Drumroll please.... The Princess Quilts!!

Do any of you even remember that I was going to show you the Red-Haired Princess Quilts "soon"? I'd said that so long ago that I'm sure it's long been forgotten. But without further ado....


Here they are! Two similiar quilts for two red-haired sisters. These were so fun to make - the recipients are like family, and I have quite literally known them their whole lives. They are both strip quilts - bands of fabric running the whole length (or width) of the quilt. Then, quilted heavily to achieve an absolutely luxuriously textured quilt. I took the best pictures I could, but keep in mind that the only assistant I had was a three year old....

The quilt that you can see more fully above has horizontal stripes (let's call that #1), while the folded one beside it has vertical stripes of fabric (for simplicity's sake, #2). Other than that, they have the same fabrics, and are both heavily quilted with straight lines on all the white spaces.

#1's binding, and closeup detail of the back and front.

#1, view of the red-haired princess sleeping peacefully.

#1's binding, again, with my tag. This binding was chosen since the red-haired queen (aka, the mom of the princesses) loves this fabric.

#2's binding and closeup detail of quilting.

A very densely quilted stripe on #2 - these lines were "organic" lines on purpose...

Another view of #2.

These quilts turned out so beautifully - I love the textured look that the heavy quilting offers. Mmmmhmmmm....

I'll have another similiar quilt to show you soon, then hopefully I can change it up for awhile.

What I do when I'm not quilting...

Just because I'm silent does not mean that I've not been quilting. Oh my goodness gracious - have I been quilting! I promised myself that I would not overbook my November so that I could sew my own projects in December. Apparently I didn't speak firmly enough to myself. Oops. There will be pics later today of some of the quilts that I've been promising, with more to follow.

I was going to start the next order today, until my son told me he had seen someone looking in his window last night. Creepy. It could possibly have been his daddy, who leaves for work while it is still dark out - but I thought there was still a good enough reason to make sure his windows were decently covered. I had just removed the scrap of fabric covering his window in order to put a layer of that plastic wrap on to stop the stiff breeze that blows through his 40 year old windows. So, instead of re-pinning that scrap of fabric back to his window, I quickly fashioned these:

Not a super stellar job, but they will do the trick. And, I've been trying to find an excuse to show you the quilt I made for him a year ago (its there on his bed).

Soon!!!

A case of self-loathing...

Please, please, please, somebody.... remind me that the next time I think pebbling would be a good idea, my arms and shoulders will give me their walking papers and leave me permanently. Why do I allow myself to punish my body thus? Well......

'Cause it's beautiful. Pebbled quilting gives so much texture and warm crinkliness to the quilt that it is totally worth it.... for the person getting this quilt. Seriously, I think this technique's days are numbered.

I'm gonna finish this quilt up with some organic lines, then the binding, then show the whole thing to you. Aren't you excited!!??

Am I a quilter?? and a few deep thoughts.....

I've had some conversations and done some reading in the last few days that has really made me think of my hobby (quilting, hello...) in a new light. It started with me catching up on all the wonderful quilting blogs that are out there. There are some women (and men) who are so accomplished and make such terrific, perfect quilts. It really made me feel like I was nowhere near to the place that I should be to be offering my quilts for sale (even though I am), and that I still had so far to go before I could even jokingly refer to myself as a quilter (actually, I don't like calling myself that anyway - it sounds like my grandma). I don't usually feel so down about my craft when I read others' blogs - I often feel encouraged. However, that day... I didn't.

