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. 

QuiltCon 2023 - and what caught my eye…

QuiltCon 2023 was in Atlanta.  John’s  daughter lives there.  So we drove down with our ultimate destination being Orlando, where John’s sister and my nephew live.  No total immersion at QuiltCon this year.  Instead, I spent one day there, mostly to hear the keynote speaker Chawne Kimber. I sat with the Chicago group and spoke with a couple of my quilty heroes and spent maybe an hour before the keynote looking at quilts.  Seeing quilts helps me identify what I like and what I’d like to try.  Here are a few of the quilts that  caught my eyes...

Coffee and Cream by Lorraine Woodruff-Long

Watercolor Study no. 12 by Audrey Esarey of cottonandbourbon.com used hand dyed fabrics to create the transparency.  

Another by Audrey Esurary - Crescent Radial

Not What It Seams by Mariah Light.  White fabrics on top of black batting.  The seam allowances create the dimension.

Where We Connect by Cassandra Beaver

Baltimore #2 by Bill Keller, a guild mate of mine, from a class with Nancy Crow.

Nest by Wendy Nutt, fascinating construction

Leaving a Light on For You by the KCMQG.  Herringbone-like patterns fascinate me.

Storm in the Mountains by Rob Lowe, a Santa Fe quilter whose studio I've been in.  

Leon, another by Rob Lowe, was inspired by a concert hall in Leon, Spain.

But I received a text from my sister midway through the lecture that my brother was in the hospital. Cue: emotional hijacking.  My one day at QuiltCon became three hours - Julie picked me up shortly thereafter.   Despite my brother's hospitalization, both he and my sister insisted we continue our trip to Orlando. And we did.  But we headed home one day early and did the drive in two days.  My unease continued throughout the trip.  We got home March 2, and the rest of this month has been a blur.

But wait - there’s more!

 

As I was playing around with the hexagons, of course I had some left over.  And I just started goofing around.  John walked through and suggested, unlike the quilt from the previous post, that perhaps the addition of color might work for a kitchen wall hanging.  Thinking I was calling his bluff, I suggested he find some colours in my stash.  And he did!  We’ve both tinkered around with various pieces and bits and have landed on this layout.  I like it!  I’m eager to assemble it! 

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)

A Quilt That Deserved to be Completed

 

I am the luckiest of quilters.  I have time to do everything I want, and I am able to fund all that I choose to do.  For years I felt like I needed to have commissions, which is why I did t-shirt quilts and “life celebration” quilts.  But I didn’t enjoy doing either of those.  Besides the constant stream of Sew Powerful purses, I am free to do exactly what I choose. But my stepdaughter asked me if I would do something for her best friend Brenda. Brenda had a family heirloom quilt - except it was never completed.  

This quilt top, 85” x 85”, was neatly and compactly folded into a small box.  Two hours of gentle pressing  got it somewhat flattish. Each butterfly as well as the big center block was hand appliquéd.  So much time by the makers was spent on this quilt!  The sashing was done by machine.  Fabrics definitely age and weaken, and these fabrics had to be treated carefully.  I have a new appreciation for the quality of today’s quilting cottons.   And here is where I must be honest.  I did not want to do this project.  But I did it because this quilt top deserved to be finished.

Since these fabrics were so old and because appliqué is handwork, wool batting would provide the additional sturdy structure this quilt needs.  Machine quilting along the sashing and hand quilting around the appliqués    was my approach.  If I’m hand quilting, I prefer an Art Gallery backing.  But in this quilt I used a pale Kona yellow - for added structure. 

I questioned Brenda about the age of this quilt.  My uneducated guess was the 50’s. But she did her research and gave me the above information for the quilt’s label. Even though this quilt doesn’t appeal to my aesthetic, I’m proud of finishing it and honoring the original makers. An added bonus was that Brenda paid me handsomely.  Even though I’m afraid of outliving my stash, I think I need more grunge and peppered shot cottons! 

Scraps and Little Things

Just as 2022 ended with a Fika Tote by Noodlehead, I started off the new year with a second one, a commission.  The one of the right is mine, made with leftover bits of Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric.  The one of the right has some of that lovely black with red Kanji lettering.  These bags are big - 15" x 19" x 5".  Very handy.

For my sister's 70th I made her a Fika tote that featured this lovely great metallic price.  She liked it a lot and wondered about a check cover and credit card holder from the leftover bits.  So we looked for some patterns, and these are the results.  Checkbook cover - wonderfully easy. Credit card wallet a lot fussier.

Ive been working on trying to get rid of my scraps - or at least organize them.  This wonderful pile of reds and blacks was on the table.  And just recently I made a RunAround bag (LazyGirl) out of those pretty grey scraps.  My sister was just here, and I offered it to here.  So then of course I had to make more.  These are basically 7" x 9" with a long strap - it's a cross body bag, so handy for shopping. 

More on scraps to come...I sort of have a plan...to be determined...

And so ends 2022…

This year was such a good one in the studio.  The Fika Tote by Noodlehead is my current bag crush.  This one is my third, and I have two more planned.  We aren't traveling much these days, so I have to find people to gift these bags to.  So far my sister and Cristina are the lucky one.  This bag to the left?  It doesn't have an owner.  Yet.  What is so special about this bag is the use of some bits of Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric. I'm awaiting the arrival of small additional red fabric with Kanji writing for the next bag.  

