Out of the Box Quilt

Sometimes, in a way, a quilt makes itself, as much as I make it. Sometimes I just feel like the the hands, and my quilt has a mind of its own, leading me step by step.
About a year ago, I started making these log cabins for my bed. And then when I laid them out on my bed, I felt completely overwhelmed with noise, and used only 4 big blocks with massive sashing to quieten it a bit. One day I will finish hand-quilting that quilt (It's already bound and on my bed) and show it here. One day. 

It was February when I put that quilt on my bed. I was hot. And eight months pregnant. I put the remaining 20 quarter-square blocks in the WIP box, promising myself that one day, when it was cooler, I would make up a smaller version of my original idea.
This week, going through that box again, feeling a bit lost and between projects, I was struck by a motivational idea. I could use 'quilt-as-you-go'! I could use this quilt as a way to eat into some of my leftover wadding that was starting to flood my sewing room.
I quilted them in diagonal lines, patting myself on the back, because getting the overall quilting design I wanted proved much easier quilting by eye on small(ish) blocks than marking it out on a full size quilt.

I chose Anna Maria Horner's Aloe Vera print for the back. I had a few yards of it because I really liked her "Hot House Flowers" quilt and bought it on a whim. And then I lost inspiration. But I love it with this. It seems to bring out all the light Spring colours. And in a way, it's like crossing two projects off the list because we all know how much those 'to do' quilts feel just as much like works in progress sometimes.
After attaching the backing, I realised I was perfectly situated to use the overhanging backing as the binding, because the rest of the quilt was already trimmed. Saving that much fabric and ironing and sewing, and finishing up the quilt before the light fades? Any resistance I may have had about colour matching was futile. And thankfully! The light citrusy colours of the aloe make me feel like the whole quilt sparkles and dances. I've been smiling about it all afternoon. 

I can't tell you how much I love the way quilts seem to do that. Do I sound like a 30something, stay-at-home mum when I say the adventure of it keeps me coming back? The ideas, the risk of pushing through, or changing mid-way, when it's not looking like what you had in mind, or when you simply want to finish it by 4pm. The delight when you pull it off. I love that it's not quite in my control. Which I think is why I couldn't make the Hot House Flowers quilt. I already knew how it would turn out. And where's the fun in that?

I was thinking just today that I've been sewing seriously for over three years now, and I've entirely abandoned garment sewing. I still get inspired by some of the prints out there, but they stay in my shopping cart, because I know, when they arrive, I just won't feel like pulling out those patterns again. For all the developing quilt ideas, and refining what I like, going back to sewing pinafores would feel like a bit of a sacrifice. Even making quilts to sell comes at a cost. For now, this place where I am, where I can take risks, play, cut corners, or take my time, I've found a sense of identity here. I am a quilter.

Stats and Credit:
I got the idea for the blocks from the book Sunday Morning Quilts.
I use Maureen Cracknell's Quilt as you go tutorial whenever I have an abundance of scrap wadding!
I used Cluck Cluck Sew's Backing as Binding tutorial to finish it off. 

Scraps of the Scraps Quilt

I love the moral of the scrap quilt. The idea that no matter how ugly some of the tiny pieces hidden in there, the overall effect is one of beauty. I've needed that reminder lately. In fact, I think I've needed it so much that I really gave this quilt everything I had, in terms of ugly fabric, leftovers, leftovers of the leftovers. I've needed it so much that a few weeks ago, all that ugly fabric sewn and cut and sewn and trimmed down, down, down into teeny, tiny hourglass blocks, that I burst into tears in fear that it might not be true. Maybe I won't like it. And maybe that will say something about us.

