Indigo stars

Here are my indigo stars for this week's Stars in a Time Warp (I know - they are done before Tuesday night!). I love the background in this first one. It's funny how I think I am such a "traditional" quilter, yet I am finding it hard to think like a 19th century quilter. Maybe it is because I have entered too many competitions where judges just don't understand that I am trying to recreate an antique quilt. I am certain if I used this block in a "juried" show the comment would be "should have matched your fabrics better". Of course when I chop off points or make a crooked seam, it is all intentional, so that I may enjoy the experiences of our foremothers! 

But seriously, I am trying to follow Barbara's "suggestion". I love this one and it was pretty easy to make that one different point. In fact, it may not be noticeable enough.

And, speaking of blue - Cyndi and I went to the New England Quilt Museum yesterday to see the Prussian Blue quilts curated by Anita Loscalzo. She gave a superb talk on Prussian Blue, which can also be found in the 2010 Uncoverings published by AQSG. I forgot my camera (Argh!) but Cyndi took lots of photos and will be posting some on her blog so check it out. And if you are in New England I highly recommend getting to the museum before this exhibition ends on April 4.

We also realized how much this "color" exercise of Barbara's is working. We spotted lots of indigos in some of the Prussian blue quilts and Anita's talk helped to explain the differences of the two dyes. 

And for my weekly rant - don't forget to change your clocks this weekend for daylight savings. Seriously?? When are we going to stop this? If they really want to mess with time changes, just give us one more hour in the day. I think I could get a lot more done in 25 hours!

I just read Victoria's post of her "indigo stars" and I had to interject a comment here. If you are doing this "Stars in a Time Warp" sewalong, I highly recommend viewing Vic's post here , She gives a detailed explanation of the fabric manufacturers she chose. I am so fortunate to have a friend (Cyndi) where I get 99% of my fabrics, that I forget how difficult it is for some people to find good reproductions. If you scroll through some of Cyndi's older posts you will see beautiful photos of her shop. Grab a cup of tea and a napkin to wipe up the drool!

What's the "madder"?

Here are my madder "stars in a time warp" for LAST Wednesday. No madder matter how hard I try to get them done on Wednesday nights... well you know!

The points on this first block are what I think of when someone says "madder". Those wonderful 1870's browns. This was a stripe and, once again, I tried to think like a nineteenth century woman (I think I do most of the time anyway, at least when it comes to technology!). I love using green with these browns. The background is one of Barbara Brackman's Metropolitan Fair line. I absolutely loved that line! 

I don't usually follow directions, but Barbara mentioned the purple and red madders too so this next one (again from Barbara's Metropolitan Fair collection) has a wonderful purpley (I don't think that is a real word, except to quilters) color. The backgrounds are from the same collection. Gee, guess I should have trimmed this before taking the photo. As you can see I am not a precision piecer. If there was a way to hand applique this block... Oh, well, you get the idea. I actually do better with small pieces and I had a fleeting thought last night (which is why I am a morning person) that I might make a set of these in 3" blocks. I did say fleeting so don't hold your breath, but if I get the urge again, I will post them. Have a great day!

And another "reason for quilts"

or should I say another  "use for quilts".

With yet another layer of snow covering the ground this morning, it brought to mind the "quilt walk" of 1864 in Panguitch, Utah. Google it for the full story of this historic trip for food and supplies in the winter of 1864. I do feel if we get any more snow I will be laying my quilts on the ground in order to walk next door!

Come on crocuses! I know they are under that white stuff somewhere!

Double Pink Time Warp Stars

A beautiful snow blowing  but partly sunny day and I was able to whip up two double pink stars for the Stars in a Time Warp. I finished a quilt top and hemmed my neighbor's curtains (a real labor of love for a quilter - you all know what I mean!).

It was so warm (almost 40 degrees!) that we had a Maine cookout at the neighbor's. Fun! We e-mailed out friends in Sydney who are in the midst of another heat wave. So sorry for all of our Aussie quilt friends. Quilting in that heat is no fun.

I do hope it doesn't snow much more this week as we are running out of places to put it!

The Reason I Quilt

Warning – long post (rant), but I’ll throw some quilty pictures in to keep your interest.

Well, let’s start with my morning… I work 10 hour days so I can have Thursdays off to quilt. We have our 4 year old grandson (joy of my life!) overnight on Wednesdays. He has autism and his sleep patterns are often “out of whack” so we like to give the kids one night a week to get a good night’s sleep. I usually take him to school on Thursday morning and then come home to a fun filled day of quilting (after errands). This Thursday they had a progress evaluation scheduled so he got to stay at Nana’s until my son picked him up at 10:00.

(our cherub with Grampa - sorry, but at least there is a quilt in the picture)

Next I had go to our cable/internet provider’s office to update out “plan”. But, just as I opened the garage door, the street plow went by (oh yes, more snow on Wednesday night – actually it is getting to the point if I wake up and it’s NOT snowing I do the happy dance), and blocked off my driveway. Our plowman is under the delusion that we are retired and do not need to be plowed out until after noon. Normally I would just bully my through, but the snowbanks are so high that I cannot see if someone is coming down our street and I do NOT want to get stuck at the end of the driveway AGAIN. So… I tried the telephone method. TWO hours later, I think I resolved that issue and all I have to do is take back a piece of equipment – NOT today!

