Storm at Sea - update

 
I thought I was doing a vertical wall hanging for a certain spot in my living room. But this quilt is telling me it wants to hang horizontally. This isn't the first time this has happened.

Changing the Binding

 
This piece was originally made for our front hallway, which is dark and wood-paneled. The name of this piece is "Rays of Light" and it's quilted with gold thread. It's a scrap quilt that was paper-pieced onto newspaper. It was an interesting technique to try. My goal was to bring some additional light into this dark room. To frame the piece I used a tea-stained muslin.

Well, that was years ago, and we have moved old pieces to make room for new pieces in the hall, like John's Jazz T-Shirt Wall hanging ( see February 22, 2008) and an art piece I made from bits of niece Leslie's high school graduation (see March 23, 2007).

"Rays of Light" is now hanging in our living room, which has light walls. After cutting off the old light binding and sewing on a black binding, I think this piece looks like it belongs in our living room now.

In Progress

 
I got so sidetracked by making MORS bags that I almost forgot how much I enjoy piecing. The transition from large hunks of fabric to little bits that need to be sewn together was a rough one, but after 3 days I'm back into the piecing groove. Quilter Wayne is working on a variation of a Storm at Sea, a pattern I've always wanted to try. The pattern creates waves of colors even though only straight piecing is used. He is tackling a bed-sized Stormy Sea. And being Miss Piggy at the Quilting Banquet of Life, I decided I wanted to do this, too. Perhaps some of the batiks are a bit murky in color - I think the quilting of this piece will be crucial to its overall effect.

Have I stopped making MORS bags? Hardly. I have even figured out how to make flat-bottomed bags and even goofed around with a smaller variation that is lined and - dare I say - even easier to do.

Two more bags

The black bag is a great ethnic print, either South American or African in its nature. The second bag was inspired by a very cheap sale fabric and grandson Brandon's interest in the violin. I offered him this bag, but he said he might be embarrassed to carry it to school. It's a murse - or a man-purse - in his eyes.

Up Jumps Spring

Most of the bags I made for Christmas have been on the wintry and dark side. Even though there is 12 inches of snow on the ground, a blizzard warning for tonight, and a mean cold streak predicted for the next week, I am making it Spring in my studio. I've put away the darks. The blue bag is from a batik I bought in Paris when we were there in 2003 with my parents. Since it's a sturdy fabric, I did not line it. And it's just fine. This final bag is one made from an ill-fitting jacket (see list on previous blog entry.) I even put a couple of pockets on the inside and have already used it!

Just putting things down on "paper"

I have a couple of big quilts rolling around in my mind. And I have tons of little things to do:
1. Couching with yarns
2. Playing with the fabric paints
3. Changing the color scheme of my China landscape
4. Using my niece's Beijing picture for a landscape
5. Exploring quilted bag patterns
6. Turning my ill-fitting sweatshirt jacket into a bag
My art quilt class today at quiltfabric.com in Willowbrook was a great source of inspiration and motivation. Meanwhile, here are the latest bags. The black and white linen one is for Susan from one of her fabrics. I think the red and black one with a precious square of Chinese characters will be for Wendy R. It's good to not have any commissions.

Happy New Year!

 
16 years of going to school and 34 years of teaching have left their mark. Despite being retired for four years I still go into vacation mode during the winter holidays. Today - Monday - is the true end of the holidays and back to whatever schedule I had going before. That I made five bags yesterday is still part of vacation. All these bags come from fabrics I gathered or had left over from Cecilia's quilt. They are beautiful.

Now I need to focus on a new quilt and working on a couple of "art" pieces for Friday's class. Chris H gave me a bag of her yarns - think I'll try the couching technique with some of them. Here's to a productive and healthy 2009.