Colourful squares that were made into a custom drawstring quilt nearly two Christmases ago, gave leftovers that became a table runner for my mum last Christmas, which gave hundreds of discarded leftover, half-sewn hourglasses. They didn't begin to be enough for this chequerboard quilt. I emptied and sorted and sewed my large, overstuffed, glass jar of scrappy triangles. (EMPTIED! I have used ALL those triangles-from-binding scraps!) And still they weren't enough. And then I took the plunge. That risky, exciting yet terrifying, plunge into my charm square box for all those pieces I'd bought before I knew beautiful fabric (sorry, my taste in fabric) existed. I sewed them together, cut them, sewed them, trimmed them into terribly sad little hourglassess. And then I cried.

And then (evidently), I kept going, sewing these tiny squares together into bigger, and bigger squares, until finally, I knew that everything was right with the world. I backed it in flannel and quilted it on each side of every second diagonal seam. Then I bound it in aqua, which, compared to any other print I auditioned, seemed to make all those tiny hourglasses shine! Maybe the prints that seemed misfits at first, become beautiful when matched with the right environment. Maybe there's a moral in that also?

Rising Balloons Quilt

A quilt commission, a new fabric line, a birthday present. I'm excited about this quilt because it would never have been without the convergence of these three occurrences.
A dear friend of mine asked if I could make her a quilt for a mutual friend and her family. They've been living in Australia for almost a decade, originally from England, and are returning home at the end of the year. I immediately thought of Emma Jean Jansen's recent lines Terra Australis I and II. They are bright and modern, they have a great selection of beautiful and fun basics (kangaroos!), and it's distinctly Australian without looking like a cheap souvenir shop or retro tea-towels.
Our friends have been living in Canowindra, home of an annual Hot Air Balloon festival, so Jewels asked, if possible, for hot air balloons, but ultimately trusted me with the design.



Soon afterwards, my amazing Tim gave me an Accuquilt Go fabric cutter for my birthday! He actually walked into my local quilt shop, bought it, and a hexie die to go with it, and arranged for it to be delivered because he was on his bicycle! I asked my mum if she'd buy the large Drunkard's Path die for my birthday to go with it. I'd avoided curves so far in my quilting. I'd sewn in plenty of sleeves in my time, so I knew I could do it, it was just the cutting that kept me away. With my fat quarter bundles of both lines in hand, I cut a 9" strip from each prints that I wanted to use (all the basics plus a few extras). Cutting 6 layers at a time with the Go cutter, I had the entire quilt cut in about 45 minutes!

I arranged the quilt in overlapping circles, hoping that it would look a little like hot air balloons rising up en masse. I free motion quilted around the circles in a swirly design, to represent the wind. This mix of colour, design, and quilting is so different to what I usually make and I love it! I found the whole process really satisfying and inspiring. The biggest challenge? Trying to get photos on our weekend in the country in full sun with a strong breeze! Thank goodness this old brick shed we found. Not quite the wheat field pictures I had in mind, but lovely (and protected!) just the same.

In the centre of the circles, I almost quilted lines that would look like hot air balloons, but I was too afraid they'd just look like basketballs! So I went with this simple flower so that the circles would still POP! but would have a special feature to draw the eye.
I backed the quilt with a couple of the feature prints from the lines, mixed with other prints from my stash.

Usually custom orders make me feel limited, more like a manufacturer, rather than an artist, and I've really enjoyed the break I've given myself this year to make for friends and ideas. I haven't missed the constant evaluation of time and price, which usually led to less experimentation and a safer mix of colour. In this instance, I offered my work for free, which enabled me to play, without worrying about keeping my hourly rate above sweat-shop level.
For me it throws into question what I want my sewing to be for me (a successful business? A means of creative expression and sanity in the baby years? A hobby that pays for itself?) but I'm enjoying the things I'm learning, both personally and creatively, while I let the question float a while...

Surprise!

 

I was just relaxing in my yard, drinking tea with a friend, hanging out the last of my washing, when suddenly, a lovely bunch of friends arrived with flowers and a birthday cake! What a lovely surprise when it happens that Tim's away skiing for the weekend, and I'd just started to grow bored of playing Hungry Hippos!

