Cold enough for quilts

    The sun is shining, but baby it's cold outside. Finally, an excuse to blog. David has his 5th birthday this month so it was time for another 12" x 12" quilted card to go with his present. I put a 5 inside the Superman logo instead of an S.  I am telling you that since most people didn't notice! I let David choose the fabrics (I have outgrown making these, but the children expect them." I was told more than once that "Mommy saves them!")

       I wasn't sure how to express a 5th birthday on the bright fabrics, but Joe suggested the 5, and I painted the new logo over the fabric. I "drew" the design with strips of 1/2" masking tape and then marked the edges with a white pencil. After removing the tape, I first used a white paint and went over it with the red and yellow. Finally I used Golden's liquid gold acrylic and brushed it lightly over the yellow and it is very pretty! Click to enlarge.

       On the back I fused a car, some dinosaurs and a cupcake. The objects didn't stand out enough so I used a gold puff paint once again around the edges, not being too successful, but good enough. David wouldn't let me keep it to take to my quilting BEE.

      Also, my Journal Quilt Connection quilted a shoe challenge. Stories accompanied each. I showed my dancing shoes the last posting.  Here are Donna Jean's, Tricia's two, Julie's, Elana's, Rita's. and mine. Next time, I promise better photos. Shoes have a long history.

De-stress with yarn, dishcloths, Dust Bowl reads

     Show and Tell at our Journal Quilt Connection meeting ended with Donna Jean's suggestion we mindlessly knit washcloths with Sugar and Spice cotton psychedelic colors to de-stress during the holidays. I am so suggestible. I could not wait to get my yarn (some for the girls), size 6 knitting needles (two more sets for the grandchildren), cast on 40 stitches, to start to knit to de-stress!

      But first I had to relearn how to cast-on before knitting, knitting, knitting. I got out 6 books and looked on YouTube for videos.  I assure you I will teach the girls and use myself, the easiest cast-on stitch. How important it is to practice before teaching the youngsters. How much one forgets. Click photos to enlarge!

     Then I remembered that Trilla had sent me some washcloths she had made along with some guest room soaps to accompany her creations. Of course, I could only admire, never use until I made more. I found I had bought a pattern book, Dishcloths from the Heart, and had already bought psychedelic yarn back then!!  I dug further into my knitting bag (one of about 8 yarn UFOs*) to find Trilla's state of Texas with my Amarillo highlighted. All this happened the last few days when I was heavily into the history of The Dust Bowl, thanks to Ken Burns' movie. May I recommend his illustrated history and Karen Hesse's book, Out of the Dust, a Newbury award winner. It also helps to have a ukulele and The Daily Ukulele (364 songs) sitting by the computer. Maybe a virtual "I'll be Home for Christmas."
    *unfinished objects

No Zen this week, but Zentangle and Zendoodle

     Where did the week go? The Beadsprouts went to the MFA to see Nancy's painting hanging; and following that, I demonstrated for JQC what I had learned about Zentangle and Zendoodle from books, talks, YouTube and Quilting Arts magazine. But it was Donna Jean, the leader of Journal Quilt Connection who got me interested initially. This is one of her unfinished Zendoodle pieces begun on paper and transferred to cloth. Click to enlarge to see the beads and embroidery:




      DJ is a friend who is a beader and a quilter and we get together for lunch and the hunt. The last exploration took us to Ryco Trim in Lincoln, RI where she got some trim for her journal quilt made from a Zentangle. Go to Suzanne McNeill's hyperlink above at YouTube to view the process or Google Zendoodle and Zentangle to see other videos so you can start Zendoodling in a sketchbook for work you want to turn into a quilt. DJ says that a light weight polyester batting is less tiring on the hands.

     On driving out of the Ryco parking lot I saw and  photographed this charmer:


    I plan to show the grandchildren how to ZenTangle/Zendoodle on paper, but adults can take it to really sophisticated levels. Get a book to get started!

