I think quilters have always made comfort quilts because that's one of the natural components of having one over you. There is a feeling of warmth, one of safety and yes, of comfort.
These two need pressing, so please disregard the wrinkles you see. I took home two 'kits' or packages of fabric with me several months ago and just finished piecing the tops to return at the August guild meeting. Several quilters will baste the back and batting over a larger table. That step goes fast with many hands. And someone will take it home to quilt. She will either bind it or bring it back for another person to add binding. I learned that quilters enjoy doing the various steps to quilt-making.
These fabrics are suitable for boys or men only because they are not cutsie or floral. Personally, that makes me smile, because I don't tend to make my quilts based on gender. I was given the quilt pattern as a start when I first joined that circle and made several versions of it.
What they tell you is that the quilts are loved and appreciated by those folks who need them. What matters is that they are strong enough to survive washing and drying almost every day. They go to kids in hospitals, to group homes and even are at the ready in the emergency vehicles whenever they pick someone up in the night and are transporting them.
Comfort is an interesting word. Usually we need it or give it when someone or ourselves are under distressing situations. We grieve, we need comfort. We stumble and get hurt, we need comfort. Something big happens to change our life, we need comfort. Yet, comfort could and should come to us when we do good, do mighty things, and are happy. Why wait to give comfort or ask for comfort when things are at their darkest?
These are the last comfort quilt tops I'll make for the guild for awhile. Its not that I have stopped providing a community service, its just changed for now. I think I get comfort from quilt-making, a comfort that is self-generated, warm, safe. Mine.
I've been officially doing Pay It Forward projects for several years. Offering them now is helpful for me as I quilt because I need to do a lot of practice pieces on smaller squares. The challenge, of course, is figuring out what I can do with them. In the beginning of my work, I made pot holders, & then moved onto small wallhangings, candle mats & mug rugs.
As seasonal projects, some were started in Winter, and most recently I took on several more to end before Winter (a holiday fabric theme). Yesterday, I did a lot of the cutting, both for the fabrics and the batting and all from scraps. This morning I spent time at the machine practicing various quilting stitches that are standard. I am not using the free motion quilting techniques and still holding out for classes on it.
For me, paying it forward is an act of gratitude for all the wondrous things I've been given in my life. In most cases, I might have thanked the person at the time, and in some cases, I didn't even realize what I was getting. Then there are the things I've been given just by being in this place and time by forces beyond simple human beings.
One of the clauses put to the PIF process is that if you sign up for it, it means you will give to 3-5 people in your life, either that you know or whom are strangers; some gift of any nature from a complement for their emotions or mental-well being to something more monetary or physical in nature. When I post those requirements, I try to be quite liberal in what recipients of my gifts give to other people. They know what they can do.
And if a person doesn't do anything, and just receives, good for them too. Timing is a big factor in any person's evolution. We have to be ready to hear, to be open to receive and to be open to give.
Many things block us as human beings. Many.
All I know is that I came to this place in time for doing this sort of work a couple of times a year. Just because I consider the pieces practice, or just because I use scraps of fabrics doesn't mean that the end project is unworthy of my gratitude. I try hard to create each project the best of whatever it is to the best I can do on it. I put just as much love and positive energy into them as I do a quilt I make for one of my Sons or Grandchildren. I learn more with everything I do.
I don't tend to post final pictures because it seems like it would take away from the relationship I have with the recipient. That might seem odd when these projects reflect my learning just as much as a quilt going to a family member.
What goes around, right? It has come to me, and often I will say that I stand under a lucky star. I have been privileged in countless ways that others will never know, even if when others look at my life, they cannot see it. I know it. And I am most grateful. The PIF projects are not something I want others to comment on or evaluate. They are products of my soul work and that really is private.
Life isn't overwhelming. Expectations are.
I remember a song by Neil Diamond you can hear on You Tube called DONE TOO SOON where the lyrics start off with a list of world leaders who died and then he sings: "And each one there has one thing shared: They have sweated beneath the same sun, looked up in wonder at the same moon, and wept when it was all done, for bein' done too soon, for bein' done too soon, for bein' done." The video link above leads you to the song with photos of each person Diamond mentions. Back in the day, it impacted how I thought about living and loss.
Life can be mighty fragile. And I've found that the best I can do is to find my own integrity and sense of self and keep doing what I love to do for as long as I am here.
I question myself a lot and its often difficult to measure up to my own standards. In the song, with that list of people Neil Diamond wrote and sang about, every person was notable and memorable to the greater world whether you agreed with their philosophy or not. They made a difference and created an impact by living.
