Building Peace, Coming Home, Healing

I've been sick with the flu this week and laying in bed feeling sorry for yourself leads to some serious thinking time...my mind went lots of places and when I felt good enough to sit behind a sewing machine my idea for the Black and White Challenge materialized.

I made this little quilt, 'Building Peace' for the Illuminated Phrase Challenge a few months ago. Mine is more like an illuminated statement. The quote I chose to illustrate was this one:
"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.”
John F. Kennedy

I had dinner with a friend from Houston a week ago. She had just attended her son's homecoming ceremony in Colorado a few days before our dinner. He had served in Iraq for almost a year. While she was proud and so happy he was home, the concern for him, about what he had experienced, and how he might be affected was evident in her face and peeked through her words. This second quilt was inspired by Owen's homecoming. It's called 'Coming Home'. It's full of symbolism and messages in the piecing and quilting, but I will leave that to you to interpret.

While I was sewing this quilt I started thinking of my brother-in-law who was in Iraq for 2 tours as an army surgeon. He was in the first push into Baghdad. His wife generously shared letters and emails that he wrote during his tours. I remember talking with him after he returned and he shared how difficult it was to operate and patch men together, conrades and combatants on tables right next to each other. He told me one day he had just saved the life of an insurgent and he pulled one of the field commanders aside and told him to do his job right next time. In other words, he would have rather had the man dead than have had to save his life. He told me he had never seen pure evil before. It was heart wrenching to listen to him talk. It was rare that he did. He is a changed man.

This last quilt is for him. I call it 'Healing'.
Jackie, hope you will forgive me the touch of gray...it was the perfect addition to give the feeling I was going for. (the challenge was black/white plus one color) Both quilts are made from the scraps from the first little quilt. (there was a LOT of waste in the cutting of that quilt!)

Now to some business. The naming of the redwork quilt. I spent a bunch of time reading and rereading your suggestions. Lots of good ones. Alobsinger probably had the best suggestion of 'I Need This Back', (which I absolutely do) but I couldn't officially name it that. Jodie, Penny and Kate made me laugh with their 'Redwork High' (really liked that!), 'Ric rac on Crack', and 'I'm Not on Crack, I'm Creative' suggestions. They must have an insight into my sarcastic nature! The name I'm choosing for the quilt is "Wonderland Garden". Kristin L suggested 'Wonderland Rose Garden' and I love the reference to Alice in Wonderland and my mom's redwork creates a lovely garden feel to the quilt. So that's that! Drop me an email Kristin and let me know what you like...vintage or new, your fav color maybe and I'll get your fabric in the mail.

Of course, I'm behind with everything...I hope to have a fun announcement next week...could be exciting news for me...I'll find out on Wednesday. I'm so excited I could burst my buttons, but it has to wait. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Blooming Again

I did manage to finish one small thing this weekend...I quilted and bound Bloom #2. I wanted the quilting to look like wallpaper in the background. It's not bad. Beyond that I've been so sick...I'll spare you the gross details. I'm heading back under the covers. Maybe a good sleep and some tea will do the trick.

Thank you for all your kind comments on my redwork quilt. I haven't chosen a name yet, it's too hard to concentrate feeling like this. I'll be back with the winner when I feel better.

One thing that can't wait is the the list of blocks that have arrived this week for Project Improv. Here they are:
Anina - 2 blocks
Mary Smith - 2 blocks
Angela H - 1 block
Ronit - 3 blocks...thanks so much for the backing fabric...and the coasters...they're so perfect in my family room!
Sherri - 1 block
Becca - 3 blocks - Becca sent money for postage...how thoughtful is that. I so appreciate your offer to help...more on that later.
Amber - 2 blocks
Lynn - 1 block
Cheryl G - 2 blocks
Tia - 1 block
Tess - 1 block
Penny - 2 blocks and a chocolate fix. thanks!
Gail - 3 blocks and that cat fabric...what can I say...I love it!
Janis - 1 block
Emily - 2 blocks and a lovely journal with a cool cover!
Chen - 4 blocks and a bunch of goodies. I think I've used half of the notepad already. Thanks so much Chen!
Linda S - 3 blocks

Quilt tops will appear this week. I'm excited to show you. Thank you for all your kindness. We have 196 participants. I'm overwhelmed and thrilled! Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Redwork Transformed

