Muse Still Up To Her Tricks

Wellll . . . . my week of seclusion did not go as well as it has in past years in that I struggled to settle on a single focus. I knew that I'd be knitting on my Watermark Cardigan every day, and I did. I'm now on row 42, bearing in mind that every other row grows longer by 8 stitches so takes longer to complete, and have started on my second ball of yarn. I've looped the handles of the big tote bag where I keep the yarn and knitting in progress over the arm of my office chair which is working well as I concentrate on the pattern directions laid out on my desk. Things ARE moving a bit quicker as I finally memorized how to do those left and right "make one stitch" increases as well as mostly memorizing the sequence of the pattern stitches on the row I am working on, having to look at the pattern less often. Still, I'm making a few errors here and there leaving me with not enough stitches upon completing a row, and having to backtrack to see what I've done wrong, sometimes unknitting to the spot, other times being able to fudge in a stitch where it is missing when I knit the next row. As the pattern designer says, we all make these errors - even she - and rather than beat ourselves up over it, think of any visible ones as design features. Sound familiar? By the way, I've left Venetian tiles hanging on the wall where I pinned it for photos, right next to my computer, and I've just noticed that the color of my yarn is nearly identical to the green in that quilt!

Beyond the knitting, I felt I should do something in the studio but couldn't decide what. Early in the week I'd finished the last panel of the crochet cardigan, scanned the directions and realized it recommended a light blocking before attaching the front panels to the back panel. In a recognizable procrastination move, I decided to get that done before starting anything else, crawling around on the floor as I smoothed and stretched the panels to size. I'm getting too old for that much crawling around and getting up and down from the floor - I paid for it with a lot of stiffness and soreness the next day!

While messing around with that, I suddenly had a lightbulb moment of what I could work on the rest of the week - making a couple of tote bags to hold my various knitting projects. I've had that piece of antique quilt the person who'd cut it up to make a jacket had sent me for quite awhile, finding it difficult to let go of my anger at her, and not having a good idea of what to do with it, until now. I think I was inspired by Angela Walters who did a video not too long ago of how to turn quilted panels into baskets and totes (watch the video here). So I got it out, folded it this way and that, and decided there was enough for a bag.

But I did notice a large area with some light brown staining, very typical of old textiles, and remembered I'd bought a product quite awhile ago which is supposed to remove that sort of thing without damaging the textile - Retro Clean. I'd meant to use it on some heirloom handkerchiefs but as usual, had not got around to it. There was an area I could cut off to use as a test piece to be sure it truly did not disintegrate or fade an already aged quilt so got to work. 

The directions said to soak for 24 to 48 hours - I was NOT expecting it to take that long - and preferably to set it in the sun to keep the water warm. Ok, if you say so. Even though it's very hot here, the water was cool when I brought it inside after the sun went down. I decided to skip that part on the bigger piece. It did seem to lighten the brown area but not harm the fabrics in any way. Time to soak the large piece for the full 48 hours, followed by rinsing and washing (by hand). Although I think I can still see some staining it is definitely almost gone. And in wetting this piece of old quilt, I immediately could spot tiny seeds here and there in the very thin layer of cotton batting. In fact, the batting was so thin that it had shifted in some areas to leave places of no batting at all. Another bit of evidence to the old age of this quilt.

So much for whipping up a quick tote bag from this already quilted remnant. However, I also had in mind a couple of tote bag patterns bought ages ago and once again, never made up. Time to hunt them down. These two I found right away, hanging on a cork board. Technically not totes but I thought the Two-Hour Tulip Purse made in the largest size would be perfect to hold a knitting project. I'd seen it made up with a flap at a quilt show and thought it would make a perfect purse, hunting down the pattern locally, but I now have plenty of serviceable purses on hand. Better it be a tote bag. But I laugh at the "Two-Hour" designation. I know darn well it will take me longer than that!

What I really wanted to find though was a tote pattern that used that black plastic screening and as a sample showed, combined with batik fabric. I pictured myself picking up purchases at quilt show vendors and tucking them into my see-through bag, so bought the pattern and the batiks the sample was made with. I still have those batiks, but do you think I could find the pattern now? The muse apparently thinks it's funny to hide things from me. I searched in so many places, through piles again, and in drawers, and in old pattern keepers, as well as in binders where I'd filed ideas and patterns for clothing and other items. As I scanned the labels on the spines, I felt the muse nudging me to open the binder labeled "Mariner Compass" where I've filed so many ideas for mariner compass blocks and quilts. Now why would that tote pattern be in there, but shrugged and took it down. Ohhh, the muse had decided to give up where my Judy Mathieson Mariner Compass books were! When I was hunting them down expecting to find them among the other titles on my shelves, it never occurred to me to look in this binder. It has pockets in the front and back covers and there were the books, one each in each pocket. Thanks muse, but now give up that tote pattern!

