Quilt Adventures: The Dangers

My grandsons and I often argue whether quilting is a sport. They of course say it's not. I insist it is, complete with injuries. Seriously, look at these pictures. This football jersey quilt has been pin-based and is now ready for quilting. There are three layers - the top made from jerseys, the middle batting, and the navy blue backing - which need to be sewn into a unified whole. To keep the various layers from shifting and sliding around as they are being sewn, a quilter has to baste them together. This basting can be done with big sewing stitches (boo hiss - too time consuming), spray-on glue (boo hiss - too smelly and expensive), or pins (my method of choice). Even on big quilts I tend to use straight pins in areas that will be quilted first and thus removed and safety pins in the areas I'll quilt last. You know how you can't be too rich or too thin? You can never use enough pins for basting. Really. I bet there are over 400 straight pins in the quilt at this point.

I keep a supply of band-aids handy for my hands - there's no way I can keep from pricking them. I wear blue jeans to keep from scratching my legs and a denim shirt to keep from scratching my arms and stomach. I have had scratches in a variety of places. Also, a quilt at this point is heavy and has to be handled and handled and handled. Sore shoulders are another possible injury. Thus, the dangers. But like any other sport enthusiast, I face these dangers because I love the thrill. Starting the actual quilting is my favorite phase of quilting. I have to make myself take a break every 45 minutes or so. I love living on the quilting faultline!

Farewell to May 2010

The past six months have been a blur - travel, knee replacements, physical therapy, and very little quilting studio adventures. Except for the month we were in Asia, I have spent a lot of time in my bedroom - sleeping, physical therapy, icing with my recirculator. It's a room I love, and of course I have quilts for all seasons.

My oldest and favorite is a Blues Trip Around The World that I tied. It's our lightest quilt, so we use it in the summer. Then there my Log Cabin in Blues, which I made in 1992 during a couple of snow days. I still remember the joy of being in my old studio, snowed in and sewing to my heart's content. The third quilt is my Myrtle Beach Quilt made from shirting cottons that I bought in Beijing. It's huge and light and beachy and airy. Mani, my college roommate's daughter, has its twin, made in celebration of her mother's life. My bedroom is full of blues, white furniture, and a beadboard ceiling. It's what I imagine a summer porch of a beach house to be like, and this quilt suits the coziness of this room. The newest and heaviest quilt is the one we use in the winter - it's the twin of the quilt on the home page of this blog, Jinny Beyer's Around the World quilt in dark, rich colors.

I'm at peace in this bedroom. But now that I'm 6 weeks out of the second knee and healing nicely, the bedroom will again be used for its original purpose and no daytime lolligagging. The past 6 months have gone by quickly enough, and June 1 will mark a new page in rehab and sewing and getting back to normal.

Here's to more Quilting Studio Adventures!



Note about artwork: The Four Seasons lithograph is a piece I bought 35 years ago and still love. The Charcoal Three Gorges piece is something we bought in Beijing after being in the artist's home.

Kharma - and Ethnic Fabrics

The past 18 days have been totally self-centered. My routine has revolved around taking drugs, doing physical therapy, and icing my new knee. My dependence on John has never been greater although I have been able to carry my own coffee to the living room. But that's been it. Just 2 days ago I ditched my walker and have graduated to a cane. I'm getting up to the studio but have no stamina to do anything once I get up there. Compounding my frustration has been my quilting buddy Wayne who has been going through one of his most prolific and creative periods. Every quilt he does is one that I want to try!

I've received some wonderful gifts in the past few weeks. Terry made me the best turkey salad. Wayne and his wife Wendy sent Lou Malnati's pizzas. Daughter Julie made us some stuffed peppers. Neighbor Pam Caes and her mother made us a roasted pork dinner. My parents delivered lunch one one day from Chuck's Southern Diner. Cecilia sent a wonderful fruit basket. Paula gave me an afternoon visit, complete with snacks and flowers.

Then there's all the non-food gifts. Janet gave me the gift of an in-house ortho-bionomy session. Ed Sheehan drove me to and Midge picked me up from a massage session; Midge was also my attitude adjuster. During what I thought was my down week, she would have none of it and coaxed me nicely out of my blues. Chris and Jerry gave me flowers. Laurel and Richard gave me the new Paula Deen cookbook.



