The Gardener

Hi fans! I know you have all been searching the internet and wondering where I have been this past year! Well, I am back, but not because I have been quilting and have a finished project to update you on, unfortunately. I do have an almost done project, but the baby came before his blanket was finished and what they say is true. You have no more time for hobbies once a baby is in the picture! But I do hope that I will be able to squeeze a minute or two in here and there to finish and will post pics then.

But thankfully, I actually have had MORE time for reading since our little bundle of joy arrived. And one of my favorite authors right now is Kristen Randle. I literally found a book of hers in a used book store this past year. In an effort to try new things I picked it up because the title and the back cover sounded interesting. Reading it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of the whole pregnancy! I read it twice. In a row. I am not sure if it was all the hormones that made it just so absolutely wonderful for me, but I think anyone who loves reading should read it immediately.

But that is not what this post is about! This post is about her new book The Gardener. The Gardener is a must read for any one who has teenaged children or who works with teenagers on a regular basis. It deals with numerous serious issues that kids today face. But it is done is such a lovely and real way, and is laced with humor and mystery and wonderful character development.

The Gardener is the story of a girl who has moved to a new town and a new house. The house comes with a Gardener. Is he good? Is he evil? Just like in real life, nothing is quite what it seems. And our heroine has to figure that out...sometimes the hard way. What I love about the book is that the characters are so real. They are people you know, not cliches or exaggerations.

Kristen is a kindred spirit to me, even though I don't know her. There is just something so familiar in her perspective on the world. I just love entering into her writing and seeing life from the eyes of her characters.




One more thing I really love is that she incorporates quilts into her books. In this story, the heroine's mother is a quilter. They spend time together in the book creating quilts. It is lovely.

So please go out and grab a copy of one of her books. Several are available on Kindle. Some other wonderful titles are Breaking Rank, The Lady and the Fool, and Slumming. I think all are considered YA fiction, so read one to feel young!! They are all a lot of fun.

My sister in law makes good...

Good quilts that is! She is a natural! a savant! But seriously, her work is so lovely. So I am posting some pictures here of what she made for my brother's birthday this year. She really went through the whole process. It began with one good fabric. I love quilts that start that way. You find something you love, or something that speaks to you, or something that means something to someone. That latter is what happened for her. She found a great fabric that would be perfect for my brother, but then what? Well, you have to find a pattern and other fabrics to go with it.

So she came to visit me with her fabric packed secretly away, and asked me what to do next. She we took a trip to the Quilting Frame. We looked through all kinds of colors. I recommended a square based pattern, like an Irish Chain. That was my first pattern, and it was easy, yet beautiful. I love that pattern. When I do yoga moves that require balance, now, I focus on the Irish chain, letting it wind through my mind as I try to keep one leg up and one down.

So she decided on the Irish Chain and picked some beautiful fabrics. We slipped into my work room before she left and used my cutters to get her pieces cut and ready for her to take home and sew. Which she did. She sewed and would call me and we would chat about the process. It was fun. And in the end, she created a beautiful quilt. 

This was so wonderful to me. I did have tears in my eyes when I saw her beautiful work. And she created something that will last, that will warm her family, and will give comfort. And it will be like a story, a memory, of how it is made and what it means. There is love in that quilt. And I love that.

Class #5

Closing in on the finished Sampler!
We had our last class this week, and I was able to finish two star type blocks and then start on putting them all together. I used sashing in between, as you can see. I have never done "sashing" before, and I really liked this method. It shows off the blocks, and is great for a quilt where all the blocks are different.

I also got to have an embroidery on my snowball block. I chose to name this quilt "Flag of India" Sampler, since it is the colors of India's flag and that was the first thing Ashok said about it when I showed him my first blocks. Having the emboidery was a cool addition.

Class was fun and I learned a lot. The other lady in my class found that, and I quote "This is not for me." but we both had fun. Quilting isn't for everyone, but it IS for ME!!

I will peice this all together, then I already got the backing to it, so I am ready to send it back to Sandra for quilting. I will bind this one so that I can practice what I learned from the last class.

