Dec 26, 2016
From a stack of library books, a quilt was inspired. The Celery Stick block from Marnie Buck and Jilly Guffy’s Quilt du Jour was supposed to quickly yield a nice big quilt top to build my machine quilting skills. Oh, well. Quilt and quick aren’t really two words that go together.
The Celery Stick block is easy to piece and scale up or down. Shopping my stash, deep night blues and yellows formed the color palette. Oh, yes, an Italian hilltop town at night could totally be an option. Many great memories of day trips to this northern Lazio town were reason to start strip cutting.
But what to quilt? After all, the whole purpose of this quilt is: 1) to play and enjoy the quilting process 2) to create a warm queen size bed cover 3) to be challenged. Then it occurred to me. I could quilt in the guild symbols of 18th Century Orvieto to build my skills.
Arte e Mestieri di Orvieto
The Guilds of Orvieto depict the reliance on textiles in 18th Century Orvieto’s economy. I remember the afternoon spent chatting with a gentleman who made terra cotta representations of these Guild mascots. I bought one as a gift. I wish I’d purchased more. So here is my quilt that is inspired by Oriveto which hung at the 2016 Rising Star Quilt Show
Vintner was one of the easier quilt shapes to dress.
Detail of the quilt top.
The Oriveto City Seal
Orvieto as it hung at the RSQ show
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So think of me if you’re ever on vacation and you find you cannot sleep forever. I’m under this wonderful quilt with twinkling lights and wonderful wool batting.
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Aug 18, 2016
While I may forget a comb or pajamas, it is rare that I hit the road without knitting or reading. On a recent overnight sail, I found myself in one of Gloucester’s book stores, looking for a quick read.
All magazines on deck!
Unwilling to commit myself to an entire book, I picked up the most recent American Craft magazine. Nika Feldman, the subject of the August/September feature, is a woman after my own heart. This woman travels, relates, communicates with a needle, thread and scissors. I always travel with knitting needles and yarn, eschewing quilting as less portable. How could that change?
Mulling over ways to bring quilting into my travels, I realize that a sketchbook and pencil fell of my travel packing list. Ten years ago, these tools lived in my purse. The arrival of the iPhone pushed it out of my bag. It was too easy to snap a photo, and my purse was lighter, smaller. Sketching should re enter my daily habits and most definitely return to my travel packing list. Shouldn’t everyone draw?
At one time, drawing was a skill crucial to education. Travel journals consisted of words, sketches, watercolors. Of course, at this point, I always turn to Isabella Stuart Gardner’s travel journals. As she neared the end of her life, Isabella burned her letters, but chose to keep her travel journals. How do you remember your travels? Selfies? T shirts? Art? Magnets? Post cards or other ephemera? Matchbooks, coasters or cocktail napkins?
Would drawing change your relationship with the place? Clearly, traveling with a needle, scissors and thread completely frames Feldman’s work. She has the benefit of time on her side… no quick sailing trips to Gloucester… but your travel experience would definitely change if you drew or stitched.
So much for deckside knitting comtemplation.
Feb 17, 2016
Despite subzero temperatures last weekend, we stayed quite warm under Cowabunga II: Feline Party Wave.
Do you remember that surfing cat fabric I picked up last year at City Quilter? Bought to create Kowabunga Karina? Well, I took apart the second baby quilt top and starting piecing, playing and procrastinating, pushing my blue hand dye fabric collection to the brink and completed an 80″ x 90″ top (actually, I had to go buy additional border fabric… nothing appropriate left in stash). There was a stash of wool batting. How lovely, light and cozy this quilt feels.
The Statler did most of the quilting, as I mentioned in my January round up. I trimmed out sections where I quilted in these haikus:
Stoked for dawn patrol; A glorious green room glide; feline party wave.