Then, my husband I went out for supper with one of his work contacts. Jerry is a 70 year old man, originally from Europe, and is very easily taken away from the conversation at hand and transported to wonderful topics about captivating things. This time he spoke about his younger brother, who is a fairly accomplished artist in France. Even though Nathan and I knew much of what Jerry "taught" us about, we listened intently while he spoke about the difference between Impressionist and Minimalist art. Jerry has a wonderful way of spinning a tale. Minimalism, according to Jerry, is art in it's simplest form. The object being portrayed may look nothing like you think it should in the final product, but it is the artist's rendition of it. I thought of my quilts, and how unlikely I am to spend a lot of time making a typical patterned quilt. In so many cases, I feel like that's been done over and over, and even though I admire other quilts finished that way, I love my quilts to be bold, graphic statements of what I perceive modern quilting to be. That's not to say that only bold, graphic quilts are modern - but that's my rendition of them.

Another thing that got me thinking was this article here. Read at least the first page of it. It speaks to the imperfection and organic-ness of nature, and how we can learn to embrace that in our life. Although I don't follow the Buddhist roots of this thought, I do appreciate the acceptance of the beautiful roughness that comes from a life imperfectly lived. I want to appreciate the fingerprints on my walls - for this is a season of life (I will appreciate them in between the weekly wall washing, at least). The toys that are scattered throughout my house remind me that I won't always have small, blonde, tousled heads sleeping on my pillow. And how does this apply to my quilting? Well, I don't aim for perfection. When I straight line quilts, the lines resemble stalks of grass waving in the wind more often than the sharp angle of a skyscraper reaching towards the clouds. Instead of this frustrating me, I find beauty in the obvious hand made look this offers. This is not all done by a machine somewhere. This is done my two hands that are often called to tie a shoe, or fix a toy, or kiss an owie. Perhaps this squiggly line was caused because there was a squirming three year old on my lap while I was quilting (happens more often than I'd like). Not to say that I want to allow for sloppiness in my work, but rather that I embrace the organic nature of the imperfect quality of my art. And yes, that is what I am thinking of it as. My quilts are my art. Some may appreciate my view of what a quilt should be, and others will prefer a more traditional quilt. And that is okay. I am feeling a little embarrassed to call myself a quilt artist, but it gives validity to how I think about the finished product, therefore I will attempt to squash that embarrassment.

Thanks for taking a minute to read my musings. I appreciate you, truly...

The start of something new...

A new quilt, that is.

From this.....

To this.....

The name of this quilt will be...."Striated". That's a BIG hint towards the design of the quilt.

Toothpaste pillows

A friend of mine asked for pillows that would match her living room. It's painted a very pretty color that her husband refers to as "toothpaste" blue. I can see the similiarities to the toothpaste I used as a child. Colgate, perhaps?

She gave me a few fabric scraps to incorporate into the design, but beyond that, I was given free reign of how the pillows turned out. Oh how I love when people do that!


The result. Once again, my version of a matched set.

Pillow numero uno. I am usually looking for a way to make things asymetrical. I think it's a continuation of my disdain for things that are too perfect.

(close up of quilting detail)

Pillow numero dos. Zig-zags. Mmmmmhmmmm. Thank you to crazy mom quilts for her wonderful zig zag tutorial that I have used a couple of times now.

I love, love, love this detail quilting on the zig zag pillow. I think it would be fantastic on a larger quilt (actually, I know it would be, I've seen it done), but I am not up for the challenge... yet...

It was a tiny bit nervewracking to make these, since Christine (the new pillow owner) is a modern maker, too. The pillows have been declared wonderful, though, so now I shall sleep at ease. Check out Christine's wonderful things here.

More stuff soon!

The Opposite of Hot Chocolate...

Is not cold chocolate. Rather, it is the act of tramping through muddy ditches and over gravel roads during the chilly Northern Alberta autumn. This is what our Saturday morning consisted of. Brrrr....

But why would we brave this (who am I kidding - we all know it's about to get a lot worse...)? Let me show you.

A mischevious look so typical of my daughter.

And another one from her brother...

My wonderful parents....

Beautiful pics all worth depriving myself of a few moments of warmth.

I am privileged to call this marvellous photographer a close friend of mine. You should really, really check her work out. Really. I'm serious. For real. Did you?? You should!

More pics in a few months (can you wait that long?), after another session with her.