Quilts · Something to Think About

Leaving the Grading Galaxy

Elizabeth E.1 Comment

I’ve been in the Grading Galaxy for the last three days.  It was a pretty arduous trip this time.

This top paper had over 50 errors.  Which made me really cranky.  Chocolate helped as did a whining phone call to a colleague, who had just finished her trip to the Grading Galaxy last week and had another stack to grade (she has one more class than I do, which puts her into saintly territory).

But last night, after I entered in the last grade and said to myself that I’d do the prep for Monday’s class—much, much later—my colleague sent me an email saying look what I’ve been working on!

And she’d sewn 9 squares of her Christmas quilt.  Inspired by her, I started working on the centers to my Square on Square quilt, and this morning I finished them up.

I did have a flash picture, but I prefer the warm glow of no flash, even though you are all squinting and saying things about my photography skills.  Now on to the vacuuming, and if I finish that and the bathrooms, I’ll work on the rusty red triangles, working my way toward that one completed square on the right.

My daughters says her favorite months are the “bers.”  That’s September, October, November and December.  It’s those months of the year when we plan things, give things, change is always in the air (although more for those in colder climes than for us SoCal folks).  It’s a time of anticipation, of making Christmas gifts (I’m already seeing early birds in the blogosphere working on them), of remembering that first day of school, or funny Halloween costumes, or when the turkey didn’t cook, and when the newest baby was there for opening presents under the tree.

It’s such a rich time, these “bers,” and like my daughter, I look forward to them every year and am sad when they go.  I remember my mother telling me a story about my grandmother.  My grandmother had been a school teacher for many many years but then finally retired.  And every fall when she’d hear the school bell toll, she wished she were there, back in the classroom, greeting students.  My father is a teacher, as is my husband, and my sister.  Teaching runs in our blood, so even though I may have been cranky about students who want me to do their work of finding the errors, I am happy that this September found me in a classroom.  And that October will find me making a fall quilt and seeing fall foliage up in Canada.  And November has me in New York with my daughter, and we’ll meet my son and see a Broadway show and the Ground Zero memorial.  And hopefully, if all goes well and there’s no major health crisis (I always get sick in November), by December I’ll be putting the final touches on my newest Christmas quilt, welcoming the holiday spirit to our home.

I hope you enjoy the “bers.” It all begins today.  It all begins now.

Dive in.

WIP

Square on Square

Elizabeth E.3 Comments

Now that we’ve found our new Six-Step process to alleviate fabric-aholism (see previous post, below), I wanted to show you my constructed closet (vs. de-constructed, all over the floor, spilling off the shelves, closet).  This only took two days of moaning and then sending my husband on an out-of-town trip to take care of.  And like I mentioned in the post last week, I found lots of interesting things.  I mean, I knew I had them, but they had been back-burnered so many times as to be invisible.

Like this group of fabrics.  No, they are not a “line” like we’re used to buying now (kind of like voting a straight party political ticket).  I do like doing buying a line because everything coordinates, but this is from the early 90s, when variety was considered a virtue.  I was inspired by a friend’s autumn-colored quilt that positively glowed on the wall of her book shop.

Covet.

This week, I rinsed then washed the batiks to rid the fabrics of excess dye, then ironed and folded them all.

This is my mock-up of what it could be.  Nine-inch blocks.  Elegant in its simplicity.  But it will be richer looking with all those different fabrics shown above.

I decided to try it out.

Here it is for the dress rehearsal, all laid out. Yes, this is one of my famous I’m-in-my-jammies-nighttime-photo-shots.

Stitched!  Now on to make 29 more of these.  The colors are so much more subdued than I’m used to working with, but I don’t know–isn’t it just time for a quilt in fall colors?

That’s what I’m working on.  And good luck to Lee on her fabric line.  I may go back there to Freshly Pieced from last week’s WIP to see what you’re all doing THIS week.

Something to Think About

Six-Step Process for Fabricaholics

Elizabeth E.1 Comment

To every addict comes a time when they must admit they have overstepped the line and must seek help. Hence, a fabric-aholics Six-Step Process, condensed down from a 12-step process therapy.

1. Take everything out of your fabric closet, your fabric shelves, and leave it in a heap while your husband/spouse/other walks in and says nothing.  Their eyes say it all.  Like, Wow.

2. Refold the fabrics because we all know that really helps. Because you can always get more in the closet after you refold them, right? And because scientific studies have proven that working with tactile items keeps the old blood pressure down.  It’s a health issue.

3. Start putting them back in.  Realize that you’ll never get your stash back in its “box” after its been sprung.   Organized fabrics take WAAAY more space.

4. Re-think your organization plan.  Try sorting them by color groups — only six: yellow, green, blue, red, purple, grays (see photo).  Browns? Decide if they are a yellow-brown or an orange-brown or a yellow-orange brown because that’s the basic three places brown comes from.  (I learned this in college.  I give it to you now, free of charge.)  Or you can group the browns/blacks together. Put the darkest of the colors on the bottom of the color stack.  Or try organizing by theme: like those food fabrics you’ve been collecting since you learned how to thread a needle.  It was always going to be a “basket quilt” and now you look at some of them and wonder if you could stand to see them in a quilt.

5. Realize that you have accumulated enough fabric for 20 years worth of quilts. Why?  We need to subdivide this category.  These observations are not all autobiographical, but come from almost forty years of being a quilter/involved with fabric (before I was a quilter, I was a sewer and don’t even kid yourself — they’re stashers too):
a) you were at a quilt show and we all know they spray fabric pheromones in the air at those events, or
b) you were shopping with friends and they bought some, and you didn’t want to be left out, so you did too, or
c) you were feeling blue and needed a little cheering up, or
d) you were taking a class with _________ (fill in the blank) and needed more yellow-green, or
e) it was a beautiful day (weather or other) and you just felt like a stroll through a fabric store would be a great thing and you noticed the clearance racks, or
f) you are doing your part to help the economy and your local fabric store, or
g) the online email that your favorite online shop sent you had that new line and while you were really excited about only four of the prints, their fat-quarter bundle of nine prints would be a better bargain, or
h) it was a really horrid day (weather or other) and you just felt like visiting those people who you have made friends with at your local shop would cheer your day, or
i) you were in the mood for some new fabric, or
j) you saw a quilt on the blogs or in a magazine that you wanted to make, and of course, this required new fabric, or
k) you are a blogger and have to have something new to show on the blog, or
l) ______________ (fill in the blank).

6. Realize that you will probably always buy fabric (here’s where we differ from traditional 12-step programs) but that a little restraint now and again would be a good idea.  And if you are going to buy, consider making a quick quilt or two to give away to a woman’s shelter, or the Quilts of Valor , Home of the Brave, or other such charitable and worthy causes** such as 100 Quilts for Kids because they don’t need the latest fabric and you can use up the stash at the back of the closet.

But most of all, enjoy the process!  Enjoy the new idea, the cutting out with friends or while listening to a great book, the stitching (gives you time to think about your loved ones) the colors coming together, the design working, and the glorious finished quilt top.  Because if you fill yourself up with high-quality experiences while creating out of cloth, it will satisfy you far longer than a stack of fabrics in your closet.  I love my Come A-Round quilt, and I still savor the many months it took to create.  I have stories associated with all my quilts, and they are my legacy.

They’ll be yours, too.

(**Caveat: don’t give the charities junk! I worked with a woman’s shelter quilt drive once and we had to pitch a few smelly quilts (think: mildew) and quilts that were made of sub-standard fabric.  Just throw that shoddy stuff away and don’t acquire any more.)