Gnarly offshore winds; Pop up and grab the back door; Just carve it, kitty
Inspired by the 60 degree angle of the surfing cat fabric, improvisational equilateral triangles fill most of the quilt top (I realize now that my hub was holding the quilt upside down). Never mind, the quilt is done and on my bed. It’s the first quilt I’ve made for our bed in many years of quilting. After all, most of my quilts are destined for the wall these days. And before that, the beds that needed quilts were doubles and twins.
With the scraps, haikus and momentum still left, there will be a Cowabunga III.
Remind me NEVER to think it’s a great idea to sew a back together on the bias. Throughout this process, I realize that I have lots of enthusiasm and ideas. Part of my process is whittling down this fire hose of loose thoughts and prioritize. What is really worth the time, energy and materials for the impact? I spent a lot of time putting the back together. Fabric was chopped up quite unnecessarily for little final contribution to the quilt.
Quilting is going in the back seat again… as I mentioned, the MHK3 comments came back quickly and there is a tam on my horizon.
Jan 14, 2016
Blocks of quilting, knitting, mending, drawing and dreaming frame the early days of 2016.
One Sunday afternoon to do list.
Soon I’ll finish the second quilt in the Cowabunga Cat series. This one kind of got away from me. Originally, the second surfing cat quilt would also be a baby blanket. After the first, I felt like the fabric needed more room to breathe. So I unsewed the top and placed the large isosceles triangles in a larger setting…. try queen size. The top is still pretty busy…. but I can definitely see waves of surfing cats moving through the tube.
Although I said I’d never use a Statler Stitcher on my quilts after Karina Kowabunga, Laurena’s Longarm Quilting now has several of the Anita Shackleford Modern packages available for the computer guided quilting machine. “Modern Paisley” seemed the perfect choice for this surfing cat quilt.
Anita Shackleford Modern Paisley Digital Quilting Design
Trimming out portions of the pattern, changing height and other diddly choices means I’ll spend more than 8 hours quilting the 81″ x 90″ top. Over the autumn, I wrote several little haikus about surfing cats, two of which I’m quilting into the top. I’ve got some leftover fabric and a few more haikus… a third quilt in the offing? While these projects weren’t even on my horizon in January 2015, it’s been a fun little hike.
Already the pull of the 2016 quilt diversion dots my day dreams: Quilt du Jour by Marni Buck and Jill Guffy.
Quilts du Jour by Marny Buck & Jill Guffy
Plucked from the library just before Christmas (along with Margaret Radcliffe’s completely approachable and useful Knowledgeable Knitter), the simple blocks have lots of opportunities to play. We could use a few more large quilts at home. I’ve signed up for studio blocks as a subscriber at Laurena’s through the summer. With only two large WIPS destined for machine quilting, I do need to look at stash and play with possibilities.
Ah, how pleasant it is to just jump into whichever craft calls me today! Random craft choice won’t last much more: we’re leading a Knit a Long for the Aidez cardigan at Sit and Knit. Who knows what 2016 will bring?
Jul 31, 2015
Remember that surfing cat fabric I purchased last winter? Improvisational piecing resulted in a couple of quilt tops with coordinating Cherrywood gradient packs. Despite the fact my to do list is 8 miles long today, I went to Laurena’s to use the Statler Stitcher.
Of course, I didn’t want to do things simply. Mixing two quilt patterns and trimming the motifs made the process much longer. After finishing the project, I decided I wouldn’t probably use the Statler on my quilts again. Ok, maybe if I designed the quilting motif and let the Statler do the stitching. There’s a time and place for everything, so I’m sure I’ll rent the Statler again. Overall, I’d rather move the longarm rather than letting the computer do that work. However, the quality of stitching was spectacular… such perfection.
When I got home, I laid it on the floor to really look at the trimmed piece. Immediately, fluffy feline placed her paw of approval.
Can you imagine surfing ginger cats in this quilt?
Karina Kowabunga will have an orange sherbet binding then zipped out to a sweet pea I love.
The second quilt top will be dissected and placed into a larger setting. All of that action needs more space. I wonder what will happen next as the improv piecing becomes more thoughtful?