Class #2

Well, we are working on a sampler quilt in class, so I wanted to show my progress so far. We got to pick our fabrics this week. I liked the Partridge print, and it makes for a "bright happy quilt" as my class mate said. MAybe a bit too bright, but the colors are that of the flag of India, so that is OK. :)

We did a nine-patch first, then a rail fence, then a four patch. It is pretty obvious from the names which is which, I think. It was fun. We are practicing the basics, but will be working our way up to a double pinwheel, so that will be a bit more complex.

Once we are done these blocks we will have a sampler quilt, but from these foundational blocks many different patterns can be made. You can use the Rail fence to create a Blaze pattern...the nine patch can be used for the Irish Chain. You can also mix and match to do all sorts of things.

Anyway, we are really having fun with this. It has been a great class so far.

The Summum Bonum and how quilting is a part of the great good

So, I have decided to make a post on what is "the greatest good". This is something BRD has posted a lot on on Letters and Surveys. It is an interesting topic, and I was struck today by how it relates to my favorite topic, quilting.

You see, after a lot of thought about the subject, I feel that the summum bonum is best stated "to love and to be loved". And this falls on every level of life, from the most common to the super spiritual. The Summum Bonum has to be found in the most mundane, because that is where we live every day, but in its purest form it is also the most exceptional and extraordinary epiphany of life. But we can only get glimpses of that, you cannot live there.

So how does this relate to quilting? Well, quilting is what I call a "great good", no caps. It is a way to love and be loved in a daily, mundane way. The more involved you are in the process of creating the quilt, the greater the good (though perhaps the less "perfect" the quilt.) Let me explain what I mean by this.

When one buys a blanket for a loved one, you are loving them with your gift. When you pick out the fabrics and use your time and skill to create a quilt, you are loving in a more personal way, when you take hours to hand quilt and finish a quilt, you are pouring yourself into the gift that you give. All of this is a way to give love. And when you give, suddenly you begin to engage in both giving and receiving love. When the person wraps up in the quilt and warms him or herself, they continue to receive love. When they look at the quilt and think of you, they are giving love back.

Even when you wrap up in your own quilt, you have given and are receiving love from yourself.

I realize I am straying from the normal way to see life here. Imbibing inanimate objects with the power of love is not my intention here. They just are a mundane symbol of the love that is behind them, coming from or to a person. But it is the lover and the loved that have and give the power of love.

But where do we go from here. You see that this "good" is small "g", but there is a "Greatest Good" which is the pattern for all the little good we do day to day. The Greatest Good is the good that God gives us. His love for us, and the fact that he desires our love in return. His Son was sent to act on our behalf because of His love for us. And then he has asked us to love Him and each other, and in turn we also naturally desire love.

So next time you wrap someone in a quilt you made, or feed them a warm and delicious hand made meal, or give them a hand turned pen for writing, or dress a child in a shirt that you washed, or simply give someone a hug, remember that you are participating the the great good...a small reflection of the Greatest Good.

The hand quilting has begun!

So I have started with the hand quilting of my latest project. I sewed together my string blocks and added them to the quilt top. I matched that with the back and got it on my hoop. Ready to go. I started the sewing. Time consuming and tedious. This will take a minute, as they say in the south. But I am enjoying it so far. It is a great activity to do while watching TV or a movie to keep the hands busy.

As an aside, I had another class with Sandra this week. She is doing a 4 week class making a few blocks a week. We will end up with the makings of a sampler quilt. I am excited to be going back to the basics with someone who really knows her stuff. You see, I am a sort of slap-dash quilter. Certainly not a perfectionist. But apparently, other quilters judge your work by the closeness of a seam and the way corners match up. Losing even an eighth of an inch on every seem will get a block or row off by inches in the end, so the more care you take, the more even your quilt will look. You won't have to rig it up in the end because pieces don't match up right.

She also talked more about ironing techniques and cutting off the edges...Also things I am not careful about. But the more care you take is these details, again, the more it will show in your finished project. So my goal on this Sampler quilt is to be precise and careful. And if I am not, Margaret and Sandra will both be quick to point this out...lovingly of course!

In class I was going for speed, getting ahead of the other "beginner" in the class, churning off practice blocks as quick as I could. Imagine my shame when Sandra said "Why don't you try this one again...use a pin this time so you can get these matched up right. And watch your seems to be sure they are a 1/4 in exactly!" I did it and am better for it, seeing the difference between my haphazard block and the one I did carefully.