My current project is to work my way through my ever-growing pile of scraps.  Here are my purples and teals.  Below are strips made from blues and violets. Although there's a thin line between purples and violets and I cross it all the time.  To keep from getting bored, I think I'll tackle reds next.  Or perhaps oranges.  My goal is to make long strips of scraps and join them together with some leftover neutrals.  We'll see...

Occasionally I have projects that I don't care to do.  This one to the left is one of them.  It's a quilt top made in the late 1930's or early 1940's that was never finished.  The appliquéd butterflied and basket in the middle represent a  lot of handwork.  A LOT.  And somehow this top was folded up and boxed.  It took over 2 hours of pressing just to get the top smooth.  And these fabrics are old and thin.  It's been batted with wood and a Kona cotton backing.  There's machine quilting in the sashing.  And there's hand quilting around each butterfly and the floral basket in the middle.  While the quilt now is absolutely useable, it's still something I would not recommend washing.  You know that musty smell that old fabrics get?  This quilt top did not and does not have that.  I think the owner, the maker's granddaughter, will be pleased. This quilt top is now waiting for its label and then a trip to Atlanta to February for delivery.  While I wasn't particularly happy working on this quilt, I recognized that this quilt deserved to be finished.  Best of all, this restoration/completion was a paying job.  I think I may have to go fabric shopping!  

But now on to the fun stuff!  This quilt belongs to a guild buddy, and I volunteered to hand quit it for her.  Unlike the appliquéd butterfly quilt which weighed 7 pounds and was a beast to keep repositioning, This is a much smaller quilt and - imho - so much more beautiful. 

These dark days of winter are so perfect for hand quilting.  The process takes me back 8 years when my mom died and how soothing I found the hand quilting process after her death.   The same is true for me today.  And I'm eager to finish this quilt because I have one of my own in queue for hand quilting.  More on that in January.

Almost daily John or I will remark how the move to our condo has been such a good one.  We are thrilled with our space and where we live.  There's a long hallway leading to our front door, and currently no one lives across from us.  So I have started to look at this hallway as quilt-hanging opportunities.   And coincidentally both of these quilts involve my niece Leslie.  The small one at the end is made from leftovers of her high school graduation quilt.  And the big one will be going to her shortly.  She and her boyfriend are engaged, and they have selected this quilt at their wedding present.  

There is going to be great sadness in 2023 but there will also be great joy.  I'm so thankful for my studio and what happens here. 

In the bleak midwinter - correction

My mom died 9 years ago December 22.  It was actually 8 years ago, not 9.  I had to admit to all three sibs I was wrong.  Her death was welcomed and peaceful.  I remember spending the next few weeks adding stitches to the quilt I was working on - and at that point  I was still an emerging hand quilter.  And now at this time of year in these deeply dark and cold days, I find hand stitching so comforting.  A week ago I started adding stitches to this quilt.  Its owner says this quilt top is 90 years old.  Despite the age and fragility of the fabric, it is a quilt top that deserves to be finished.  In each block I am outlining the butterfly.  The sashing has been machine-quilted.  I'm not crazy about this quilt, but it is satisfying to give this shape and life. 

I love the Fika Tote pattern by Noodlehead.  It's so well-written and turns out nicely.  This is the second one I've made, and it went to Cristina.  I'm in the process of making another and possibly another.  For years I''ve been cutting from a roll of Soft and Stable that I bought years ago.  That roll is gone, and I actually had to purchase some by the yard from ByAnnie.   Bags cannot be made without it!  Imagine the bag below without the red clips!

 

These little butterfly purses are thanks to the scrap table at the last CMQG retreat.  There wasn't much of it, but I was able to make four flaps from it and think these purses very pretty.  So thanks, fellow CMQG guild member!

I figured out what stitching to add to my Left-handed Leftover Liberal Quilt.  And I like the effect.  I was all set to hang this in our dining room, but John asked me not to.  Hrumpppphhhhhh....

The people in our building are more than friendly.  Daily we open our door and find a little something there, like some chocolate or a little Christmas decoration.  So I've been making key fobs.  In addition to the hardware, you only need a 4" x 13" bit of fabric.  I may have to crank out a few more.

It's a peaceful cold gloomy day.  And I'm pretty content.  

Heading into the Holidays

The Benton Avenue Christmas Fairy has successfully made the transition to the Oak Brook condo.  He has had to be creative with wall space, so our blingy quilty Christmas tree is now in the kitchen but seems peaceful there!

Meanwhile the nonChristmas Fairy continues to work on a project she’s in love with - the Left-handed Liberal quilt of Leftovers.  Avert your eyes if you are a political conservative.

I’m struggling with how to finished the upper right corner.  I still have time to figure that out!

Meanwhile, there are always purses.  This box to the left has 12 kits of purse parts and three purses in various stages of construction, all ready for a workshop in February.  I'll continue adding to the box as I make more purses.

Below are the latest eight.

And there is always a project that should be done, even if I don't want to do it.  This quilt on the table is an unfinished family heirloom of my stepdaughter's best friend.  There has been a lot of work invested in this quilt of appliqué.  Brenda's grandmother, the grandmother's sister, and their BBF all worked on this.  Brenda thinks this work is from sometime in the 30's.  While I'm not sure about this (I would estimate 20 years later, like the 50's), this quilt top need to be honored and completed.  These fabrics are fragile.  And despite using steam, there are some wrinkles that probably will not come out.  My plan is to back with with a light yellow, bat it with wool, and pin baste it all.  I am going to try to machine quilt in the sashing and then hand quilt around the appliquéd bits.  We'll see...