Yesterday, I finished the top for Lisa's quilt. Its the last one I plan to assemble this year and needs to be basted, quilted and bound. She told me that burgundy was her color. Stores here in town carry more traditional holiday colors like the truer red and green. I looked in the big cities' fabric stores, and finally found what I wanted.
Even as I build a quilt, sometimes I am very accepting of how it turns out and other times I disagree with what I see. Then I remember that all these 'earlier' quilts are practice pieces and that its ok to experiment and ok to have them turn out differently than planned. This one changed from my original plan as it evolved. Adding borders to it changed how the center is seen. It made me wonder how the layers of life we take on change how our center cores are perceived. I could see that what I believed as a child might still be within me, but my experiences have shifted perspective.
My expectations are that I WILL live long enough to learn this fabric art and be able to cycle through my family giving them quilts; practice or utility quilts first and an heirloom-quality quilt second. My expectation is that the next quilts I make for my Nieces and Nephews will be closer to the perfection I see in my mind.
I changed my expectations for 2014 and stopped putting pressure on myself to create more quilts than I could actually do. Originally, I thought I would have been done with at least six of them by March. Hah! I took at least 3 or 4 of them off my list to finish this year. Done too soon? Like many quilters, I know that to finish what I have started or want to start, I will need to live and flourish at least 20-30 more years.
Being reasonable, however, I keep the list on the sidebar of this blog and keep doing what I can through the days that are free for me to sweat beneath the sun. Then when the sky darkens and the moon rises, I look up in wonder of her light.
I've been working on those June MQ's that I want for backs of quilts. The first one has a home already, and this second one, also made from my stash, is yet undesignated.
It has triggered in me thoughts regarding attachments to things, and a sense of belonging to family, friends, and groups. Sometimes I feel very much alone, scared, isolated and alienated. That even happens to me when I am in the middle of my beloved circles. Quilting heals me. I might not always have the words to say how that happens, yet I know it does.
The June MQ instructions only gave fabric amounts & values of light-medium-dark, but not how they would play out in the quilt. I see how other more skilled quilters really understand this process. Doing two of them with the same pattern gave me a bit more experience.
I like how the first one turned out, and its going to be a gift, so I am not showing it on the blog. The colors are gentle, matching the top, as well as matching color choices for the friend who will receive it.
This one, however, has no designation. It is merely an effort to use up more of my stash.
The lesson of not having a designation for myself is that I need to be true to my own values and make the most of what I have. I like dramatic colors, the way blacks that either I wear or use on a quilt come in and step everything up. I also like not having a designation in my beloved circles because there is a certain sense of freedom that extends beyond the sense of belonging....a sense of freedom that makes me a member of larger circles of world communities.
Those larger circles are ones that create my imagination, psychic skills, intuition, spirit. They are where I live in my mind and in my heart, where I really live. This is also why I quilt, why I love the quilts I make and give to the people I love.
Plans are good. No doubt about it. And I am uber organized, so for me to sit here and write that I can forego having life plans, being organized, and not recognizing my designation of where I sit and stand would be an all-out lie. Its just that every once in awhile, I want to risk something new and almost dangerous....like making a quilt that has no designation.
(Insert scary sound here)
I spent Sunday building blocks...the kind that are made for quilts. My friend here in town and I are trying to learn the various methods to quilting by each making sampler quilts as we pretend to do a BOM. We had little luck last year, and this year hasn't been working out for either of us. The BOM author got busy with her life and didn't put out the patterns the way she thought she might.
I found another page on Facebook (Quilting Bee) that is hosting 2-Blocks each Month and simply added to what I have already made. This is a 2-fabric pattern called "Bento Box". My plan is to use the black with white daisies on it in all the blocks so they tie together even with all the variety of blocks. I've learned that when you do a sampler quilt, something has to be the theme. And I had a lot of it leftover so this is perfect.
Not everyone likes a scrappy quilt, and I can understand that. They can be really messy looking. My plan is to do it scrappy, so every block is slightly different.
I am making this quilt in black and white with color, as a 12" on the front and also using some 6" blocks. (If you piece 4 of them, you get the 12" finish.) This pattern is "Woven". It turned out quite lovely, and was actually a challenge to select fabrics and to lay them out in a way that works. This will be one of the elegant blocks on the quilt. Its got great contrast. I like this one best of those I made Sunday. Its clear with visible parts.
