What inspires you??

What inspires you to quilt?? is it the fabric, the person you are creating for? a pattern seen ? a color desired? a need to be fulfilled?? for me I would say that all are true. This past weekend it was a pair of linen/cotton curtains. Strange but true.

On Friday I went yardsaling and for $3 I bought a pair of tan and white striped linen curtains. They were the launching point for me- backers for skirts that I wanted to repurpose into quilts. I loved the print on the fabric yet the skirts that they formed no longer fit. I have deconstructed the skirts and they were awaiting more linen to use to turn them into quilt. This weekend's find was the starting point.

The first quilt I began was made up as I went- I found co-ordinating fabric, measured the stripes, planning to match them front and back and began to cut. After all the wide stripes were cut out I randomly cut lengths and stitched them together. Only then did i realize that I failed to notice that the ruler i was using was a 5" not a6" ruler, so the stripes were 4 3/4 not 5 3/4. Oops. opportunity for design adaption- thus entered the green stripes- I think an improvement.

After finishing this top I thought about how the other linen fabric should be used. I have been enjoying creating geometic based quilts and then softening them with quilting lines, so I decided to do that again. This time I drew up my plan on paper with pencil and markers. Then detailed it on graph paper, measured out the pieces, made a cutting chart and began to construct the squares. In the midst of all this I realized that my main fabric is not of great quality and if I am going to do the work to make this a good quilt I needed to shop for another selection- today's task.

This weekend I was restitching my son's 17 yr old blanket. It has been covered once and is again threadbare- oh that I had vision 17 yrs ago of the love that would be attached to t his gift of love. NOTE- use the best fabric you can, because the quilts may get more attention than you ever can imagine. The difference in the fabric's ability to endure is the starting quality.

Here are some starter pictures of what is in the works.

The power of a quilt

Today a project I worked on brought a friend to tears. She cried as she looked at the quilted shirts that her son had worn, that she had moved time and time again. That she knew were always waiting in the box for the promise to be fulfilled, and yet never was. Today the dream and hope became reality and what a joy it was to be part of the fulfilling of the promise.

What started a few weeks ago as a box of shirts worn and stained yet filled with meaning and memories for this family today began their journey home. As I worked on the quilt I found my excitement grow as I watched it come together and be transformed from useless shirts into two 4 x 4 quilts. Each backed with flannel, soft and cuddly yet fine for display as well. Memories flood back as the family recalls the teams, the father son time spent together.

Today I saw the power of a quilt in action. It is more than fabric and stuffing, more than thread and batting. It is memories to be made or to be recalled. A quilt can tell a story, recall special times and bring comfort as you struggle through times. The fabric can soothe and can comfort. The patterns and color can decorate and enhance.

Today my quilting flame has been fanned, by the response of my friend, by recent affirmations of the skill I have acquired, by the realization of the power of encouragement a quilt can express. What a blessing to help have been part in lifting the burden of an unmet promise, what joy awaits this Mom as she surprises her son with his past, possibly forgotten for the moment, yet how many of them will flood back with the many patches of his quilt.

A quilt- a vehicle of love, caring and encouragement. A way to tell a story, bind memories and affirm another.

Tis the seaon to stitch

I have sewn for years. For years I said that one day I would quilt. One day... slowly life simplified or my interests changed. One day I realized that the season for beginning to quilt had arrived. I had margin in my life where I could pick up the dream of learning to quilt.

When I lived in North Carolina several years ago my friend Laura started me on my quiliting pathway. She took time to teach, and insist, on good technique and form. She introduced me to the ruler, rotary cutter and going slow. Slow is not my nature, so quilting has been an ongoing exercise in discipline, one that shows my failures in wonky seams and icky stitching. I begain a railfence pattern. Life kept interfering so we did not come to the end of the project when I left NC. She graciously mailed me the instructions and I finished it a year later, on my own.

Since that time I have worked my way through the book that she sent me, learning a few new patterns and experimenting with color and fabrics. I have found that I am in LOVE with color... the choosing, the mixing and the fun of selecting fabrics and surprising myself with the results. I guess I should not be surprised as I am one of a line of artists in the family tree and so it kind of makes sense... but it has been a delight to find such joy in the journey.

In the past few years I have taken over the dining room as my quilting/sewing headquarters and continue to create. I have figured out that to quilt well one must quilt... its an investment of time or $$. I think I have more time than $$ so I do alot of sewing, evaluating and climbing the learning curve. I have found that I can experiment and bless others with my pieces that I see the oops's in and they just see the beauty. A double blessing and it doesnt feel like i am just doing meaningless lesson work in the process.

As I began to need to 'qulit" the quilts I was working on I also found that it was another time vs money deal. For a mere 1K I could buy the wonderful Bernina attachment that would take all the work out of freemotion quilting, but I dont own a Bernina. So, I spent the time and now hours later my stitching seems to be regulating itself on its own. I think it was worth the time invested as I am continuing to be able to quilt my work as I go.

A friend once showed me her stash of tops... they filled a laundry basket and then some... all waiting for the final glory... the quilting. I decided then that i would need to discipline myself to not get too far ahead of my stitching... rather keep quiliting along with the stithcing so I did not end up with UFO's ... things I am well familiar with from sewing clothing that has been cut out but not stitched and is now out of fashion or outgrown.

As I have quilted there have been lessons learned, projects done and joy to be shared. Since I enjoy writing it seemed time to start this blog to share my journey and the creativity of it with others.