Monday, October 9, 2023

Marianne's Quilt

My work colleague and friend Marianne became an artist with a career after retirement! She makes these adorable multi-media portraits of ladies, which she calls dollies, in everyday activities, like shopping or gardening, and an occasional famous personality like Marilyn Monroe. They are adorable and fun to look at and study. She also has a fisherman in a rowboat that is waiting to be scooped up. She gave me a tour of her workspace, which isn't any cleaner or organized than my quilt studio! Seem we artists and crafters have to deal with the spaces we have and make do.

On her first visit to my house, I gave Marianne the full show-and-tell of all my quilts. She was especially drawn to the quilts with small-pieced blocks, which are my favorites. She suggested I should put them in the community art gallery space in Branford, but I don't know about that. I feel that once I have to start producing, the whole project will become a weight on my shoulders. But I am thinking about it.

I noticed that she hasn't done a quilter lady yet. So, one rainy day at lunch I proposed an "artist" swap: I would make her a quilt if she would make me a quilt lady. I could see her considering this and she finally said yes! Once I found out that her favorite color was ochre (!) I was off and running. 

I discovered this beautiful pale-yellow print with roses and birds, and filled in with 4-inch stars in ranges of yellows and ochres and little bits of red. The original pattern used black for sashing, borders, and background, but I deemed that too harsh and used a dark forest green. My long-arm quilter Liz and I chose to use a wool batting which made the beautiful quilting design pop! Once I added binding and the label to Morning Sanctuary, I could hardly wait to give it to Marianne. 

On reveal day last March, I wrapped the quilt in a piece of fabric that she could possibly use in her work and tied it with the selvedge of the main fabric. I then put that package in a decorative box with a mug pad that I made with her colors. When I arrived at her house, she brought me immediately to the kitchen where my quilt dollie was propped front and center on her stove. I love her! She is holding fabric and a book. There is a cup of coffee on the table, and a bookshelf full of books (we are both readers). 



Wednesday, January 25, 2023

My Sister's Quilt!

On one of my sister's very rare visits to my home in Connecticut, I brought her into my quilt sanctuary and gave her a quick show-and-tell of what I had completed over the past several years. I guess I inspired her because she actually asked me to make her a quilt! 

Recently Jeannie updated her home colors from turquoise and sand (a common theme for living in Florida) to blue and white to work with her dishware collection.  So we started looking through my pattern collection of blue and white quilts. She loved this one called Wintry Wonder from the 2014 American Patchwork & Quilting Calendar.

As we began picking fabrics from my stash, she fell in love with a gorgeous blue and white floral, a Jacobean-type style, called Brittany by Dover Hill for Benartex. I didn't have enough to back the quilt, so I decided to use as much of it as possible in the quilt top. You can see it in the border blocks, the Cups and Saucers blocks, and sprinkled throughout the top. (I had not seen this block before and thought how perfect for the pattern she picked to coordinate with her dishes!) I chose Williamsburg "Blue Byrd" by Windham Fabrics for the backing, which is the last photo.

I devoted all my time to getting the top finished, piecing the backing, and making the binding to bring with me when I visit her next month. I found a long-arm quilter who will quilt and bind it while I am there so Jeannie will have her quilt right away!





 

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Nebula

It all began when I logged onto Instagram in 2020. 


I had noticed this colorful pattern in catalogues but didn't pay it more attention. The pictures were small, so I assumed it was a small quilt made with hexagons using the English paper piecing method. Definitely not for me. But when Tula Pink's video came up on the screen I was blown away!!!! This was a BIIIG quilt!! Her fabrics were delicious and the pattern intriguing! Never mind what I would do with it because it definitely doesn't work in my 120-year-old house! It was the pandemic, and we were still at home, and I was in the middle of making several Civil War/reproduction quilts, which are my first love. But I have more than one love as my family and friends can attest to. I have made many bright, vibrant quilts for folks of all ages, mostly as these fabrics speak to me. Nebula was YELLING! I signed up for the block-a-month project right away. 

Before all the quilters who signed up could begin the project, Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts, who designed the pattern, had us work on six different mini-projects using specialty rulers that would enhance our measuring and cutting skills for Nebula. These projects were great! I gave most away at Christmas but kept a couple of pillows that I really loved. 

On to Nebula itself. I felt I was a master of the ruler work and could hardly stop from fondling the bright fabrics before I cut them. Each month we constructed a different diamond in two colorways. Once I had completed those, the next step was cutting the “thousands” of diamonds and triangles for the background around the main star. All of my Nebula friends will agree when I say “thousands” because that is what it felt like. It was a daunting effort and I thought I would never reach the end. It took me three days – THREE DAYS – to cut them. 

Once I got down to the business of sewing these many pieces together according to the pattern, the work went very smoothly. I must congratulate Julie for the engineering precision of the design and pattern. I had no problems fitting all the units together. It took me a whole year to complete the top! 

The other side of the story is the gift Nebula became. 

During the construction process, Julie had us post our progress on a private Nebula Facebook page and Instagram. Ok, I did that, but I didn't realize Instagram #Nebula was not private till I saw family members and friends “liking” or commenting. OK, all was good, until.... 

My sister-in-law K and her 25-year partner S announced at dinner one night that they finally decided to tie the knot!!!! Wow! We were all so happy for the two. They are such a loving and generous couple. What was my first comment after the congratulations??? I said to them, “I'd better get busy!” Wedding = wedding quilt! As I drove home from dinner, I was thinking that they have a number of quilts already, what the heck am I going to make them for this happy occasion??? 

Light bulb moment! Uh huh! A quilt already in progress! A quilt that has all their happy, vibrant colors! A quilt I had to not put on Instagram! NEBULA! I cannot tell you how excited I was. Nebula was perfect, perfect, perfect! So, all that cutting and sewing I was doing was for LOVE!!! 

My professional quilter at Frolicking Threads spent an hour with me to come up with a design that would enhance the blocks and background. I decided against an edge-to-edge pattern; I wanted the design to radiate from the center. We decided to use the large diamond shapes in the quilt to settle on a pattern. I did see some examples of this method in other Nebulas but in smaller diamonds. Thanks to those quilters for their inspiration. We settled on four related designs by Wasatch Quilting, Contempo (2), Waves and Pearls, and Diamond Ripples. The result is a light and cuddly quilt. 

The finishing touch was the label. The pattern included a preprinted label, but in the end, I decided to put all the family member names on a long strip that I embroidered with my machine. To make this a true family gift, I had everyone sew the part of the binding next to their names. I put the littlest family members' (1 ½ and 3) hand prints outlined in thread by their names. Almost all had never held a needle before, so it was fun to watch them put their stitches in. The stitches may not be perfect, but they add so much more love. And I have pictures! And we were sewing the day of the gift-giving; that's just normal for quilters! 

K and S were totally surprised. 

My job is done.

 Quilt completed June 30, 2022

Wedding date: July 1, 2022


Audiobooks for this project:

    The Closers by Michael Connelley

    Flying Changes by Sara Gruen

    The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

    A Lullaby for Mothers by Hester Fox

    Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid