Piece on Earth

Hello, everyone! 

I haven't posted here in well over a month....

All healthy, so no worries there, in case any of you noticed my absence and were worried.  The whole situation in which we find ourselves took over my attention and energy, and certainly my ability to express it all in words.  But I’ve been busy, and here’s what I’ve been doing.  It’s been a while, so this will be long!  Grab an iced tea (in my hemisphere anyway), and settle in.

— I haven’t been doing much quilt repair.  At first, I was too freaked at the idea of bringing things in from other houses.  Now, they are saying that the virus doesn’t really travel on objects.  So I guess I can go back to it.  But honestly, every time I think of it, my stomach clenches and I’m stuck in the “what if” place.  I have repaired the two quilts that came in before this all started.

— The first thing I did back in March was make one of the Social Justice Sewing Academy block-of-the-month blocks (12").  I love this wonderful interpretation of sooooo much in such a succinct and graphic way.

— I’m working on another project for a Just Wanna Quilt research project.  The project is based on a set of solid color swatches from Free Spirit.  We each got 2 packs and the instructions to “make something”.  I added just a few of my own fabrics so that these could be actual squares.  The two pieces are exactly the same, the right-hand one just turned 90 degrees.  I’m going to layer them (left-hand one on top), and cut circle and square and diamond holes in the top one and have the bottom one becoming visible.  You can perhaps see the tracing paper shapes I am considering for the holes.  I was just playing around with value at first, but have decided it’s also social commentary…..instead of value arranged in a top to bottom progression, we’re going to end up with a mix.  Our situation right now is kind of like the bottom layer peeking through.  Or something like that, not be taken exactly, literally.

Here’s a prototype of the technique I hope to manage, three layers of flannel between top and bottom, deep turn under allowances to cover the depth.  It’s going to be really tricky!

— I had bought this white on navy fabric ages ago, and used the plain back of it to cover a display stand.  So this is a "use up the fabric stash" item.  The added little dots of color are from my bin of “fancies”, i.e. not quilt weight cottons.  I interfaced them, treated the edges with Fray-check, and attached the dots with embroidery stitches.  The dots are about 5/8" in diameter.

I decided not to do any quilting, but to keep it all about dots.  I discovered a knot called Colonial Knot.  This is my current pick-up project.  I'm going to call it Dancing Dots, since my eyes almost immediately start making after images, which dance all over while I’m trying to tie the knots.

— I’ve been cleaning and sorting my sewing room.  I sent a big box of  “fancy” fabrics, varied fibers and weaves and glossiness, to my daughter.  A super close friend asked her to make a fiber art bouquet for her wedding!  So we are conversing and sharing ideas like crazy!  She’ll also be “raiding” my bead and button stashes. 

— I’ve also been gathering info and experimenting with making quilting videos, hopefully zeroing in on going virtual with some classes.
    My colleague Martha Spark and I cancelled our Quilt Restoration Workshop that was supposed to be held this weekend.  We have a tentative new date for an in-person session - August 26-28, 2021.  More news on these things to follow as soon as we can!  Info on the workshop is on my website.

    If you or your friends would like to be on the contact list for our class and workshop offerings, either in-person or virtual, please send your name, email and cell phone # to either of us:  Ann Wasserman / Martha Spark.

— I read somewhere, and unfortunately didn’t take note of the source, that the best way to volunteer to make a difference is to use skills and interests you already have.  Here are two sewing projects that I’ve joined:

— The Social Justice Sewing Academy continues to be super, super amazing.  You can see the blocks I have embroidered for their pre-pandemic projects - teaching young people to express their social justice thoughts in fabric art. 

Their new projects are both about memorializing victims of violence.  One project has folks designing and making blocks with victims' names that will be put into banners.  The other project has folks making memory quilts with fabrics submitted by the families.  There are over 300 volunteers so far.  Go to the SJSA website if you want to participate.  (I’m waiting for my assignment….)

You can see the memorial blocks that are being made on Instagram at:  #sew4justice_sjsa.  They are amazing!

— Here’s a project in the very beginning stages of planning.  A woman who grew up in Tulsa and yet never knew about the Tulsa Race Massacre is gathering quilters to help make a commemorative quilt.  Her plan is to have the quilt ready to display in Tulsa next spring at the 100th anniversary of the massacre.  You can sign up on Facebook and let her know what parts of the project you’d like to work on.

So there are my last two months of quilt-related activities.  What else has been going on in my life besides quilting you might ask?  A book length topic, right?  I hope you and your friends and family are well and doing all you can to protect yourselves and your communities. 

June 26, 2020