After the Storm, at Dusk ~~ finish

I've finally completed this little art quilt. This one started out with the frame. I had one that Richard had made but I'd measured incorrectly, so it was just sitting, waiting for something. This sunset is my rendition of a photo I took one evening after a rainstorm. 

I wanted to emphasize the contrast of dark and light clouds. To do that I broke up the light sky with deep, royal purples and blues. 

And to add some shimmer to the light clouds, I tacked on a shiny organza, which was a difficult, messy chore. 

And so there we are. 

    

I've created a quilt monster!

 Marley has been sewing with me quite a bit. She made face masks for her family, handkerchiefs for her Poppa, and a pair of shorts for herself. Two days ago she decided that it's time to make another quilt. 

This is probably the third design attempt

I had an idea. I'd keep her busy with small pieces. We decided on 2½" X 6" patches. Well, that didn't work. Firstly, I won't let her use the rotary cutter, so I had lots of pieces to cut. 

A few changes

Next, she was supposed to take some time at the design wall. Apparently she's a natural. I'd make a suggestion and show her what I meant, she'd rip pieces down and put them back up in a flash. A few suggestions brought her to a design she loved. 

Rows sewn together. Hmm, more pieces.

She sews relatively fast. I encourage her to slow down to improve her accuracy, but she was too excited. I decided to let her enjoy the process. We'll work on ¼" seams on the next one. Hopefully, she'll be able to contain her excitement. I think the trick is to let her make another right away. Let the "I'm making a quilt" joy become something she's used to. Otherwise, I'll have to work really hard and be fussy. I'll let you know how this plan works. 

Yay! Ready to sew strips together!

I'd much prefer if I didn't fuss. I want us to have fun. Plus, it's wonderful that she's so excited about sewing and quilting. She was responsible for all of the designing, sewing and pressing. To encourage freedom in designing, I let her make decisions but also show her options that she hadn't considered. One example, I flipped every other row so that the colors played differently. We talked about how just little changes can make big differences. 

All done!

I also require that she do the math. May as well get those practical lessons in there, too. It occurred to me that I could loan her a quilting book to encourage some reading. Then it occurred to me that I'm a teacher nerd. Oh well! C'est la vie! I do miss teaching and Marley is an enthusiastic student. 

Looks good this way, too!

We're a good pair, the two of us. And it's fabulous to have a sewing buddy. Plus, she does the mundane chores, like fold fabric and put it away!

LSU Memories ~~ a finish!

A finish! Wait, a quilt finish! I've actually finished a quilt. This one is a memory quilt made of tee shirts from LSU. Purple and gold again! 

This quilt is to be a gift. A former client returned to request that I make another. I guess I couldn't resist that compliment because I happily took the job.  

I can't seem to just do the easy thing. I have to try something different every time I make a quilt. With this one, I decided to give color blocking a run. Some of the tees had designs on both sides, so those were easy to match up. Luckily, there were a few different shirts that looked good together and could make a large color block.

six gold blocks, note that I placed
 the two heavy designs side-by-side

four purple blocks from three quilts;
not all blocks are the same size

Of course, I didn't made this color block decision until after I'd already sewed columns together, so I had to rip a few seams out to make things match up. 

one block from many small designs

one block from four designs,
two pockets, and some filler area

Some of the tees had small designs that I could sew into one block. On the left block two pieces are actually pockets, which I left intact and open. Since I got two blocks this way, I was able to get 30 blocks to sew into five blocks by six blocks, making the quilt 70" x 84".


As I generally do with memory quilts, I chose to quilt each shirt or section with a different quilting motif. In the collage above you can see that the gray has an allover meander of loops within loops; the white Spring Greening Day has a tight flower motif; the purple (though it looks blue) has one of my favorites, scrolls; and the white Tabasco shirt has bamboo stalks. 

Each one either mimics a design on the shirt itself or picks up the theme of the shirt. For example, Avery Island, where Tabasco is made and bottled, has a grove of huge bamboo stalks and a large Buddha statue. Anyone who has toured the island would remember seeing the bamboo grove. Many brides have their bridals taken in the gardens, and there's a place in the grove where photo subjects can easily step into the bamboo for shots. I'm not sure that it's encouraged, however. 

And finally for the binding I chose this interesting tiger-skin cotton from my stash. The colors are blackish purple and shades of gold. I'm not sure I'm thrilled but it fits the theme of the quilt and seems to frame it well. 

		Quilt Stats
	Name:	LSU Memories
	Size:	70 x 84
	Fabrics:	Tee shirts from client
	Backing:	Natural muslin
	Binding:	Tiger-skin fabric from stash
	Batting:	100% Cotton
	Pattern:	Puzzle design
	Quilting:	custom design based on tee-shirts
	Completed:	2018 August

Here's another LSU quilt from 2012. It seems that I've made two LSU quilts already, but I can't seem to find the other. I suppose that I've lost track of all these memory quilts. A bit ironic, don't you think?

Link Ups

(It is a quilt finish, after all!)

My Quilt Infatuation (NTT)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

Pin It Weekly #251

Celebration pins

More about this to come...

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: P U R P L E

I may have found inspiration in the color purple already, but the quilt I finished this week really has me thinking purple. Then I looked in to see how much purple I have. 

These are my purple fabrics.
Aren't they nicely organized?

It's not so bad as I thought, though it's plenty of fabric for one color. What was I thinking? Oh, yes, all those granddaughters. That's what I was thinking--the color of bright smiles and sparkly eyes when we discovered a perfect fabric. 

I must admit, when the girls were with me at a fabric store, they could easily convince me to buy their favorite fabric of the day. Though generally it was pink (that's a pile of one color!) I was duped into several others as well. 

So it goes when you wait as long as I did for a little girl to come into your life. Then you're blessed with many and the gratitude is unspeakable. 

Not my purple buttons, but aren't they lovely?

When you have such a love for grandies, you let them enjoy every bit of every thing possible, because you've come to realize how short life is and know that some experiences and memories are worth everything it will cost you. 

And you make quilts. 

Have  a beautiful, purple kind of week!

Mrs. Bertha's quilt ~~ a finish!

Just under the wire, too. I've had this quilt top for a couple of months. One of my guild sisters asked me to "quilt it heavily." (She maybe should not have given me an "whenever you can" deadline.) I had great fun as you can see. There are 72 small blocks and every one has a different motif! 



I was getting nervous for bit, then realized that I can make up create design more, which I do anyway. It seemed that my brain was tapped out around number 56 50. 

I looked around and found a couple of inspiring ideas. There are quilts all around me, after all. So I stole  remembered some of my own designs, found a few from other designers that I've used before, then create a few from my own little head.




Here are a few:

vines

favorite

numbers (2018, one
number per block)

new designs (all are on a loop) 

Four of my favorite Link Ups!

My Quilt Infatuation (NTT)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!)

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday) 

AmandaJean is taking a “Finish It Up Friday” summer break after today's post