writing. And, then, tonight, worked through my grief by beginning a new quilt for the holidays--a modification of the cover quilt from the Dec BHGAPQ. It's amazing how soothing the clean light from a tracing box can be, and how comforting it is to simply trace shapes over and over.

Post-Turkey Day

2006-11-24T18:08:00.000-05:00

One of the quilts I put in the gallery show came from my office, which has left a blank space on my wall at a time in my life when I don't need any more open spaces. So, I found this stack of blocks in my quilt room and decided to pull them together into a basic 3x3 wall quilt. I don't know when I made these or why; my seams in a few were atrocious, which I deftly covered with some sashing. I actually had ten of the blocks but left one out to make this work. I'm going to try to get it quilted this evening so that I can hang it Sunday when I run in to clean off my desk so that I can start back after the holiday with a sense of purpose. I'm thinking of calling the quilt "The End of the Smithsonian" since it has some fabrics in it from the very first Smithsonian repro line. I like the off-block in the middle; it adds something to the mix.

Quilt Show

2006-11-19T10:06:00.000-05:00

I was invited to show three quilts in a gallery show at work. What's nice is that my quilts were considered strong enough to hang next to those by our local quilt artist of some renown. I had to write an "artist's statement," which was surprisingly difficult. I didn't realize it would be mounted next to one of the quilts, so it's been interesting to get comments on both the quilts and the statement. Only two of us are not selling our quilts. I've never sold a quilt. I'm always befuddled about pricing them; it was difficult enough to value these three for the exhibit insurance. I once traded two for advertising for one of my husband's bands; they were fun baby quilts for the publisher's nephews. I prefer to just give them away to people who would appreciate them.

Here are the three I selected.

This quilt is new to the blog. I made it years ago as a mystery quilt. I was stumped when it came to a border and went with the checkerboard to pick up the purple and gold of the tulips. I used lots of different shirtings for background. It's quilted in a repeating diamond echo every two inches out into the checkerboard to reinforce the lines of the leaves, with a swirling pattern in the border that reflects the fabric. It's 48 inches square.

This is a small quilt that usually hangs in my office. I needed a small one for the show and it's 24 inches square. I've written about it previously. As you can tell, I like checkboards!

I've blogged about this one before. It's a nice wall hanging size, about 42 by 48. It's so bright. I don't know if I mentioned before that I changed thread colors for each piece to match the base color, which made for much joy when doing the border (quilted with one spiral circle per square).

Back(ing)

2006-11-19T09:48:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted. Life has been intervening in all sorts of ways. I wanted to post a picture of the quilt I made for my friend who has been ill. She went into the hospital a little over a week ago and took it with her for comfort. When I visit her now, it's either wrapped around her or draped on her chair. I wanted it to warm her through a winter she will now not see, but it is likely serving a more important purpose where it is. Nurses and other visitors compliment me on it, and I'm never certain how to respond. There are lots of things I could say, but I usually just say "thank you."

Naptime

2006-09-16T23:23:00.000-04:00

I'm still working on my homespun Lucky Star quilt. I actually ran out of one of the threads I've been using to quilt the top (YLI Sticks and Stones--just lovely), so I moved on to another part of the quilting and then ran out of cream backing thread. I had no idea it would take this much thread. I'm stippling around the stars in YLI Pastels, which I have a bunch of, so as soon as I can zip to the store tomorrow to pick up some cream, I can keep on with that. Our local quilt store closed several months back (not a terrible loss, sadly) so I no longer have a place to pick up thread quickly. That was really all I bought there--my taste did not map to their buyer's.

So, whilst waiting, I thought I'd post another picture of some already-done quilts. These are the third and second versions--respectively--of my daughter's and son's nap quilts. You likely can guess which child belongs to which quilt. My daughter's first quilt was a small pinwheel; her second, a Lucky Star. My son's first was a Lucky Star. When you send these to school, you wash/dry them every week, which makes them very soft but also adds to the wear and tear.

