Now that it’s been gifted and is in its new home, I can write about this quilt, which I made for my MIL for the holiday. In a way, this was a commissioned piece, which offers challenges in ways that are special to commissions. The challenge is to use my creativity to create something envisioned by another, and to be true to their half-formed vision as well as my own creative sense, and sensibilities.

My mother in law wanted a throw for her guest room, which is done up in creams and browns, using a beautiful African mud cloth hanging and a couple of wood masks. The fabrics she chose for the throw were these:
1. A repeating figures fabric, in green, pink, gold, and brown:

2. a gold and green fabric:

3. This blue and gold fabric:

4. This brown leopard print:

And one Fat quarter of a zebra print.

Not only are these NOT cream or brown (well, except for the leopard print), but I could not figure out how to make them go together, let alone with the rest of the room.

The first step, which took a while, was to fold the fabrics into rectangles, then lay them on the floor, in different patterns and configurations. I tried it many different ways, and shuffled them around, and left them in the different formations for days at a time, and nothing came to me. I was stuck.

I put the fabrics away and went to my trusty graph paper. I drew different patterns of shapes: squares, rectangles, triangles and strips. And nothing seemed to work.

The magic shift happened when I took out one of the fabrics I’d been given. Now I wanted to use all the fabrics my MIL had given me, but once I took out the zebra fabric, the rest fell into place.
I made blocks like this:

At this point I had a really clear idea about how to lay the blocks out. But when I tried it, it didn’t look right. I cannot really explain, but the order didn’t work. I tried shuffling the blocks again, and nothing worked. I tried randomizing them, but this is much harder to do with rectangles then, say, with squares. Eventually I realized that three blocks organized horizontally are the same length as two blocks organized vertically. And so I had it. I put it together like this:

Once I put it all together I realized I had enough left over pieces to make a pillow, and I was able to use the zebra fabric after all (though I still didn’t get a picture of it)!

For the backing I wanted to do something different. I like having double-sided quilts with different “flavored” sides. This way, if the owner wants a change, all s/he has to do is flip the quilt over. However, as this was commissioned for a specific room, I knew I needed to stay with the theme. I found this fabric, and while these are Polynesian rather than African masks, the colors were right, and I thought it would go ok with the masks.

I gave it to my MIL for Christmas and she loved it. I enjoyed the challenge, and the liberation that comes from working with fabrics, patterns, and palettes I would not normally go for.

Finished projects

After a long time of not quilting, I’ve recently gone back to it,  and while I was also working on some challenging creations, I also took the time to finish projects I’d started before the hiatus. One of them is this:

This is a quilt from a Quilts for Kids packet. It is my….fifth one for this organization which distributes quilts to kids in hospitals. Every time I finish one, I request another packet. I enjoy it, and enjoy the freedom of working with colors/patterns that are out of the norm for me.

Close up:

Quilts for Kids sends me pre-cut fabric, and the pattern. I provide batting, and the sewing, and send it back to them. Then they distribute it to different hospitals to comfort children. It's a worthy cause and one to which I enjoy contributing. It is, as my kid would say, a win-win.

The second project I finished is this (excuse the corner cut off by the picture):

This was inspired by the parasol fabric, and I enjoyed making it, and using those rich colored fabrics, very much. The little diamonds of red and blue remind me of lanterns…
Close up:

Next up, a post about some of the newer projects, as soon as they get gifted to their respective recipients.

As Promised...

So, while it's true I am back to sewing, and really loving that, it's also true that the projects on which I am currently working are intended as gifts, which means I cannot post about them until after they are received by their respective recipients. To carry us through until then, here are some cross-stitch projects:

This is the second cross stitch I made (the first one is hanging on the wall in my office, and I've been forgetting to bring the camera to work to take a picture of it). I made this for my eldest as she was embarking on a serious, transformative journey. The butterfly had come to symbolize this journey of hers, for me, and was a frequently recurring image/sighting/metaphor. This seemed a fitting gift.
Here's a close up:



 

This is the second one I made, for a friend who'd moved to New Mexico, looking for peace, a slower pace of life, and tranquility:

 Close up? Sure!





And the third one, most recently completed, for my youngest, who loves loves loves horses:

This kid (14 years old now!!) has loved horses since she was old enough to say "horsie", and probably before. She loves them.
Notice the horse in the cloud?

That is the reason I chose this particular pattern.

These are all counted cross stitch patterns (I call them cross stitch by numbers), which makes them ideal for when I am too tired to do any meaningful brainwork. They've been keeping me creative and have provided much needed relaxation during all these sewing-free months of my hiatus. I am working on another one right now, though back to sewing, and will have more to post soon.
Yay for creative outlets!

Has it really been that long? Well, I'm back.

Wow! It's been a long time since I posted anything here.
Life has taken a bit of a detour and I've not been able to post, or even quilt for that matter.
A bit of explanation: Quilting is both a hobby for me, and a form of meditation and therapy. I use it as a creative outlet. I also use it as a means of relaxation, or a way to think about something without focusing on it too intensely.
About a year ago, my family began going through some serious upheavals. The upheavals involved a family member who was suffering from severe depression and anxiety. This, obviously, affects the whole family, and I was dealing with it, to the best of my ability, while still managing all the other aspects of life.
One of the things that made it bearable for me was my sewing. Designing, sewing and quilting pieces became a coping tool. Spending time in the studio became a respite, and a refuge, from the trouble lurking in (seemingly) every corner of the house. I sewed a lot.
Then, after a breaking point and drastic measures to help my loved one, and restore some peace to the house, I found I could not sew. I tried. Really I did. I sat at my machine one afternoon, and...felt anxious to the point of leaving the studio. This caused me great distress! I realized my sewing had become too closely associated with my own anxiety and worry. Sadness lived in my studio.
I stopped sewing for 6 months.  I did nothing other than the occasional mending.
Works-in-progress just sat there. I didn't even bother tidying up the room, until 4 months later when house guests came to stay and 2 kids needed to use the studio as a bedroom for two weeks.
I had some faith that I would sew again when I felt better, but I couldn't push it.
It's not that I stopped crafting altogether; I just stopped sewing.
I recently started being interested in quilting again, and now have 2 works-in-progress. I will post about them soon.
In the meantime, the next post will be of my cross-stitching which has been my main medium since April.
Thanks for those still reading, and sorry about the long break!

