I read that a wrong-doer is a person who has left something undone more than they have actually done something wrong.
I really didn't know how to make an unplanned quilt. Usually my planning process starts out differently and I know what I am going to do before I start it. My creative wheels were spinning long enough, and there actually had been a lot of resistance for me in getting started with it. I know that blogging about it helps me to be accountable to myself.
This has been an evolutionary quilt, changing sizes, changing layout. The borders are on it and help to make the 3.5" focus squares pop.
It is bright, a good sized quilt for a 5-yr-old, and is a nice modified Log Cabin with the lights and darks forming the pattern. It measures 64"x77" so 4.33 yards will work. I am taking the entire top with me to match something for the back. I think its the size that a kid can drag across the floor and cuddle up under easily.
I've struggled with a number of things while making this quilt, and of course it is far from completed. From what I know, quilts going to kids have to stand up to a lot of use, both by the child and also because they will go into the laundry more often. In the past, I've made more of a comforter-quilt for kids this age for that reason, using the WOF by 2.5 yards on both sides and tying the layers. I have not done a pieced quilt for one this age.
As I look at this pic above, the thought about machine quilting using a channel stitch makes more sense. It will hold the diagonal lines for each block and re-inforce the seams. The more lines in a quilt, the stiffer it becomes, and so I need to do some calculating or measuring and am guessing I would like to make them about 3" apart.
It seems to me that this kind of quilting is like creating healthy spaces, which are totally different than creating unhealthy barriers. We draw lines in our physiological dirt all the time, creating boundaries and borders to declare our personal space or property; to keep things in or out; to define and hone who we are.
The concept of Butterfly Wings has always been to promote new growth and freedom of expression for this little girl. There is a yellow Princess fabric for some of the logs and some logs also have butterflies on them, some have flowers, and most are plain, waiting for her own dreams to land and grow.
Again, the right use of will and action is what makes us human and defines us as part of humanity. It is my hope that the energy I've been putting into this quilt will be felt even more than the bright colors of it are seen.
And I may never know.
I've been seeing these Dotee Dolls on swapbot and decided to check into tutorials on them. I never had dolls growing up so they hold a certain fascination for me. The artist who started this art surge no longer makes them, but the web is full of ideas, patterns, tutorials and swaps.
After looking around, I found a very simple way to start. So I gathered supplies, made a pattern and started cutting. The theme for this swap was Thanksgiving, or the expression of gratitude for someone or something in our life. I know that its going to go to someone else. However, the energy I put into the doll was in gratitude for my Daughter-in-Law for how she always steps up whenever there is need in our family or among our friends.
I knew that whatever I created would be much more simple that the hundreds of amazing examples seen online. Here is my Jeanne-Dotee Doll. She is not quite finished and will need a few more accessories. When I think of the challenges women face being Mother-in-Law or Daughter-in-Law, it just makes sense that some would come in the making of this doll.
We tend to make all our mistakes in early relationships because they are the fertile ground for growth, and then we hold onto those events and have a hard time evolving in our interactions with the person.
If I make another Dotee Doll, I would like it just a little larger, a lot more artistic, and just as meaningful.
Another thing I am working (besides the Butterfly Wings quilt) are Christmas Stocking swaps. The details for these swaps say that the gift must be wrapped and small enough to fit into a stocking. I decided to use up scraps (oh, go figure!) and make mug rugs that would be useful AFTER the December holidays. This is a pic of all the backsides that I put together with the scraps.
The fronts are also scraps of Valentine novelty prints that were in my stash and scraps for the binding. There are at least four more cut for fronts laying on batting to go. The one in blue is for a stocking stuffer with a blue theme for the gift in it. This comes from the practice blocks I made for the 6" Block swap.
Swaps traditionally benefit both participants. The more I get involved with them, the better I see myself and my skills. Its not competitive. Early on, it hurt when someone flaked or didn't hold up their part of the commitment. Doing more of them releases those expectations and simply sets me up to create, to give and to be open to receive. It is such a delight to get a surprise in the mail. No matter what it is, or even if it is something I would never buy, the joy that comes in getting something from another artist is a human connection that is beyond words.
My scrap stash is dwindling, which is a delightful thing to see knowing that this fabric is being used, and hopefully results in items that people will enjoy.
The 6" block swap partner for this month requested blue & white with white on white colors using the Churn Dash pattern, and she said she would take a wonky Churn too. The Churn Dash is a beginner's block, so they say.
