elsie marley

I have to take a break from the kids clothes week programming to show you these quilts. I made these a loooong time back when Kathreen from whip up asked me if I’d contribute to an art quilt book she was putting together.  Of course I said yes, even though the last quilt I made was almost 3 years go. Well, now the book is out and April has been quilt month over at whip up to celebrate.  I haven’t actually seen the real book yet, but I’ve seen all the projects inside and not only are they beautiful, they are made by some of my favorite people too.

I think I heard “art” more than “quilt” when she first asked me and so I made a quilt specifically to hang on the wall (I was thinking more in a frame than with tape at the time, but whatever). I wanted a modern landscape and thought powerlines crisscrossing the sky would make a nice patchwork. I could have made (and you can, if you make it!) the fabrics look like the actual horizon, but I went all arty and actually really like how it came out. The piecing of the little quilt does take some time and I didn’t want people to be put off by that, so I made another quilt with the same design only without any patchwork–a whole cloth quilt.

My favorite part of these quilts is the piped binding. I like how it frames the quilt and is just barely there. I know it’s a little hokey, but I also like how the binding is a little like a wire. These quilts have been gone for a long time and it’s nice to have them home again.  I was just sitting back that whole time while Kathreen was working her patootie off.  She did an amazing amount of work to put this beautiful book together and now I should get my butt to a book store to see it for real.

This was my month for the one quilt project. I was pretty picky with the instructions (well I’m picky, I can’t help it) and the fabric choices were not super thrilling (unless you like gray as much as I do).  But I did ask everyone to incorporate a 3D or textural element into their block, which I was pretty excited about. Granted, I have no idea if this will even work in a quilt, but whatever. I used pleats for my block and thought it turned out well until I read my directions and had to add another strip of fabric to make it the right size. I’m going to put all the blocks in a line down the middle of the quilt. And once (if) it gets done it will go in our bedroom, because I spilled bleach all over our quilt. real swift, meg.

Dorie from tumbling blocks asked me if I’d like to help her start a quilt block swap much like the virtual quilting bee and common thread, where 11 people make a quilt block for one person each month.  Of course I said yes and many months later we actually got the thing up and running. Dorie had the first month and picked some pretty fantastic fabrics. I had the idea to do some sort of fussy cut looking at the tree print and came up with what I thought was a pretty simple design. It took much longer than it should have. Nothing big went wrong, but every single little thing did (bobbin threaded wrong, a batch of strips cut too short, out of white thread mid block, and on and on).  So finally it’s done and in the mail a day late, oh well. I don’t really have much quilting experience (here is my one and only quilt) and piecing is harder than it looks–at least for me.  This swap should get my piecing skills up to snuff. It’s my turn next (well this) month to pick the colors and eveeeeeentually make the quilt.  It’s for our bedroom because I spilled bleach all over the quilt we normally use in the summertime (it was just a store bought one, but still. damn). I only have one color in mind so far: gray. I need to get crackin.  You can check out everyone’s block at our flickr page if you like and see all the lovely ladies who are involved.

Actually, it’s quite difficult to find pictures of the things I have made, as most of them were gifts. And, to be honest, probably finished moments before they were given, so there was no time to take a picture. But last year I made a quilt (again as a gift) and I could not stop taking pictures of it. Denyse Schmidt’s book had recently come out and it seemed everyone in the craft world was making a quilt. I have been reading craft blogs for a long time now, and though the pictures and stories are beautiful and inspiring, they tend to make things look easy (not that I blame them. It’s embarassing to write about the full blown argument you had with your sewing machine or admidt to breaking down and sobbing when you discover you have to rip out yet another seam–because, dammit, this is supposed to be relaxing. Or am I the only one who does these things?). Making a quilt is not easy. And making a full size quilt in a month will drive you mad. I picked the pattern that seemed the most straight forward–it was tied, not quilted and all the seams were straight. I was so new to sewing and there was much crying and swearing and walking to the repair shop with an 8 month old on my back and my sewing machine under my arm, but I finished and on time to boot. The experience was incrediblly rewarding: I learned about my machine, about how I work, and how to make a quilt.