Tuesday I abandoned my redwork quilt in progress and started over. I wanted to love the quilt..I wanted it to say "this was made by Jacquie". About 48 hours later here it is bathed in the morning sun...queen sized, full of whimsy, color and fun. I'm in love.
I was reading the history of redwork quilts and found that traditionally the redwork was sashed in red. There's a reason for that...it makes the redwork pop off the quilt. With the busyness of the rest of the quilt the eye wants to land on those redwork flowers. Yeah! That's where the traditional in this quilt ends. Most of the blocks are improvisationally pieced half log cabin blocks...all of the centers are some kind of polka dot fabric.
I used my mom's beautiful redwork, some of my very favorite fabrics, amy butler, katie jump rope, flea market fancy, swell, farmer's market, confections and even a few olivia dots.
I love the polka dot panels on the sides and the red border grounds the whole quilt.
It has an Alice in Wonderland feeling to me. Wouldn't this make a wonderful tablecover for the Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

I zoomed right past my first year blogiversary in January and also my 200th post. So let's celebrate a bit. Would you help me name this quilt? It's going to be donated to my church for the annual quilt raffle. (I'm buying lots of tickets!!) It should have a fun name. How about I choose a name from your suggestions on Sunday. The lucky winner gets fabric...I don't know what kind...maybe some special vintage fabric...or something fun from my stash. I can't wait to see what you come up with.
I still have to piece the back and get this baby basted and quilted up. Nothing like a deadline to get my butt in gear. Then I have to show it to the ladies of the church. My son warned me in advance...he said, "I like it mom, but those ladies are going to think you do drugs." I'm good with it!

Excuse Me While I Sew

I've got a deadline...the quilt I'm donating for the church raffle is just about due, and I've decided to start over. I know, these fabrics and colors look familiar. What can I say, I'm in a rut. A good rut, in my humble opinion, but a rut nonetheless. I was going to put the blocks together to make the redwork top last night and I just couldn't. I didn't love it, heck, I didn't even like it. I was so not ME. I know it's not about me, but it is representing me, so I put all the other work aside and cut these strips.
Right now, it's just an idea. Mom, don't faint or start to worry. I promise it will be done in time, and it will be better.
I did have a minute to get my fat quarter swap fabrics together.

Every spare minute now is in front of the sewing machine...clean dishes and a made bed are overrated.

A Cheesy Valentine Poem

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Where ever you may be, I hope love is a part of your day. My present to you...a card from my blog friend, Penny (I'm not sharing the chocolate she sent)...and a poem that my boys wrote 8 years ago when they were ages 9 and 11.
cheesy and sentimental...my favorite kind of valentine. It's framed and hanging on the wall of my studio. Enjoy!

'this is to our parents who love us dearly,
who give us what we need and treat us fairly,
we want you to know we love you too,
so this is a poem from us to you.

we're going into our preteen years,
and starting to think of a lifetime career.
we know you will help us choose a good one
that's exciting, entertaining and a lot of fun!

sometimes we get into a lot of trouble,
you give us consequences...like cleaning up rubble.
sooner or later we're back to being friends,
giving each other a helping hand.

this is our valentine's present to you,
we wanted to get you jewelry,
but this was the best we could do,
we're small on time and low on cash.
this came from the heart,
we think you're a smash.'

ben and jon
2001


ps
i think you're pretty smashing too!
love,
mom

Thank you to those of you who tried to help with my lame choices for Jon's graduation quilt. You had great ideas. I wanted to surprise the boy, but I broke down and showed him my ideas. He described my first set as pukey hospital colors. He liked the second set better, but didn't love them, so, I decided to let him take the lead. After all is said and done it's going to be his quilt. He looked over all the fabrics in my stash and chose Erin Michael's Lush. He had to choose the fabric I love the most (next to flea market fancy) and the fabric I had the hardest time getting my hands on, but he did, so I sucked it up and cut it. He also chose an aqua/blue linen for the background fabric.

He wants the quilt to be modern, minimal and masculine. A challenge to be sure. This quilt is going to be made collaboratively with my Common Threads Virtual Quilting Bee buddies. I'm not sure I could find better creative hands to put this quilt in than theirs. I haven't quite decided on the final structure of the quilt. I do know that the blocks the group is making will be large...15 inches finished. I know they're up to the challenge...it's going to be fabulous!

Project Improv Update:
We now have 185 participants in the project. It's wonderful having all of you in the project and seeing all the wonderful blocks and improv pieces that are being created.

