Hexagons, Grief, and Jazz

We went on a jazz cruise in January, obviously John’s.  I would like points for not taking my sewing machine.  However, I did take along a stack of big hexagons, some left from previous projects and some cut expressly for this project.  I’m not a great hand piecer, but these hexagons, since they require y-seams, are really ideal for hand piecing.  So every day I pieced away, watching the jazz shows on the closed circuit television.  Of course I came out for meals!  We were both happy for the week.  

 

This jazz cruise quilt is a duplicate, of sorts, of the quilt I was working in as my brother Doug was dying.  The last two weeks of his life were difficult.  I didn’t sit with him that much, but when I was there, this quilt below is what I was working on.  And after his death every quilted stitch was one of grief and loss.  We all grieve in different ways.  For me it is stitching - that started with my mom’s death in 2014.  

On the year anniversary of Doug’s death, I wondered if perhaps his daughter, my niece Laura, might want this quilt.  It represented my grief but would it mean anything to her?  So I offered it to her.  And she accepted it.  I’m happy this quilt has found its owner and that she cherishes it.  

Jazz Cruise Quilt

I panicked as we were about to leave on the Jazz Cruise in late January.  Not only were we going to hot places (never my favorite), there would be over 100 jazz musicians on the ship.  To make myself happy, I grabbed the pile of hexies left over from the quilt I was working on when Doug was dying.  Despite the sadness of the hexie quilt, it would be the perfect thing for a week cruise.  There are no running straight lines, so hand piecing was really quite perfect.  Every night I would pull up the big venue on the ship and watch it on closed circuit tv as I pieced.  And every morning I would spread my progress  on the bed.   I used every hexie I packed and couldn’t wait to iron it once we got home..

Once we were home and the top was pressed, I needed to fill in the sides and top to square it off.  It measures 58” x 76. 

As you can see, it’s backed in a solid Art Gallery fabric.  And I have just started hand quilting this one.  I thought about trying to stitch a big trumpet and forever associate this quilt with jazz.  While I’m not ruling it out, I’m not sure that will happen.  

The Saddest March Ever…

My brother Doug was 15 years younger than me, and he died March 19.  He was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in July 2020.  We knew his death would likely happen before the rest of us.  Still, the impact of his passing is profound. While sewing rhythm was disrupted with visits, it picked up speed during his final days while my brother and sister, along with Doug’s wife, daughter and friends, tended his bedside. The studio became a guest room.  For future reference, I am not very good bedside.  

I was thankful I had this project - a Sloan Travel Bag by Sew Sweetness - to work on for my granddaughter.  It's a complex bag with outer pockets, inner pockets, and a zippered top.  Preparation and assembly require total concentration, a good thing.   Nikki likes warm and light neutrals so this bag was a challenge and a departure from my cool highly-contrasting palette.  I’m very happy with it.

While there were many hospital and home visits and sibling sleepovers, nightly I returned to my hand-quilting project, Shuttle by Glad Hand Sews. My limited palette belies the beauty of this quilt pattern.  I should say that nightly I had to return to this project.  I get even twitchier if I don’t have another project for hand quilting in my queue.  I finished this one just before Doug died.  And immediately I moved on the next quilt.

My low-volume hexagon quilt was already pin-basted.  Starting with an off-center spiral pattern lets me work on automatic pilot. I started hand-quilting as my parents were dying,  after my mom’s death I found the rhythm of the stitching soothing.  I still do.  I will mourn Doug as I finish this quilt and will continue to mourn him in the next project.  And the next.  And these stitchings soothe my soul. 

A Hexagonal Diversion

 

And what a difference  lighting makes!  The first pic is all the parts on the design wall.  The second one is the bits all connected.  This low volume quilt is 58” x 68”. In the next few days before pin-basting, I’ll decide whether to put an outer border on to make  it just a wee bit bigger. Many of these prints  I’ve been saving.  What for? I think about the short story “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker.  And then I’m happy to be using some of these interesting fabrics in a way that pleases my eye.  I also have time to decide how I  want to quilt this. 

But this quilt was a distraction to Sew Powerful purses.  I’m continuing to make purse kits for a workshop next week.  So, back to it!  Hexagons be gone!  (Special thanks to Eileen for her loan of her hexagon ruler)

On Its Way to Oregon

 

Look how nicely this quilt turned out!  Quilty Eileen made a quilt from this pattern years ago - it's a clever way to make hexies without using Y seams.  I had a Layer Cake of the Moda Thrive fabrics and think it creates a pretty palette.  I didn't have quite enough but was able to fill with with fabrics from my stash.  As I made this quilt top, I loved it.  But then I fell out of love.  You know, one of those "Somebody's gonna love this quilt - it just won't be me."  

Because I no longer loved the quilt top, I wasn't going to bat it with wool. I used the Warm and Natural batting, perfectly fine - its just heavy.  I even tried to hand quilt it - after one vertical zig zag row I knew that was wrong.  So then I tried to machine-quilt the zig zag lines. Again, wrong.  So I just put it away.  

Fellow guild mate Susan Elster-Jones knows people in Oregon who lost everything in the September fires and put out a call for quilts.  And I volunteered this one.  Just simple straight-line quilting.  And check out the backing - I love it.

 That Susan is collecting and shipping quilts is so fabulous. I'm happy that this quilt will find an appreciative home.  Between finishing this quilt and shipping off 32 purses to Sew Powerful, I feel like I've removed two monkeys from my back.  On to a few more masks and then ? - see the previous post!

Looking Around the Studio

This time of the year that makes me think about what needs to be finished before I start anything else. Many  quilters, including ones in my guild, are so good about setting goals for the year and then analyzing how well they accomplished these goals.  One Quilty - yes, I'm talking about Laura Hartrich - has even made a quilt of how well she did on one year's goals.  While I am impressed, I have no desire to even begin that sort of heavy- duty thinking! With some minor talk of moving and downsizing (no, it's not happening - yet...), I have begun to cull through books and gadgets I don't use to find new owners.  This book?  It's lovely.  My sister got it for me before we left for Kenya.  It' beautiful - it just needs a new owner!

I came across this quilt top I started last spring. Quilty Eileen used this pattern and shared her ruler with me. It was perfect for the cake layer of fabrics I had.  The gentle taupe, teal, grey, and whites appealed to me.  So did this unique way of working with hexagons.  It's all pin-basted and I'm doing my own machine-quilting on this.  The batting is Warm and Natural, and this quilt is heavy.  I can only work on it in small stretches.  But I like how it's turning out and am mostly glad it will be finished soon.

Here's the same family of fabrics used in a different way.  Ever since I discovered hand-quilting, I look for things I can work on in the summer.  Holding a quilt to work on in the winter is heaven, especially in this house.  But in the summer not so much.  Here's a link to my blog post from last January when these blocks were in process.  Now?  Each one is quilted and needs to be joined to the others.  Currently it's in three rows.  This will be 85" x 85".  One of my favorite things about this quilt and the reversible process is the back.  Each block is backed with a different Art Gallery fabric and batted with wool.  Now, what to do with these two quilts?  TBD...

And finally, another apology for all the times I have said I don't do cute.  Because I do!  Look at this little pink koala who eats red eucalyptus leaves.  My sister was holding her sick granddaughter Eloise when I was finishing the koala baby quilt.  Elo was curious if koalas could be pink or purple.  So in the midst of trying to downsize my stuff and finish up UFO's (another post is coming tomorrow...), I needed her to know that yes, Koalas can be pink.