My Happy Holiday Sewing

We had just a few holiday plans, no travel, no guests, and so I decided that sewing on all sorts of back-burner projects of my own was The Thing To Do.  It was so fun!  Here are the results.

The farm.
Another (could it be the last?) quilt in my Something From Nothing series.  This one's been in the planning stage for nearly two years, taking tiny steps towards construction.  It entered full-out construction mode during a fiber retreat in October.  And now it's done!  (It's made with plastic produce bags.)

Charm Quilts

Well, I think this is a great topic for this put-a-new-calendar-on-the-wall and make-those-happy-wishes time of year.

Charm quilts, as the name indicates, are made with thoughts of good luck in mind.  I'd heard the folklore that the magic happens because each piece is a unique fabric....but if one and only one fabric has been used twice, the quilt has a special magic.  So that's what I did.  My charm quilts were made for my babies because, as a quilter, I of course had to make them each a very special quilt.

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.