Tuesday, January 10, 2012

All in the name of Liberty ...

I've been having a difficult day. The AC/DC music came out in the sewing room tonight, not surprising.

I have been doing some archealogical research on my old laptop for all the pictures I've taken or had taken of the quilts that I've created over the past 11 years. And sadly there are some quilts that I have never had photographed. I will have to work this year to rectify that issue. It's a short list, but as I had not taken photos of them, my memory and recollection of their creation has grown fuzzy if not completely blank.

So, with that in mind I've decided to upload some pictures of quilts that I do have photographs of for display online and to remember what I've made over the years. It's true; I forget!

Oldest quilt I have a picture of is the second quilt I made which is a double Irish chain quilt that I gave to my maternal grandmother Margaret.

The pink centre chain fabric was chosen by my sister K the first, and possibly last time, she ever accompanied me at a fabric store. It was in the Christmas fabric section and I just had to find a use for it though I despised the idea of using a pink fabric. My mother brought her daughters up to eschew pink!

Sister K also found the delightful sea green and gold print background fabric in the store we were browsing, which I couldn't have found without her.

I adore this fabric and unfortunately all that I was able to purchase was enough for the quilt you see with no leftovers. Pity. It was lovely.

The next eldest quilt in my gallery was the first and I think the only time I've attended a quilt block "class". I went with my Godmother J and it was a Stack 'n Slash block which I hadn't heard of before, but I was game as it sounded easy and quick to construct. These would still be considered the "Prime Directive" for considering a new quilt project for me : How easy it is to assemble and how quickly it can be assembled. I'm not drawn to fuss.

So, like I said, a Stack 'n Slash quilt block. Using 9 different fabrics we stacked and slashed our way through cutting and rotating and re-sewing them fat quarters we'd brought along, until we had 9 blocks of a somewhat crazy patch pattern. I chose to join all 9 of my blocks together, thereby making a single crazy patch quilt which I think was very effective in a modernist -Kandinsky sense.

Incidentally, this is the only quilt I've sold. A friend of my mother's husband purchased it from me when he heard how much she admired it. So this is the only picture I have of this quilt. I have made this type of quilt again since, but this was the first.

I will have to get a photo of the second Stack 'n Slash quilt I made. I made it for my Goddaughter's Christening present in lovely dusty pinks and greens. I love green.

The last quilt I have a picture of is the quilt I made with fabrics that I had purchased randomly but didn't know how to combine. It was some of the first fabric I went out and consciously purchased with the intent to turn into a quilt. Previous to this I haunted Lincraft and Spotlight purchasing dress fabric which I found I couldn't turn into the patterns and dresses that I wanted and admired. Much to my frustration and limited storage space.

So, this was a pattern called Hidden Wells. And the quilt store I was affiliated with at the time, Mad About Quilting, had several on their walls as examples. But I couldn't see how the fabrics that I had unwittingly purchased could be made to combine into something clever and wonderful like theirs had.

I might also point out at this stage, that my Hidden Wells quilt is one of my favourites and is also admired often when it's on display around the house.

I often think about medieval garden pictures when I see this quilt and I would love to have another go at making this pattern to see if I can make another just as visually effective. However much I'm tempted I haven't tried a second run at the fence, fearful that the result will be disappointing with comparison.

So, quilts I'm missing full pictures of are;

  • The purple quilt I made my sister K for Christmas.
  • My first Bargello quilt I made on commission for my Paternal grandmother to my cousin A.
  • A pink fat quarter quilt again made on commission for Nana to my cousin E.
  • The pink Christening quilt I made for my adorable Goddaughter.
  • The T Shirt patchwork quilt I made for sister V.
  • The Butterfly wall hanging that my Aunt M has, but was made for Aunt E who has passed on.
  • The purple and green rail fence and nine patch quilt Mum received for Mother's Day last year. (This I covet and wish I had kept for myself. But don't tell her!)
  • The pink and green rail fence quilt I made as a wedding present for someone who isn't a friend anymore. I should have taken a photo of that quilt! The pink fabric I used was a 60s vintage fabric given to me by my Aunt J years ago. I dread to think what happened to the quilt, so I can't dwell on the idea.
  • A red patchwork quilt-as-you-go experiment that my Cat loves to rest on.
  • The first quilt I made - a green and black rail fence that lives on my sofa.
So, that's a lot of quilts I don't have pictures available for, and luckily some are easily fixed. Have to get cracking to get the pictures taken.

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