I have several projects in progress and a serious to do list, but I couldn't resist starting and finishing a new project: a life sized salmon fiber sculpture/pillow. I used batiks and some lovely new Gradient print from Moda. I used a copy of this pattern which was well written and illustrated by JanLee Irving, who is an Alaska resident. She knows her fish. This one has all of the fins that a wild Salmon has. Hatchery fish have their dorsal fin clipped for identification. They may be kept, while the wild ones can only be gently caught and released.
36" from nose to tail. My name tag is on the belly.
Pattern for sale in my etsy shop. Written by JanLee Irving.
"
You can see the embellishment details here: ribbons and rick rack.
The fins are made from interfaced ironing board fabric, the metalic shiny gold stuff.
One detail I'd edit: the original placement of the eye (see stitching lines?) looked odd. I used my seam ripper and moved the eyes forward. The mouth stitching also had to go.
The gills are dimensional. The head is velvet remnant from a Sue Spargo tote that I made and wrote about in May of 2013. The center of the eye is black pleather, also from a remnant, from a Cat-woman Halloween costume I made for Caroline over a dozen years ago. See? It is important to save those cool remnants. They are still good. There is even a fancy word for that: mottainai, a Japanese word that means too good to waste. It is a beautiful term from Buddhism that is central to the mindful upbringing of most Japanese, (notably the elder, traditional people) that honors the preciousness of things.
Synchronicity. As I wrote this blog post , my sister, Pam, who is touring Japan, saw this at the Amuse Museum.
This pillow looks great in our living room area, which has a Steelhead Quilt on the wall and a cotton fish blanket draped over the couch. For those of you who are not Idaho natives, Steelhead and Salmon are two types of fish that are anadromous. They hatch here on our Salmon River, migrate to the Pacific Ocean, and return to spawn. They have to navigate 4 dams and a serious assault by sea lions. It is no wonder their numbers are dwindling.
I have been working on several other projects, one a special commission. Someone in quilt club asked me a few weeks ago if I sew every day. Yes, I do. I am a lucky woman.
The recurring feeling I have is too much to do and not enough free time. Even though I am retired and my days are my own I still feel this way sometimes. As I was writing my Morning Pages I listed all of my to-dos. Then I wrote about wanting to do some fun sewing as a reward for doing the chores. But wait! I thought. Eat dessert first! Do the fun stuff first and then the chores. Who is the boss of me anyway?
So here is a recap of some of the sewing projects I have finished since my last blog post. It will look like a lot because I haven't blogged in forever.
Rose Garden lotto blocks from the quilt club. I added a few in tones with a touch of yellow to push the color perspective.
Bugss in the garden. I LOVE bug fabric. This is Cotton and Steel from my sister.
I am donating the Rose Garden Quilt to my quilt guild's annual Quilt Auction. A portion of the money goes to our tiny community.The rose garden blocks were a UFO from several years ago.
Angies Butterfly Get Well Quilt.
The Butterfly quilt above was made for cousin Angie who battled lymphoma, and beat it into remission. The center big butterfly is made with golf fabrics. That is a nod to my cousin Angie's favorite hobby. My sister and I made the blocks, I put it together, and then Pam quilted it. It is 84" square, made from a fun Elizabeth Hartman Pattern.
I made another butterfly quilt to raffle for my son-in-law's fund raising efforts. He had a liver transplant 3 months ago for a fatal liver disease, PSC, and is recovering very well. His transplant was a partial liver from a living donor. The donor, Rachel is completely recovered and both have regenerated full livers.
Don't Quit Before the Miracle Happens
This quilt was sewn with all Moda batiks and the colors are so pretty. Pam is quilting this one as well.
Other quilts I've made were for my aunt Sonja who is my prime fabric enabler. She sent me the fabrics and I did the fun part...sewing.
Pioneer Spirit panel and disappearing 4 patch blocks
Hidden Kittens, a Moda kit.
I modified the eyes and nose on this quilt. the pattern had tiny eyes too wide set. I found the repetitive piecing and machine applique a bit tedious, but the overall effect is modern and fun.
8 weeks old.
A kitten after my own heart, in the fabric
6 months old, still petite at 5 lb.
And our new family member, Rootin'Tootin' Raspberry. She is a sweet independent cat who likes to spend most of her time outside running Nascar laps around the 3 acre property. Mr. Thimblepie named her after a character we remember from 1962 TV, a pistol packin' cowboy of the same name.
Ahh the politically incorrect old days. Enjoy your hobbies and eat dessert first.
I went to a wedding dressed as the Salmon River. Here is the story. My friends are river guides whose theme for their recent wedding was the confluence of rivers. They got married on the bank of the Salmon River, and even arrived and left the ceremony in a drift boat. They served salmon for the wedding dinner. Their wedding cake was the image of the river.
As an artist and seamstress, I thought I should make a dress that reflected the wedding theme. Having just made a salmon quilt, and with leftover fabric strips, I designed this fun dress to wear to the wedding. It has a big steelhead, and even river rocks at the bottom.
Now back to the quilt. I was asked to make a salmon quilt by an aunt whose nephew is doing salmon research in Alaska. She is unable to sew at this point, and seeing my fish quilt, she thought I could make her dream of a salmon quilt come true. So she sent me her collection of batiks, 15 yards in all, and said I could keep whatever I didn't use... talk about a dream come true!
I color set the fabrics first. Blues like to bleed. I prefer synthropol to set the dyes.
Then I laid out the fabrics in gradations of color, and cut 3" wide strips. I sewed them together, then pressed and cut them into panels which I staggered. I used big pieces of the batiks for the back of the quilt. I had a panel from another project with animals from Alaska. It really added to the overall richness of the Alaska story.
I thought a sockeye salmon would look artsy. Using the pattern I had drawn for my steelhead trout quilt, and an image from the internet, I came up with a big spawning sockeye.
The client asked me to put a label with a photo of her nephew (the researcher) and some sentiments on the back of the quilt.
I quilted the quilt on my domestic machine. Wavy lines are my current favorite. Then I applied a flanged binding by machine. What a fun way to frame the quilt. Dark blue with a flange of salmon pink.
I tried a new method to photograph the entire quilt, draped in the shade in my yard. I was thrilled with the finish, and so was the client. Here is what she said: "Jane, the quilt made it here and it is spectacular! I'm so glad you could make it...and it is way beyond anything I envisioned. Max will love it."