I bought 3 Fat Quarters for the project from one of the stores in town. I kept in mind that the blocks are small so getting the contrast is more challenging. Of course, the first attempt switched the last row to go on so I ended up with Wonky. I actually LIKE the darker one to the left of the picture. It has a lot of character. Is it amazing how both are wonk-ified and yet turned out differently!
After ripping and re-doing, they are correct for the pattern, however, far less interesting. Also, the lighter blue gives the block less contrast, so my plan is to do another set with the third fabric I bought and perhaps redo these. They will not go into my Orphan bin because I signed up for a Stocking Swap with the theme of "Blue" and think I will use one of these and make a mug rug as the gift for it. I want to re-rip the darker of the two and return it to the Wonky stage above, which I think is really attractive.
This experience felt like one teaching me vulnerability. Oh I can accept the vulnerability in others so much more than I can accept my own. Sometimes we can push our own re-do buttons and other times, we need to just accept what choices we have made and figure out how to make the best of what we have in the here and now. And go on.
The Butterfly Wings quilt is still going through a layout plan. I took off some of the blocks during the 'audition' to make it more the size a little grrrl could wrap up in. Doing 30 blocks makes it a hefty twin size for a bed, but not something she can drag around and wrap up in. The challenge will be in finding a print for the back and that means a trip to the big city on Sunday. I looked here in town and wasn't turned onto anything I saw. It will be important to match that lovely royal blue underneath the butterflies to something for the back.
Besides working on this quilt, I got outside and transplanted 3 of my Lavender bushes to the south side of my house under the bedroom window. I want to get a few more plants and make my own mini Lavender Field in the garden. Its a plant that does well in this weather. The other event was the delivery and setup of a new stove.
The final stage for the Butterfly Wings quilt center required focus in order for each of the blocks to have the charm logs. Tomorrow will be more of a formal layout to audition the blocks next to each other but this is an idea to see how it works. The charm theme means only one fabric is used in each block with the exception of the butterfly square shown here in upper right top corner of the blocks. As the blocks grew, it meant ensuring that there were strips long enough to fit that had not been used. Random yes, but a planned randomness.
What I found interesting is that in order to make the charm-style blocks, being unique is what created each 'community' & made it more interesting than when the colors coordinated. Its going to be a little girl's very bright quilt. What I notice is that some colors stand out so much more than others do, and even at this stage of its creation, I am not sure what the dominant colors will be. And again, its like seeing introverts and extroverts as fabric art.
The borders of course will stand out, or at least I hope they do. I am so impressed how many fabrics are leaving the 2.5" strip stash container. I was also surprised how many fabrics had butterflies on them.
Going out in the mail to my friend Crow Calling Woman is the October embroidery swap, and 12.5" block for the back. My selection for this month is "Zombie Girl Mandala" from The Floss Box. While all the cats here are black, the girls each represent one of the elements in their garb and have formed a magickal circle. Really a cute pattern.
A few swaps came in the mail today and simply made my day. One had seasonal confetti in the box with other goodies. It was shaped like black bats and orange pumpkins. Such a silly thing, but really made me smile as they spilled onto the floor. I kept finding the tiny bats clinging to everything for some time later.
I am really glad to be open to receive. Not sure why I waited so many years to declare that.
....
It took me awhile to collect and cut all the centers and logs for the blocks. I am chain piecing this project. The challenge in doing a scrap log cabin with 30 blocks is to have some structure to the randomness.
With the early additions of the logs, I tried to do more matching, but that proved to be more difficult than I realized. Quilting scrappy requires that the quilter get into a state of mind that there are no rules and that anything is possible.
I decided to square them up when they reached this stage with the center (placed in the lower left corner) and 7 logs. They measured 9.5" square at this point and needed very little trimming, which is quite pleasing. This quilt is still challenging me to get a sort of coordination to each block and every 'system' I try to use stops working with the next addition of logs. So I gave into the randomness concept and now am only attempting to have each block be a charm (meaning that no fabric is repeated in it).
After each block is finished with a specific log, I put like colors together for the previous log and then can make sure that the next one I add is not identical. Its so contrary to the concept of fitting in. And its unsettling to go against the convention to have things match.