My daughter's all pink quilt arose because I had made her a twin-size quilt in bright colors, following on the heels of two bright nap quilts, and her response was--"Someday, mommy, can you make me a pink quilt--with just pink." So, I did. Since I was about to make her third nap quilt, I didn't want to devote my life to it, so I simply pulled some pinks and bought a nice pink ballerina novelty print. I cut strips of various widths selvedge to selvedge, sewed them with consideration to pattern and size placement, evened the edges, and bordered the quilt only on the sides to get a nice width to length ratio. It's quilted with variegated pink thread and backed with another pink print. She loves it.

My son's quilt is made from the first iteration of the Sock Monkey fabric, which I think is just outrageously cute and funny. (I've bought some of the follow-up version, too.) Plus, I call him my little monkey, so it's quite appropriate. His quilt is made exactly the same way and bordered with the Sock Monkey face fabric, which also backs the quilt. I once made the mistake of asking him if he had his monkey blanket, and he looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom, it's a monkey quilt."

I know some folks sell patterns for quilts like this, but let's be real--how hard is it to find fun fabric, cut a bunch of strips, and sew them together? Throw caution to the wind, people!

And, that's my dog sleeping contentedly next to the quilts. We have a stack of cozy, cuddle quilts under the coffee table that tend--after use--to end up on the floor until I restack them. If I don't get them quickly enough, she claims them as her roost.

Random Threads

2006-09-07T22:22:00.000-04:00

I haven't updated this in a bit, so I thought I'd throw a few different items together.

First, I shall speak about wonderful people, the kind who call you in the middle of lunch out of the blue to ask if you would like an extra Bernina that's just sitting in the garage because it needs a good home. These are the best kind of people, ever. So, for them, you buy gifts of . . .

variegated thread--which is one of the best inventions ever--to use in their other sewing machines. Behold, the Gift Tower of YLI! I have to confess that I kept the top spool, "Earth," for myself--it just fit my muddiness so very well.

Also, I thought I'd update you on the quilt that opened this blog. I've finished all the blocks (it's a Lucky Star quilt) and am awaiting a free moment to assemble the top. Maybe this weekend.

It turned out very natural and peaceful looking, which is ideal since I'm making it for a friend who's going through chemo. She wears lots of linen, which made me think of these homespuns as the perfect fabric for her. The background fabric has little glowing dragonflies and complements the star/sash fabric quite nicely. I need to find a good backing fabric now.

Just Outside Your Door

2006-09-02T08:21:00.000-04:00

When we moved into this house about a year ago, I decided I wanted to hang a quilt outside my front door--kind of a changing exhibit. Initially, this was easy because I had a pumpkin quilt that I had finished years ago and hung inside my old house at halloween. It looked lovely and the mail lady loved it. Of course, I packed it away after halloween and now can't find it to post a photo. C'est la vie. Same with my "Wear Warm Clothes" quilt that hung at Christmas. But, maybe I'll find them in time for the seasons.

For fall, I did a rustic daisy quilt. The pattern for this had a very boring picture on it; almost every fabric was a tone on tone, flat looking thing that left the quilt kinda lifeless. But, I saw the possibilities, plus I loved the idea of the odd pieced border. I used busier but still muddy prints throughout. This is blanket stitch applique by machine, with stipple quilting in a variegated thread in the background and swirling quilting in the border. I like it so much, that I've moved it inside to hang permanently--and now need to make a new fall quilt. It really isn't crooked; I just had to work around the dog while taking the photo.

After the holidays, I wanted something to suggest new life. I have had this pattern forever, but never got around to doing anything with it. So, I thought, why not? I changed the borders, but the center is as designed. Again, in the pattern photo, the fabrics were very solid--but I do not lead a solid life. I have to confess that this is simply ironed on, since I began to question why I would spent several hours appliqueing quilts that were to hang outside my door. The border is scraps from inside the quilt cut into different size strips, sewn together, and cut as one fabric. This looks kinda lumpy because it was folded away in a closet. Before hanging, I'd iron it, but I was too lazy to do that for this photo. The one thing that bothers me about this quilt is that the crow looks like a dove. So, I get around that by thinking of it as a mourning dove. The flowers also look a bit too perky.