By now the week was pretty gone and I settled into a weekend of watching multiple motorcycle races, deciding to be content with what I HAD gotten done, disjointed as it was, and the daily knitting. I think Allen would be ok with this. I'd changed my computer wallpaper to this picture of Allen such that when I fired up the computer each day, I'd see him smiling at me and reminding me to not dilly dally too much here but get to work creating. That's all he ever wanted of me, to be happy making things and making progress on them more days than not.

New Project & Some Visitors

Lattice Overlay - Ohio circa 1925 - 74" x 78"

In 1995, I made my first of several treks to Paducah, KY for the American Quilt Society annual show. Big event covering many venues, one of which showcased antique quilts from the Hamilton collection. That is where I was mesmerized by the above quilt and its faint grid pattern superimposed over the dark angled lines. Whether it was intentional or the result of fading, I noted that it made the quilt look out of focus as you looked at it. At the time, I wasn't familiar with the block that created this effect but later learned it was a variation of the split nine-patch.

At some point, I worked up the block color scheme in my Electric Quilt software, and printed out some reference examples (top of photo) as well as doing a small drawing of two blocks with slightly different color schemes on the graph paper (lower right). Later, friend Judi came up with the two quilt patterns she hoped she could sell along with our hand-dyed fabric, and it too used this block pattern. I even taught some classes of how to make those quilts, making up sample blocks showing how they would look with traditional quilt fabric as well as batiks (the 4 blocks on the left). Patterns, class handouts, sample blocks and my previous printouts; these all went into a file for when I might eventually get around to reproducing that antique quilt.

I went through quite a faze of. making and teaching Mariner Compass blocks using Judy Mathieson's method. She included instructions for how to "set in" the round block into a bigger piece of fabric, eliminating piecing four sections of background fabric together. It requires cutting away a hole in the center which leaves you with a a very large circle of fabric to use on something else. Well, I had one of those in a darkish purple batik and I got the idea that it would make a lovely moon with a tree placed over it. And what if I took those batik sample blocks and made more for the background? Yes, I've been thinking about this for some time! This will be my realignment into piecing again.

After looking at everything in the file, I decided I needed to scan my original photo of the antique quilt and print it bigger so I could study all those subtle lighter colors that produced the grid. Stare and think and look at notes before I finally figured out what was different from the split nine-patch quilts I'd been making from Judi's pattern. If you look at those batik blocks, you will see that the center square is dark fabric. But as I studied this larger view of the antique quilt, I suddenly saw it - these blocks had light center squares which is how you get that grid effect. Talk about tunnel vision even though all my notes from before I made Judi's version were right there. Now everything else in the file made sense. And sorry, batik sample blocks, you will not be going into this  quilt!

As for my visitors, last week I spotted a duck pair swimming and feeding in the swales along my walk. Late February seems too early for them to appear; then again, it's been a very mild winter. I'm wondering if this is the same pair I saw last year. The female was gobbling away, head under the water, with the male seemingly standing guard like before, but this time he did more dipping of his own head to feed. I found the post where I talked about them and it is from March 5, mentioning a warming trend, so maybe they aren't here too early.

Then there are the deer. They usually amble through the bushes in the greenbelt behind my place, occasionally popping out to look around and perhaps browse. I've seen the mother and two young ones from last fall recently, looking good and healthy. So when I saw a couple of deer again last week, I thought it was the same ones. But my, these look a little bigger, stockier, and there were only two. Oh well, good and healthy. 

Slowly making their way, browsing on the new shoots of grass.

One ambled over to this scrubby pine by the corner of the house for a nibble.  

What a beauty. 

And it just kept coming, right up to my deck, and sniffed around. Sorry, nothing there, not even grass. But by now I was getting a good look - have never seen them get this close to the house - and could see how "bulky" this one was, like there was a real layer of fat under that fur.

As it turned to leave, I noticed the tail. Wait - I've been seeing white tail deer - that wide tail brown on top, white underneath, but this tail is totally different. These are NOT my usual deer visitors. A quick google gave me the answer. My visitors are Mule deer, which besides the different tail, are slightly larger with darker fur than white tail deer which explains what I was noting in their body bulk.. Welcome to the neighborhood. 

