Scraps, Scraps, and More Scraps

I cannot stand my ever-growing stash of scraps.  Two baskets, a 7-drawer chest, and a plastic tub are all bursting at the seams. At the winter CMQG retreat I worked on the blocks from the quilt above. Scraps strips were cut into 2.5” x 10.5 strips.  So were all my low-volume neutrals.  I even joined up leftover bits of binding.  The batting?  Yep, Frankenbatted. Wait, it gets worse…
 

The backing is all scraps, too.  I had to use the leftover scraps strips and those odd bigger bits of low-volumes.  I like this quilt, and it needs an owner.  Someone will choose it. Maybe…

Frankenstein and Quilting

Perhaps you’ve heard of Frankenbatting.  That when a quilter takes leftover batting bits and sews them together to make a batting big enough for the current project,  I love using wool batting - the texture it creates is wonderful, and it’s perfect for my hand quilting.  Wool bats are expensive, and I am proud of using leftover bits to make a whole.  But it’s a bit painstaking. 

This quilt top went together quickly with a layer cake of fabrics and a wonderful Art Gallery neutral,  I like the herringbone design, but…. This is a noisy quilt.  Too many colors are screaming “Look at me!” 

Somebody’s going to love it.  Just not me.  Below is the backing for this quilt.  The batting was all one piece, but the backing has been Frankensteined.  There’s a middle panel of a black and white detailing all the colors in the world, but I didn’t have enough.  So it’s surrounded by 2 low-volume pieces.  I can’t decide whether to hand quilt this or machine quilt it.  The weather will determine which.

And speaking of weather, I’ve been wanting a summer quilt.  So I took some bits of fabrics I really love that have just been languishing in my stash.  There’s some Yoshiko Jinzenji fabric included.  It took days of seeing whether these fabrics will play together nicely. I’m still not sure they do, but I like this.  A lot.

I am going to experiment with this summer quilt.  I am not going to bat it.  Instead I am going to back it with a sheet and try hand quilting this.  I have already set out my light and dark grey No 8 Perle cotton, my light beige-white, and - perhaps use a bit of red.  To be determined.  If there is ever a project to do some experimental stitching, this is it for sure. 

Reclaiming Normal

I often joke about how making purses for Sew Powerful help me get my head out of my ass.  But it is so true.  With my brother's last few weeks on earth, the calendar and days of the week just melded into one sad period of time.  But his wonderful funeral and knowing he is at peace have helped time resume its normal pace.  And yes, the making of purses are an integral part of how I grieve. 

But so is my hand-quilting.  In the previous post you see the quilt I was working on during the days leading to his death. Janie from Ride Janie Ride claimed that quilt for her solace.  So then I moved right onto the quilt below.

                                  Some of these are so low-volume the hexies seem to disappear.  

               Off-central spiral quilting suits my hand and my eye.  Every stitch was a soothing one.

This label is for the front

I've started hand quilting this one.  It's another "scrap" quilt.  Look at the purses at the beginning of this post.  They are make from scraps leftover from this scrappy quilt.  

An Attempt to Pay Things Forward

The biggest revelation at my brother Doug's funeral was that I just barely knew him.  Of course I knew him well in a family context, and I will say unequivocally that he and I were always there for one another, especially with our geographical proximity.  But the depth of his various friends and social circles was just amazing to see.  I saw one of my brother's friends kiss him goodby on the forehead.  I heard how my brother Al wrangled Doug physically in his final days.  And I am seeing grief for him from his friends that might even be deeper than  my sister Paula and my brother Al's grief.

Two who are grief-stricken about Doug's passing are Jane and Judy.  Sit back:  this is going to be a long exposition.  

My brother's last almost three years were difficult for the obvious reason.  They were also difficult financially.  The pandemic really caught Doug and Kim short in addition to dealing with chemo and its side effects and the mental gymnastics involved with such a diagnosis as Doug's.  Several helped Doug with money matters.  Good friend Kevin Connors started a GoFundMe for Doug, and people were very very generous.  My siblings and I helped as well.  And so did Ride, Janie, Ride - a 501c3 foundation started by Judy for her friend Jane.  Jane was diagnosed with cancer 17 years ago.  To help her friend Judy and her husband organized a motorcycle ride event which people pay to enter.  Other fundraising events are held as well.  Years ago Doug got involved photographing these events.  

Jane's cancer has morphed into different cancers over the years.  As Doug had his infusions, so did Jane.  And they became chemo buddies, FaceTiming during treatments and talking to one another about things that the rest of us may not understand.  Judy too was by Doug's side and made sure that the Ride, Janie, Ride foundation was there to support Doug. I met Judy and her husband in the hospital at Doug's bedside.  Jane sat with Doug and my brother Al in Doug's final days.  

I knew others loved Doug.  But the love of these two women for my brother is amazing.  To acknowledge their love and their grief, I offered to Jane and Judy what a quilter can offer:  quilts.  Jane chose the above quilt - Shuttle, a pattern by Glad Hand Sews - because it was what I was working on during Doug's final weeks.  Every stitch is about him. 

I asked Jane to choose a second quilt, and she choose my variation of Double Plus Good, the quilt by Rossie that hooked me into modern quilting.  It's been hanging on my dining room wall, but I am not sorry to see it go - I tend not to have browns and golds in my house.  And I'm delighted it's going to someone who loves it.  See the Saturday, September 24, 2022 entry for more about the quilt.

                                   

Judy looked over a couple of quilts and decided on this one above.  She asked if it was special.  And it is.  This is the quilt I worked on with my broken wrist in 2020 at the start of the pandemic.  I could cut fabric using my elbow to steady my ruler, and I could use my machine.  Scissors were my big problem.  So was ironing.  This quilt is made of a lot of selvage strips that were overlapped.  You can see my fabric preferences and collection in this quilt .  I love this quilt, but it needed an owner.  And I'm glad it was Judy who claimed it.  I can't think of or write about Judy without thinking of Dodie, my college roommate and beloved friend who died from lung cancer in 2008.  What a fabulous friends Judy has been to Jane over the year.  How special is she.  And she too loved Doug.

Here's how my dining room wall looked until just this past weekend.

And here's how it looks now.  

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...