Hand Embroidery-Knotted Cretan and Butterfly Chain

I sat down last night for a little hand embroidery. I really love the subtle colors and rough textures of this wallhanging. It is supposed to be vaguely reminiscent of the Texas landscape; probably the Panhandle more than Houston.

This is the Knotted Cretan Stitch with rows of Chain Stitch & a Silk Ribbon underneath.  I like this combination--the textures, again, are really cool.

This is the Butterfly Chain Stitch with Silk Ribbon.  The change in threads is very interesting.  Love it too! 

It's been wonderful to learn some new embroidery stitches and practice them on this piece.  The Net is full of such great opportunities, isn't it?

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

 

May's Sewing Themed Block

Four weeks was enough during May to get my block completed. I kinda lost steam this past week; I think, partly because mentally, I felt like I had done as much as I wanted to the block.  I'll add the Knotted Cretan (a May stitch) to the June block.  This is the last block of the orange and yellows.  June's block starts the group of green blocks.  I think by the time I got to this yellow block I was getting bored with the whole red-orange-yellow group.  The nice thing about this challenge is that the color changes at each month!

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

 

The Irony

. . . . of this quilt is that the batting is one of those mass produced Made in China patchwork quilts. Thrifted, of course, from my recent trip to Round Top with Sophie.

Some quilt historian a zillion years from now is going to scratch her head over my quilts.  The fabrics definitely span many decades.  In this patch alone, there are fabrics from the early 1980s through 2010.  I even threw in a hand stencilled fabric for good measure! *wink*

 

I'm seriously groovin' on these pieced backs.  They take more time to sew but they really help clear out the small pieces.  The large bird print was a curtain panel & the gold across the top was a fancy border on a pillowcase.  The rest of the fabrics were actually fabrics off a bolt!  Oh, what a surpise.

There were still some asian inspired fabrics left + the flipside of the bird pillowcase.  The next challenge will be to see how I can take some of the same fabrics and make a quilt that looks different.

This particular one has been claimed by Laura for her bellydancing friends.  Apparently, bellydancers love asian things.  Who knew?

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

And Then I Get All Thoughtful

I spent quite a bit of time in my walk-up attic last weekend.  It will be getting very hot up there soon and my days of pawing through boxes will be over.  So when I can take the time to look through my supplies slowly and can I say it? lovingly, I like to do that.  What surprised me is that I have actually sewn alot of fabrics the past couple of years.   Some of the boxes are not full (and a few, like the blues, are overflowing).  What I also discovered is that the fabric on open shelving seems to haunt me more than the boxed fabrics.  Opening the boxes to look inside was a new discovery.  I can, generally, remember all the circumstances around my fabric & it is the nostalgia that gets to me some days.

Coming from a very long history of sewing, you can imagine that lots of fabric has crossed my path.  This week I discovered a Facebook group that I am finding very interesting.  It is mainly for sharing antique quilts.  I'm not a huge admirer of pristine antique quilts any more than I am an admirer of overly showy artquilts.  What I am finding extremely exciting are the utility quilts made from the fabrics at hand.  There are some "newer to fabric" people than myself and they ask questions.  I am not an expert on fabric but again, I've been around it a long time in various occupations and hobbies; so, I know more than the average person & can share that knowledge.  Realizing how much I do know has been awakening to me too.  (What I wish I had now is the notebook we made in college of all the fabric types.  Do you know what "dimity" is?  that was my fabric.)

In looking at some of the recent vintage quilts (circa 1970s), it's been surprising to discover how much they tug at my heart.  I can remember my own life and its major milestones by the popular fabrics.  It's more than a trip down memory lane.  It's realizing that fabric, in very subtle ways, influences our lives; it's not that unlike technology.

If you follow along here you know that I have been experimenting with some raw edges lately.  It has been forcing me to think more deeply about the role of fabric in (our) my life.  Taking a shirt apart for its fabric sends me musing about the long hours I spent sewing shirts.  Now, in a very real sense, I am like the original patchworkers--taking fabric from old clothes for a new purpose.  It's a connection I hadn't wholly made before now.  Or, maybe wanted to make.

I've been prompted recently by a reader to dig deeper & explore that which I don't know or can't even explain; to go where I don't think but create.  Yesterday I sat and thought about that whole idea.  What is it about fabric and what I do with it that appeals to me?  In a nutshell, it's the nostalgia; but, that is not enough.

I've been struggling to do something with the nostalgia.  Working on CQs is a perfect genre but it's almost too perfect in many ways.  (Perfect inside of imperfect.)  I need to push further outside of even the CQ boundaries.  I can feel this unrest, discontent & I am sorting through the hints being thrown at me.

Inside those hints, I can see--layers, textures, period fabrics, especially household fabrics.  I understand the allure of thrifted fabrics-they arrive with immediate nostalgia, worn personalities and dates of events.  They have a stored excitement that I enjoy. 

I think it's time to revisit some of those thrifted nostalgic fabrics with a different mindset.  Instead of seeing them as undesirable and something to make up and get out of my studio, I'm going to look at them as little bits of history trying to tell a fabric story.  I'm going to try to be the author of that story.

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

 

Gonna Do That List-Red 9 Patch Top

All the leftover 9 patch blocks from Garden of Hope (Cancer Society raffle quilt 2012)

Some gifted fabric

Some of my favorite red & white prints

This one will be headed to the Golden Retriever Rescue fundraiser in July.

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

 

Crazy Quilt Inspiration

Sometimes if I sit very quietly the solution to a question will present itself.

Quilt owned by Laura Fisher Quilts

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!

Hand Embroidery--Combining Stitches

Have a Creative Day, Y'All!