Winter Blues

Winter Blues or STUMPED!

This lovely piece was made to replace the very red and green "Christmas Stars" piece on our hearth for the mommy group's book club meeting earlier this year. The pattern is called "Moroccan Tile" by Cheryl Phillips. It is a very easy pattern to follow and came with directions for cutting the fabric with either an acrylic template set or a paper pattern. The details are below.

The fabrics, however, were purchased from The Joyful Quilter (www.joyfulquilter.com), my local quilt shop. It was very humbling to face a bunch of beautiful "Fairy Frost" fabrics (by Michael Miller Fabrics) and to truly not be able to tell the difference between a true white and a very light blue!!!

Meanwhile, the piece came together and my "Winter in Morocco" tile was gently pinned to cover those "Christmas Stars" for the book club meeting. The reviews were in and everyone loved it. That was in February.

Since then, however, the piece has been in the same place and I am TOTALLY stumped as to how I should proceed to quilt it! Suggestions have been made by my friends and family (some of whom quilt), but now I am looking for advice from you, my greater community!

What do you think I should do to quilt it? Design ideas are welcome! Please comment or e-mail me with your thoughts. I appreciate it greatly!!!!

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"Moroccan Tile" pattern by Cheryl Phillips and is available from Keepsake quilting:
http://www.keepsakequilting.com/

"Marbled prints provide the realism.
All eyes will focus on this 42" x 47" quilt.
Kit has Cheryl Phillips's piecing directions, and fabrics for the top and binding.
Requires Cheryl's Gems 5 & 10 (pentagon and decagon) two-piece acrylic template set."
--Description from the Keepsake Quilting Website

Michael Miller Fabrics "Fairy Frost" blue fabrics available from The Joyful Quilter (www.joyfulquilter.com)

"Shattered"

Shat·ter (shtr)

1. To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow.
2.a. To damage seriously; disable:
2.b. To cause the destruction or ruin of; destroy:



As glass shatters all over the floor upon impact, so do the elements of this quilt. Once straight lines and rectangles, have now become disjointed and taken on foreign shapes and sizes. As it is with life, a trauma or tragedy effects the whole redefining living and reality. This thereby gives those involved, and those observing, a new way to be and a new way to see things. Pain is often the escort through life's hardest moments but with the gifts of time, faith, acceptance and maybe forgiveness, there is hope that life will become new again.

Such are the thoughts to accompany the creation of "Shattered." Created from the scraps of a bridal heirloom gift I'm currently working on, the soft colors almost lessen the interrupted lines and odd shapes of the piece. Mirrors are used to remind the viewer that they too are shattered and broken in some ways. They are reminded that they have responsibilities, maybe not in this particular tragedy or trauma, but within their relationships to others who may be suffering in life's darkest hour.

These lines will never be straight again and the forms will never return to rectangles, but may we come to see a new beauty within and may we find hope in the ashes of despair.


Here is one more example of art created in reaction to tragedy:
http://registry.national911memorial.org/

Many more exist and I hope they will prove to be as helpful and therapeutic as this little piece was to me.

"Seven" and Friends

This is "Seven."

The "Squiggles" technique was learned from Kris Gregson Moss (http://www.krisgregsonmoss.com/) and was used for the Q.U.I.L.T.S. AAQI Challenge with her permission. Layers of fabric are sewn with a free-hand drawn design and then cut away to reveal the gorgeous colors below. No one color touches itself in the work. The piece is completed with appliqué fibers sewn to cover the seams and free-motion quilting to accent the other design elements. Learned in a private class, this technique offers lots of room for creativity and surprise. The final result was titled "Seven" by my 5 year old upon first seeing the work for the first time. My husband and a few friends thought that "Dot Seven" was more appropriate.

"Seven" meets all the criteria of the Quilters United in Learning Together Schenectady, NY (Q.U.I.L.T.S.) Guild Challenge for the 2010-2011 program year. First was to “go green" by using leftovers from other projects to create a quilt. The second was to think “outside the box" or outside of your personal quilting comfort zone by trying something new. Finally, the last challenge was to make a quilt that could be donated to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative with a 9 inch by 12 inch maximum size. All participating guild members were encouraged to incorporate all three challenges into a Priority Quilt. Here are the 13 AAQI Priority Quilts which eight of our members created to meet this challenge. Our first effort was so popular that we are going to do it again in the future.


"Seven" is dedicated to all the ladies of Q.U.I.L.T.S. (Schenectady, NY) who gave of their art and made a quilt for our first AAQI Challenge!


Below is the list of Friends of "Seven" which are all for sale at the following link:
http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltsforsale.html
Then you have to scroll to the numbers #7387-#7397 for a closer look. You can click on the individual quilts to see a close up or the description.



