Just Wanna Quilt Blog

I'm starting something new! I've put up my first post as a contributing blogger on the Just Wanna Quilt blog. Just Wanna Quilt is: a research project to investigate all the who-what-why questions of the quilt world, a research project to clarify copyright and other legal aspects of creating art and craft, a super fun quilt adventure, and a great group of vibrant and interesting quilters. There's a podcast (which I've been interviewed on) and sewing challenge projects and lots of great discussions in the facebook group, and etc. etc. Woo hoo!  Thanks to Prof. Elizabeth Townsend-Gard for brainstorming this wonderful adventure!

Here's my inaugural post:

Yo-Yo Flower Basket

 

This lovely quilt came to me for washing - it had met with a disaster or two that had left stains.  I'm happy to say that I got the stains out.

The quilt is huge, about 112" square, so the full quilt photos were especially tricky.  So was laying it out to dry, because it was not much smaller than the plastic drop cloth I use at drying time and had to be positioned just-so.

Isn't this quilt lovely?  Springtime personified.  A good thing to post here in the Chicago area where winter snow came early and we are clearly into the time of grey winter days.

Fungi!

 

This year, maybe because of our super long and wet spring, the fungi group has flourished in my yard and neighborhood.  Such variety this year! 

The one pictured above is probably the most stereotypical mushroom of the bunch.  The variety beyond that seems to go on forever.

This is an interesting community, seen in a nearby parkway.

Quiltin' On The Road - Retreat!

How many of you have had this experience - a group of people take a class or workshop together, get along well, trade contact info, vow to get together.....and it never happens?  Well, this is a wonderful group of people who have made it happen!

And we've been having such a good time, we decided to try our first retreat, a week ago.  Here's a view on the road.  It wasn't taken on the retreat property, but is such a perfect symbol of driving to a peaceful, joyful place. 

More Embroidery for the Social Justice Sewing Academy

I wrote about the Social Justice Sewing Academy in a post last fall, and showed these first two blocks I worked on.  You can hear a great interview with SJSA founder Sara Trail at the Just Wanna Quilt podcast.

     

A quick summary:  Blocks are designed and created (pieces glued on) by young people to express their social justice concerns and dreams.  The blocks go to sewists like me who embroider them to attach all the pieces securely and add texture and depth.  Then the blocks are made into quilts by more volunteers and sent to galleries and shows.  The final result is a bunch of young people who learn that art can express who they are and that their concerns can be heard.  It's simply wonderful!

I kinda forgot to keep posting blocks, so here are the next four that I've done.  The project is both fun and extremely fulfilling.  It is a true blessing, tapping into the great emotional depths and wonderful visual expressiveness of teens who need to be heard.

Family Heirloom Needlework

This is a spread made by my paternal grandmother.  I believe the needlework technique is called net darning.  If anyone knows differently, or can tell me more about the technique, I'd love to hear from you.

My grandmother's name was Martha Nathansohn Wassermann.  She was born in Stargard, Pomerania.  Pomerania is a region that is currently split between Poland and Germany, but the border has wobbled over the centuries.  She had five sisters and one brother.  She and my grandfather Karl Wassermann lived in Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany.  They had two sons, Heinz my dad (on the left), and Kurt my uncle.  This photo was probably taken around 1914-15. 

 

I'm Loving Visible Mending

So, my jeans which are a little big on me and thereby super comfy (I'm a fan of baggy clothes), split at one knee.  I keep a stash of the good bits of discarded jeans for just these times.  Usually I make a basic rectangle patch and stitch it on.  But I've been bitten by the visible mending bug now, so a basic rectangle just won't do!

I thought about how it was kind of like a blinking eye with my kneecap poking out, and boom, decided to mend it with an appliquéd eye.  I enlarged the eye I used for my Eye Contact project for the Sacred Threads show.  I used a variety of denim colors, and here's the result.  I am, as I'm learning to say from my internet friends across the pond, chuffed. 

Here's the Eye Contact quilt I made last spring.

 

 

There's now a catalog of the exhibit.  I highly recommend it.  I always love a good challenge project with all the myriad variations on the theme.  This collection does not disappoint.  So many varied techniques and interpretations!