And there's Chandra from Paulsen Rehab in LaGrange. She's the physical therapist I worked with in January and February. She is a woman whom I love. The day after my new knee was installed, she came to my room with a piece of her pistachio cake and a little get-well visit. Yesterday she and her husband delivered a sewing machine (never been used!), some fabulous pound-rum cake, dal, rice, and a wonderful chicken dish (like tandoori chicken minus the tandoor). I'll resume out-patient rehab with her on May 24th; and despite the pain that will ensue, I'm looking forward to working with her again.
Even though I'm counting the minutes until I can take my next dose of Vicodin, I am finally coming out of this self-centered period and ready to think about contributing with the household chores and giving back. I've been on the receiving end of Kharma for the past 5 months, and it's time to get back on the giving end of Kharma. I may not be sewing yet, but at least I'm touching fabrics and thinking about what I want to sew. Chandra has a daughter who is interested in ethnic fabrics. When I do start to sew - and work on my Kharma - a bag for Lavina is at the top of my list!

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!

Kyoto's Golden Pavillion and China's Green Beer

 It's fabulous to see what you want to see and to see it on a clear day. That's what happened with our day in Kyoto and our visit to the Golden Pavillion. The trick of this picture was to keep the hundreds of other tourists out of the picture (thanks to the miracle of photo editing/cropping). The color and the lines of this temple are so pleasing to my eye. On a silly note we were in Tianjin, China, on St Patrick's Day, and John brought along some green food coloring so that he could celebrate properly.

A Temple and From the Wall

 


















Being in Asia will have an influence on my quilting. Two landscape quilts that are in my head involve this beautiful golden temple in Kyoto, Japan, and the Great Wall of China. This golden pavillion is the reason I went to Kyoto. Isn't it beautiful? This picture taken from the Great Wall was shot by my niece Jen.

Home from Southeast Asia

Our Southeast Asia cruise is now in the past. We started in Tokyo and sailed to Vladivostok and Beijing before hitting the "Southeast" places. Fascinating people and places. In addition to Tokyo, we were in Osaka, Hiroshima, Hakata, and Okinawa. There was the one stop in Russia, where our ship had to break ice to get into the harbor. The sailing to and from Vladivostok was very very rough - something John and I tolerate well. We then went to Inchon, Korea and visited Seoul for a day. The Chinese ports included Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. We did two ports in Viet Nam and two in Thailand (Bangkok and Koh Sumui), and the trip concluded in Singapore, which was hot and steamy.

We were amazed by how vertical so many of the cities are, what enormous populations the cities have (it's like Chicago is this small hick town), how friendly all people are, and how constantly present and aggressive souvenir sales people were. In Vung Tau, a rural area close to the Mekong Delta, we made five stops, and there was a fleet of salespeople that followed our bus on their motorcycles. It was a good trip, but I'm thrilled to be home. There's nothing like a tiny cruise ship room and bathroom to make me realize how palatial our house is!

This t-shirt quilt has nothing to do with this cruise but has a lot to do with John's frequent jazz cruises. The t-shirts in this picture were collected by Gwen Jobes, a woman John has known for over 10 years. She and her husband Winnie go on the same "Jazz Party at Sea" cruise that John does every year. Five years ago she sent me 3 t-shirts, and I used both the fronts and the backs for this wall hanging that she gave her husband for Christmas. 30" x 42"

A Trip of a Lifetime

Three years ago John and I were in China. At the Temple of Heaven in Beijing we met some Korean students and had this picture taken.

We are going on another trip of a lifetime, this time back-to-back cruises through Japan, Russia, Korea, China, Thailand, and Viet Nam. We get on the ship in Tokyo and disembark in Singapore 30 days later.

We're thrilled to be returning to Beijing - this time we will see and experience a different portion of the Great Wall, a part that is south of the city. We're thrilled with everything we'll be doing. We are just thrilled.

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!

And Chandra's Elves

 
Chandra is able to maximize her client time by using physical therapy assistants who do the icing, heating, printing out of exercises, monitoring of equipment, and application of electric stimulation. These bags are for Elizabeth and LaShondra.