Quarantine Quilts` That's why we have a "stash"

 What do you do when you're self quarantining and keeping exposure to this stupid COVID virus a minimum?  Well you clean out your closets and garage, dust the furniture, clean out the fridge, take inventory of your PPE and toilet paper and then repeat.  Nana camp is over and when we were in the middle of it there was still time to spend doing something else.  Quilt!!!!!  But wait!  The quilt stores are closed!  Those of us who always have to have a little extra fabric just in case collect quite a stash in the process.  When I left Denver I donated over 200 yards of fabric to organizations that make quilts and items for others.  But fortunately I still have quite a bit of fabric to choose from.

I have finished 3 quilts since March and here's the first one:

I call her "Quarantine under the Sea"  It is an art quilt.  I guess in a pinch it would keep you warm but it was designed by Roxanne as an art quilt.  It came with a pattern and instructions but once I got started it took on a life of its own like most art does.  My goal was to use only fabric from my stash.  The background fabric I bought from Roxanne's   It's perfect because it has a mermaid in the batik.  My favorite fabric designer is Kaffe Fassett.  Most of the piecing fabric is from his collections.

Here's a little closer.  The bubbles and flowers are layered over the other fabrics.  These small pieces are adhered with a fusible web that is activated by the heat of an iron.  Yes I had just enough ( well over 10 yards) fusible web to attach all of the pieces.  Some of the smaller pieces needed the security of some thread stitching as well.

Detail of the mermaid's hair.  I love this.  It reminds me of the gorgeous hair that Pixar gave to Merida in Brave....beautiful red hair with lots of highlights and lowlights.  I know Ariel has red hair too but Merida was my muse.  This beauty's hair is highlighted with pansies, daisies, carnations and dahlias.

I want Merida's hair

And every underwater theme quilt I make must have a jellyfish.  

This quilt was finished in about 4 months and most of it was designed on the floor. All fabrics, materials, batting and threads were used from my stash.

This next quilt has been sitting around for about 10 years.  (shame on me).  I have always loved it but just postponed finishing it.  So the fabrics are really really bold.  I call this "Eat your Vegetables".   It is a traditional quilt about 60" square.  

Now when the quilt itself is so bold you need to quiet down the back:

Kaffe Fassett has a line of woven fabrics as well.  The colors are yummy.  Again I had to go to my stash and see what I had that would complement the front.  I had many colors to choose from but not enough of any one of them.  So I had to piece.  I found three different colors that seemed to be just right.  Tangerine, raspberry and persimmon.  And magically the detail stitching that you can't really see from the front shows up nicely on the back with the solid color.

And after 10+ years this quilt too is complete.  A perfect size for a nap.

Free Wheeling Single Girl.....a spin off and original design by Denyse Schmidt in answer to double wedding ring pattern:

Wow this one was fun!  I started it in October with a group challenge offered by Denyse Schmidt well kind of a sew along with postings every week.  Even though it was pre pandemic it was sort of a community effort.  This pattern is a single ring instead of an overlapping double ring.  Each ring was composed of 4 arcs of 9 or 10 pieces and then joined together so about 40 pieces in each block.  Again I went to my stash.  Yep!  I had enough.  I think I spent 2 or 3 days choosing and cutting the small pieces.  Then when I was assembling each ring I had to make sure there were no pieces repeating too closely.  Each afternoon for about 3 weeks last October I sat in my studio designing and piecing on my little sewing machine.  (I listened to "Luncheon of the Boating Party" by Susan Vreeland a story about Auguste Renoir and his friends.on Audible .  I highly recommend this read) I had some of the background but had to order more online.  Again this is a predominantly Kaffe Fassett fabric assembly.  The background is aboriginal dot.  It's blue with white but "reads" a soft blue.  Contrast that with the brilliance of the pieced fabrics.  

Sometimes the back of the quilt is just as interesting as the front.  This fabric is called "ombre" for good reason.  It is speckled with the same blue dot and ties all the colors together.  Pretty bold: Cool color of blue as primary color with contrast of hot hot colors for the rings and back.  I just finished this quilt two days ago.  It took me a couple of hours to trim all of the threads.  I think I used 5 large spools of thread.  Again all of the pieces, batting (lots of remnant pieces in the batting) and thread were pulled from my stash.  If you look carefully - and why would you?- you can see so many of the same fabric in each quilt. And now my studio has been cleaned out as well.   

I probably have some more unfinished projects in my studio to work on but right now I'm pleased that I finished these three.

The end of Nana camp for this summer......Peace out! Freedom and Respect

 We started our last themed series right after Memorial Day.  There was already unrest and uncertainty with this stupid COVID but now we were all witnessing the 8 minutes, 46 seconds of police brutality and murder.  Recently the autopsy report of George Floyd was released showing the presence of methamphetamines, fentanyl, nor-fentanyl, and cannibus in his body fluids with the health history of arterial sclerosis and hypertension. There was a good chance that he would have killed himself with his drug use added to his present health conditions but the cause of death was homicide by a police officer with two fellow police officers watching and accepting the brutality and murder.  So my last post for NaNa camp is PEACE, FREEDOM and RESPECT.  Mostly I'm looking for art activities that we can help understanding of a history lesson.  Our first project: 

The One Million Crane project  by Hello Wonderful ( a great website for kids projects)  The project's idea comes from the story Sadako and 1000 paper cranes.  Sadako was a 12 year old girl who contracted radiation induced leukemia as a result of living in Hiroshima when we Americans dropped the atomic bomb in hopes of sending the message to the Japanese that it was time to end this Word War II.  Sadako believed the Japanese tradition that if she made 1000 paper cranes she would be granted a miracle.  She started folding any paper she could come up with in her hospital room.  She did make 1000 origami cranes but her miracle was not granted.  Sadako was an innocent victim of war.  In 1958 the Tower of Thousand Cranes was built to celebrate Sadako and Children's Day for Peace.