Memories and Remembrance: two journal quilts

   Yesterday, our fortnightly Journal Quilt Connection was to meet and I was behind! I decided to make 5 quilts too fast. I made a list of the events in my life I wanted to remember or mark. I thought of the roundup/reunion of our 13 best girlfriends (like sisters) from childhood in Amarillo, Texas back in October and the recent wrenching losses of two special people.
    The Roundup is made of the fabric I used to create souvenirs snap purses for my dear old pals; and to attach their names to the piece, I created brands using gold puff paint. I took their initials (either maiden or married names) to mark them on this journal quilt.

     The other quilt I made quickly on a fabric that I felt only hinted at the anquish involved in loss and I made two hearts of blue tear images floating above and off. A satin stitch surrounds the hearts; and I used iridescent puff paint to float over the hearts' borders. The backing and quilt edge are silver.

Close the windows at Halloween: a Journal Quilt Connection 12 x 12

    A Halloween theme was chosen by my Journal Quilt Connection group for October. I had just returned from Texas and was thinking wide open spaces and big skies. I found the "Attic Window" block pattern for that. Several patterns and ways of creating it are on-line.

    I had dropped in at JoAnn's Fabric just to see what is new to find there were many exotic fabrics for Halloween. I bought small pieces of each and mailed fragments to the grandchildren. I decided my 12" x 12" attic windows were too garish alone, and placed these skulls atop the block. Perhaps I should sew them down, but I like the way the fabric floats or ripples like ghosts coming in the windows. It is Halloween, of course, but I had age and memento mori's on the mind :*)


    The following quotation appeared at Rayna's blog (click to visit where you may subscribe by e-mail) and it spells out what happened in the making:

Philip Roth: What I have in mind when I start to write could fit inside an acorn -- an acorn, moreover, that rarely if ever grows into an oak.  Write fiction and you relinquish reason.  You start with an acorn and you end up with a mackerel.  Unfortunately, my workday does not support the argument for a universe of "intelligent design."  Chance and staying power.  That's the hand that imagination's dealt. 


Click photos to enlarge.

Snappy Bags inspire at my Journal Quilt Connection

   Last night the Journal Quilt Connection met to show the journal quilts we had been working on since summer. At the end of the meeting, Rita showed about 15 very graphic snappy bags she had made. I forgot to take a photo, but today I searched on-line for a pattern.  I had to make one. Her bags are better!

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      I found that Nancy has posted a tutorial at her Tattered Garden blog, and a school in Utah has written up the directions.

     So, taking it easy today, I whipped up a  snappy bag. They are so clever. You merely pull on the tabs on both sides to open and they snap back to close! Click on the colored links in the paragraph above for instructions to try one!

School for learning: a journal quilt

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   The Journal Quilt Connection meets this week. I needed to make a quilt with a school theme, one quite appropriate for September. I just couldn't get started. I thought of my upcoming trip for a reunion with friends with whom I began elementary school  in Amarillo. The grandchildren were starting new schools in their new state. I wondered about new courses for everyone, my boys in NYC and Joe and myself.
   I was blocked. But to get started, I set out a sky background over batting and cut the two to 14" x 14." That would be the big sky of Amarillo, the Southwest and memories of school, first through 12th grade.
    Blank. I brought in Kaffe Fassett fabric pencils. Buying my school supplies (pencils and paper) was so exciting back in the 40's. I wasn't interested in clothes, just drawing. Where to put the pencils? I found black board fabric and sweet memories of lettering. But how to compose?
    The 9/11 tenth anniversary memorials were on tv and my piece came together. I ironed Wonder Under to the fabrics and cut them out, ironed them on, and quilted them to the batting. The backing was put on at the end and brought around the sides and stitched as I watched the memorials on television or listened on the radio.