Published!

Now now, don't get too excited. I'm referring to the beautiful book Sacred Threads has published which includes all the quilts in this year's exhibit. Still, this is the first time I've been included, or rather my quilts, in any kind of book. And I do know artists who choose exhibits to enter based on whether or not they publish an exhibit catalog. It's something they want to be able to put on their resume. Me - not so much. But it's still a thrill.

And I couldn't be more pleased. Look! There's Bubble Prayers featured on the leading page to the section on Grief.

And my quilts are the first one's in that section. It takes away some of my disappointment in not being included in the traveling exhibit. The layout is pleasing and the photos I supplied printed true to color and in focus. I was really sweating that.  It tells me I can trust I'm seeing the rest of the quilts in this book just as they were in the exhibit. And at over 300 pages, I have hours of enjoyment ahead of me as I take in the variety of expressions and read their accompanying stories. If you are interested in purchasing your own copy, just follow this link.

I also sprung for a thumbdrive of the audio tour - why not? I'd recorded a little extra myself and am curious to hear the other artists' voices and the additional things they wanted to share. However, I was really puzzled when I pulled what looked like a credit or gift card from the box. Wondering if my lack of smart phone would mean I'd have no way to play it. I certainly couldn't think of anything I had on hand that might work.

It took me forever to realize that the little black rectangle on the back actually rotates out to be inserted into an SD card drive. Whew! I'm not as technically out of it as I thought.

Thank you letter & picture of antique quilt on my repro version

Although this is my first time to be published in a book, I have been published in a magazine a long time ago. This was back when I was making traditional and repro quilts and collecting antique ones. I was commissioned to make a copy of an antique Forbidden Fruit Tree quilt for an historic building in Wisconsin. Their budget only covered materials; good cause or not, I was not willing to donate all of my time for such a labor-intensive project. It was with great reluctance that the owner of the quilt with whom I was negotiating agreed to let me have the antique quilt as partial payment. Its value was not equal to my labor costs but it meant a great deal to me to add it to my collection. And my name and info about the reproduction got posted along with the quilt.

This really was a major undertaking, figuring out how the original quilt was constructed and making my own pattern sized to their specifications. The block itself is a complicated one and it was a challenge to convert the hand quilted design to machine quilting. I wanted to share all this so I submitted pictures and my story to Traditional Quiltworks magazine, thinking it might make it into the Letters from Readers section. Instead, they wanted to feature it and me along with a pattern. I'm still pretty pleased and proud about that. Look! The antique quilt made it on the cover.

And look again! Both antique and reproduction are shown with the pattern (you better believe it's a three thimble difficulty rating) and a small photo of me! My 15 minutes of fame... Click on the pic and any others for a larger view.

You can't see it in these photos, but looking at this diagram from the magazine pattern instructions, I am reminded of one of the things that made me want to own this quilt and that made reproducing it a challenge: as the magazine states "an extraordinary setting." I'm so happy that this antique quilt also got its 15 minutes of fame. Wonder how many quilters actually gave this a go or at least made a single block as those brave enough to sign up for my class did? It makes a lovely pillow cover - one I still get out each Christmas.

Thanks for suffering through my sharing of my several experiences of 15 minutes of fame. How about you? What brief rise to prominence have you had in you quilting career that makes you beam with pride?

January Wrap

For having 5 weeks, January whizzed by, nearing getting away from me. As the month came to a close this week, I reviewed my January lists of prospective things to do, and I was quite pleased to see so many items ticked off, or if not totally completed, at least a portion done. One long standing project stood untouched, though, and on the last day of the month I felt a tremendous urge to address it. Surely I could complete the last of the grid quilting on that half-square triangle quilt left in the machine back in August. And I did. For some reason, I thought I had more left to do than the couple of hours it took to finish it up.  Woohoo!

It's easy to get bogged down when working on a big project, feel like you will never reach the end of it as session progress appears to amount to little when only looking at the big picture. I think that's the way I was feeling about this quilting when I stepped away from it months ago. Now suddenly, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel and all I wanted to do was rush towards it. So today, I started off February by finishing the rest of the quilting. I'd thought a lot about what I wanted to put out in the borders, everything from a big thick braid (would have to be drawn out and marked on) to clam shells (have a stencil but still would require marking) to free motion leafy vines (didn't really want to free motion anything and didn't think it fit the rest of the quilt). I was beginning to regret not extending the diagonal grid quilting into the border (but that would have required marking - sensing the theme here?).