Here are the folks whose blocks have arrived this week:
Marie - 1 block
Maggie - 5 blocks (wowsers!!!)
Leslie - 1 block (those pushpins are so pretty! thanks for the fabric too!)
Doris - 1 block (thanks for the pillowcase pattern...i can actually follow this one!)
Erica E - 1 block
Katie P - 2 blocks (thanks for the fabric...i made it into binding for the orange/pink quilts...it was perfect! thanks!)
Heather O - 2 blocks
Bison Girl (Erika) - 1 block
Alison S. - 1 block
Betty Ninja - 1 block
Mary P - 1 block

Thanks so much to each of you. Thanks for using great fabrics, thanks for caring about construction and doing quality work. The quilts are going to be fabulous because you put so much into your blocks!

This is Tia's quilt. Just one example of the stunning improv quilts that can be seen in the Project Improv flickr group. Photo used with Tia's permission. I'm giddy over this quilt as well as lots of others in the group.

If you have a minute, you might want to take a gander at these too. Amazing work, ladies!
Laura J's Sunshine quilt
Alissa's Flora and Fauna
Maggie's Cutie
Amber's Long and Lean
VickiVictoria's Scrap Quilt
Tia's Wall Hanging
Victoria's spring quilt
AmandaJeans pink doll quilt
Angie's one of three improv quilts
Lisa's Aloha! quilt
Bison Girl's six crosses quilt

These folks must be so proud to have finished pieces. Don't feel bad if you haven't started your block or started your project. There's lots of time. Blocks aren't due until April 1st. I'm with you...still thinking about mine.

From An Overflowing Scrap Box...

It all started with some overflowing scrap boxes. I had to do something to get it under control, so I started cutting 2 x 4 inch rectangles. Before I knew it I had all of these. I also had this white on white print that I was going to use in another project, but it drove me nuts so I threw it in the scrap box too. (it was so hard to tell which was the right side). After some mindless cutting and chain sewing this is what I came up with, my version of a coin quilt (crib sized) and a doll quilt to boot. These are some of my very favorite fabrics from the scrap box; flea market fancy, amy butler, urban chicks swell, farmer's market along with a few others.
A couple more additions to the "need to be quilted" list. That's one LONG list!

I finished Ashley's spiderweb blocks for the Block Party quilting bee. She sent a gorgeous piece of linen and a bunch of beautiful fabric strips. The block is really easy and I actually had a good paper piecing experience. This is going to be one stunning quilt. I made a couple for myself too....I think I'll keep making them every once and awhile until I have a quilt.
Lastly, these are my maverick star blocks that are on their way to Tia for the Bushfire Quilt Project (see my last post for details). Thanks to everyone who headed over and offered to help! Another super simple block to make. Can't believe I haven't made these before. Victoria has made a great tutorial on making maverick starts in case you need a little help. Wish I had seen it earlier!
Project Improv update coming soon. I have a bunch of envelopes to open.

Too Important to Wait

(photo is from the AP story in the Boston Globe)
I wasn't ready to do a post this week, but this is too important to wait. Tia, of Campfollower Bag Lady has started the Bushfire Project to make quilts for folks affected by the devastating wildfires in Australia. I have lots of Aussie blog friends who I've been so glad to connect with through this blog. I've been reading about the fires on the net and seeing them on the news and feeling helpless. Tia has an idea how we can contribute in our own small way. Lots of small gestures can be a BIG help. Go here to the flickr group or here to Tia's blog for details.

If you want to read more from someone close to this tragedy go here.

Quilting...art or craft?

This woman knows of what she speaks.
Mary quilting, mid-1990s. From the MSU Museum archives, courtesy of Mary Schafer. This picture is from The Alliance for American Quilts. Click here to hear Mary Schafer talk about quilting...art or craft?

Gotta love her. I'm with you Mary!

There's more from and about Mary (and lots of other great stuff) on the Alliance site if you're interested.

Be Still My Heart Times Two

I have been doing some sewing. Thanks to some inspiration from Oiyi's block in my Common Threads virtual quilting bee, I have two more quilt tops waiting to be quilted. I'm not really a heart person, but there was something about this block that made me want to make more. I made a total of 12...6 red and 6 pink. At first I thought they would all be in the same quilt. Didn't work....so, plan B...two quilts. Ah, improvisation...best laid plans get changed!
Here's the first one in the red. I played with how to create a quilt from just 6 blocks. I added more sashing in cream to make the hearts stand out more and then offset them with some rich red kona cotton. This one is a nice lap size. It didn't say baby to me anymore so I made it larger. Sorry about the picture..but for some reason I just couldn't get a good picture of these quilts.
Here's the pink version. Again, I played with how to set the 6 blocks. I like how nothing competes with the hearts. This one definitely has a baby feeling and it's crib sized. I'm in love with this quilt.