Material Girls Adventure: a journal quilt

     In late June, my friend Ann and I headed west to the Material Girls Quilt Guild show in Leominster, Central Massachusetts.  We took off the day for culinary pleasures and art. Certainly, Jessica's works at that show were a major draw. We started at a top diner, did the show in depth, and stopped for a seafood lunch and baskets of farm strawberries on the way home.  I couldn't ignore this outing when there is a strawberry challenge quilt to be made for the Journal Quilt Connection 12" x 12" group! (see last week's strawberry blog)

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     But sometimes things don't work out! I wanted a basket weave pattern (such as I found at the fabulous  Quilter's Cache/Marcia Hohn), alternating the yellows with the reds); but I didn't have enough basket yellow.  I thought I would have a learning experience this afternoon and gamble on two prints of no contrast. I learned my lesson :*{ I did a basket weave and I used some strawberries albeit accompanied by kiwis. I alternated the strawberries with cars and put a simplified strawberry pattern on the back and drew it around the sides for a binding. Let me tell you, the back looks better than the front. Why the cars? We drove and drove and drove! all over the place, having a good time looking for quilt stores, inspired by the fabulous show where we saw great talent and picked up inspirational books and fabrics. Such sweet memories make me fond of this troubled little journal quilt!

Strawberry Fields: a journal quilt

   The Journal Quilt Connection, a Massachusetts 12" x 12" quilt group, has members choose a theme for each month. I chose birthdays or beginnings for July and posted these earlier. Pam's theme for August is strawberries. For me, that was a tough one, since I prefer cherries.


   When I remembered John Lennon's Strawberry Fields, I began to warm to the theme. After about age 4 1/2, John Lennon (according to Wikipedia, and other sources on the Internet) lived with his aunt next door to a Salvation Army orphanage named Strawberry Fields. If I understand correctly, he loved to play in the wooded garden behind the home, especially when he heard the band starting up. I could also relate to Lennon's talk of trees as well as the elms in his memorial in NYC. 

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     People have studied the song's lyrics and made references to how different John felt from others. One source said he experienced visions that others didn't. There is in the second verse: "No one I think is in my tree." John said, "...therefore, I must be crazy or a genius."You can find all this and more if you Google Strawberry Fields Forever Wikipedia and check other URLs.

      To create my quilt, I first drew simple shapes of boys and trees. I decided to cut silhouettes out of black fabric and applique them to the abstract strawberry field. I used Wonder Under and and then a blanket stitch. I knew I needed to quilt the background so I just started sewing straight stitches from the center out. A tiny border was called for so I used a 50-year-old iron-on hem binding I found in the attic. I stitched over that. Maybe I should quilt the boy and the tree but I don't know what would work. Perhaps I should have tried the "scribbling" open zig-zag black stitch painting earlier recommended by Susan! Maybe invisible thread to break up the expanses?The backing is a larger more realistic pattern of strawberries and kiwi.

Oh Sleep It is a Blessed Thing: a Journal Quilt

      After teaching English and history to 7th graders and becoming enamored of art history along the way, I decided to go to art school on my 50th birthday. My feet were like lead in cement, walking across the street from the museum to apply to the SMFA. I painted and painted, dawn to dusk, and the best time for dreaming up ideas for my canvas was in bed after everyone was sound asleep. So quiet...I could think.

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      Dreaming up new ideas became a habit but that is not good if everyone in the house awakens at 6 a.m. to go to work or be walked (dog). Nevertheless, I still love to think late at night, and then when there are lots of new adventures and beginnings as there are in our family now, I really need to sleep more to keep up with the crowd. 

       This is my second 12" x 12" journal quilt for my new group in Massachusetts, the Journal Quilt Connection. For July, birthdays or new beginnings is the topic. I was planning this as an extra quilt, but the Ohm and Om fit right in with the idea, if the website I found is correct, which explains the meaning of OM. I saw the fabrics with letters and pictured them and images coming out of my head as my head was on the pillow. I made the binding by pulling the backing over the sides to hem. I used a batik fabric for the face and machine stitched absolutely everything.

         First I sketched the idea, then gathered the fabric, scissors, glue stick and Wonder Under. I was off!