collage

Another finished quilt, that was finally photographed outside is my "collage" quilt. I call this "collage" because my goal was to make fabric appear as if it were paper that was pieced together to make a pattern, that flowed through itself. Or in short... I wanted to mimic the look of old letters and ledgers and papers with the peeks of color coming through them. I am pleased with how the final project ended up. I love that it doesn't really have a beginning or an end, this pattern and play on color could go on forever, the viewer is left to decide. 

The photo above is of the back of the top, before I quilted the layers together. I was fascinated by the back on this quilt and did not want to finish it for a while longer than necessary because I wanted to admire it for a bit. I might one day do a series simply based on the backs of the pieced tops. 

The top of "collage" is all paper-pieced, and then pieced together. I did all of the top stitching on this quilt in addition to the piecing. 

The back is made of some leftover prints and larger piece of fabric. Improv style. 

Nice drape. 

camping?

I finally took photographs of this camping quilt, which was finished sometime back in the fall. The colors that I used for this are a bit out of my normal routine, but I did enjoy making this and having fun really just playing with it, with no real idea where it was going to end up. I started by paper-piecing each of the animals, or camp related objects, and then worked the rows around them. This is definitely a project that I made solely for the fun of making it. 

The back was made using leftovers and a large chunk of brown with tiny dot print fabric. I am pleased with this final outcome, and did learn to just let go and make in the process of doing it. 

February

This Gnome is the best image that I can find to describe how I feel about this month. In general February is just not a great time of year for me... I did meet Sandra in February, four years ago so that did help make it better, and it does make me smile to think of those days. Other than that, I really could just skip the cold, miserable month, that occasionally has a missing day. We have had a much colder winter than normal here in RVA, and while I know that we are usually spoiled we have been cold and even had some snow, sleet, rain, mess this year. I know that some sewists, and artists love days like this to sit in inside and make... I have to agree a rainy day is great, but I could live without the white stuff, not really a fan, (and that is putting it nicely)! So while I long for warmer, longer days I have been cutting up and sewing some things, and trying to gather inspiration from anywhere that I can. 

A few weeks ago I found this gorgeous vintage quilt at an antique store, I was half tempted to buy it, however I keep reminding myself, "I can not rescue all of the old textiles in all the antique stores and estate sales, because that is how hoarders are created." I did take a picture to remember the simple lines of it, the pale colors, paired with bold accents and the aged fabric, so soft. I am putting this around 1930-1940 based on the colors, the pattern and the fabric. It looked as if some of it was made from cotton shirts or even old pajamas. I love finding a textile that is as relevant the day it was made, as it is today. This quilt could be in a modern quilting magazine as easily as on a 1932 bed. It looked to be all cotton and wool batting, sewn and quilted by hand.

It is on my list to get outside and photograph some finished quilts, but in the meantime I started this... All of the hexagon "fabric" that I have been making over the past year, from my scrap bin has now been cut into squares. I am framing each square in a pale fabric and can't wait to get deeper into this project, so far pretty addicting! 

Of course there has been some reading while trying to keep warm. The Country Living, U.K. edition never seems to disappoint, with the most gorgeous covers and great articles. I could almost climb into that room! 

And finally on the book front I have been working my way through this... Wally Lamb's new book. He is such a brilliant writer that does not leave out one detail. I have read all of his books, and while they are not really "fun" reads they do spark a different feeling of depth into the characters lives. It is a bit of a slow read for me, a few pages here and there, but sometimes that is exactly what I want... a book that takes a bit of time, sort of like this winter...

sewn, stitched, and bound

I managed to get this "looking at you" quilt and my camping quilt finished before Halloween... They came back from the long-arm quilter and they were bound and ready within a day. It felt so good to have things move so quickly with these two projects. The camp quilt still needs to be photographed, but honestly it is so bitter cold I don't want to be outside at the moment... and it will photograph better out there... Anyhow this one turned out really great, I love how a simple log-cabin design made such an impact when it all came together. 

This was a nice quick project that I got to use some favorite fabrics on. I had the long-arm quilter use a interlocking circle pattern to contrast all of the solid lines. I am pleased with the effect. 

Looking at you

fast output.

I had the whole weekend off last week, and even extended it to Thursday and Monday... and the most amazing part is that I mostly stayed close to home. I love to travel but when I do that means that the studio work gets put on hold... well being around home a lot got done and I still had time to take a couple of day trips. On Thursday I went to the quilt expo in Fredericksburg with my mom, which was lovely,  and then on Sunday some friends, Sandra and I went to Charlottesville to see the autumn colors beginning to turn, it was a really nice time. I had some time to rest my brain as well as gather inspiration. 

The view from Blue Mountain Brewery is always one of my favorites in the Blue Ridge mountains. One of the perks of living in Richmond, is that we are an hour away from this, and two from the beach, and if I ever start to feel that I am becoming to soft from living in the south, I can fight the traffic and go home to D.C. where I am reminded of city living... anyhow I digress.. 