At some point last year, I finally got around to reading Quilts of Provence by Kathryn Berenson (have had it waiting in the queue for years) where I stumbled upon a possible solution to my dilemma. Several quilts were shown with borders quilted with closely spaced lines parallel to the edge. These were actually  channels through which cording was run whereas the rest of the quilt would have more open designs, often grids, acting as a secondary design element to "fanciful printed and woven silks and cottons." This is what caught my attention: "Quilting in the inner body of the piece retained warmth, and the corded border resisted wear." (emphasis mine) Ok, I wasn't about to cord a border, and my parallel lines of stitching are much further apart, but I liked the thought that doing the border this way might have a stabilizing effect. If nothing else, it would be quick, requiring no marking and no free motion wrestling. The guide bar that comes with the walking foot kept me reasonably in line, allowing me to finish up the quilting today.

So all that's left is to bind it (binding strips were cut and set aside at the same time the borders were cut), and that will all be done by machine as well. I'll be washing and air-drying it too to let the batting do its thing of shrinking and puffing and mitigating the many inconsistencies in my workmanship as well as enhancing the reproduction look. It won't be long until I'm out of the tunnel and this quilt, years in the making (started well before my 2006 move to Idaho), will be ready for use. February is off to a good start.   

Quiltscapes Exhibit

Yesterday I trekked to the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture to view 43 quilts from the Eastern Washington State Historical Society's permanent collection. The exhibit runs through May 17th so I was running it a bit close. This exhibit was masterfully hung/laid out, and offered a slim exhibit catalog worth the $3.00 they were asking. Because of the low lighting and taking pictures without flash, I've had to adjust the photos, so colors are not necessarily accurate and some are a bit blurred. Here's a sampling of what caught my eye (click on any picture to see more detail). The Lone Star above (attributed to Minerva Hellen Wilson) is one of two 1820's quilts on display. Immediately noticeable was the unexpected chrome yellow fabric near the center and used nowhere else. It was only upon a second look that I realized the squares making up the border were of fabrics used in the star points. Well, of course! Note the break in symmetry of the border (upper left).


The other 1820 quilt was an English mosaic top, pieced over old correspondence. It is suspected that Susan Eusden, who was born in England about 1838, brought the top with her when she and her husband immigrated to America in 1869. Although the overall sense of this top was a mishmash of muted browns and pinks, with only the center a visible flower motif, I soon realized that a pink flower was centered on each side near a line of blue hexagons forming an inner border. These were fabulous blues that had not faded one bit.


This Birds in the Air quilt was made by Sarah Koentz Glover and is inscribed 5th November 1846. It was the border that caught my eye. To get a sense of how small the triangle are, the Birds blocks are 9 inches square and have 91 triangles in each. Mmmm, and this woman had 11 children by the time she made this quilt.


This next one is for my friend LeAnn, who I believe is in the process of quilting a top with this block in it. Identified as Ducks Foot, it was made by Jane Jacoby of Indiana in 1880. My friend pondered long and hard about an appropriate quilting pattern for her very traditional rendition, so I thought she'd enjoy seeing how Jane handled hers. Feathers, of course!


There were two quilts from 1890. This Honeybee by Sarah Chambers was originally dated circa 1850 because of its trapunto, applique and quilting techniques. Further research of the maker and a closer look at its fabrics proved a later date. Well, you know how many quilters eschew the latest fads and recreate masterpieces in styles from the past. Reproductions, we call them. Or just keeping on doing what we always did. I love the quilting in this one. It also gives testament to the fact that quilters didn't used to obsess over perfection quite like we do today. Note the sawtooth borders that do not perfectly match. This was actually the closest match of the 4 inner corners.


The other 1890 quilt was a classic log cabin done in the furrows setting and made from fancy silks. by Jeannie Creighton. What caught my eye was this quirky edge finish - a thick corded or stuffed piping looped at the corners.


This Fifty-Four Forty or Fight quilt was made by Jesse & Ruth Brockway around 1900. You've got to admire anyone who takes on this block using suiting wools and heavy cottons! The blocks were maybe 14 or 15 inches square, and yes, that one star was much brighter than the rest of the quilt. Quite a charming piece.