Tumbling Skulls

The lady who works at the consignment store I went to the other day said they were looking for baby quilts with skulls. Hey, I thought, I can do that! I went home and looked in my stash O’ fabrics and found some skully fabrics I’d gotten a long time ago. I don’t like to use skulls so much myself, but my husband? He loves them. So a few years ago we made a quilt together, which he designed and I constructed. And then I made him another one a couple years after that. As a result, I have skullish fabrics that needed new projects!
I made this one:

It uses a fairly traditional design, called Attic Windows, which creates an awesome 3-D effect. I love the way fabrics influence each other. The red, for example, looks more vibrant next to the grey, and they grey still has some depth because it’s next to a strong color (rather than white for example).
Here’s a close up:

And for the backing I wanted something different, but still uncommon. I found a length of this faux batik fabric in metal colors and decided to go with it. Here’s a close up of that:

And how they work together:

I brought this piece, and a few others, to the store, and the lady took them all. Hey! My stuff’s in a store! (I know, it may not sell, but still, I’m excited)

Braaaiiin!

It's been a long time since I posted here; life's kind of gone sideways for a while. But things are better and here I am, posting about a recent project which was unusual for me, quite challenging, and very rewarding.

A few weeks ago, I was presented with a challenge. I was asked to make a couch quilt for my cousin, for her birthday, and honoring the work she’s doing as a post doctorate in neurology. Her husband asked if I’d be willing to make a brain-themed quilt. A quilt? A present for my cousin? A challenge as a quilter? Of course, I said yes. He looked on line for some inspiration pictures, and sent them to me. When I said I don’t know how to translate the pictures into patchwork, he assured me I’d do a great job and left me to it.

Ok, so the first step was to enlarge a picture of a brain, to a size that might work for a centerpiece of a quilt. This is not as easy as I thought it would be.  I cropped the image into three overlapping parts, magnified them as much as my printer would allow, then went to a photocopy store and had them enlarge them further, making sure the three cropped images still line up properly:

Next I pondered the type of fabric to use for this brain. I looked at my fabric wall as I am still trying to whittle down my collection, and I tried several combinations, but soon enough I settled on some batiks I had. I traced the brain sections onto the batiks, and soon realized I would need to hand sew them with all those curvy lines. Here they are before the sewing:

For the next step I decided to applique the brain onto a square. Now this is highly, highly unusual for me. I am not fond of applique, nor do I think I am particularly good at it, but for this, well, the thought of piecing the brain into a fitted background just seemed too hard. I appliqued the patchwork brain using a tight zigzag stitch and was really pleased to realize I could use the same stitch to add more detail to the patchwork brain. Like so:

And voila! The center piece was done. I sewed a border around it, and then two more borders around that, and set to create the outer border.  And this step took me a while to figure out. The original idea included images of neurons and I looked at many images, but it is beyond my skill to actually create a patchwork neuron block. Finally I used printable fabric sheets (kind of a cop out, but it worked). I printed images of neurons off the web, set the ink as best as I could, and sewed them into square blocks.
Here are some examples:

I alternated the neurons with blocks with centers of the dark blue batik quilts. I thought it added…balance.

The final touch was appliquéing a black puzzle piece onto the brain, to symbolize my cousin’s work. And the letters embroidered are CRF, which is what she’s working on, more specifically.

Here’s the finished piece:

I mailed it to my cousin’s husband and he surprised her with it tonight. Success!

Quilts for Kids

For a number of years now, I have been working with Quilts for Kids, the national organization that makes and distributes quilts for children in hospitals. More recently I’ve started working with the local chapter of this organization and the lady who coordinates it. She asks for pieced tops which she then quilts, using batting and backing fabric of her own, using her long-arm and spare time. This system works well for me as my favorite part is designing and piecing the top. 

I love making tops. 

I get to put colors and prints together in different designs and many of my tops are experiments of one sort or another as I manipulate traditional designs into new ones, or try different color combinations. The tops are a lot of fun for me to make, and I am glad to have found a way to have them do some good. Patty of Quilts for Kids gives the quilts to the Ronald McDonald house to help ease and cheer kids, and teens, who are struggling with illnesses, often away from home.
 

Over the break I started two tops for Ronald McDonald, and when I asked Patty what kinds are in need right now, she told me some teens are there, back again for another round of treatment.
So I set about making some twin size tops. In my ongoing attempts to use the fabric in my stash, I needed to do some thinking, planning, rethinking. I laid out fabric on the floor in different bunches to see which ones might go together, and how to make them colorful but teenager-ish.
I finally finished them last week, and here they are:

This is my trusty disappearing Nine-Patch, in rich warm colors:

And a close up:

And this is a Churn Dash pattern in a different color scheme:

 And another close up:

They go out in the mail tomorrow and my hope is that they make somebody feel a bit better.