Time for some "grandma" quilts

I find beauty in traditional quilting patterns, too. I particularly like the log cabin pattern for blocks and triangles absolutely rule. I usually resort to paper piecing to get those precise points. Of course, when I explore the traditional techniques I have to use some outrageous colors to really wow the viewer. See for yourself!


Wonder of wonders, this is actually a functional piece! Its a lap blanket and a play on the colorway you often see in vintage amish quilts: all solid fabrics with lots of black combined with jewel and even pastel colors. This quilt is called "A hare off amish" which is a play on the composition of the black fabric which was a vintage print that had gray bunnies with yellow or blue capes on the black background.


Can you see the bunnies here? Its kind of cute and yet somehow ominous-- all that black, and why are those rabbits wearing capes, anyway? Another wonder--this quilt is hand quilted, something I don't really do anymore. The size is exactly the that of a plane lap blanket ('cause thats what the batting is!).


This quilt features some of the fabulous fabric designed by Kaffe Fasset. He does big bold and colorful prints that really resonate with me. Because of their large scale they are often difficult to incorporate. Using them as a border is a good strategy.


Another one of my favorite fabric designers is Jane Sassaman. Combining brights with black and white is a favorite technique of mine. I think this quilt looks a little like one of the old timey test patterns. The points of the quilt are reinforced with TimTex so they do actually maintain their stiffness even when hung on the wall.



Bright colors, paper pieced blocks combined with black and white stripes--all my favorite tricks!

The written word and textile art

Its been an ongoing theme for me lately to use words in my textile art in some way. I am intrigued by the juxtaposition of a visual image and an associated or contrasting written word(s). Here are some of my works that have included writing in some way. Obviously I am still exploring the possibilities.

Here is my first written word quilt--9 blocks (one shown), each with its own fortune cookie fortune. I sealed in the fortune with a layer of vinyl that I then quilted right down onto the plain white block.

Here's my latest effort. I used a Sharpie pen to write in the white space around each bug. I wrote in a spiral so that really added to the design element.

Here I added some text to each of the 16 blocks of this quilt. I did this by first adhering the white fabric to freezer paper by ironing and then inserting it into a typewriter and typing on it.

Frida Kahlo often included some text in her paintings. Here is one where she painted a little fluttering penant at the bottom. I've been inspired by that and done this a couple of times in fabric form by writing on some lightweight fabric and then cutting it into a strip and tacking it down.

I'm considering some new allegorical pieces--about 4 of them, I think. They are very much in the embryonic phase right now so I won't mention any of the subject matter just yet. But I am planning on pairing them with an associated poem/prose. I know I want to try something different. Not sure how I want to do this--any ideas anyone?

Chop, chop

Sometimes an idea just doesn't come together. Not a problem if I'm still in the planning stage but it seems pretty daunting if I've already done a bunch of sewing and assembled my top. Maybe I've even gotten to the embellishment sewing or (gasp!) quilting stage. Now what? Here's what I do and it usually works for me: I chop it up and resew it! Often in some sort of "crazy quilt" configuration or just however it seems to fit. I open myself up to the design possibilities and listen to the piece. Then I embellish, quilt or add elements. Some of my favorite pieces have undergone this process. Here are a few:


Only the floral centers of the blocks are crazy quilted here. The technique adds lots of textural interest. Then I just added strips and borders in matching or contrasting fabrics.


Ohh, I labored over this one. It started out as an exercise in working with a monochromatic color scheme. It was ok, but not great. Then I chopped it, sewed all the resulting pieces together and added the sun. Perfect!


This little beauty resulted from a leftover paper foundation pieced strip that just didn't work on the original piece. So that strip was removed and reassembled into what you see here. Its a jewel of a piece with glittery accents in seed beads, lurex embroidery thread and a bit of Angelina Fibers.
Love serendipity!