Geode - a Mini Quilt

This sweet little expression of colour reminds me of the crystals you find inside a geode.  On the outside, a geode is typically a non-descript round-ish grey rock. However on the inside, if you are lucky when you smash it open with a hammer, you discover a tiny magical world of perfect crystals. Typically quartz (often purple amethyst), calcite or dolomite crystals form over hundreds or even thousands of years as water trickling through a cavity in the ground leaves behind the mineral components as crystalline deposits.

I was starting to feel like this little project was taking a geologic amount of time to complete. After all, it is only 15" square and it has been two years in the making!  Why do we do this to ourselves? Delay finishing a project when really, there is only another hour or so required to get it done? If you've got a better answer than good old fashioned procrastination, please share so that I can learn and stop doing this!

The center block of 'crystals' are teensy little two-fer triangles cut off the corners of this project. Each half square triangle measures 1/2" finished.  I pieced them together to form colourful little square in squares without an overall quilt design in mind.  Next, I created a 9-patch by adding low volume squares around the crystal block. I even used a precious piece of poppyprinted white linen I found in my scrap drawer. Gradually, more ideas came to me and I settled on the green bias tape (appliqued using this method) to frame the little block. I used a flexible curve ruler to draw the wiggly shape on the low volume background fabrics with a pencil (the line is covered by the tape when it is folded over).

Realizing the quilt wasn't yet finished, the tiny circles were hand-appliqued on. Then this poor little quilt top sat for over a year. Sometimes on my design wall. Sometimes thrown over a pile of other fabric on top of a cabinet. Many times folded up and brought to retreat, only to remain folded up until I got home.  FINALLY, last week Geode made it to the basting, quilting and binding stage. Phew.

This little gem (couldn't resist) is going in the mail as a reciprocal thank you gift for a special friend who surprised me with her generosity once. 

#43for43

I've been involved in the making of many, many (too many, in fact) quilts for friends who are ill with cancer, or strangers who need a comforting quilt in difficult times. Recently, a completely different kind of quilt project came to my attention and I jumped on board without really anticipating the affect it would have on me.

A quilter in New York named Zak Foster recently visited Mexico. During his trip, he learned about the tragic events of September 26, 2014, when 43 students went missing during a protest in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico. Since that day, the families and friends of the students have had no satisfactory answers as to the fate of the young men, mostly aged 18-24.  Many demonstrations have taken place. The internet is full of art pieces and tributes to these young men. There are agencies supporting their families in the search for justice.  Zak, in cooperation with one such agency, decided to create a quilt. A tangible show of support, made by quilters around the world, to honour these young men.

I went through the list of names still available for a quilt block and chose a young man the same age as my son. His name is Doriam González Parral. His friends called him "Kinder" because he was so small for his age. Normally, he didn't attend political rallies, but went along this time to support his friends and older brother Jorge Luis. On that fateful night, their parents lost both boys.

Zak asked that blocks be made only with white and red fabric to show solidarity. Each block should say the student's entire name.  When I discovered Doriam's brother was also taken, I got in touch with Natalie, who is making Jorge Luis' block. It was really comforting for me to have a partner to collaborate with. I found I could not focus and come up with a plan on my own. Everything I thought of seemed 'not good enough' or too amateur for such a weighty project. This was an excellent exercise in letting go of ego and embracing empathy. When I discovered this photo, I realized that whatever discomfort I felt in my lack of artistic ability, it paled in comparison to the sorrow of their poor mother.

Natalie started improv-piecing, but found the letters were getting much to large to fit onto the 12" block. I offered to machine applique the two name blocks and use her improv letters for a joining strip below the two blocks that will say "los hermanos" (the brothers). I learned from a Spanish-speaking neighbour that you would not say "los hermanos Parral" (my original idea) because both family surnames are required.

It was Natalie's idea to embroider line-drawing portraits of the brothers on top of their names. I hope that our resulting blocks will suitably honour these young men, taken illegally from their family and without any official acknowledgement.  Please have a look here and sign the petition if you would like to offer your support in the quest for justice.

Cutting Garden featured in Homespun - and a giveaway!

