My work in progress this week includes three projects. The 12×12x12 Journal quilt for February, the Love Ring quilt for my parents and general maintenance on my quilting machine.
I dyed some fabrics for my 12×12x12 February project over the weekend, 8 gradations of red. Red is a lovely color. I was thinking though, while watching the fabrics soak up the dye, that the tints of red don’t really look like red at all. A light blue looks like blue only lighter. A light red, or pink, doesn’t look like red. It is much softer, gentler and quieter. Maybe that is why there is a completely different name for pink.
I am still cutting, cutting, cutting on the Love Ring quilt. I did pass the half-way point so the end is coming. I also ordered a Curve Master Presser Foot. A couple of quilters recommended this foot to me so I am going to give it a try. Apparently it can also be used the same as a 1/4″ foot for straight seams too. So it is a versatile foot. I’m looking forward to trying it out.
And lastly, I spent most of the day Monday with my dad doing some maintenance on my quilting machine. The three rollers were not parallel with each other so we adjusted those so they are now parallel. And the canvas leaders needed some new markings. All of this was in an effort to keep the quilts from looking like parallelagrams when they come off the table! A great big THANKS! to my dad for his help!!
I used to live in Indianapolis. In fact, I lived just up the street from the Colts’ training facility. So I still feel a “bonding” with the Colts. Even though I’m not even a football fan, I will be rooting for the Indianapolis Colts this Sunday.
My boys commented that they aren’t looking forward to the game, but they are looking forward to the commercials!!
Dee’s QOV is quilted and ready to go to the binder. It will be going to an injured soldier. I imagine the recipient will be thrilled with it. It is lovely.
In a post a few weeks back I commented that I have no problem sending quilts out the door when they are done; that the joy is in the process for me. Well, I spoke too soon. I think I am going to have a hard time packing this one up and sending it off. I enjoy looking at it so much.
Thanks, Dee, for letting me work on it!
I remember the first quilt that I saw that made me want to learn to quilt. It was in Nashville, Indiana. A friend and I were in Brown County that weekend to enjoy the fall leaves and were sightseeing in Nashville, a quaint village with artists’ shops, gift shops, and great little restaurants. This was 1975 or ‘76.
The quilt was hanging in one of those shops up high in the log rafters. It was in muted tones of browns, greens and golds, maybe a little burgandy thrown in there too (hey, it’s my memory, so it can be any color I want, right?!) As I remember, it was a Double Nine-Patch. I was in awe of it and decided then and there that I wanted to learn to quilt like that. I had no idea that it would take me 30 years to get that point.
I have a couple of projects in progress today. Still on the quilting table is the QOV quilt. I’ve decided to stitch 1/4″ inside the squares and triangles to compliment the feathers in the white areas.
On my parents’ quilt I am still cutting, cutting, cutting! I have all 50 of the large red pieces cut and 88 out of 200 of the smaller red pieces cut. I still have all of the cream pieces to go!
I listened to the low, soft hum of African spirituals emanating from the slave cabins. Trees swayed in the breeze, as if dancing in time to the music. How could people living a life of hard labor find anything to sing about? I wondered. What inspiration could they draw from soil and yams and sweat? And yet, somehow, they found it within themselves- a freedom that no one could take away from them.
Betsy and the Emperor, Staton Rabin, Margaret K. McElderry Books, New York, 2004.
This lovely quilt was pieced by Dee and is one of the Quilt Studio 40 Service Quilts Challenge. It is slated to be sent to an injured lady soldier through the Quilts of Valor Foundation.
After 9 months of practicing I am finally happy with how my feathers are looking. And I am having more fun than should be allowed. Special thanks go to Sherry Rogers-Harrison and her book Formal Feathers 101.
I was finally able to get some pictures of my 12×12 project for January. The piecing is based on the Broken Dishes pattern. The center section shows Broken Dishes in its traditional form while around the edges I varied the pattern to create some interesting effects. The fabrics are all hand dyed and I was thinking of winter when I chose the colors.
For the quilting I used a few different traditional patterns; parallel lines in the framework around the center, Triangle Elbow in the triangles around the edge and feathers in the light blue area. This is the first time I have done feathers on anything other than a practice piece. The redeeming factor here is that it is so small that you can’t see whether they are any good or not!! 
Hey, how did that Herringbone Stitch get in there? I tell you, I have to watch what I look at on the internet because I never know when it will show up in my work!!
I suggested to my parents that I would like to make a quilt for them so my mom got busy looking through books to pick a pattern. Just my luck, she came up with Love Ring.
For a queen size quilt it is going to take 99 blocks. With 4 curved seams per block that is 396 curved seams… I’ve never been too confident with my curved seams. If I’m not good at them after this, I’ll never be good at them!!
And to finish it off I’m thinking of a scalloped border… A good challenge to start off 2007!
A couple months ago I read an interesting book about art quilts; Journey of an Art Quilter, by Barbara Olson. It is a very interesting read about the author’s experience beginning to quilt and learning what works for her. Then she goes on to explain how she works, her techniques and her processes. One section that I find especially interesting is about her finding and understanding her own innate program which guides her in her design of new projects.
Ms Olson suggests that every person has an innate way of creating that we come into the world with and from where our uniqueness emerges. She feels that working contrary to that “program” results in frustrations. So her suggestion is to find your program and work within it. Some of the examples of possible ways of creating are to form a frame and fill it in, to work from the right to the left, or vica versa, or to work from the top to the bottom, among others. She herself creates from the center out.
Being the skepical person that I am I figured, “Yeah, right” It works for her, but I don’t have any innate program like that.” And I kind of forgot about it.
Later I was looking at my recent work and suddenly realized that all of the work that I have done recently that I am happy with has a radiating composition. Every one of them. Hm-m-m-m. What was that she said about an innate program?
So, in light of this discovery, I am going to be exploring radiating compositions over the next few months and see if there is something to this. I did use a radiating composition on my 12 x 12 journal quilt for January and I am very happy with it. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you. I should post it by next Wednesday. It’s done already, but we’re actually having grey, rainy days here in San Antonio and since I use natural light to photograph I have not been able to get good pictures.
So what might your innate program be?