The last two quilts are from the early 1900's. I've seen cigar band "quilts" before, but not one quite like this. Usually, there is an over predominance of gold silk bands, but this one had a great variety of colors as well as some great text. The maker, Anna Branzeau never finished this top. I could imagine her enthusiasm waning after a while.


Then there was this cigarette silks "quilt." I've read about these but had never seen the silks in person before. Really great detail and some quite extraordinary colors. I couldn't make out the names under these ladies, but they must have been well-known celebrities of their day. And the interesting twist to this quilt? It was made by ladies at a brothel in Walla Walla, WA. With it's very wide dark blue dust ruffle finish, I could easily see it gracing a bed or fainting couch in one of their rooms. The exhibit catalog asks the question, "Do you suppose they collected silkies from customers of from their own smoking habits?"

Tomorrow - an unexpected contemporary exhibit at the museum...

Quilts as depicted in paintings

Also in the November 2008 issue of The Magazine Antiques is an article on genre painter Seymour Joseph Guy which includes this 1867 painting called Making a Train. If you click on the picture, you will easily see why this painting caught my eye.

Advances in photography have made it possible for quilts and quilting to be well documented in the 20th & 21st century. It is rarer to find photographs showing quilts prior to 1900. These often show up as staged backdrops or as part of a family's treasures being recorded along with family members. I don't know how often quilts showed up in paintings though, so I was interested to study the pattern here and the details of the fabrics as rendered in this oil painting. I just wish I could see what's going on in the center of the quilt!

It's much easier these days to find quilts featured in paintings and prints, thanks to the popularity of quilting itself. Diane Phalen is one of my favorite artists specializing in this (her work available in prints, notecards & calendars), but there are many more. Google "quilts/paintings" and you will see just how much is out there right now.

Antique Quilts at the MAC

If antique quilts hold a fascination for you as they do for me, and if you are going to be anywhere near Spokane, WA between now and May 17th, don't miss the opportunity to see "Quiltscapes" at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture. They are putting on display 43 of the 150 quilts in their collection plus making available a PowerPoint presentation featuring all 150 quilts. The oldest quilts on display are dated 1820. I suspect this is an exhibit not to be missed. See more about the exhibit including pictures of quilts on the museum website here. Read the newspaper coverage with pic here.

Redwork Embroidery - Old and New

Here is my redwork cross, all bordered and basted and ready for hand quilting. It doesn't show in the photo, but the border is marked in white Nonce pencil.

Last year, a friend gave me some old quilts and a box with grandmothers flower garden blocks in it, knowing that no one in the family was really interested in them, but that I had an interest in studying and preserving antique quilts. One of those quilts was this amazing redwork coverlet. (click on any of these photos for a larger view.)


A few weeks ago, she came to me saying she'd found more blocks while rummaging around in closets. I expected more of those hexagons for the flower garden blocks but instead, she handed me a plastic bag with 33 redwork embroidery blocks! I was astounded. There are no two alike, and as near as I can remember, they do not duplicate any in the coverlet either. They look to be by at least two different hands, and most of them are very finely done. The quality of the muslin backgrounds vary, some have yellowed and have brown spots, a few have frayed and are barely big enough to contain the embroidery.







I'm not sure what I'll do with these, but I am fairly sure I do not want them to go back into hiding for another near century - I'm guessing they were done around 1900. I'm tempted to divide them up into themes for small wall quilts. They need to be seen and shared.

It's a classic...

...and it's mine!

I'm back from my trip, the dog's home from the kennel and I'm ignoring the next batch of ripening plums for now. The trip was a bit of a belated birthday treat to myself, and the quilt is a belated birthday present from the friend I visited in Hood River. Judi, who is also my journal partner when we journal quilt, knows I have a small collection of antique quilts, spotted this at a yard sale and figured I would like it. It's the double wedding ring pattern so popular during the 1930's & 40's, although this is is probably made later. It is hand pieced and hand quilted and appears to have polyester batting (thus the later date). It is in near mint condition and I love that it has a pink background rather than muslin or mint green as is often the case with this pattern. I haven't had time to cross-reference the fabric in the rings with my fabric dating books, but it is a wonderful variety of prints possibly spanning 30 years or more. Plus it fills a gap in my collection perfectly.


I'm sure I was the envy of all in my train coach accommodations on my return trip home. For some reason, Amtrak seems to think the cars should be refrigerated and I was uncomfortably cold on the way down. Not so coming back as I snuggled under my "new" quilt and nodded off.