Yet, in the past, when I have posted photos of my finished quilts on Facebook, the ones that get the most comments are the ones that are made using random squares, reminding people of a quilt their grandmother made them when they were children.
So why is it that as humans we struggle so much to fit in? Why isn't that randomness in who we are more acceptable?
At best, with this one, all the light colors will show up on one side and dark brights on the other side. How they line up is the random factor and I have surrendered to it all. I think that there is more of a challenge coming as the final 3 logs are laid, and then another challenge will be the block layout for the 30 pieces, both tasks might take up the better part of today.
I don't know this child nor the circumstances why my Son wanted to make a gift of one of my hand-made quilts to her. He sees the need and that is all that matters to me. His sensitivity & generosity make me even more proud of him.
In exchange for the quilt, he paid for and is having 5 packages of queen-size batting shipped to me by Monday. Usually the quilts I make take on a life of their own. My guess is that this child will find comfort under this quilt's energy. Butterfly Wings is the symbol for transformation and for being free to express one's self and find beauty wherever one goes.
My younger Son called and asked if I could make a quilt for a small girl who lives in a single parent household. He didn't give me much more detail and asked what I needed. Batting. I need batting for any more larger projects, so he ordered and shipped 5 packages to me.
My stash held a lovely royal blue with butterflies on it that would work for this child. I pulled out all sorts of scraps that are on the butterfly wings. I tried coming up with a pattern that would work, so spent time sorting those into categories: Houses, Patriotic, Holiday, separate blocks.
I found a pattern from one of the stores in town that actually uses a butterfly focus and created a test block. It is a modified Log Cabin with the center block in the lower left corner with the logs that are quite scrappy. My next step was to measure the logs and start cutting.
I laid scraps out to make sure I would have enough for 29 more blocks. The blocks will sit 5 across and 6 down. There is enough of the butterfly print to make a border and binding for it, so the next stage is to start the piecing, and then join the blocks.
The batting comes next Monday, & after that, basting and machine quilting. It is amazing how much of my stash is being used here and clearing out my bins. I am incredibly pleased to find a good home for it all.
The apron finished beautifully. I want to make two more of them for holiday gifts. I am not a fan of the technical work it takes to make an apron. And while one would think they are a one size fits all kinda project, I find that that is not the case. This apron is slimming, with almost what is called a peplum style, creating a flare below the waist line. It is a slimming style for most body shapes. This pattern went together easily, taking about 2 yards of fabric to finish it. I really like it.
That time of year again. The usual Secret Santa Swap I've done isn't happening this year because of some personal time issues for the planner. It was so enjoyable that I've worked to find something else.
The SSSwaps work only if people keep their promises. And I am like any adult who becomes a child during the holidays even though my celebrations are for Winter Solstice and the Festa d'Befana and not Christmas. I have become open to receive.
The Swapbot participants are incredibly generous in sharing their art and resources. Every envelope and package is a delight to open. The wrapped stocking stuffers started coming last month and mine are still wrapped for opening the end of the year (or in January when LaBefana visits)!
I have three going out after the partners are assigned later this week, and two of them are International in such countries as Germany, Finland, Ireland and Norway. This too, is like a childhood fantasy to get mail from all around the world. One never knows who they will get or whom they will send to.
To this end, I am making Valentine mug rugs. When people wait til the end of December to open their packages, if what is inside is a Christmas themed gift, the season is gone the next week.
At my local Quilting Guild's holiday party last year, I received a Valentine-themed FQ and had no idea what to do with it. Oh, its cute, but not what I want in my quilts...this is the first one I made just quilting around the images and adding a binding. I cut three pieces and this one finishes at 10.5" by 6.5". It meant that I could cut three mug rug shapes and still have half the FQ for another three.
I have a lot of scrap pieces and made a three-piece back, which seems to keep with the theme on front. Each of the swaps is to be wrapped and must fit inside a stocking, so I will roll these, and probably add something else with it.
I've learned to be more generous with what I send out, and have stopped looking for parity in the interaction because you do not receive from the person you send to.
And once its done, its done.
I feel like making these mini quilts offer me more practice, and giving them expands my sense of community and place in the world. What I like is that there is little to no connection with the people giving and receiving. It takes away all the baggage that can come with gift-giving. Probably, the postage ends up costing more than the contents of the mail. However the point is...what? to get good mail, to make connections, to learn generosity? I think that for anyone participating in these exchanges, its about an evolution of spirit.
