Tiny Quilts and Inspiration

August was my "me" month. I didn't have any deadlines or commitments, so I kept sewing plans loose. My thought was to spend some time reading, researching and re-grouping.  I decided to work on two small projects for the American Made Brand Solids Tiny Quilt Challenge.  I really like the concept of the AMB company (read all about their "farm to fabric" process on their website).  Two small (less than 15" sides) and original compositions sounded like a fun exercise.

In order to qualify for the challenge, quilts had to be made of 100% AMB solids. I had some pastel and grey fat quarters purchased at Island Quilter a couple of years ago and two rainbow mini-charm packs (2 1/2" squares) from QuiltCon 2015 at my disposal.

Still working on exploring ideas with my Improv Under the Influence piecing technique, I thought I'd give it a try with the 2 1/2" squares. I didn't have a a concrete idea of what I would do with improv-pieced border units in rainbow colours, until one day inspiration struck in the form of a photo on Instagram. Heather Jones posted a detail shot of a log cabin, showing the horizontal logs separated by white chinking. On the left side of the image, you saw the rounded square ends of the logs forming the adjacent wall.  I grabbed my sketchbook and drew this:

Looking at those rainbow stripes reminded me of some a quilt block I'd seen on Instagram. It was made by Susanne Woods (craftyeditor) for the #lovewinsquilt project, commemorating the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that effectively legalized same sex marriage.

After having a lot of fun piecing skinny strips with tiny 1/8" seam allowances, I came up with this final composition, which I call The Five, measuring 12 1/2" x 14 1/2". It represents the five Supreme Court Justices in their sombre robes, their weighted decision, and ultimately their landmark ruling for equality. Not everyone is happy about this decision, in fact I lost about 20 followers on IG after posting the story of this quilt. Quilters have been using their art to honour their values and commemorate important milestones in history for over 100 years and I'm excited to make my own tiny contribution to this tradition.

With coordinating Aurifil thread in 30 wt, I quilted straight lines with a 3.5 stitch length, simply following alternate seams in the pieced strips as my guide. 

Somewhere along the way, I got to thinking about rounded squares and sketched a few ideas for achieving the look with a log cabin construction. It took quite a bit of math! In order to make The Five, I had to drive across the border to buy reds as there weren't any in the mini charm packs I had. With left over hunks of tomato red and fuschia, I made this Long Cabin Study 1 quilt, which is 15" square.

The binding had to be AMB also, so my options were limited and ultimately I chose this pale mint colour over dark grey. Again, I quilted with coordinating Aurifil 30 wt thread and a long stitch length on my new Juki  TL2010-Q (using the regular sewing foot with minimal pressure, since the walking foot that came with my machine was faulty).

You can see that I carried the thread right through to the edges of the quilt over the alternate coloured fabric.

This quilt wasn't selected, either. I've since made another one in a slightly larger size where the proportions work even better for the secondary pattern of the rounded square. I'll share that with you next and I think I'll create a pattern for a bed-sized version because I just love the bold colour study and resulting graphic design. I find it reminiscent of those illusion text fonts with 'unfinished' letters that your eye automatically completes so that you can read the words, like this one by German designer Alexander Tibus where letters are defined by their shadows.

source

I've just returned from a wonderful long weekend of teaching in Juneau, Alaska and have lots to catch up. I'll work on my Sweden photos this week and share those with you soon!

Stitching Inspiration

Last week I had the pleasure of spending two whole days in a room filled with inspiring textiles and women. In Vancouver we have an incredible resource in Maiwa. Maiwa Handprints is an artisan supply store (dyes, handcarved stamps, paints, wool, linen, books...etc), a clothing shop (featuring natural-dyed linen garments made around the world), an import-furniture warehouse, textile and textile book library and the host company of an incredible annual textile symposium.

I took a two day embroidery course with local expert, City and Guild's graduate Bonnie Addie, and next month I will spend two days with the quilters of Gee's Bend! Wow. I was super lucky to get into these classes - I was on the computer the first morning right when registration opened and got the last spots in both classes.

Bonnie has traveled to India with Charllotte Kwon, the inspiring woman behind Maiwa. There, she met with local embroiderers and fabric dyers, sewists and artisans who supply much of Maiwa's products.

What I wanted to share with you today are photos of the space we worked in. The Maiwa workshop also serves as a textile and book library where you can spend time pouring over examples of ethnic stitchery from all over the world, or research stitches or dying methods in any of the collected books. Everything is stored in lovely glass-front cabinets. The library is open for anyone who calls ahead to book at time during business hours. I will be back for sure!

