In the Studio: Donations and a Granddaughter

 The women in my guild are generous.  Several gave me fabrics: look at this bounty…

Now I’m thinking I might have to up my output.  I have fabric for the rest of my life - and beyond! 

But the best thing in the studio this week was my younger granddaughter Natalie.  She wants to learn to sew.  As we got started in the past two days, I was reminded of Camp Quilt with my nieces when they were teenagers - all are now in their 30’s,  Leslie even now still sews and has my old Husqvarna! And then I thought of Cristina as she learned to sew.  And she now has my straight-stitch Brother, an absolute workhorse. The Good Sewing Fairy even made a nighttime visit, just to straighten out a few things! Although Nat’s main goal is clothing, we chose a simple bag for her to learn the sewing machine - it’s not easy with threading, bobbins, needles, etc.  But she made great progress.  

This purse has a front zipper, an inside pocket, and an adjustable strap.  The satisfaction of completing a project, especially in two day? Priceless.  I can’t wait to see what she wants to do next!   

Enlarging A Favorite Quilt for a Favorite Grandson

 

Grandson Sam is renting a house in Lombard along with his brother Jack and a third roommate.  Just because they are living close to us doesn’t mean we will see them with greater frequency.  Sam went to Northern Michigan State, and one fall we took a road trip to see him - Sam was a sophomore,  and I gave him a quilt.  Since then almost any event we are attending, Sam is quick to tell me he uses his quilt nightly and has washed it a lot. Recently he told me he bought a queen bed and kind of gave what was on my dining room wall ( see below) a longing look - it is a smaller version of what I made him years ago.  I asked him if he’d be interested in a bed version of this quilt. All of the fabrics in this quilt are out of print, but grunge pairs nicely.  These fabrics were originally from a collection by Janet Clare called Wordsmith.  And most important to my eye, there’s a color in this quilt - it’s grey/green/touch of blue - that feeds my soul and is so hard to describe and match.  But this one grunge works! 

So I removed the binding of the dining room wall quilt and began to make borders.  It was 60 x 80”.  And with the borders it is now 90” x 110” .  Using the quilt as you go method, the two sides went on, and then the top and bottom.  The final step was binding.  It’s gorgeous. And the texture is wonderful.  The body of the quilt is hand quilted with a wool bat.  The borders are machine quilted with a cotton bat. And the back of this quilt is all Art Gallery fabrics, which have an almost silky feel.  

I have loved looking at this quilt on the wall for a couple of years, but I ann also happy to look at this fabulous new quilt! I think I’ll leave it up for a while!   And a final word about favorites: Sam is my favorite grandson.  But so are Ryan, Jack, Brandon and Ben. 

Changing up my dining room

 For several years this quilt has been on my dining room wall.  It’s the absolute last of. Janet Clare line of fabrics called Wordsmith, and none of it is available any more.  I had just enough left to make this Trip Around the World with no borders.  It’s very similar to a quilt I made for grandson Sam when he was at Northern Michigan State.  John and I took a road trip to visit him, maybe 7 years ago,  and .sam is color blind.  He has told me how much he loves his quilt - I think because the design and contrast is easy for him to see and appreciate.  Sam recently bought a queen size bed.  And I’ve been making different quilts. So I’m putting borders on this dining room quilt and hanging up a new one. 

.  Now?  Putting borders on the quilt for Sam.  It’s a process to add to a quilt, but I have the skilz! 

Mid December

  

This wall hanging is 3' x 4' and intended to be the first of a four seasons series for the dining room fireplace.  I do think this is a lovely tribute to autumn but will also admit it's odd. The hand quilting has created a wonderful texture.  But as I thought about above the fireplace, this just wouldn't work there yet.  But look how great it looks in the kitchen.  That wall has been pretty bare, so I've taped this up just to see whether it belongs here.  And I think it does!

Meanwhile during the day I've been working on purses.  It's December 18, and here are eighteen purses.  Because John does all things Christmas, it's been pretty easy to find the time to sew.  And because we think we have finally sold our LaGrange house, there are less distractions!

This year it's Ben's turn for a quilt.  This isn't exactly a Christmas present.  It's just a good time to give him his quilt.  I used a Japanese canvas which has a very manly look.  It's a heavy quilt - hope his rooms are cold and that he needs this warmth.  I quilted this quilt on my domestic machine.  Even though this machine has a large harp, there was still much quilt wrangling that went on - I could only work on this for maybe an hour a day, and only after I finished my purse sewing.  But it's finished, and I'll be happy to hand it off.  Unfortunately we photographed this quilt on an excessively windy day and were lucky to get any decent shot at all! I love doing log cabins.  The backing for this quilt is a fabric of 8" measures.

Now back to more purses!

Natalie's Quilt - Finally...

Natalie, a hs senior, showed me her newly-painted bedroom in July.  She chose two soft shades of grey and purple and gave me permission to do whatever I wanted as long as the new quilt had the texture of her old quilt, which I made for her when she was 5.   She sleeps with it every night.  At that time of my quilting, I was batting everything with Warm And Natural.  So that's what I batted this quilt with. 

I'm not quite sure why I went asymmetrical - there is nothing asymmetrical about Natalie.  She's very smart, very sociable, very very pretty, and very hard working.  It's a joy to create and work on a quilt for someone I love so much.  I do hope she understands that this new quilt, backed in the softest white cotton, will need to be washed at least a dozen times before it even begins to feel like her old quilt.  I have washed this new one once and just love the texture.