At the bottom is my "Music was the Center of Her Life" donation #7448. This is the second from Mrs. P's scrap bag of black and white fabric. It is a collection of images, which could make up the elements of one's life. As a music teacher, I naturally placed the music fabric at the center and then pieces in a similar manner to a crazy quilt. This little piece is finished with "Fast Finish Triangles" in each corner so that it can be hung by the future owner in one of four orientations for four very different looks and quilted in the ditch.


Enjoy your visit to the AAQI website at www.alzquilts.org and your time shopping for a good cause.

Inspiration from the J-Class Regatta, Newport, Rhode Island, USA

The family went on a mini-vacation this past week to Newport, Rhode Island where we witnessed these beautiful boats in action. They are J-Class sailboats. Each is about 125 feet long and they have masts over 165 feet. They are gorgeous and enormous to watch. JK7 Velsheda raced J5 Ranger in two awesome races around the Newport harbor. The regatta, however, continues until Father's Day.


The sheer amount of fabric in the spinnaker is breath-taking when seen under these almost perfect conditions. I wonder what quilting inspiration will come from all the photos of this adventure. Stay tuned to find out!

Here are some websites for the professionals who were along for the ride:
http://newport.patch.com/articles/eyes-on-the-water-j-class-regatta-race-two#photo-6624284
http://www.jclassyachts.com/velsheda/rebuild.html
http://www.sy-ranger.com/index.html

"One woman's trash is another woman's treasure"

Stained Glass No. 1

In the middle of winter a few years back, my local quilt guild had an “Indoor Garage Sale” evening. The idea was to bring all your leftover crafts, sewing supplies, fabrics, books/magazines, odds and ends, baked goods, etc. and try to sell or swap them for something new. There was also a table marked “Free” and it was full of items for the taking. Upon it I found two unfinished Stained Glass Window projects. It seems the maker laid out her fabrics, rotary cut what would become the “seams” of the window, then fused all the pieces onto a light weight fabric and cut it to look like the window you see here:


The twin window, I immediately took and applied Clover fusible gold lame bias tape (see description and website below) to all the “seams.” The results were lovely, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the finished work, which measured about 18 by 25 inches, so I set the project aside.

Around Thanksgiving 2009, I made my $1000 Promise commitment to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (www.alzquilts.org). This past year while cleaning out my sewing room, for the first time in a long time, I rediscovered this project and cut it into the three little pieces measuring about 5 inches by 11 ½ inches each. The middle one has been completed with echo quilting and two soda-tab hanging tags so that it can be hung with either the green or pink at the top.


Warmly Called “Stained Glass No. 1” this quilt is being donated to the AAQI efforts to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. Its sisters will also be finished and donated soon.
I wonder what treasures I'll find at the "Free" table next time.

From http://www.clover-usa.com/

“Easily ironed on to straight or curved fabric designs.
It will eliminate time consumed in making and pinning it in place.
Excellent for use in stained glass quilting, Celtic, applique work or projects requiring the use of (1/4") bias tape.

COLORS IN 11 yards (10 meters) / reel Rainbow, Earth Tones Brown, Blue-Green-Yellow, Teal-Blue-Purple, Black Metallic, Gold Metallic, Silver Metallic, Copper Metallic”

CeCe's Sack Charity Quilt Challenge

A local quilt shop had a lovely challenge in the late spring of 2009. CeCe, one of their part time workers, created sacks of random fabric. The store owner wrote, "We challenged these quilters to make a quilt top (which will eventually be finished and donated to charity) using at least half of the 2 1/2" strips in a CeCe sak, plus their own fabric if desired." The results were 27 fabulous quilts. My donated creation is seen here and won Second Place by all who voted on-line and in person during the annual Shop Hop.

In reflection, the very first quilt I made during a blizzard in 1996 was a "Trip Around the World" pattern similar to this one. I guess, fundamentally, I haven't really journeyed far from my quilting roots. After all, with the exception of some fancy quilting, I still sew in mostly straight lines!

"Blumen"

Detail of raw-edge appliqué and free motion quilting.

“Blumen” is based on the design called “Das Blumen” by Fourth and Sixth Designs. The background “garden” is composed of various greens using strata technique, then the “flowers” are created using raw-edge appliqué and straight free-motion quilting stitches using variegated threads. This piece, measuring 15 by 18 inches, was created for a local preschool's silent auction fundraiser. The pattern, if followed completely, will lead to a finished piece measuring 48 by 64 inches.

Given in honor of childhood friendships cultivated at preschool, I hope “Blumen” will bring as much joy to the owner as the sounds my preschooler and her friends bring to my life and home. Come to find out an adult friend with whom I went to high school and whose child is friends with my daughter won "Blumen" and will be displaying it in her home locally!! I'm very excited!!!