Tag Archives: pink

chugging along

Vacations (not mine), house cleaning, appointments, arranging college tours, two birthdays, SAT prep classes, allergic reactions (also not mine), snow, snow and more snow (and possibly MORE snow starting at midnight tonight). Through it all, virtually no blogging, but a fair amount of stitching.

This b-day card for my younger son started with the central rectangle, which had been zig-zagged together at some much earlier moment. The upholstery sample seemed a good base, picking up the check pattern of the ‘windowed’ linen. For the roof and background, I used cloth that had been immersed in the indigo tub last summer. Pairing almost anything with indigo-dyed cloth makes me happy these days, I don’t know why. Since D. is a Pisces, a bit of batiked fish seemed appropriate, and the cotton lawn in my scrap basket formed lovely, wrinkly moon and butterfly shapes when cut. The pink linen backing is from a tunic that I used to wear. This ‘card’ needed to carry a bit of me.

I was determined to keep the butterfly simple.

But, I could not resist adding ANOTHER backing cloth which adds a fair amount of additional graphic interest.

It is very nearly done – as are ‘cards’ for my older son (they were born two years, three days, and 15 minutes apart!) and for my husband (his is a Valentine). More on those soon!!

Turning of the year

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The leaves are down, and raked, pretty much. The hydrangea near the side steps catches the morning sun. Each lacecap has retained a ring of dessicated petals. They bob slightly in a breeze, like a spindly offering of gold coins to the coming winter. Cold has finally descended.

Yesterday I hung a selection of work at the New Art Center. Even if not a single piece sells, I am grateful for the DEADLINE — it forced me to finish two new quilts. I am calling one of them “L.A. Circles” because a key fabric was purchased during a visit to Los Angeles this past February.

There are the L.A. circles in the middle, above — a fantastic pink and black burnt velvet.

There are some of the larger pink circles in the lower middle, flipped to their ‘wrong’ side. The hut on the right incorporates half of a woven-strip-square and uses another sheer fabric for a roof — a blouse from a thrift store.

Another couple of woven-strip-squares were incorporated on this side. Many fabrics were overlaid in what seems to be a new way to work (overwork?!!) for me, obscuring the obvious outlines of the squares. This might be the first quilt that I heavily hand AND machine-quilted.The title “L.A. Circles” emerged quite some time ago – not just because of the burnt velvet, but also because of the solar disks — the sunflower, the stitched linen. I had fun emphasizing the circle shape with machine stitching.

teeny-scenery

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This fragment surfaced during the flood clean up. I had set it aside to reincorporate into a larger piece, but when I saw it again, it looked complete. Added the background grid, some of the up and down stitching over the black and zig-zagged the edges. The wonderful house in black outline and tree came from a pair of Capris.

Finishing small things

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Here is the word added to the small Journal Quilt. I think of ‘freedom’ as something robust and tawny (who knows why), and yet here it is in a whispery pink. . . freedom as something subtle and fragile.

This is the finished piece.

The moon gave me a few problems. The chenille vine upholstery fabric was thick, and seamed, even thicker. Next time, lay flat and don’t seam? In any case, to cover the bump, I added lace. And, to balance things out a little, I tore some of the blue netting.

The lower lunar section reveals an inkjet fabric print of an antique map of the constellations.

“Free” has been on my mind in the wake of handling all of my free fabrics. “Free” is on my mind thinking about what holds me back. Something about spring sets a little piece of me free. So grateful.

Back to it

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Finally put the taxes, a commission, a benefits process, and a series of gardening consultations behind me long enough to work on some quilts that have been languishing.

This little piece came from one of my ** New ** works-in-progress drawers and was constructed last spring, back when I was still making journal quilts.

The vertical edges needed bound, and I so wanted the blue and white swirly because of the way it picked up the floral motif and the black and white near the hut, but it was way, way, too much.

Or, maybe it wasn’t too much, but it was a different quilt in the making and I wanted to finish this one in the mood in which it began.

So I went with the soft green.

After binding it, I fiddled with the moon some more, added a word, and quilted here and there. I’ll show you tomorrow. The quilt reminds me of how fertile the journal-quilting-process was. I think I’ll begin again. Last year, I made a quilt-a-week (small, unbound) from January to about June, I think.

It rained again. Day was full, satisfying.

Pattern and Outrage

cloth, justice, writing, and food