We sat around and sipped from delightful little teacups, and ate yummy fruit and cheese, and told stories about disastrous holidays. And then I remembered that this quilt needed photos! And while I don't have the loveliest yard at the moment, having 2 adults on quilt holding duty, one on baby holding duty, and the others listening to the big kids' constant chatter, made the shoot more than successful!

This lovely group of women are part of an intentional, urban community, that Tim and I have lead for almost 6 years. Half way through our degrees, we decided that university held the opportunity to be a rich time of community, discussion, creativity and thinking through our faith together. We set up a kind of 'home church' as part of Cornerstone Community here in Newcastle, with other student friends.

Six years is a long time in a family's life. Long enough for the first baby to be school aged, and for 2 sisters to come along. Long enough for routines and priorities to change. Long enough to see friends start and finish their degrees and move to new places. We are less involved these days than we used to be, less available for barbecues and concerts and craft afternoons. So it's a precious gift when a pre-prepared party arrives at our door, when these adults jump on the trampoline and hide in the cubby house, cuddle a baby, boil the kettle, hold a quilt. It's why I've started making these Graduation Quilts, for these friends that have moved on, or will finish up at the end of the year. I wanted to thank them for their generous gifts of time and friendship, washing the dishes, watching the kids so Tim and I can go out for dinner, bringing flowers and a meal when a new baby arrived, or when one was lost.

This 'Scrappy Trip' quilt is for Mandie, a sweet, happy girl, who moved last year to start teaching. I used small scale, fresh, and sometime novelty prints, strawberries, bikes, horses and butterflies because they remind me of her innocent and adventurous spirit. Until now, the Scrappy Trip around the World quilts hadn't really drawn me in, but I settled on the pattern while looking for ways to make an Irish Chain quilt. I was fussy about colour placement, had lots of fun making the blocks, and like the way the diagonal repetition draws attention to the little characters in the squares, compared to a randomly placed 'postage stamp' quilt. It was one of those few quilting experiences where I made the quilt bigger than intended, rather than running out of puff early and settling on a baby quilt!

Phew! Another quilt cut, sewn and photographed! I can't wait to post it off to you Mandie! xx

Quilts and their Stories

When blogging about a finished quilt, one has to decide between telling the story behind the quilt (this one is the first of a series of graduation quilts, for lovely friends in our home church, which has mostly uni students. I made this one for someone who loves the beach, because these colours remind me of the seaside), or the making of the quilt (this one was inspired by the one in Sunday Morning Quilts), or the photography adventure that follows.

I made a deal with a lovely new friend of mine that I would help her baste the quilt I've been teaching her to make, then I could drive her home, if on the way, we could photograph some long-finished quilts, child-free!. But then the baby refused to go to sleep before we left, so we decided to bring her along for the ride, assuming she'd just fall asleep in the car. WRONG!
We got the pram out, hoping she'd either doze off or enjoy the last of the daylight, and BROKE the pram as we got it out of the car. Checking that it could still hold her safely, we put her down in it and went for a walk. We got these two photos above (rescued by heavy editing) before deciding that the very unimpressed baby and the dark were clear signs that it just.wasn't.working...

 

Thank goodness for my neighbour's trusty grey house! I snagged Tim just before he left for work, but it turns out this quilt is slightly bigger that the baby quilts I usually make and I struggled to get the whole quilt in the shot, without the presence of weeds, or baby, or aerials or gas fixtures. And there's really only so much a poor husband can hold up a big quilt while his creatively fussy wife orders, "Put your left hand up a bit, no, your other left. Face me a bit more. Higher!" before, his arms nearly fall off...

...and he walks away, taking the baby inside out of the cold. Isn't he good to me?

 So, I'm not sure when we're going to master the art of either taking the whole family out when everyone's happy AND the lighting is good, or getting away on my own when everyone's happy and the lighting is good, but at least I'm getting time to sew, right?

 So what story do you tell when you finish a quilt? And which one do you like to hear?