 (a charm quilt I made with over 1000 different feedsacks)

So, now it is noon. I go to get the mail and “oh boy” there is our Sears bill WITHOUT the $188.00 credit it was supposed to have on it. I looked at the phone and considered getting a glass of wine! No, just relax, this one won’t take as long. I was right, only an hour an 45 minutes!

(center of a quilt I made with those wonderful Roberta Horton homespuns)

So, now it is almost 2:00 and I haven’t taken a stitch. I look around the sewing room at the 12 projects I thought I would get done today and decide to prioritize. I should do my double pink “Stars in a Time Warp”, but I am teaching a potholder quilt class next Saturday so I really need to work on some applique samples. I did some cutting and basting and said to heck with it.

 I really NEED to quilt. There is something about putting that little needle in my hand and rocking it through the quilt top that really relaxes me.

That is the reason I quilt!

People are always telling me, “Oh I wouldn’t have the patience to do all that hand quilting”. My response is, “I don’t have the patience NOT to”! I think we will all agree that the hardest part of quilting is finding the time to do it! 

Stars in a Time Warp

I am shamefully behind on posting my Stars in a Time Warp  "stars". Do check out Cyndi's on her blog today, they are beautiful! I have really had fun trying to follow Barbara's direction.

Quote from her Blog: I also think the best way to learn to make reproduction quilts is to study a quilt by copying it. You copy not only the fabric but also the fabric choices made by the original quiltmaker. It's not enough to use antique-looking prints, you need to use them the way they were used in the past.

The January 21st color was Prussian Blue. One of my favorites so not problem with this one. I pieced the center block as I might have done in the mid nineteenth century.

The January 28th fabric was "shirtings". I have lots of those too. I decided to use a piece of indigo from the AQSG 1825 line for one of them. I know shirtings were popular more than 70 years later, but then how often have we seen a scrap quilt with fabrics spanning 100 years. I thought that in 1890 I would have reached into my grandmother's scrap bag for a tiny bit of blue to go with my shirting. (sorry for the blurry photo, I am still trying to get used to my husband's iPad - or maybe it was just frozen at 4 below zero this morning!)

The February 4 color was chrome yellow/orange - my all time favorite! I used a Lancaster blue with one and a Dargate and AQSG Mill Book lavender for the other.  Love those dots!

This week's color was overdyed green solid. I'm not mush for solids of any kind, but I was at Cyndi's on Wednesday and she was kind enough to share this solid with me. Of course I had to add the printed one to the center. I only made one of these but I made 3 Turkey red ones, so I now have 10. Can't wait to see what people will do with these when we are through.

And, I know people who don't live in New England are tired of hearing about our weather this year, but not quite as tired as we are of having it! The sign at the end of my street says it all! And we are due for 2 more feet on Saturday - seriously??

We are running out of places to put it! That is my house behind this pile of snow. The sign is moot since it is too cold for ANY kids to play outside. We are lucky here on the coast, at my sister's in the western mountains it is 24 below with the wind chill this morning. - seriously?

Inspiration - Implimentation

I am always curious how people get their inspiration. When I look at a quilt (or a painting or sculpture) I wonder what inspired them to create it.

I will share one quick inspiration story with you. Over 10 years ago I saw a magnificent quilt on an online auction. Luckily I printed out the photo, because when I went back to check the progress of the auction I couldn't find it. I tried for months to find out who had won it or if it had even sold. I decided that I had to make my version of the quilt and if it ever surfaced, I would know where to give credit for my inspiration. This is the back.

Then lo and behold, I was reading Dawn's "Collector with a Needle" blog and there it was! 

I found out the owner of the quilt was Ann Hermes at Notes From the Quilt Lab. and that Dawn had been given the rights to draft and publish the pattern. I ordered the pattern immediately (I highly recommend all of her patterns, she has an Etsy site that you can get to from her blog) and I sent photos and a letter to Ann letting her know how happy I was to finally find the owner of the source of my inspiration. Of course as you can see I changed quite a bit from the original, but it is clear where the inspiration came from. Wendy is hand quilting her version of this quilt at Legend and Lace and it is simply beautiful! Do check it out.

This brings up an issue that is popping up a lot lately in national and local shows. I design most of my quilts myself and for me, inspiration comes from everywhere. However, when I find something like this that is so influential on the finished product, I have to give credit to the source of the inspiration. Most people think if you change a color or a particular border on a pattern that you don't have to give credit to the designer. If even one element of one of my quilts is inspired by another designer, I give that designer credit for that inspiration. Quilters are (for the most part) by nature a sharing and giving group. You want to share your wonderful quilt with others, we just all need to remember that when we make a quilt from a published pattern or even an interpretation of another quilter's design, it is imperative that credit is given to the designer. 

Rant over! Here are some close ups of my quilt I call "Pennsylvania Palette". And thank you Ann and Dawn for sharing this with the rest of us!

Enjoy the day!