The blocks are going to be quite busy and that was my plan from the on-set. This particular quilt will be mine and as a sampler, is meant for me to learn on. I didn't necessarily plan it to win any ribbons as much as it is meant for me to use up scraps.
"HST Twist" was the third block I made and with all those dots and daisies is enough to make your eyes water & your head spin. It is all half square triangles (HST) and the layout forms a different image on the block. Playing yes, really learning more. These Facebook patterns come with relatively detailed tutorials which have been lacking with the last two groups we tried following.
Sometimes scrap quilts are just simply cluttered looking, and other times look quite elegant like the two I made for Baylee and Landi this year. However, using scraps can mean dealing with small pieces. It takes awhile to sort through bits and seeing if there is enough to complete the pattern. In the beginning of my quilting work, I spent way too much time trying to go for the posh look. I scrapped that idea and decided that the goal was more to use it quickly and move on.
Scrap quilters tell me that the more variety you have in a quilt, the less the pieces need to go together. Its when you get caught up in making things match that it becomes troublesome. I've found truth in that. This one will evolve all the way to the end, and so this part of it is less concerned with how blocks might work together and more in just doing it. Maybe by the time its ready for the layout, it will drive me bonkers and I will wish I had done something different.
Its all about living with potential and possibilities, and releasing the fears that insist that I follow the rules. Whose rules? What if I love it when its done? What joy comes with that! And what if I hate it when its done? Well, maybe some beloved doggy will have a new blanket.
Nothing is over until its over!
That I am here to celebrate the morning is a wonderful mystery and no accident. I sat outside last night to watch the Moon rise in the east and kept my curtains open for her light to shine in on me as she traveled south to west and set as the Sun rose.
All my quilting is a mystery, in fact, and not just those projects whose patterns and steps are offered as a Mystery Quilt experience. Yesterday, I worked on numerous steps to different projects. I finished the needle-turned applique project, made great progress joining rows on the first of the June MQ's, cut scraps into usable squares and sorted more for fabric swaps, moving many projects onward.
Life is something we are granted minute by minute. Through the internet connections that I have, I am able to see the wonder of life through pictures my family and friends take all over the world in their travels or where they live. I am able to see gorgeous views through their eyes, and to share happy events even though I could not attend. Happiness overcomes me and I find myself smiling within and without.
The decision to be happy is mine to make, every day, no matter what the experience. Choice is the over-riding element. Its like building a quilt that starts with choices in patterns and fabrics. Everything that happens is really a mystery. I have found that when I chose the fabrics for a project and think I know how they will look, its still a surprise in the end.
How a quilt ends up looking depends on the quilt-maker. For as many years as I have been quilting, there is still so much more to learn, so many more mysteries to solve, so many more joys that bring a smile. Therefore, this morning, I celebrate being here to do more, to take more risks, to watch the Moon and Sun rise, to see another quilt finished.
My friend Virginia posted a quote on Facebook this morning from a piece called "How To Stay Happy" that included a couple of lines that said, "work hard at what you love; work hard at what you hate".
I took that needle-turned applique class this Monday and left the workshop with over half to do. While its not a fabric art I care to do more of, I did want to complete it. Last night, I finished the heart, the second stem and added a second leaf. I posted an earlier pic on this blog that showed where I left it when the workshop ended.
Funny thing that happened as I worked at something I really don't love (hate is too strong a word for this), as it started to evolve, I started to like it. IT meaning the project, still not so much the actual art of it.
The background fabric laid flat, the concept of where to start stitching made sense and even the needle turning became easier. It wasn't so stressful to do as it was to learn.
I think that as life goes on, we serve our own best interests by stepping into the energetic flow of what is happening around us. Being open to life is our only chance to experience evolution and growth. Experiences beckon us forward without guarantee of joy or love or happiness. We are not free of those harsher moments of fear, insecurity, or confusion. The things I love that I work hard at include being present to the moment, being present to the person I am sharing time and space with, being present to the feelings, and feeling the very winds that blow my hair.
I love keeping promises to myself and to others. I love it because its what grounds my integrity. Having kept those promises is like having emotional freedom in very positive ways. When a promise is broken, it sets up avoidance and heartbreak to everyone involved.
This is, in part, what drives me to quilt and to finish quilts I start. I only have one official UFO, and I know its there waiting. Like so many other quilters, I have to live a lot more decades to finish everything that I've already started, and to start other things I see in magazines or online.
Quilting makes me happy. All the lessons I learn from it and the finished pieces I create all make me happy. And I work hard because I really love it.