For my summer quilt, I used another old pattern and some fabrics that were bundled together (maybe Kaffe Fassett? these look like Westminsters of some sort) along with a background dragonfly fabric that I've had forever. I'm using a lot of that in a quilt I'm working on now. For this little door quilt, I wanted something that looked like a surrealist ice cream dream summer--and I liked that some of the fabrics had a weird scale for a quilt this size. One of my problems with these door quilts is that I want them finished and up! I'm very into completing things. So, I never stop to think if the hanger on the back conflicts with the spacing of the hooks, which it does in this case--making it bunch up a bit. I'll work on that.

Something Borrowed

2006-08-26T20:32:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to knock out a couple posts while my children are getting ready for bed. I'll keep most of my life ramblings on my music blog, but for the record, I will just say that--for the sake of my children--I have been pee'd on by a hamster. What greater love? Okay, here's a quickie. I bought five old quilt blocks at a sale one year and pulled them together into a little quilt that we actually now use as a piano bench cover.

Aren't these blocks fantastic! I love the icky, icky greens; the random 9-patch in the lower right corner; the make-do quality. My star quilt is a simulacrum of this artistry born of necessity. I set the blocks with a repro shirting and bordered this piece simply with dark civil war era prints. The quilting is basic as well. The backing is pieced in thirds of the same fabrics used in the bindings. It has a beautiful simplicity and earnestness to it, I think.

You Say Vase, I Say Vase

2006-08-26T20:17:00.000-04:00

Get it. Well, I try. This is another quilt I have up in my office. I was once in a quilting group that kind of sank of its own weight when it turned out only three of us ever finished anything and the rest just bought a lot of fabric. But, one thing we tried were little quilt challenges. This was for a flower and vase challenge. It is one of the few needleturn applique things I've done. It just takes too darn long.

I am particularly fond of the vase fabric. I had it in at least three colorways and worked it in tons of projects. It's so perfect! I combined several different elements from an old Brannock and Patek book to make the flowers, vase, and star corners. If you're very observant, you'll recognize some of the checkerboard border fabric from the sashing on the strippy star quilt. If you're not, you won't. The quilt is heavily stippled around the applique pieces--even at this distance you can see it. I quilted the vase along the wavy lines in the fabric, which added a nice dimensionality to it. I like that I chose yellow for the background. The real yellow is a bit more acid and brighter than the way it looks in the photo (kinda mellow gold). Just a few months ago, I found a set of wool flowers on eBay that look just like this design, and I arranged them in the dining room to go at all cock-eyed angles so that I have somehow reproduced my quilted still life in reality. Freaky!

Here Comes the Sun

2006-08-24T12:48:00.000-04:00

So, as I mentioned, I have two color palettes. You've seen the muddy, now here comes the sun. I also love bright, bright colors--especially for my children's quilts. I don't care what Pottery Barn is selling folks; kids are not especially into tasteful color palettes. They want bright stuff, the whole crayola universe. The next few posts will be about my sunny side.

Here's the first quilt I made for my daughter. It's from a Judy Martin book on stars. I am particularly fond of lime (as you will see), so I used the surprising number of limes I had in my stash (yep, this is a complete stash quilt, which may say something frightening about me) for the background. I pulled the other colors to stand out against the greens. I wanted a multi-color border, so I just cut squares from the star fabrics and then made binding from the leftover scraps. The background is stippled, and each star element is quilted individually in a kind of shape-maze. I quilted a spiral circle in each border square (can you tell I didn't have any children when I made this?). Actually, there's so much quilting that I started to pull up the back threads a bit. I did enter this one in a quilt show and expected to be body slammed for the quilting issues, but instead, I got recognition for color use. Perhaps they were blinded by the profusion of lime?