I actually saved my notes and measurements and wrote down a few things. Maybe these could become patterns?
I'm so proud...I made something I've never made before. A wallet. I know, seems easy, but I'm intimidated by things like wallets and purses and clutches. The front is a nice linen...I like the choice of button and the loop.
Flip it over and you know what might be inside. It's a tea wallet. Is that not the cutest idea ever? Don't you just love the one little polka dot on the saucer? I wish I could say I planned it that way.
Open it up and there are little pockets to put your tea bags. This one is going to my mother in law. She's a tea freak. I'm not really pleased with the topstitching. My little Singer doesn't do well with bulk. I'm definitely going to make more of these. I used this tutorial and added my own little touch of the appliqued tea cup.

Boxes of Love - A Valentine Gift

I’m a sap. I’m a sucker for a good story, a sweet gesture; a surprise. I love that unexpected bouquet of dandelions. I save ticket stubs, frame lists or special notes. My family is used to getting sappy, sentimental gifts from me. Here’s something I did for my husband many years ago.

This gift is so simple and it costs just pennies. No instructions, no tutorial needed, just a bit of time, a little thinking, writing, cutting and gluing is what you need to give a box of love.

Here is mine. The outside heart is labeled ‘Some of the Things I Love About Buzz’ (my hubby).

I took it off of his desk to show it to you.
Let’s look inside. It’s filled with paper hearts. On each one I wrote one thing I love about my husband. Some are silly, lots are sappy; all are meaningful.
I put in 32 hearts. You can make as many as you want to.
Want to see them a bit closer? Nothing fancy, just the way he is and those everyday things he does.
Love isn’t diamonds, bouquets of roses, or fancy dinners…it’s what’s in the box.
I have some things to add...

Decisions, Decisions

I've been playing around a bit since I don't have the "good" sewing machine for awhile. The quilting is on hold and I'm trying to work on small things...things I know my machine can handle and still do a good job. I did some raw edge applique on this piece. It's another rendition of the 'Bloom' quilt, but this time appliqued rather than pieced. I'm not sure I like the stems very much. I do think the flowers are cute. The solid background is an old pillow cover from my bedroom that I ripped apart. It's a very pale purply blue. It makes a really nice backdrop for the flowers.
I do like how the vase turned out and how could you not fall in love with that Kaffe Fassett fabric in the vase and table? I've never used any of his fabric before...wow! A few folks asked what fabrics were in the last post's sneak peak of this. The flowers are mostly Michael Miller's Pod Posey, his Flowers a Plenty and some Amy Butler dots. This isn't a secret any longer...I'm not using it for its intended recipient. It's not quite what I wanted.
I do think it will be fun to play with some quilting on this one, but that will have to wait.
I have a dilema I would love some help with. I want to make my youngest a quilt for his high school graduation. It will be a twin size to use on his dorm bed. I've been pulling fabrics for a week now and I'm struggling. I want it to be masculine, very minimalistic and modern (almost stark looking), yet he likes color. This first set has 3 blues a gray and a cream.
This next set is mostly brown prints, with a gray print and two solids, chocolate brown and cream.
Any thoughts? Things I might add or take away. Other ideas. I'm really at a loss. I guess that happens when you make a quilt for a special person. This quilt is going to be made by me and my Common Threads virtual quilting bee buddies. Help me out folks. I need to send my fabric in the next week or so.

Project Improv Update:
These are the folks whose blocks arrived this week. Again, another stellar set of blocks. Thanks so much for remembering to label them with your name and location.

Upstate Lisa - 1 block (thanks for the fabric...you are too sweet!!)
Chelsea - 1 block (those little kitties are fab...now what to do with them!)
Victoria - 3 blocks
Annie - 1 block
Carrie - 1 block
Sara - 1 block
Michele - 1 block
Kristin - 6 blocks (wow! you are one prolific sewer!!)

Hey folks...if you are still interested in signing up for the project, that's great, but I need your EMAIL to contact you. Please don't assume when you leave a comment that your email appears. It's so frustrating to know that you want to participate and I can't contact you.

Folks are sewing their charity blocks like crazy, some are starting their individual improv project and some have finished one and are on to the next. It's great to see the variety of projects. I've also seen folks out there supporting each other through the discussion threads and on each other's blogs. Now that's spreading the love. Check out our flickr group, you'll be glad you did.