The quilting is simple with (mostly) straight lines.  This new quilt is 74" x 90".  The background fabric is Basic Grey by Moda, maps white.  There's a very quiet design that is just perfect for this quilt.  Here's a close-up of it.

 

Natalie turned 17 on August 8 - I thought maybe this quilt might be a birthday present. Then I thought, "Maybe it can be her back to school quilt!" And obviously that didn't happen. So, Happy September, Natalie! The next quilt in queue is for her big sister Nikki, a junior at IU. Nikki wants a quilt inspired by the NYC skyline. Hmmmm, ok - officially thinking about it!

But who's counting?

These 12 purses for Sew Powerful have been finished for over a week, and now I'm cutting/making kits for more.   It's a slow process because each of the 11 pattern pieces needs to be interfaced.  So to make this process a bit saner, I have established a little cutting station just for interfacing.  I'm cutting out as many as I can - hopefully another 12 - in preparation for an upcoming sewing weekend.  But who's counting?

Favorite client Roberta (the grandmother who likes to create quilt kits for each of her grandchildren but doesn't like to sew) brought over a kit for her last grandchild. Normally she brings enough fabric. While she had enough for the front, we really scrambled to create an appropriate backing out of  my white-on-white scraps, and the back of this quilt is pretty cute.  I love my work tables and their under-table storage, which make doing two baby quilts in one week easy.  But who's counting?

Quilt all ready for pin-basting

Today is the birthday of our first grandchild - Ryan Patrick Sheehan is 21 today.  I skipped parenting and went directly into grandparenting, thanks to John's kids. I have been totally taken aback by how much joy  being a grandparent has brought me.  Even better has been the geogrphical closeness we have shared with Ryan and his little brother Brandon.  The boys thought we were here for their climbing, lounging, and listening pleasure.  What precious days.  Can't believe Ry is 21.  But who's counting?

Look What I Found!

On President's Day John and I had lunch with daughter Jennifer and granddaughters Nikki and Natalie. Nikki, a 7th grader, is about to start a basic sewing module at school. And I wondered if she has told her teacher that she's a veteran quilter.

But while looking for quilts which Nikki has made, I came across this quilt I made for Natalie in 2005. Natalie is a Y2K baby and a very free spirit. This quilt I think reflects her. Stay tuned for Nikki's quilts!

Brandon Rules!

Here's Brandon's quilt. It's fabulous and random. Since I can't do random, I'm especially impressed with Brandon's layout. I'm also impressed that he quilted his own borders when we thought his quilt might be too small. However, I'm most impressed with how secure Brandon is with himself - he's a manly boy who is not afraid of color and design.


I will admit to connecting the blocks and doing the binding, but Brandon chose his fabrics, created his design, quilted all 40 blocks and the borders. This first quilt looks great. That it's been done by a 5th grader makes it even more special.






Brandon definitely rules!

Natalie Rocks!

Grandchildren Natalie and Brandon did their first quilt workshop with me. Their projects involved quilting 9" blocks. Natalie chose greens for one side and yellow/golds for the other. Natalie did all the quilting - I just assembled her 48 blocks reversible-style. While I was doing that, Natalie pieced a sample quilt top, quilted it, and then finished the edges with a zigzag stitch. These past three days involved some invaluable skills: ironing, handling a sewing machine, and
sorting/folding fabrics. I'm proud of both of the kids (Brandon will have his own post once his quilt is finished).











Natalie's going to be a 4th grader. I think an experienced quilter would be proud of this quilt. And to think that this is her first quilt. Natalie does indeed rock!

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.

Geezer Trip to Springfield

Monday, June 30, my parents and the Sheehan grandsons drove to Springfield with John and me. On the way down and back we listened to Garrison Keilor's Joke CD's, which truly does entertain ages 9 (Brandon) to 83 (my dad). This trip was Ryan's request - we did this 2 years ago, and this time Brandon came with us. Visiting the Springfield Cemetery was Monday afternoon's highlight. For the 2nd time we found the memorial brick that my siblings and I got for Dad. After visiting the WWII Memorial, the VietNam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and Lincoln's Tomb, we also found the Accordion gravestone belonging to Roy Bertelli. The highlight of Tuesday was the visit to the Lincoln Museum, a place that enchanted all 6 of us for almost 2 hours. Click on the posted pictures to see some of the detail.

Let Year 2 in the Studio Begin!

This year is my 3rd of retirement, but the 34 years of teaching along with the 17 years of going to school means one thing: vacation mentality. I took a break from sewing and a break from Weight Watching - it was a great 4-pound holiday. We celebrated with the Crystal Lake/Lakewood families on the 23rd, the Sheehans on the 24th, and the White/Thompsons on the 25th. Here's Grandpa John with Nicki, Sammy, Jack,Ben, and Natalie. And what looks to be a pile of quilts is actually Ryan and Brandon, zzzzzzz-ing away despite the cold, sunny day. The boys eventually woke up for cinnamon rolls and a morning movie.

So all the kids are back in school, and I'm still having difficulty ending vacation. I have projects to work on and must stop this lolligagging. Perhaps today will be the day!