Mom's Pond

4 1/2 years in the making and within an hour of being done -- finally. I couldn't remember which end was up, so we tried it out on Mom and Dad's bed last weekend. Now, I just need to add the label on the back with a blanket stitch. 

This is a full-size comforter, custom sized to my folks' bed. I put together blocks and laid them out in rows on the folks' living room floor. We worked on half of the quilt each time. Mom and The Husband rearranged the blocks, with Dad making suggestions. When she saw it on the bed, Mom was pleased with how well we distributed the red. I was tickled that the yellow was nicely scattered.

This pattern is "Yellow Brick Road" from Atkinson Designs. (I've seen something similar but simplified at quiltfabric.com, if you're interested in making one.) 

Along with using stuff from my stash and local fabric stores, I bought a lot of fabric through etsy sellers, both in the U.S. and overseas -- Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong, if memory serves.

Here's a close-up below of the quilting, which quiltfabric.com did for me.

Oh, look -- just peeking out at the top of the photo below, you can see the backing. I will try to find the name of the fabric line. Something Atlantis, I want to say. I really love it. (And note to self to shoot pics of the backing and binding.)

Lots of dragonflies, right? Mom's inspiration piece for this quilt was a fiber garland with dragonflies in navy and blue-greens. She didn't want a "dragonfly" quilt, and wanted lots of navy -- those were her guidelines. 

Many of the fabrics make me think of fish eyes, frog eggs, water ripples, plants and critters around a pond. And Mom, who grew up in the country, has wished for a pond in her suburban backyard from time to time. So, here's Mom's Pond.

Always planning for another quilt

Molas for Mom C.

Drinking bird
16 1/4" x 11 5/8"

Eagle on nest (orange is polyester)
17 1/2" x 14"

Lion
17" x 14"

Owls
black: 19 5/8" x 13 3/4"
pink: 20" x 13 3/4"

Mini-molas
Face: 2 3/4" x 2 1/2"
Bird: 2 7/8" x 2 3/4"
Pipes: 2 3/4" x 2 1/2"
Turtle: 3" x 3 1/8"
Butterfly: 3 1/8" x 3"

Wildcat (pink is polyester)
17" x 12 3/4"

Thing 1 and Thing 2 (a.k.a. "Alien Goat Boys")
7 1/4" x 11 1/2", v is 4 1/2"

Thing 2

Ravens
16 7/8" x 13 1/8"

Raven for truer color

One more oo-la-la

This turned out so crazy. Can't wait to add some more branches and connect the vines.

Oo-La-La: Adventures in Crazy Quilting

At the end of April and beginning of May, I took a two-session quilting class from the amazing Jacqueline at quiltfabric.com. It didn't take long to realize all my messing around with artsy crafts in the past pushed me to this point. My, how I have missed handwork.

I used a "jelly roll" -- 2.5" strips of fabric from a collection called "Comma by Zen Chic for Moda" -- along with other coordinating odds-and-ends from my stash. Using a quilt-as-you-go method, I covered 36" x 45" of  batting in a LONG week. Those strips and odd-sized chunks cover the front, while a single piece of fabric backs the batting.

Quilt piecing in progress, the last week of April 2013.

We started needle work in class the next Sunday. Oh boy. I spent the whole time trying to sew a single stitch. It must have seemed like I was in way over my head. I had no idea how to stitch between layers of fabric. What the heck do I do with a knot on a finished back?! I was used to going up and down through the fabric, instead of just through the top layer. By now, I've adapted, but I probably won't do handwork that way again. I'm uncertain about the stability of beads attached to the quilt. My solution is to cheat and tie off in the back -- fortunately, a creme color like the bead thread.

Fabric covered, ready to hand sew. And what on EARTH am I going to do with a 3' x 4' beaded thing I can't wash? I chopped it in quarters. It was exhilarating. That sounds insane, I know. But chopping that bad boy up was freeing and such a good choice. Now I have workable chunks that will eventually become wall-hangings, I guess. Shrug.

On evenings and weekends for the last two months, you could find me at a Starbucks either with embroidery supplies or beads. I am particularly enamored with the feel of the cashmere...thread...floss...what do you call it?

Some of the fruits of my delight -- I mean labor.

Flowery.

I love the contrast of the embroidery floss and satin ribbon
against the black fabric.

Auditioning bead placement.

Playing with black on black. Not a success.

I love this stitch. It's a woven stitch. You make a giant asterisk
in the circle and then weave the  ribbon or thread over and under
 the arms of the asterisk. The grey "lollipops" above the flower are
the same stitch, with different materials -- and different results.

I'm not delighted in my bead work, but it'll do.

Ze knots of -- how do you say? -- French.

Cretan stitch, executed somewhat cretinously.

I want to eat these berries. They are probably poisonous. 

Stem stitch, variations on lazy daisy, French knots.

Dr. T says...

Q&A after the lecture for Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s new book in June 2012.

Q: Philosophical question – would you rather die now or live forever?

Neil:

“I’ve kind of bought into the concept of a natural life.

“I know philosophers like having those kind of debates but I never believe that the options available to a creative person are ever limited by the choices offered by a philosopher.

“So, for example, if there’s a lifeboat and there’s only a certain amount of food for four, but there’s six people, so do you throw them overboard? Otherwise everyone dies, or do you eat them? So these choices…so I’m saying maybe we can invent a way to draw fish from the ocean so we don’t have to throw them overboard. See, I like solutions to problems rather than the blunt do A or B.

“And part of this, I think, is because we grew up in a multiple choice school system. Sometimes answers exist beyond the choices you have thought up as the person who wrote the exam.”

Winter quotes

Every winter,

When the great sun has turned his face away,

The earth goes down into a vale of grief,

And fasts, and weeps, and shrouds herself in sables,

Leaving her wedding-garlands to decay -

Then leaps in spring to his returning kisses.

~ Charles Kingsley

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show.

~ Andrew Wyeth

Winter came down to our home one night

Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,

And we, we were children once again.

~ Bill Morgan, Jr.

The color of springtime is in the flowers; the color of winter is in the imagination.

~ Terri Guillemets

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

~ William Blake

Purple ♥ Blue

So delighted. And still more to go -- borders, back, quilting, binding. Soon.