Work Quilt - Finished Photos

Early this morning the sun played a little game of peek-a-boo, before deciding to hide once again behind dark ominous clouds. It was just enough light to get these shots...


I know to some, this quilt may look like a lot of random patches just thrown on and sewn down, a bit of cloth chaos. However, each patch of fabric and every stitch was placed with a lot of thought and intention.


The oddness of it was intentional as my muse were the heavily patched work quilts from long ago, where scrap patches were placed wherever the hole was, and stitching was simple but often varied and sometimes a bit quirky.


I find myself becoming increasingly drawn to those old patched textiles. Maybe it's my age, for as I grow older I am starting to feel worn in some places, and with each new phase of life I feel a bit more patched and mended, (teenagers will do that to you) and layered with memories and stories but with a lot of life and purpose left in me... Just like those old quilts. I think there is an inherent beauty to that and I am looking towards exploring it and expressing it in my work during this upcoming new year. This quilt is the first step on that path.


Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback you have given me on this piece during its construction. I hope the final results didn't disappoint. I am really in an exploratory stage right now, fumbling a bit in the dark and I truly appreciate how accepting everyone is each time I shift directions in my work!

NOTE: You can see close up, detail photos of each of the individual nine blocks that make up this quilt on my Flickr site. You can also see the richness of the colors and the clarity of the stitches more true to life over on Flickr, (not sure why but the photos are always a wee bit fuzzy and the colors a bit off on the blog). xo

Shades of Pink and Coral

This is my latest piece.
I find it very calming and decided to call it "Early Sunday Morning".
Sunday mornings around my home are generally very low key and easy going. Early in the morning there's a feeling of tranquility which even seems to translate into the light that shines in through the windows. I get the same feeling from these gentle shades of coral and pink.


I love how the quilting turned out. It was one of those splendid accidents. I had just oiled my machine and was sewing a piece of scrap fabric through, something I always do after an oiling... it helps to get all of the oil distributed... and my hand accidently hit on a stitch that I never use, and as I moved my hand away I wound up accidently swiping the stitch length control. Because I was just doing maintenance, I went ahead and started stitching on the scrap fabric... And to my delight I loved what I saw being stitched! Amazing what a little adjustment in stitch length and width can do. Note to self: Explore more stitches and variations of the stitches on sewing machine.


I am putting this one in my functional art quilts category, because I think it works equally well on the wall and on the table.


Early Sunday Morning-Modern Functional Art Quilt measures 23.5" x 36.5" and is available in my
Silly BooDilly shop.

Note: This quilt has been sold.

Goals for The New Year and Study in Blues and Red - Utilitarian Inspired Modern Art Quilt

Yay! Over the holidays I did find time to finished the quilting and binding on the quilt from this previous post.



I've named her "Study in Blues and Red".





Back...

This utilitarian inspired modern art quilt is available in my shop for anyone interested!

(For better viewing click on the pics!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have been thinking, as many of you have, what my goals for this New Year will be. I narrowed my focus to three things, which I hope to apply to all areas of my life:

Explore More
Fear Less
Simplify

Keeping these goals in mind I am hoping to apply them to my quilting by...

~ Exploring more with color interaction, construction and quilted stitch.

~ Not being afraid of what people will think, or fearing whether or not the finished work will be liked and accepted. (This is a hard one because obviously one always hopes that ones work will be liked and accepted, but thinking about it can also be a real roadblock to creative exploration.)

~ Simplifying the creative process by not over thinking everything, and allowing things to come together in a more random way.

I hope to be creating and posting lots of new work throughout this year, (I have some more pieces already finished and waiting patiently in line to be photographed) and am looking forward to discovering what I learn and where it takes me!

New Years and new beginnings are so exciting, don't you agree?!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PS. Don't forget to help save Handmade for our Children! Check out my last post for more information, or click on the Handmade Toy Allowance link on the right.

Work in Progress

I have been fiddling around with this new piece for the last few days, constructing the individual blocks, and piecing them together to make the top shown here.


I knew that I wanted a contemporary quilt which was reminiscent of an old utilitarian work quilt. Utilitarian quilts were made from old recycled scraps and bits of fabric left over from other projects. While elements of creativity and thought were definitely put into their making, they also weren't terribly fussed over in the design and construction since they were going to be used for everyday day needs and would get a lot of wear and tear. Because of this, utilitarian quilts often have a wonderful randomness about them, as you had to use what was on hand and make it work the best that you could.

To help give my quilt top a utilitarian feel, I picked certain colors of blue that I had on hand and constructed the blocks from strips that were intentionally cut fairly straight, but not exactly straight.


Each block was stitched without any idea of how it would look in relation to the other blocks, as I wanted to be surprised and challenged with how they would best look when laid out. (This turned out to be much more of a challenge then I thought it would, and I am still not sure if I got it right, visually speaking.) Bits of red were added for the "pop!" element.

The top measures about 33" square, which will make for a nice lap quilt, throw or wall hanging. Hoping to get her quilted this week, wish me luck!