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.
