January 23, 2016 

How do you spell S. A. T. I. S. F. I. E. D?

How fast time goes by!  This has not been an easy year emotionally, but I'm now ready to move on.

I spent all my available time in my studio this past year quilting a beauty for a friend.  I started in January thinking I would be done no later that May or so.  My friend asked if I would quilt her quilt in August 2014.  I definitely hesitated.  I had only just begun to machine quilt and did not consider that I could do this quilt justice.  This quilt was a queen size at least.  I never measured it because I didn't have the space to do so, so size is a guesstimate.  As we talked, she told me I could learn on it, use it for practice.  The agreement was set and I took the quilt in.  I hung it so I could study it for a while.  I had no idea what to do with it.  It hung for five months.  I finished up a projects by the end of the year and basically went home for Christmas 2014.  As I waited for January, the quilt haunted me.  How am I going to quilt this quilt?

 When I returned to my studio (2015), I decided I just needed to bite the bullet and begin this overwhelming project.  Off the wall and onto the quilting tables.  Much larger than my tables and heavy because of the decorator fabric on the sides and back.  But this quilt was truly a beauty.  My friend had used marbleized fabrics, both hand dyed and printed.  Her colors where basically autumn in New England.  I don't know what she was expecting, but she had said, "Be creative".  So I began.  One block of fabric at a time.  I chose Superior Threads Bottom Line in taupe.  My quiting wasn't perfect and I didn't want to showcase anything that didn't work out right.  So I began.

It was a rough winter last year.  We had roughly 6 feet of snow...2 feet at a time...snow storm after snow storm. 

Needless to say, there was no place for the snow to go making it very difficult to remove.  Even the snow blower was hard work.  Me, I love New England, just above Boston near New Hampshire.  We did enjoy the snow, but I strained my hand using the snow blower.  I had to stop quilting for a while...months.  I kept thinking of my friend and her incredible patience as she waited.  She didn't once "tease" me about getting it done.  I did really appreciate that.

It was August before I made it back to my studio to work on the quilt.  I was hoping to have it finished before our leaves turned, but I didn't make it.  I was limited to working 2 to 3 hours at a time twice a week or less. The leaves were now off the trees.

My friend had a heart attack early that fall.  Would she be okay?  Would I get this done for her to see?  What would I do with the quilt if something happened to her?  It all weighed heavy on me as I continued to work on it...slowly.... finally, just before Thanksgiving I finished it after 110 to 120 hours.  I was tired of working on only one project, but I was so totally satisfied with what I had learned,  the creativity that went into it, the workmanship, and a job well done.

I called my friend to drop it off in her loft a short walk from my studio.  Would she like it?  I hoped so.  She was stunned!  She sat there with her long awaited new friend, the quilt.  She stroked it.  She turned it every which way.  She talked, then looked at the quilt again.  She wouldn't even let her beloved dog sleep on it!  I don't blame her.  Not because of my work, but because her work and creativity actually what was made the quilt.  It is so beautiful!!

It was hard to get a photo with my iPhone because the quilt is so large and the quilting does not stand out.  But this gives you an idea.  Truly, by the time I was done, free motion quilting was easy!

Thanks, Max, for trusting me with your beloved quilt!

Enjoying my blessings,
dianne

August 2015

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!  I love you!

 

So  I had some fun this summer while sitting out on my back porch.  Too hot for the studio, but beautifully perfect in the shade of the porch.  So I watched a video on fabric painting, specially using water based gutta or resist to keep the paint from blending.  All I did to get the feel for it is draw with the resist making different, random shapes.  Then I took fabrics paint and colored it in after the resist dried.  The picture above is the result.  Seeing I wasn't able to FMQ this summer I had to do something.  What a great way to pass a hot summer morning!

Well, it got my creativity up and running, even through I had a quilt at the studio that needed my attention.  Iwas looking at the 3 small circle designs and could see a monkey (upper rightjust above center).  Hmmm, my granddaughter loves monkeys. (Hope she doesn't find out they are not all like Curious George.)  I drew up a quick sketch in my notebook that had the look of resist without resist, decided it would be fun to do and went at it.

So, I enlarged my sketch and traced it onto white fabric.  I layered backing, batting and the picture fabric, then stitched around each shape with 30 weight black cotton thread.  (30 wt. thread is heavy thread.) Quilting done, I used  a thick fabric paint that does not run, painting in each shape.  What's  fun about fabric paint?  It is easy to match the colors of store bought fabrics.  I used only red, yellow and blue for all the colors in the fabric painting.

Added the borders and back from a yard of stripes.

The end result was a big fat pillow for my granddaughter's 6th birthday.


Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!  I love you.

Enjoying my blessings,
Grams