So it will be back to class next week with a new outlook. I want to improve my craft and moving quickly just isn't the way to do it. Perhaps the hand quilting at home will help me improve my patience, plus the machine quilting will seem fast in comparison, even if I am going more slowly and carefully.

I will keep you updated with my progress with some pictures from class, I hope, to show how it is going. My new mantra will be "take time to pin!"

Ironing and quilts

I don't know about you, but ironing is one of my least favorite chores. Give me a wrinkled shirt any day and I will hang it in the bathroom while I shower and throw it on, confident that any remaining wrinkles will "work themselves out". It seems like such a tedious waste of time and effort.

So when Sandra at the Quilting Frame would casually state "press the fabric, then..." during a description of a block making procedure, I would simply filter out the line. Who would want to spoil a perfectly wonderful hobby with ironing!?!

BUT, I have learned to admit when I am wrong, and ironing (or "pressing" as Sandra and my grandmother would say) has officially entered my quilting vocabulary. It started after a recent chat at the Quilting Frame. I was watching Sandra put some blocks together and saw her ironing out the seams before moving on to the next step. It made the blocks so much easier to work with...no errant pleats jumping up, or seams pushing this way and that behind the fabric. Just full compliance with fabric manipulation. Very nice! and the finished block also had a very flat and controlled look to it.

Now I am not obsessed with this sort of control when sewing, but part of the point of quilting is creating a neat and orderly space, so the ironing just sort of makes sense as part of the process. This is especially true when it comes to the string quilt blocks I have been working on lately. In the case of these blocks it is very hard to make them neat and straight without ironing. The ironing smooths the fabric so that it does not bubble up. That is, the two sides you are sewing together lay flush with each other. It is really beautiful when done correctly and a disaster when done wrong.

So, as a part of my hobby I will be ironing more now. Maybe I will even throw a shirt or pair of pants in with my quilt blocks every now and again. So if I am looking a little better lately, you know why. It is all thanks to quilting. Do you think that is a good enough reason for my husband to let me go buy some more fabric?

Bow tie blocks explained...

This is a traditional 9 block with alternating colors as you may see in an Irish chain quilt or Rag quilt with two alternating colors. A very simple block, although you can make some beautiful stuff using this block. To me, simple is good.

But in order to spice my latest quilt up a bit, I used a bow tie block (OK, so they call it the Double Necktie Block). In order to make this 9 block into a "bowtie block", you just add small triangles to the corners of adjacent blocks, as shown in this picture. It is really a simple procedure, but it is a time consuming extra step. But worth it, I think, for something a bit different.

It makes the resulting block look like two bow ties stacked on top of each other. I got this block from my favorite site for finding quilt patterns, the Quilter's Cache. Every time you load a page on that site it plays a new song, so just to warn you to turn down your volume if you are checking this out at work!! :)

OK, well, hope that you are fully inspired to try this block for yourself. And have fun experimenting!!

Final Pinwheel quilt

Just wanted to share the final pictures of the quilting on my Pinwheel quilt. It came out great, I think, thanks to the Quilting Frame. I used a rainbow thread, which you can't tell in the pictures.

New duvet cover

For my birthday this year my sis-in-law gave me a great present...fabric to make a cover for our Down comfortor. Well, we got to go and look together for the perferct fabric. It was lots of fun. We picked some good fabric and I took it home. Because of Christmas and all the busyness of the holidays, I never got to finish the cover. Further complicating things was the fact that one of the fabrics we found did not actually fit in the room when I got it home. The great thing is that no fabric ever goes to waste...I already have plans for a quilt that will have that fabric for backing. But it left me in a quandery about what to do for my cover. Well thanks to a gift certificate Christmas gift from my mom, I was able to get the fabric to finish this cover. So MaryAnn and mom, I guess you never thought that you would be giving a joint birthday/Christmas gift, but here is the result. Thanks so much, because we really love the new cover and it looks great in the room.

Detail of stripe Ties off at the bottom with two ties to keep the comfortor in.
The back side has two different prints in cream with the same paisly theme. They were a great find to finish off the back. I also have lots of fabric left to make cushion covers out. I plan to use covers to put over my Christmas cushions so I can keep them out year round.