Here's the second quilt I made for my daughter. This one is completely from a Fons and Porter kit; it's one of the few quilts I ever saw where I wanted it to look exactly like the picture. Again with the lime! I still look at this quilt from time to time, when--for example--I'm putting away all her clothes or cleaning her room, and cannot believe I made all those little 9-patches. Whew! The daisies are appliqued with a machine button-hole stitch. This one is stipled in the background with straight-line quilting through all the 9-patches to frame the daisies. Each daisy has a spiral quilted in the center (I was in a mega-spiral phase!), and the setting triangles are each quilted with a triangular maze shape. I love this quilt. It's so happy and open.

Also, one great thing about bright multi-colored quilts--they go with almost any bright solid. My daughter's nursery was painted jalapeno green and purple. Her room now is painted pink and yellow. And, it still all works. Embrace the brightness!

Little Big Quilt

2006-08-23T21:30:00.000-04:00

I love taking classes, but I don't have much time to do that anymore. When my parents lived in Atlanta and I was footloose and fancyfree, I drove to visit and take a class with the Little Quilts ladies. It was designed as a methods class in which you produced a small star quilt (4 blocks). The goal was to learn their method for selecting colors, using "magic" colors that spark others, using mix-matched piecing, getting an antique-y feel to your quilt. Well, I left the class with four blocks and a mission. I just wanted to keep making these stars. I cut up my scraps and stash and through all the requisite pieces into a box. Then, I would sit for a couple hours "auditioning" fabrics and building the little stars. I would pre-assemble them and store each star--unsewn--between the pages of a quilt book. Eventually, I filled a few books and decided to sew. Then, I had stacks and stacks of stars . . . and absolutely no clue what to do with them. In looking at a book of antique quilts, I found a strippy set quilt. A-ha!! So, I set them this way. Here's the resulting quilt:

Years after taking that first class, I had the opportunity to show my finished quilt top to the Little Quilts ladies, from whom I was taking another workshop at a retreat. They were suitably impressed. At that time, I had some loony notion that I would big stitch quilt it by hand. Um . . . yeah, that didn't work out. Instead, I finally finished machine quilting it a few months ago (about 7 yrs after starting the project). Each one of those setting triangles is quilted with a folked-out fleur- de-lis pattern, the stars are quilting in a plus sign, the setting sashes are quilted in rolling loops, and the border is quilted with stars. About half way through quilting this, I cursed myself and decided to never make another big project. But, I do love it!

In my second Little Quilts class, the goal was to learn their color techniques (which I already had down after obsessively making a billion star blocks) and to make a small 4-patch doll quilt with these techniques. Well, about 75% of the class seemed really confused about the color stuff, so while they kvetched, I made my four patch quilt. And, then, with more than half the class to go, I was essentially done. This is when I learned that nothing turns a quilting class against a member faster than being efficient and paying attention (meow!). At this time, I was really obsessed with 16-patches for some reason, and sitting there, I realized that I could turn a lot of my 4-patch scraps into strip sets to make little 16-patches. So, I did. This also peeved a lot of people, because now I was making an even more intricate quilt while they were struggling with the 4-patch (really meow). Good gravy. Anyway, this is the quilt that resulted:

Like the larger quilt, this small one hangs in my office. The 16-patch blocks are 3.5 inches, I think. It's quilted fairly minimally. I gave the 4-patch to my sister, and it's somewhere in her house. It had the best pink in it. Ah, fabric memories.

My Muddy Corner of the World

2006-08-20T15:36:00.000-04:00

I am kind of schizophrenic when it comes to color choices. I have a bright (Kaffe Fassett/KP Kids bright) side and then a very muddy side (I think I saw Diane Gaudynski use that term once, and it is absolutely perfect). I am not a pastel or jewel tone (ack!) girl--though when making quilts for others I sometimes will do muddy pastels. So, what do I mean by muddy. Well, I'm more a repro/Brannock/Patek/CountryThreads girl. Actually, many moons ago I took two classes with the Country Threads ladies, and this post is about those quilts.

