he-hee

my friend meagan has been after me to create two pinups since forever ago. she's going to use them to grace her ribcage as tattoos. once i get started i go into full swing and stay with it until complete. so, after sweating it out for three days, dusting off my painting skills, and thanking god for the creation of tracing paper, here are the two lovely vixens!

quilts as comfort food

i finished the quilt yesterday, and was quite proud of my work. the entire piece was hand quilted, as well as the binding. it went surprisingly quick despite my none traditional quilt stitching method. i love the feel of a quilt; it's warm, and bumpy, but soft despite that.

i photographed it on my bed, but that's not where it's staying; my cat meiko is having hairball/bulimia issues right now, and let's say she does a bit of sleeping in my bed. in fact, that's her right there in the top photo. sneaky kitty. i had to stand on a chair to get all of the blocks in the photograph. they remind me of birds, some going that way, and some going this way.

i incorporated a lot of my favorite prints into the pinwheels, quite a few of heather ross, and some nani iro, along with several prints i've had for over 10 years (originally intended for my dollhouse as the prints are small). these are my favorite blocks, i think it's the colors. not that i don't like the others, but that's the thing with the rainbow, we all have a favorite group of hues we're drawn to.

while i was quilting, i thought it would be nice to make quilts out of silks, linen, my own woven cloth; something tactile, more neutrals and subdued colors. i've been on the hedge about getting the book 1000 artisan textiles but perhaps it would be really inspirational, and if nothing else it may be able to help me take better textile photos.

under the influence

i was watching tv the other day and caught an episode of sarah's house, a really neat interior designer from canada. in this episode they went to christie's antique show and happened along a beautiful antique yellow and white quilt. the quilt was a simple patchwork of yellow suns with an orange triangle border. from what i could see the stitching was really beautiful as well. when they showed the finale show of the entire farmhouse i kept seeing these really simple but bold colors against white kind of quilts. i've always wanted one but have felt intimidated by the shear size of quilts to ever try my hand at one in human scale. but i felt really inspired after watching this show, so i decided a lap quilt of random pinwheels patchwork would be nice.

i'm not sure if my method is accurate, but i've seen quilts made on a number of occasions so i just did what came to me. i sketched out my idea, made measurements, and cut out a triangle and square template from paper to use. i cut everything with a pair of shears, not too worried about complete accuracy, because i want a quilt you know is made by hand; and hey, imperfection is it's own perfection.

one thing which was nice about making this quilt is that i was able to raid my neglected cotton collection to come up with nine different color combinations. i am really happy with the colors, some pale some bright, but allover a soft palette.

i started work cutting and piecing friday night and as of this morning the top of the quilt is sewn together. i'm plotting what is to be done with the back, i don't like the idea of just having a plain solid back. tuesday i'll be able to buy the batting, maybe bamboo, maybe cotton, definitely not polyester. hand quilting will be my method of madness and i wonder if buying a large embroidery hoop will help. time to make a shopping list: thimble, safety pins, batting, hoop, thread...

where does inspiration come from?

sometimes just when you're leaving a room and something catches your eye; either a pattern, or a color combination that just didn't show itself to you before this point. i'm at work on a pillow that hopefully will be finished tomorrow. if the house doesn't blow away. storms with tornado warnings really scare me.

the art of learning

this weekend was very exciting for me! i worked on and finished my first quilted piece; it's narrative but in a modern more free approach way. there's nothing quite like the feeling of a quilted object between your hands; it's so tactile and cushiony, with ripples and bumps.

i took part in a workshop that concentrated on breaking away from traditional quilting, into a more instinctual technique of piecing and quilting. i started by gathering a variety of material that drew my eye then sorted them into a pile based on how the colors partnered. then, trying to ignore the urge to measure, i just cut and sewed as i went. while looking at my non-geometric form i started seeing a house! then it all went crazy fun from that point on.

surprisingly, and thankfully, i learned an incredible amount about my sewing machine and freemotion sewing. things such as using a bigger needle for thicker fabrics, taking it slow, and always check the backside when you start a new line; you could've built a nest with all of the thread i ripped out. i was also reminded of the incredibly useful water-erasable fabric marker.

something i really want to do is make a deliciously lux lap quilt, something soft and cozy. i want to use felt, wool, silk, raw silk, linen, cashmere bits and double gauze cotton. but all in a soft palette with greys and natural creamy hues with some shots of muted colors. it shall be my winter project. i may even quilt it by hand once it's pieced together. hmm.

(in case your eyes are crossing trying to see the house: the long teal rectangle in the middle is a chimney, the tan square just to the left is a roof with a window, the pie shaped teal piece is part of a porch roof and the herringbone wool just below it is the steps, the window with shutters and window box is an easy giveaway. it's in the cubist style.)