Quilting

This is a quilt I recently completed for my sister. It was her, ahem, Christmas present, although she very patiently waited for it until May. I embarrass myself. I am quite please with it in the end, however!


It is in no way perfect, partly due to my own level of skill and partly to my antique sewing machine's reluctance to sew through several layers of cloth and batting. The dear old thing is a work horse, but this was asking a bit much. It is, of course, somewhat difficult to quilt on a regular machine anyway, since the arm is so short. I managed by rolling the extra bulk up on that side, and my quilt was small enough to manage. For the next, larger project I have in the works, I think finding a local professional quilter is in order.

Inherited

I did not actually know the old man across the street. To be perfectly honest, the only times I ever saw him were late at night when he was being rolled into a waiting ambulance. My part of town is full of these shadowy people, living in the myriad apartments that pack the old houses and hold a surprising number of inhabitants.

Early this Spring, the ambulance came again, and soon thereafter, the apartment across the street was emptied, and the old man's possessions were left on the front porch, a cardboard sign offering them free to whomever stopped by. I didn't go over right away, it felt strange. As if I were trespassing into his life.

About a week later, a friend and I decided to have a look. Another older gentleman, the owner of the building, was there as well. A friendly man, he remembers my parents from when they visited and asked about them. He told us that the old man form downstairs was dying, that he would not return home, and that now the decades worth of possessions that filled his generously sized apartment were his landlord's responsibility. He walked us through the apartment, an old house with beautiful dark woodwork and worn green carpet.

On the front porch, in a pile of old clothes and sheets, I came upon a treasure. Someone's handwork, unfinished. How did it come to be in this old man's possession? I somehow doubt it was his work. Was he once married? Was it a project inherited from some other relation?



I don't know what I will do with this, but it seemed too good, too intriguing, to pass by.

Living Traditional Arts

I have (finally) gotten around to updating my parents website, Living Traditional Arts. We are still trying to figure out what, exactly, is the purpose of the site, but for now it is a portfolio of the various artistic mediums in which they work, and also includes some work of family and friends. The idea is a gallery of the ongoing life of traditional arts, I guess.


Check out the quilts especially - there are quite a few pictures of my great-grandmother's quilts. Gorgeous, and a bit intimidating in their complexity.

Finishing Touches

These are the final days! Of my college career, I mean. Probably, if I wasn't so horribly tired, this would be a bittersweet time. As it is, I just can't wait until the weekend, when the presentations are over and the final papers submitted, so I can just sleep. Maybe for a few days.

My squares have been quilted...



And bound in black...



The photographs were ironed on, usng "Wonder Under" (sounds like underwear, doesn't it?)...



And a cover was constructed...



(this is the front and back - I think it looks like a banner or flag and I want to make more).



Now the pages are sewn together and its all set up on a podium in the presentation room. I had some random pieced squares left over, and we stuck them in frames and hung them on the wall to complete the exhibit. They actually look really great like that and I think I will do more.

It feels so good to have this project completed. When I look at the finished product, its so small that I feel a bit odd about how much time and energy it took out of me. But looking through the book and seeing each tiny hand stitch and remembering all the thought and research I did to make it more than just fabric, I feel like I have actually accomplished something. Of course, now that the work is done I am free to get really nervous about the presentation.

Tiny stitches, and why is it snowing?

I am progressing in the stitchery department. Several blocks are finished and my quilting stitches are slowly becoming smaller and neater. The first will probably be embarrassing someday when my standards have refined, but at this point I just don't understand how those miniscule, barely visible stitches are accomplished! They certainly give me another reason to appreciate the skill put into a quality quilt.



Lately, in my ponderings of quilts and their importance, I began to realize their importance as holders of memories. Historically, there are the memory quilts made by a group of friends for one who was leaving, and traditional quilts were often pieced with scraps of old clothing. My grandmother points out pieces in her mother's quilts, remembering how a certain dress was made with this or that fabric and sharing the memories of the time associated with that particular piece of clothing.

Another way quilts are memory keepers occurred to me while stitching, and is one of the reasons I decided to hand quilt each square instead of taking the faster and simpler route of machine quilting. Hand stitching takes time, and it takes some measure of concentration, especially if the stitches are to be small and neat and the lines straight. And while this stitching is happening, the stitcher has plenty of time to think and to just be. And I really think that this time sort of stitches memories into the fabric. I sent my grandmother a wonderful book I found about quilts and their makers, called "The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art An Oral History," and reading the stories of these women reminded her of the quilting she had before she was married. It struck me that that particular quilt would have that particular time stitched right into it; how she felt as she prepared to embark on a new life would have been pondered as each stitch was made. I am wondering what I will remember from these stitches in this book I am making. I am hoping they will not be flashbacks of stressed out all-nighters as I feverishy try to finish everything before the presentation deadline.



Happy Easter!

on a quilt piecing rampage!

I have been having a blast trying out several quilt piecing patterns. The hexagons originated as an excuse for watching The Wire while keeping myself believing that work was getting done, but I became quite fond of the handsewing and now I am attempting another hand-pieced geometric pattern.

An abundance of goodness!

So much fabric! So many colors! So many patterns!







We finally dug ourselves out of the snow and made a foray into the world... Almost a week after the storm, and everything is still a bit out of whack; those huge snowdrifts on the sides of the road make traffic just that much crazier. But we made it to the fabric store without incident and I loaded up on colorful fabrics. Now I can stitch away to my heart's delight! I just need some good ideas for patterns!

Bear's Paw

The Bear's Paw. First of eight squares that will become the final project for my degree. My study major is art, culture, and community, so for my degree project I am trying to combine everything and wrap it all up in one creative venture.

I have become fascinated with quilts and other traditional "women's crafts," and their role in community development at the most fundamental levels. So I am experimenting with traditional quilt patterns, and marrying them with photography of tools that are used in crafting and building. The plan is to create eight 12-inch pieced squares, and the opposite sides of each will have a photograph, developed onto fabric with liquid emulsion and surrounded by a pieced border. Then the two sides will be quilted together - I would like to hand-quilt but I'm afraid I might be too slow. We shall see. The pieces will then be displayed separately, or bound together as a book. I am thinking a crazy quilt cover would be fun. My main problem now is that I just need to buckle down and work. And of course I need to go fabric shopping! (any excuse will do...)



As you can see, I desparately need to enlarge my collection. There's just nothing here! ok, so there is something, but it is so frustrating to always work with the same fabric. I have decided I really need some new patterns, and especially some more with yellow.



Now I just have to help my sweetheart dig his car out of the mountain so we can get to the fabric store!

By-the-by, if there is anyone out there reading this, and you happen to have any ideas for fun 12-inch quilt squares, or any other ideas for or about this project of mine, I would love to know!