So Reina, Gabriela and I started making origami cranes.

So far I have folded exactly 100.  That's 100 towards the project's one million.  A good goal for peace.

NaNa camp is usually about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.  Sometimes we finish our project early.  We use the left over time to chat about something the girls are doing or I read to them.  I have several "picture books"  You know the kind that tells a story in words but at the end of each second page the reader turns the book around so that the listeners can see the picture.  Pictures help tell a story too.  And who doesn't like to be read to?  One day I randomly grabbed this book:

It's a story of a young black slave who learns to sew and makes a quilt, The Freedom Quilt, from the scraps she has after making clothing and sheets for the Missus in The Big House.  Clara makes a map in the form of a quilt that she compiled from stories she overheard from the other slaves.

The quilt map marked the farms on the plantation, housing, fields, and rivers.  It marked the North Star and the Ohio River.

If you were a slave and wanted your freedom you would have to run away and not get caught.  If you could make it to the Ohio River, the Underground Railroad would help you get all the way to Canada and you would be free.

The girls had learned a bit about the Underground Railroad and that both white people and black people took great risks to help slaves reach their freedom from enslaved states to either free states North of the Ohio River or Canada.  Slavery was abolished in 1865 by the 13th amendment of the Constitution but as we all know it has taken a long time for true freedom.

I read this sweet little picture book at the end of one of our camp afternoons.  I cried while I read it and for a while longer after I closed the book.

Then we started to study Native American culture.  Reina and Gabriela live in Seattle so they have learned in school about the history of their state of Washington and about their local Native American culture.  There were coastal tribes and plateau tribes.  Did you know there are 29 recognized tribes of Washington?  The coastal tribes built the totem poles.  Many other Native American tribes made dream catchers for their babies.  So our first project was a dream catcher:

These were our inspiration but no one really wanted a unicorn....a little too trendy.

Gabriela's dreamcatcher

Reina's dreamcatcher

We started with a 6 inch wooden hoop.  Then each chose our yarn color and completely wrapped the yarn around the hoop.  With an accent color yarn we made the web across.  The web traps the bad dreams while the good dreams pass through.  We added ribbon loops to the bottom.  Then some pink feathers.  Gabriela added pink daisies.  These are adorable.  Here's mine.

There is constant movement to these dream catchers.  It's fun to watch them move when the window is open.

In many cultures the stories of the families and history are told from one person to another.  Often an older member of the tribe - the historian - will tell stories to the younger ones with the intention that the stories will live on forever.  Another way of telling stories was the tribe's totem pole.

A very famous totem pole from the Pacific Northwest now "lives" in Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle. It's from the Tlingit tribe of British Columbia.  If you are ever a tourist in Seattle it's a good stop:

From this photo we can see the Thunderbird, a Supernatural creature that created lightening from its beak and thunder from flapping its wings.  Other creatures carved in the wooden poles were fish, turtles,  birds, insects and bears.  Each tells a story about the lineage of the tribe and the spirit animals of its members.  You read a totem pole story from bottom to top.  Note: if you look at the thunderbird from the side you just might see a Seahawk:

So our next project was to create our own totem pole using our spirit animals as our inspiration:  

According to experts you can have one or several spirit animals throughout your lifetime.  They can come in and out of our lives to give us guidance, teach us about ourselves, and help us maintain balance.  The timing and direction we are headed on our path, a specific occasion that may arise, phases of life or tasks that need to be completed along our journey will dictate what animal steps forward to help.

Here is our mis en place for our totem poles

Here are our totem poles: Gabriela's:

Peacock =beauty and self confidence

Fox = cunning and quick thinking

Monkey ="laugh of the party"

Crow = the wisest of all birds

Unicorn - magical and mystical 

You are all of these Gabriela!!!

Reina's totem pole:

1. 
   Cactus=endurance

   2 arrows crossed = friendship

   Moon and star = harmony

   Thunderbird = strength

   I love this Reina

   And here is mine:

   Thunderbird = strength and power

   Turtle = long life and health

   Bear = taking action and leadership, guidance

   Broken arrow = end of war = PEACE

   And now here it all comes down to PEACE, FREEDOM and RESPECT  I wasa teenager in 

   the 60s.  I wore daisies in my hair. I listened to Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan as well as the Beatles and the Beachboys. I protested against the Vietnam War...all war. We girls/women wanted to be recognized as equal human beings not just the function of a man.  We wanted our freedom and respect.  Some of us even burned our bras (not me). We wanted to vote at age 18- the same age men (and a few women) served our country through the 

   military. I first voted when I was 21! We watched as our black brothers and sisters marched for Freedom...freedom that was granted to them 100 years prior but was never fully

    granted.  And here we are again today all asking for the same things.  Well the music is 

   different and I haven't seen a woman burn her bra in a while.

   Learn about other people. Knowledge and listening is always better than fear and shouting. Fifty years has passed since I wore flowers in my hair and begged to own a car in my own 

   name.  A lot has changed. But we can still do better.

   ☮