Bang You're Dead.

Many of you have been wondering what I've been working on. Well, I've spent this fall fussing over the idea for this quilt, whether to make this quilt, making the quilt, and finally whether or not to share this quilt.  This quilt was not inspired by the tragedies that our nation has suffered this year, though it may be more timely because of them.  The quilt is called, "Bang You're Dead."  It's not meant to be humorous, it's meant to be final.

This quilt is deeply personal and is inspired by my husband's work.  I don't want to share the exact circumstances, but suffice it to say, my husband is acutely aware of children who are hurt and killed every day, many in gun violence.  What he knows creates a sense of urgency for him as well as stress that shows on his face that never goes away.

Though the subject of the quilt appears to be about guns, it is really about the children who have been the targets and victims of violence, whose lives are damaged or lost before they have had the chance to live, to make a difference, to change, to make up for mistakes, to find themselves.  The gun on this quilt is one symbol of violence.  There are many I could have chosen.  The quilt wouldn't be complete without the blood dripping and forming a pool below.  It is a reminder that when the gun is gone, destruction remains.

Violence is pervasive in society.  I've talked on this blog about the written violence that many of us experience on the internet.  It's a drop in a very large bucket.  I understand the scope of the problem is broad and there are many causes: mental illness, poverty, gangs, culture, values to name a few.  I am also not naive enough to say that eliminating or controlling guns will solve the problem.  What I do know is that the solutions are many and we are in the position to contribute to the solution whether it be in our personal lives or in the jobs we do each day.

The process for this quilt is a little different than I usually work.  I thought I'd share how it came about.

I started with a sketch and idea after a conversation I had with my husband stuck with me and I couldn't get the words or the look on his face out of my head.

I moved to Illustrator and did a drawing to flush out the idea a bit.  I don't know much about the shape of guns, but i drew from what I saw in my head when I thought gun.  The blood was in my initial idea.

I was going to call the quilt, "The List", but I moved on from that idea.

After playing on Illustrator a bit I made the gun bolder, giving it a more intimidating presence on the quilt.  I also toyed with the idea of adding elements from the Chicago flag to tie the quilt to my city, but in the end only the light blue binding is a nod to Chicago.  I settled on this design and moved forward with construction.

I measured pieces, cut and placed them on the design wall.  That only lasted for a couple of days and then I started improvising.

As the quilt started coming together I had to cover it up while I worked on other projects.  A five foot gun staring at you from the design wall can be pretty disturbing.

I played for a long time with how to drip the blood from the gun barrel and pool it at the bottom.

I ripped those parts multiple times to achieve the look I wanted.

This is how the top turned out.  I think it's amazing and terrible all at the same time, but I'm glad I made it.  It's quilted with many straight lines.

The finished quilt will be shown in the QuiltCon show.

Fire Stacks

My Fire Stacks quilt arrived home on Saturday. I made this quilt to showcase Birch Fabrics Camp Sur (and some Camp Modern) fabrics and it's in the new issue of Quilt Trends magazine. When I saw the fabric I couldn't help but think of camping and building campfires. My brothers were boy scouts and my parents were leaders and I remember learning how to correctly build different styles of campfires. To this day, I'm a really good fire builder. Maybe I would be a good candidate for Survivor!

I love how they photographed the quilt.  Makes you want to curl up in it!

I don't use novelty fabrics that often, but surprisingly this one fits in my house just fine, though I think it's going to be a donation quilt for Hurricane Sandy.

It's nice and big so some little girl or boy can grow up with it.

I'll be sad to see it go.

Circle the Cabins

Back to the fun stuff...quilty things!

Over the Thanksgiving holiday I found (really it was my hubby) a lighting solution for the studio.  We were at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Kansas City, on black Friday no less, looking for a deal on a dishwasher for the dead one in my son's townhome.  No luck on the dishwasher, but my hubby spotted this lamp.  I hemmed and hawed over it for a bit, but decided to make the purchase.  It was the last one and on closeout, so no returns.  Thank goodness it works perfectly.  It sits against the wall and arcs high enough so I can walk under it, but gives me light right on my cutting/work table.  (There is no overhead lighting in our apartment.)  I can even close the shades to block the bright sun and still have enough light to work.  Watch me do a happy dance for good lighting!!

