A Wedding Quilt - only 18 months late...

Tim and Kim Gibbons got married in March 2009. Tim is my cousin Dennis's middle child. Between our poor communication and my knee replacements, this quilt has been in process a long time. And the heart of this quilt is from when this blog first began in 2006. These leftover tumbling blocks from the quilt I made for Dodie are what caught Kim's eye. But Tim is colorblind. Then we realized that his eye would easily see the dimensionality of this design. The color order of these blocks is built around Roy G Biv, with the indigo and violet morphing into one row. Although the background looks black, it's actually a very rich blue-black batik. Here's to a lifetime of happiness for them! 55" x 75"

A Color Bind

 Two of my grandsons, Sam and Jack, are color-blind. So is Tim Gibbons, my cousin Dennis and Linda's son. This Tumbing Blocks of Many Colors is in celebration of Tim's marriage to Kim a year ago. When Tim and Kim were choosing the color and design for their quilt, Tim's ability to discern lights, mediums, and darks became a key factor. There's a neat 3-D effect which I think Tim will be able to see. Tim and Kim are expecting their first child in September - perhaps Kim can use the quilt as a way to teach their child the colors of the spectrum!

I'm temporarily shutting down the studio - again - while I have my other knee replaced. My goal was to get this quilt top pieced together. There were originally over 150 individual pieces for this quilt - now it's in 3 big sections. My new goal is to have this quilt delivered before Kim delivers!

A.D.D. Quilting

Sometimes I'm happiest when I have several things going at once. This is one of those periods, and the controlled chaos of the studio reflects these several projects. I made myself finish bags 3 and 4, using the grape/vine fabric and the matching lining. These bags are boxed, perfect for groceries. I'm trying to whittle down a pile of fabrics designated for Mors bags and build up my stock. Just because.



Newlyweds Tim and Kim Gibbons began the selection for their wedding quilt. Kim really liked Tumbling Blocks, and Tim is color-blind. He responds to values of a color rather than the color itself. So to create a 3-D effect, fabric selection is tricky. To see what I need I have to see what I have. Thus, the piles of various fabrics. These tumbling blocks will go on a black background.


And as long as I'm touching so many of my fabrics, I'm putting together a 16-fabric palette for the Jinny Beyer tote bag pattern. It's an interesting and frustrating exercise, but one that was made sweeter thanks to some CD's my grandson made for me. One was by Jason Becker, a guitar prodigy who was diagnosed with ALS when he was 19. He's now 40 and writing music using only eye movements. The other CD is by Yngwie Malmsteen, a fascinating Swedish multi-instrumentalist. Both have "symphonic rock" in common and are CD's I'll look forward to listening to again and again. The album by Jason Becker (youtube him - fascinating) led me down this path: what quilt would I make if I knew it was my last quilt. The tumbling blocks and color/value exercise are just out of my comfort zone. Challenging. Nice.

Quilts, Death, and Math

My college buddy Dodie - Dora Mae Hansen Wallace - died December, 17, 2006 after a 2-year battle with lung cancer. She was 57. I turned 58 in October and thought, "Dodie never got to see this age - how blessed am I." This blog opened with thoughts of Dodie, and here it is a year later.

In September 2005 I was with Dodie for a long week's worth of treatment and took a hand project with me. I made tumbling blocks which then turned into a quilt for Dodie. She had the quilt hung in the Anderson entryway, and it looked fabulous there. Furman recently told me that he took it down and has been using it, which pleases me immensely. I used a lot of neutral tumbling blocks to calm the effect of the quilt down. And I have a lot of beautiful tumbling blocks leftovers. Teaching the Reversible Quilt process (Quilt-As-You-Go) is something I love doing, and I'm always creating new sample pieces.

So, using the Tumbling Blocks and the Reversible Technique, I began to play. And there are no directions for this project. I do quite nicely right angles; most quilters do. But these tumbling blocks are 60 degree angles. I figured a way to join these blocks so I could use straight diagonal seams to connect the rows, and the resulting shape is an arrow. But really, an arrow-shaped quilt? I don't think so.


With my limited math skills, I have cut a top, batting, and backing the width of the quilt (37") by the height of the arrow tip (11"). As soon as I quilt this section, then I will cut it into 3 pieces that I'm hoping will fill in the top of the arrow as well as that bottom portion. It ought to work!

To honor Dodie's life and commemorate the end of this first year, her daughter Virginia and I are going to the Red Light on West Randolph and having the tasting menu - Dodie would have approved. I think Gin and I are both looking forward to this celebration in an odd sort of way.