I am very inspired by the hand work of women around the world. Many of whom have overcome incredible tragedy, poverty or persecution. There are entire isolated communities of women, especially in India, who have honed their needle arts through generations and produce not only beautiful, but unique textiles. In particular, those of us in the workshop were given a beautiful embroidered silk pouch & needlebook made by earthquake survivors from the Kutch region of India. These women were taught to embroider as a form of therapy (and also out of a sense of urgency to pass on the skills that were almost lost when so many of the community perished in the 2001 earthquake). Now they have a life skill and trade to support themselves and their children. I want to learn more about the tradition of stitching in this oral culture - where stitch is used as mean of recording events in the lives of family and community.

Our tablecloth at the work table! Beautiful Kantha.

My brain is stuffed full with ideas for stitching, so much that I'm having trouble focusing on anything! I'll be back soon to show some of the cool stitches I learned (I can attach a shisha mirror!) and I want to share a fun and easy technique with you as well.

I'm linking up with my friend Trish's new "Monday Morning's Inspiration" feature over at Two Peas in a Pod.

Did I say that?

It seems like a looooong time ago (like last week) I was busy vowing to spend more time making thing for myself, my family and my home this year. And maybe just a few private swaps with bloggy friends.

Well, along came the {Urban} Homes Good Swap 3 this week. I watched the first two excellent rounds pass me by. I've hummed and hawed the entire week about signing up for this round. And I made the mistake of looking at everyone's inspiration mosaics. And then my brain starting making audible whirring noises as I thought of all kinds of cool stuff I'd make for my parter. And then I thought I'd make up a mosaic for myself, just for me to, you know, keep track of what I like. So next time I want to make myself something I will be all set for inspiration.

And then it happened. I couldn't stop myself.

Yup. I signed up.

I did it for my sewing machine. She's really picking up a lot of dust and a cover would be so nice. Or maybe a table runner for the dining room? Or, I know, some fabric baskets to organize my sewing table. You know what would also be super useful? Insulated carrying cases for my retreat irons! I've been meaning to make those for years (anyone know a tutorial?)

You should also know that my swap item for Traceyjay is almost complete and it's so pretty. I can't wait to share. That's partly why I figured it would be ok to do just one little (sort of big) swap. I'm two weeks ahead of schedule!

HEADLINE: Doll Quilts Inspire Ooohs and Aaaahs!

Just in case my DQS9 partner is stalking me (howdi pardner!), I created this lovely collection of quilties that I ♥ big time.

For those reading that have no idea why I'm writing in secret code, it's like this: I have once again signed up for one of the most amazing swaps running on Flickr. It's a blind swap (we don't know who is sewing for us, only who we have to sew for). To make things fun, or a wee bit stressful depending on your personality, participants are encouraged to make an inspiration mosaic to help their partner get to know their tastes, preferences and quirky obsessions. This is supposed to help my partner figure out what to make for me:

1. Full view of DQS7 quilt, 2. DQS7--Ready to GO!, 3. dollpumpkin 004, 4. Doll Quilt Swap 7, 5. dqs7 received from flossybossy, 6. DQS7-closeup, 7. DQS8 progress, 8. Mini Lone Star, 9. DQS 8, 10. DQS8 finished, 11. it's mine!, 12. Doll Quilt Swap 8, 13. DQS8, 14. Heart/h: fuller view, 15. Sherri's Block---February, 16. up close top 1/2, 17. Shoo Fly Quilt - DQS8, 18. Alphabet Quilt, finished, 19. Finished Doll Quilt, 20. dqs6 - finished!, 21. DQS7 Sneak Peek 2, 22. Doll Quilt Swap 7 SENT, 23. Abstract #5 Mini Embroidered Art Quilt, 24. Dresden progress, 25. dqs8

But here's the deal...for some people this can be extremely daunting. So, I'm here to say this to my partner: Don't panic. Enjoy yourself. I like A LOT of things when it comes to quilting (exceptions being cats, brown and Thimbleberries fabric). In fact, I am allergic to two of those things.

Making a mosaic of favourite quilts can be really revealing. For instance, it showed me that I am drawn to quilts that have a definite positive/negative thing going on with a clearly defined background (in most cases, white, grey or natural linen). I like graphic designs. Wonky piecing pleases me. Embroidery for embellishment or quilting also makes my heart flutter a little (I've had it checked out, nothing to worry about). Triangles, crosses and X's seem to show up a lot, don't they?

I think I'm pretty easy to please actually. One final note, I do appreciate a nicely finished binding.

So partner, snoop away, scroll through some of my blog posts, make yourself at home, get to know me a little if you don't already. I can't wait to see what you come up with!