I'm continuing to work on projects from the closet.  I had four blocks that I made as demo blocks for my appearance on The Quilt Show last August.  I know some have grown tired of improvised log cabin blocks, but I love them, especially when I do them in the elongated version like the blocks in the "Not Lost in the Woods" quilt.

I made two more blocks and then I ran out of the original fabric. I didn't want to simply sew them together, so I plopped them up on the design wall and had a ball playing with layouts.  I finally decided on this "Circle the Cabins" design.  I used another yellow and brown that are a bit darker in value than the fabrics used in the blocks.  I color blocked the outside of the quilt and I really love the cross that is formed in the center.  I've never really used yellow as the focal color in a quilt, but I have to say I'm a fan, especially paired with the neutrals that I love so much.

The browns are French General solids that I bought on my teaching trip to Indiana.  The yellows are both Konas.  I'm going to make a back for this right now and move on to quilting.  No more putting things back in the closet to gather dust!

I had a consultation with a local longarm quilter yesterday.  We had so much fun talking quilts and working through quilting designs.  She went home with two tops.  I'm excited to tell you more about her and show you her work.

Fireball

I worked on another quilt from the closet. This is the fireball quilt.  I made it to figure out how to spiral with stitch and flip triangles.  I was using it as a class sample, so I wasn't going to finish it, but I like it too much not to.

I'm not usually a border person, but I wanted to extend the firey colors, so I made the spiral the center medallion and added a couple of borders to pump up the volume.

I made the back too, so it's ready to baste and quilt.  As always there is a quilting decision to be made.

I have an idea for this one.  I'm thinking of a spiral of flames that swirls around the center.  They may repeat and get mixed with some radiating lines.  I'm still sketching the idea, but at least I have a starting place.

From the Closet of Creativity (Shame)

I have so many unfinished items it's a bit overwhelming, but I'm determined to tackle them.  It's hard for me to focus on one thing at a time, but I'm trying to change my spots. I will admit I'm working on a new design simultaneously, but for me that's an improvement. At least it's only one new thing. So, I fired up the machine and got a few things done.

I tore off the outer border of this, which was a linen that read way too yellow, replaced it with natural osnaburg and focused on getting it finished.

I changed the backing fabric too.  Quilted it up and chose the binding.

I finished handstitching the binding last night after guild.

I love crazy piecing and using crazy pieced sections in other projects.  This is one of my favorite techniques from the book.  I love that I can use up those little pieces fabric.

I also started on these pillows.  These are the second set of pillows that are in the book that have been hanging in my closet for a year or more.  My mom and dad sold the farm and moved into a house in town and my mom mentioned that they would be perfect in the new house.

I've got two of them quilted so far.  I have the third one to go and then I need to head out and get some zippers for the backs.  Another project well on the way.

I also made a back for a very old quilt top.  I'm going to tackle those tops hanging in the closet one at a time.  As that old Egyptian Pharaoh once said, "So let it be written, so let it be done!"

Supernova 2

One of the projects I pulled out to work on is the second version of the Supernova quilt from the book. The center medallion has been done forever. I just have a few rows to add to the top and bottom and one column to each side and the top will be done. I can handle that this week.

I love how this quilt builds from the center outward.  The fussy cut center...

...then the next layer of color...

...and then the final layer to create the center medallion.

I used a variety of textured fabrics for the background of this version.  This fabric is in the center.

This texture is next...

...and this one will be in the outer rows.  It'll be combined with another fabric since there wasn't enough of this to finish the quilt.  I think the different textures really add to the design of the quilt.

I hope to have a completed top by the end of the week!

The winners of Quilt Scene are Brenna and Kirstin.  Please drop me an email with your contact info and I'll get the magazine out to you.  Congrats!

Something to Share

When I returned home from my trip to North Carolina (which was FANtastic!), my quilt and the new issue of Interweave's International Quilt Festival special issue, Quilt Scene, were waiting for me.  I'm pretty proud to have a quilt in this publication.

I'm so happy to have the quilt home again. Deconstructed Nine-Patch is a graphic, minimalist design done in black and white.  I can definitely see this quilt hanging in my new condo when we finally get to move in.  Yes, we're still in limbo here, but I am hopeful that the move is going to happen.

There's also a wonderful article detailing the quilt-themed dinner that was held back in August in Colorado.  You get to read all about Tara and Angela's planning of the event and see some of the great photographs that were taken to document the evening.

