A Quilt is a Hug you can Keep

When someone you thought you had lost shows up, you are in for a rollercoaster of emotions. The years somehow fall away when you connect. I recently was contacted by a young woman who I knew as a baby and little girl. She reached out like a magic wand and splashed stars and sparkles with her wise words and glorious smile. We are all delighted and relieved to have her in our lives once again. She had a birthday last week. Over the years when we had lost touch, her birthday was a whistful time of hoping she was happy and felt loved. Now we could celebrate with her. The best gift I can give is a quilt I've made. I sewed up a most Cheerful quilt out of summer batiks, nine different colors. The pattern is slices of citrus fruits in oranges, yellows, and greens, with a blue gradient background. Because the batiks are tightly woven I did raw edge machine applique. For the back of the quilt, the part that touches you, I used three different shades of minky in green and blue. I used a technique that makes the backing fold over to the front and slef-bind.

My other recent project for a family I've known many years, was a handfasting sash for a wedding. The groom wanted a combination of Viking runes for his part, and hebrew letters and a yoga hamsa symbol for the bride. The center was a tree of life symbol. He wanted the sash made from black handkerchief weight linen. The symbols were embroidered in gold metallic thread, red and purple embroidery thread, and the tree of life silver metallic. I used black fusible interfacing to stabilize the soft fabric. It turned out magical and sweet. 55 inches long tapered at the ends, 2 3/4 inches wide. May their union be full of love and thrive like a garden well tended.

Embrace the Suck

I recently read a book that had a big influence on my creativity. It is "It's Great to Suck at Something," by Karen Rinaldi. I highly recommend it. The title might be off-puting, because of the word suck. The author's proviso is that we ought not suck at important things, such as our jobs. But hobbies, that is different. Her main hobby is surfing, which she started at age 40. She loves to surf, and invests a lot of time and money into her hobby. By starting in mid life, she doubts she'll be a great surfer, but she is mostly ok with that. The book goes on to share Buddist philosophies, and to talk about not being a perfectionist. Perfectionists are annoying. As one of my friends said, the only thing I'm perfect at is annoying myself. hahaha. Two of m daughters are involved in SCA events. SCA is a historical reenacting group. They are very involved, making their own historically accurate garments, camping out and having festivals, and teaching each other historical skills. Diane has been chosen as the barroness for the upcoming year, starting the end of August. Her emblem is a bear, with a group of garlic flowers over it's head.

Her new gown will be purple silk, made in a historical middle ages design. It will be embellished with amethysts. I decided to make her a banner like her emblem, in flag size out of rip stop nylon. I had left over supplies from a recent garden flag, and as synchronicity would have it, her bear became purple. I printed off the emblem, and drew graph lines to hep me enlarge it with free hand drawing. This is where the suck came in. I nearly froze when I started to draw a bear on a 3 foot scale. But I told myself, it's great to suck ata drawing, and went for it. After feeling discouraged at my bear, I googled line drawings of bears. They are a wide range, and really anything goes. The nose and the narrow eyes are the key. The next tricky part was then cutting into the purple rip stop nylon. I didn't have extra to spare. But I laid the paper on the fabric and got brave. Once I let go of trying to make it good, it got fun and it turned out great. Diane's bear looks fierce. My bear looks like she is ready to tear into a log for bugs and honey. Even with the eyebrow she is more cuddly than fierce. That is ok.

I foundAnd, here is my some fancy fringe for the bottom of the banner. I did some thread painting to add details.

Sew it and a Baby Will Need It

I started this new year with a challenge to myself. I saw a Quilt Along (QAL) on social media and thought it might give me some prompts for block ideas. It is headed by Molli Sparkles The draw was to use the top shelf fabric that is "too good to cut up." It is the paradox of most quilters, buying luscious fabric to cut up and sew back together, then thinking it is too nice to cut. Saving it for later.I am not yet committed to the QAL, at this point I'm a voyeur. The first block is Scrappy Cross Patchwork Block by Bonjour Quilts This is an easy block that uses up litte scraps. It can be matchy or completely scrapped out. I've seen this block in quilts both small and large. It is eye catching. I decided to start with a color that I seldom use: pink. I made a block using some fun Tula Pink and Kaffe Fassett florals. The cross is a purple plaid by Jason Yenter. I liked the block although it doesn't have musch value contrast.So I sewed a few more pink blockks adding some value variety. Pretty quickly I had 9 blocks, enough for a baby quilt. I decided to go ahead and make the quilt, and then put it up for sale in my etsy shop.

I chose a pretty Kaffe triangle print for the back. It has pinks and greens in soft pastel tones.The binding is a violet Moda gradient. It frames the quilt and draws your eyes toward the blocks

What challenges or resoutions have you set for the year?