So with my long weekend I had finished my camp quilt, and started working on this... It is a log cabin pattern, and I made it for a little boy baby shower. I never really stick to blue for boys, pink for girls, and I have been wanting to make a black, white, grey, and minty color quilt for a while. I used the animal eyes fabric for the middle and then used dark on one side and pale on the other. I guess technically this is really a courthouse steps pattern. It came together much faster than I planned, so instead of quilting it myself I took it in to be quilted with the camping quilt. I will post better photos when they both come back home and are bound. 

I was pleased with the finished outcome, and happy that an image I had in my mind came out pretty clear once it was complete. 

quilts by others

Last weekend I went up to Fredericksburg, VA and attended the "Original sewing and quilt expo". There were lots of vendors and quilts on display, there were also classes and seminars. I was mainly interested in going to see what this kind of event was like, and to maybe find some unusual supplies, meet and converse with people in the industry and gather inspiration. My mom joined me which was nice since she also has an interest in needle-work and making with textiles. 

I was surprised at myself but my favorite vendors were the primitive ones. They had all the fabrics with tiny prints, which I love! They remind me a bit of Liberty of London, but more casual. I also love all the wool applique... if my plate was not already full with things to make, I would jump on making things with wool, for now I will just admire the beautiful look of it. My mom was in the same boat, but I thinking having to much to make is better than having a dry spell of not wanting to make anything... Anyhow enough rambling from me... below are some of the quilts on display that I thought were interesting and impressive with their technique. 

Primitive gatherings quilt shop

From the Primitive Gatherings Quilt Shop booth, they are based out of Wisconsin and had the most amazing quilts to show, they sell patterns and supplies and I had to get some from them. I spoke to the guy in charge of the booth and he said that his mom makes all the quilts and designs the patterns, I was very impressed with the work. Some of the pieces are so tiny that these pictures just do not do them justice.

Primitive gatherings quilt shop

Primitive gatherings quilt 

Victoria Findlay Wolfe

I really enjoyed seeing some quilts in person that I have seen on the pages of Quilty. That magazine has become one of my favorites, for their clear directions and beautiful designs. Please excuse the quality of some of these photos, I was using my i-phone and there were a lot of people around so it was hard to get great images...

Quilty Magazine

Quilty Magazine

Quilty Magazine

Quilty Magazine

These below are some others that were interesting to me, again a lot of primitive style work. It is something that constantly inspires me, pulling from the past and treating it in a modern way.

camping?

The quilt top, backing and binding are all complete for my camping "explosion". This is one of the silliest things I have made in a very long time, and I must say... I really had fun making it! I used a lot, A LOT, of different fabrics... maybe too many, but don't really care. It is what I wanted a bit kitch with some nostalgia, and all the things that are related to camping without the realistic aspect of what it actually is like. 

I finished the top the other day and I had to step back and look away for a minute because I was afraid I had gone off the deep end for a minute, with so much going on and no order... very unlike me... and then I was flipping through a magazine and saw the advertisement below for Target Threshold collection for fall... 

Notice the colors... similar to my quilt. and the patterns.... lots of them.... and then I realized I was just starting the fall trend with this thing. (sense the sarcasm) And I didn't care anymore if it was "too much" because sometimes "too much" can be just right. 

This one is getting sent off to the long arm quilter to be finished, hopefully with a "plaid" type look. Better photographs after it is finished!

how did this happen.

For her birthday, Sandra asked me to go camping, that was the only thing on the list. Camping is not something I really want to do, I have never wanted to do! I did agree to it though for a weekend in the fall, which seems to be soon approaching. I figured while I am agreeing to going camping, then I might as well make a blanket to bring and to mark the event. I am not one for theme type of quilts or "cute" themes, but I must admit that a lot of the camping related imagery is fun, and I enjoy it. So there, I found one positive thing about camping. 

I am paper piecing most of the blocks for this quilt, which is good practice for a more complicated paper piecing, which sometimes still feels like math for me. It does not always make sense. I did get a bit frustrated with some of the blocks so far, to the point that I refused to take out a mistake that I did not notice until the end. Even though it bothers me every time I look at it... I will most likely fix it one of these days. 

So there is a camper, vintage and fun. I had to add a camper. 

The tent. I wish real tents looked this cool. (Notice the trees in the background are off, yep that was me giving up.)

The fire, because there will be marsh mellows! 

And of course a canoe. ( notice the oars, yep gave up there too..) 

I am actually looking forward to going to the mountains with Sandra and some Friends in the fall on the adventure. I am going to make a couple more paper-pieced blocks and the rest will be more random. Again I am using a large assortments of fabric for this project, and was partly inspired to make it because of all the camping related fabric out there at the moment. I might leave a clean patch on the backing for everyone to sign with fabric markers, to remember "that time I agreed to go camping".