August

This baby quilt is for young August James who was born August 22 weighing 3 pounds 6 ounces.  His mom Jen is fine and his dad Jim is, I assume, over the moon.  The little man will be in the hospital for a while longer, which I'm sure must be very hard on his parents.  Jennifer is a woman who teaches art at the high school I retired from, and she's the epitome of professionalism, including national certification.  She also joined my Chicago Modern Quilt Guild last year. 

I'm looking forward to hearing monthly tales of young August (Augie? Gus? AJ?)  This 46" x 56" quilt is for his droooling, crawling,  and napping pleasure.


My friend Wayne puts quilts into two categories:  hangers and draggers.  This quilt is for sure meant to be a dragger. The backing fabric is a sturdy batik, and the binding is navy blue.  Kennedy's school colors?  Blue and Gold.  Perfect post for this last day of August!

An End, a Middle, and Some Great Beginnings

Well, this is a great feeling - to have scanned and shipped the final quilts for the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative.  Founder Ami Simms is close to raising $1,000,000 for Alzheimer's research.  My scanning buddy and fellow Chicago Modern Quilt Guildster Eileen O'Regan and I are both proud of our involvement in this effort and thrilled that it's come to a close. 



That means we are now free to go on to more projects than we already do.  Here is a baby quilt in process - I'm hoping this Labor Day allows me to finish the binding.  And I might even do it by hand because the recipient is pretty special.  An official blog post is forthcoming. 

And there aren't a lot of things that make me squeal with delight.  But this packet of 12" zippers from Zipit, an Etsy shop, does.  Love the colors!  Can't wait to introduce these zippers to my scraps!  Happy Labor Day Weekend (which is one that keeps John busy with the Chicago Jazz Festival!). 

A Baby Quilt for ..... A House!

My sister's 5 month old grandson is leaving Manhattan for the first time and coming, along with his parents, to visit Paula and her husband Dennis, now and forever more to be known as Mimi and Poppi. Sure, I made a baby quilt for young Henry and even delivered it on a day trip to NYC. But this quilt is for my sister's house, for Henry when he visits and for any future sibs or cousins he might have. Paula - er, I mean Mimi - chose these colors. I chose the design. It's Jacquie Gering's Outside In, and one that I enjoy making and quilting. It's a napping quilt size - 48" x 60". Mimi's quilt was quilted in quarters, and then the four quarters were joined using the reversible quilting technique that Sharon Pederson developed and wrote about. There's a little label on the back of the quilt: For Mimi and Poppi, August 2013, Donna. In August 1971 my sister and her husband were married. YIKES! That's 42 years ago! Happy Anniversary!

Three More WOW! Duffel/Totes and an Aeroplane Bag in Process

These three new WOW! duffel/tote bags are all very clever and very sturdy. I'd provide a link, but all I know is that I bought the pattern from the Jinny Beyer web site. The pattern is clever, and I've made it before. My sister-in-law gifted her realtor with a bag from my studio, and this is what Linda chose, along with two others, gifts for her sisters. Stylish! Sturdy! So practical! Below is an Aeroplane bag due in mid-September for Wayne's mother-in-law, whom I love. I can't wait to start this. Pauline has chose the black and white striped fabric draped over the bag and wants a hot pink lining. Talk about traveling in style!

Trip Kit #7 and a Process Post

Kit #7

Sheets of Strips

Some interesting batiks

Ethnic?  African?  I love this...

Trip Kits 4, 5, and 6

Seeing these kits makes me eager to start sewing. Stay tuned for some quilty loveliness! (Third picture makes me realize I need a different middle border...)

Creating Trip Around the World Kits

Between Aeroplane Bags and Trips Around the World, it seems I have traveling on my mind when actually we have nothing but a little road trip to Kansas City in September planned.  However, the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's Fall 2013 Sew-to-Serve-Chicago charity focus is Teen Living, an organization that helps foster teens transition to independent living. What a great reason to go through my stash and revisit one of my favorite and first quilting patterns.  So far I have three kits put together.  And looking at what's on the studio floor and still on the stash shelves, I think there are at least three more kits to put together.

Eileen has volunteered to do this kit of turquoises and browns. Are you noticing that none of these kits so far is very girly? What can I say? Stay tuned for more kits... (final word: Hooray for new rotary cutter blades and my Oliso iron!)

Just One More AeroPlane Bag...

Here's my third Aeroplane Bag, and it's my favorite. The body fabric? there was just enough. In fact, you'll see a little black gusset on each side because I ran out. This is the smaller of the two pattern options offered.
The zippers have tabs, and I'm much happier with this finish.  Thanks, Jen BB, for this.  The pockets require a fat quarters, and I found these two crane pieces that I got from Ebony.  The bottom portion of this bag is a home dec fabric.  Let's see how this wears.  Most amazing of all, I found in my little box of odd accessories purse feet (I know - PURSE FEET and I had some on hand!).  So I'm trying out 6 of these.  Now, where is that Aeroplane Ticket?

Tabbed Zipper

Orange Crane pocket

Red Crane pocket

6 little purse feet

Stash Busters!

An opportunity to go through my stash and create some quilts?  (more about Chicago Modern Quilt Guild's Sew to Service Chicago charity later...)  Fabulous.  I'm going to resurrect one of my favorite patterns:  Eleanor Burns's Trip Around The World, a wonderfully time and fabric efficient version of the Amish Sunshine and Shadow design.  The body of the quilt uses six different fabrics, three-fourths of each.  Look at the index of the bottom right of this blog for examples of these quilts.  Anyone want to join me-either on line or here at the studio? 

Wintersection

 Wintersection has been in process since June, and today it is due - along with the other calendar challenges - at the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild meeting. 
It is 36" wide, and the left side of it is 43" long.  The right side is 32". 

Eileen and Melissa were instrumental in how this piece developed and turned out, and I'm thankful for their input.  John gave me the name, which I think is just perfect. 

The inspiration for this piece came from a picture provided by Wayne from his copy of Joen Wolfram's Patchwork Persuasion, p 86.  Quilter Erika Odemer from Munich, Germany, created a piece entitled "January Quilt", the basis of which was rich colors and strong design lines.

January Quilt, 1993 - Erika Odemer, Munich  67" x 49"

In recent years I've been drawn to more blacks and neutrals and reds.  This piece is my third in this palette. I've experienced over 60 Chicago winters, and winter is definitely my favorite season.  I know the season gets long and cold and dark.  But within winter there is light and joy and warmth.

There is a sparkly overlay on the bottom light section, which was actually a gift wrapping.  Like any crow drawn to sparkly things, I asked John's sister Chris if I could have this wrapping on her June birthday gift.  I don't use "found" bits in my quilting, so this is quite a departure.  As is the shape of this piece.  My Chicago Modern Quilt Guild is the perfect place to take some quilting risks. 

Here's the back of the piece and its label.  This quilt, along with the others sumbitted today, will now be photographed and judged and  used for 16-month calendar for a CMQG fundraiser.  This calendar will be available for sale November 14, 15, and 16 at the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo in Tinley Park, IL.  And all submitted quilts with travel for a year with the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo shows. 

Just a word of warning:  this calendar is what all my friends are getting for Christmas!