One was a pieced mystery; the other an applique project. The mystery was called "spaghetti for a crowd." Looking at this quilt now, I find it hard to believe that I made it. It's huge, first of all, and it has a very nice pieced sashing that I would never have patience for now . . . two children later. But these colors are all me! I remember that my red was the envy of the class; it's the most perfect deep brick sliding ever so slightly to rusty orange. After completing these billion pieced triangles, I laid out the entire quilt once night whilst watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. To this day, I can even remember the episode (Buffy tried to kill Faith) because I paced back and forth over and over rearranging the blocks--and of course, as soon as the quilt was done, I found some I would have moved. It took me another year to find the right border (I think this is a Terry Clothier Thompson print), and then probably another year to finish it. It hung in my office for a year, and then I finished another quilt with a long story (to be blogged about later) and replaced it. It fits in perfectly in my dining room:

The applique took me even longer to finish. This is another big piece with an elaborate border. When I made it, I had a huge quilt room with all the fixin's and all the free time in the world. The scope of this project would probably turn me away now (though I'm in the midst of charting out Brannock's Flowers quilt). That I did finish it fills me with a fabu sense of accomplishment. Actually, it never stood a chance of becoming a quilt until I bought a newsed Bernina 1090 about three years after the class. As you likely know if you're reading this blog, the 1090 has a blanket stitch for embroidery (something my 1030 didn't have). As soon as I got the 1090, I went to town and whipped it out over a few weeks; I remember Ken Burns's Louis Armstrong bio was on. By the end of the actual class, all I had finished was the pieced sun and two or three letters, which I had hand-stitched. I especially love the stalk of morning glories; the background for this section is pieced as well and has one of my all-time favorite shirtings, a great chicken print. In the original pattern, some of the letters were reversed to be "folky," but since I don't actually suffer from a learning disability, I decided it was okay to place them all correctly. After I finished this, I was so happy with it that I entered it in a local show and received criticism because my plaids and stripes didn't match. No duh. The letters are crooked, too.

Wooly Bully

2006-08-20T13:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, that was exciting. Okay, in taking pictures of all the quilts I've made and still own (well, not including those we regularly cuddle with), I also decided to take pictures of quilts from which I draw inspiration. I've collected wool utility quilts for a few years. I have most of them stacked in the dining room, but I've hung a couple beautiful examples on the walls in the living room. The colors in these quilts, the outrageous mixings of textures, and the work that went into quilts made of cast-offs for everyday use (as Alice Walker would say) is so touching and, indeed, inspirational. Each undoubtedly has a fantastic story behind it.

The wool nine patch was one of the first I bought; isn't it fantastic the way the black and white plaid jumps out. This quilt and the wool fan are hand quilted.
Can you imagine piecing wool on a curve? And then handquilting it? Good gravy! All of the others are tied. The tied quilts have the best backings and bindings. One very simple quilt of suit samples has an odd polyester-y tropical print binding that seems like it might have once been a 40s dress. The muddy colors of most really appeal to me--dusky blues, barn reds, mustards, black, forest greens, faded greys. I do have one chinese coin wool quilt that looks very modern and could hang quite comfortably next to a Rothko. It's the top folded quilt in the little shelf (which I found especially to fit these quilts). In the other photo of folded quilts, you can see my dog, who is clearly less than impressed.

Trying to Upload

2006-08-20T13:15:00.000-04:00

If all goes well, you will see the fabric that I'm using in my latest project. I love (LOVE) this fabric; everytime I look at it, it reminds me of that scene in The Great Gatsby when Daisy cries over Jay's shirts. It was remarkably painful to cut it, but I got through it (thanks to the soundtrack from Pride and Prejudice).

And so it begins

2006-08-19T13:23:00.000-04:00

I was randomly searching for a new project (ha!) the other night and stumbled upon some webring devoted to quilts. Because I have so little to do, I thought, "well, gee, why don't I have a quilting blog?" And, so it begins . . . here's the only issue. I have no clue whatsoever how to upload photos. So, as soon as I get a quick tutorial from my husband, I'll post a bunch of my finished work, and then can document my work in progress. Actually, I'm starting a quilt for a friend this weekend, so imagine the possibilities. Stay tuned.