If you've never had the pleasure of reading Homespun Magazine from Australia, I hope perhaps my latest quilt pattern will encourage you to order a copy! This has always been one of my fav sewing publications due to the varied projects (quilting, embroidery, sewing, collaging), gorgeous photography, matte paper, designer biographies and glimpses of quilting life DownUnder.  I wish it were easier to find in Canada. If you search online there are a few retailers in North America from which you can order copies.

 

Here's the adorable cover and a little detail of my quilt on the contents page!

The story of Cutting Garden is kind of a long one. You may recall that last year I worked with many neighbourhood friends (as well as others from my local quilting community) to make a Scrappy Sprouts quilt for our friend who was diagnosed with cancer.  The quilt we made was inspired by a quilt my friend Tracey made with sewing buddies the year before for her friend with cancer.  We both feel that the block is sweet and hopeful and I know that both quilts brought so much joy to their recipients. 

The location photos in the magazine are just stunning and make me so proud to have a project included!

Well, the editors at Homespun saw a photo of my quilt online and approached me to create a similar one, but they wanted a design with more flowers and a darker "ground".  I first asked Tracey if she wanted the gig, after all, it all started with her block design and quilt.  The timing wasn't right for her, but she graciously allowed me to go ahead with a quilt using a smaller version of her block.  Because of Tracey's generosity and the origins of this quilt, I've donated my modest design commission to cancer research - that just felt right.

The scale of a dresden plate flower didn't work with these smaller sprout blocks, so I designed some folk-art inspired flowers that are made up of two pieced quarter circles, some bias tape applique stems and machine appliqued circles.  I love how they look on top of those pretty rainbow sprout stalks.  It is really difficult to showcase the scrappy low-volume background fabrics in photographs, but trust me, there are tons of prints in there!

One of my fav things about the quilt are the two Heather Ross bumble bees on the flowers (Briar Rose fabric line).

This quilt is a fabulous scrap-buster. There is a lot of piecing, so it takes a while, but the results are so pretty. I cut the squares from pressed scraps using my Accuquilt GO!Baby cutter, which saved lots of time.  I have a little stash of leftover HST's, squares and stems that I saved for one lucky follower along with a copy of the magazine if you'd like to make this quilt yourself.  

Please leave one comment below for a chance to win. Your email MUST be linked to your comment, or appear in the comment itself, in order for you to win.  I'll choose a random winner next week on my birthday: July 22nd. Good luck everyone!

ETA: comments are now closed. Congratulations to comment #74 chosen by the random number generator! The Rx Quilter, you've won!! I'll email you for details on how to get your prize to you.

Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny-Weeny, Yellow Polka-dot....

...half square triangle.

While working on another project that will remain under wraps for a while yet, I decided to save my twofers (that's what I call the corner triangles that you cut off when doing stitch and flip triangles on the corner of larger squares or rectangles like snowballs or flying geese). These ones are very small, and I trimmed them up to 1 1/8" square after piecing them with their low-volume backgrounds.  

I'm in the market for a mini-quilt gift for a friend so I figured this made a good starting point. Without a real plan, I sewed the tiny half-squares together to create an on-point checkerboard. After that, 6" squares of low volume prints (including one of my old poppyprints) were added as a large border.

I still had a little pile of the jewel tone scraps lying on my cutting mat, so thought about ways to use them on this border. I've been admiring a lot of applique on IG lately and have been thinking about a little project to have on hand for stitch sessions with friends.  I envisioned a curvy vine around the patchwork with some appliqued berries scattered around.  I dug out my late FIL's old Flexi-curve from his graphic design supplies (which we still keep in a rolling cart: french curves, circle and oval templates, T-squares, india ink, pigma pens, Lettraset...etc) and marked out the curve with a Frixion pen.

I used this technique to machine applique the bias vine, matching the raw edges of the folded bias strip with the drawn line.  The 1" berries were prepared this way (except I used a thread spool and stamp pad to mark the circles on the fusible interfacing).  

My next step is to fuse them to the background and have them all ready to stitch down at tonight's annual outdoor meeting of the VMQG.  I'm not sure where this mini-quilt is headed after that...but maybe someone will have an idea at tonight's meeting. That is the wonderful thing about stitching with friends: there is never a shortage of great ideas!