Interweave was kind enough to send a couple of extra copies of the magazine for me to share.  If you'd like one, please leave a comment.  I'm going to try and do some sewing this week before I head to Houston for Quilt Market and Festival next week.  I saved a few small projects that have been languishing in the closet for a long time.  Hopefully I didn't pack everything I need to sew.

P.S.  Leave a comment by 9:00 A.M. central time on Wednesday!
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Quilters Bearing Gifts

I've been doing a bunch of this lately....packing and unpacking. My travel schedule has been heavy. That makes for lots of work, but also for opportunities to connect with people and learn from them. I've been in Albuquerque and Minneapolis over the last couple of weeks speaking and teaching and both were inspirational experiences.

Everywhere I go I'm experiencing the generosity and spirit of the quilting community.  In Minneapolis, the MQG members volunteered to be my testers for the Hexagon class I'll be teaching at QuiltCon.  I learned so much from them and because of their feedback the class will be much better for it.  They were amazing sewers and mastered the cutting and sewing technique in no time.  That was a gift in itself, but in addition they presented me with a bouquet of fabric roses.  Each person contributed a piece of fabric in my favorite color.

I don't know how they knew I had a pitiful needle case, but no longer.  Karen made this exquisite one for me complete with needles, grippers, and a fabulous pair of thread snips.

I'll always remember this trip.  The fabric on the needle case was carefully chosen to maintain those good memories!

In addition to my class, Sewtropolis, an amazing fabric store in Minneapolis, hosted a book signing and trunk show.  I was happy to see a familiar face in the audience and throughout the weekend I was able to connect with old online friends and make new friends as well. Thanks to Flaun and Nikol for organizing the trip and turning one little email exchange into a fabulous weekend!

In Albuquerque I did a talk and trunk show and did some teaching as well.  These are some talented students and we had a wonderful day!  During a break we all got inked.

My visit was part of the four year anniversary celebration for Hip Stitch, another great fabric shop and the headquarters for the Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild.

 I arrived at Hip Stitch and found that the shopping center had been "quilt bombed" which is quilter talk for wrapping pillars in quilt tops.  Amazing!

The local guild set up a mini quilt show in the venue and had a wonderful catered affair for my talk and trunk show.  I returned to the hotel to find flowers in my room (by sneaky little quilty elves) and a handmade basket, Lois's amazing handiwork, filled with goodies to welcome me.

I was treated to a little taste of New Mexico.  Being a coffee addict, I was pretty excited to try that Pinon coffee!

Bralia, who works at the store, used some of her special Samoan fabric to make me these great microwave mits and...

this potato baking bag.  Who knew you could get really great baked potatoes out of the microwave?

You can see how much fun we all had.  Thanks to Suzanne, Carla, Melissa and the whole staff at Hip Stitch for making it an amazing weekend!

I haven't had much time for sewing lately.  Things will settle down eventually and I can continue my mini obsession with hexagons.  I have these cut for another low volume hexie quilt, but this one will be much larger.  I'm hoping this will be a couch quilt in the new condo.  Still no news on when we might move, but I'm trying to stay hopeful.

Suitcase is packed again.  Off I go.

Supernova Makes a Splash!

I hope the Supernova quilt from the book will make a splash this weekend. Katie and I donated this quilt from the book to The Ocean Discovery Institute for their fall gala fundraiser, Bubble Up. Ocean Discovery is all about inspiring young scientists in the San Diego area and I'm all about that! Supernova is a perfect fit for this event. I'm also giving away a full day private quilting lesson and of course a copy of the book to the lucky winner.

Katie and I are sad to see this quilt go, but it's such a wonderful cause.  The Bubble Up Gala is Saturday, September 8th!  Goodbye Supernova!  Now go raise some money!

Granddaughter Star and Hexagon Portrait

The Granddaughter Star is finished and took its place on the ladder as all new quilts do.

I added a small appliqued hexagon in the center...it needed something there.

I'm not really satisfied with the quilting, but it's done and sometimes that's satisfaction enough.  Thanks Kate, for talking me out of ripping out the quilting!

I did another design for the back, Hexagon Portrait.  It's for those who like the look of machine pieced hexies, but don't want to sew 200 together to make a quilt. (only 12 hexies on this side)

I like the back more than the front.  Simple, yet still interesting.