A post where I go wild with cultural references, quilts and art, but don’t worry–everything fits right into a This-and-That.

My friend Jamie sent me this photo of one of my quilt designs in the wild. I did a Quilt Guild visit there; it was the last one before Covid-19 hit, and this was their project. That’s five years ago this month, and wow — so glad to see their Guild is still having fun.

As many of you know, I’ve been cleaning out my Quilt Orphan Blocks where I found this. It’s really only 1/4 of the quilt, and yes, it was a class taken online. I think I realized pretty quickly that I was not cut out to do wobbly cutting. I tried it her way at the beginning, but by the end, I had my rulers out and the quilt changed dramatically. But I love it.

The pattern is called Finger Paints and it is by Laura Loewen. Should I finish it? IDK. I think it can stand on its own. The plan is to quilt it while testing out some new threads.

We’ve been planning a trip overseas (hope we Americans are still welcome), and laughed at the photo of this room for rent. My BIL told me it was reminiscent of the scene from Willy Wonka, with all the grandparents in bed. Only with this model, they could have a table to eat at. (No, we didn’t book that one.)

I have a new thing: when I see a fabric bundle I like, I save the photo and keep it on my desktop for a while. Hey, I’ll even print it out every once in a while, and pin it to the design wall. I don’t do very well sewing from a bundle, which is unfortunate because there are a lot of beautiful bundles out there. But often I fall in love with a bundle because of the colors, and in this case, it was those blue-purple fabrics in the upper left that caught my eye.

Judging by the colors shown on the catwalks for Fall Fashion 2025 in Paris, this color must be in the zeitgeist, and *slouch* must be the posture.

More from the runways, from left to right:
(1) A designer coat that looks very much like our quilty coats.
(2) A giant bra shirt?
(3) A shopping bag shirt?

I got a degree in Clothing and Textiles in another life, so the fashion shows have always held a fascination for me. I did once see a woman at the Houston quilt show who had made a vest out of the souvenir bags…complete with all the handles hanging down in loops around her hips.

I had to mention this Tilda pattern. I see quilts like this and think I’d like to try it, as I have acquired a stash of Tilda fabrics. But after doing the cacti quilt, it will be a long while before I try all those itty-bitty pieces again. It’s a free download on her website.

BLOCK OF THE MONTH 2025 PROGRESS

I finished Sherri’s Block of the Month for March.

And here are the first three. I’m using a collection of her fabric lines, and on the right side, the strip that’s north-south is (I think) from her first line of fabrics. It was very Southwest in flavor — and her subsequent fabrics have shifted from that motif and palette. My most favorite Sherri fabric is the yellow north-south strip on the outside of the second block. I once purchased 3 yards of it, and I’m getting down to the end of it.

POSH PENELOPE BLOCKS PROGRESS

Here’s the danger: doing this (more-complicated) block only once a month causes an occasional oops. I was trying to do this in a hurry and whacked off the seam allowance. And then I ran out of the yellow strawberry fabric. But I had enough of the original background fabric that I think it turned out okay:

This round, after I got going, seemed to be about switching out the backgrounds, and keeping the petals all the same. I still like the violas in the top photo the best. (Or you might call them Johnny-jump-ups.)

In this view, all those fancy petals are slightly distracting. I guess “read-as-a-solid” or in that general direction might be the best choice for the petals. Still not a fan of that purple one in row three, though. Fifteen blocks are finished out of the 42 that Carol and I have planned.

Speaking of petals, we went to Austin TX to visit family, and I fell in love with these towering shapes at the Blanton Museum. Head to this website to read more. This website also calls them “petal-like sculptures” and has more info on the museum. Regretfully the small chapel, Austin, by Ellsworth Kelly was closed, but we still enjoyed ourselves at the Blanton, enamored of the exhibit that included this:

The title of the car is classic: El Muertorider Katrina Car, 2006
(Muerto means death in Spanish)

From the title card: “[Artemio] Rodríguez collaborated with John Jota Leaños on El Muertorider Katrina Car, a refurbished 1968 Chevy Impala. They painted it a sleek black with white skeletal designs reminiscent of Posada’s elaborate figures. Rodríguez and Leaños center the Catrina figure on the car’s hood, altering the spelling of “Catrina” to “Katrina” to make a dedicatory reference to the victims of the devastating Hurricane Katrina that ravaged New Orleans in 2005. Recurring references to oil and money throughout the car’s imagery refer to the Iraq War (2003-11): the slogan “War Is Money!” echoes war protestors’ frequent chant: “No Blood for Oil!” Thus, El Muertorider embodies several cultural practices: lowrider culture, political protest, Day of the Dead commemorative practices, and La Catrina’s enduring symbolism among contemporary Mexican and Chicano communities.

More photos of the entire car are here and here.

Calavera de la Catrina [Skeleton of the Female Dandy], circa 1910

It was also a treat to see this photo-relief etching by José Guadalupe Posada [1852-1913].
[Source: The Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin, Gilberto Cárdenas Collection, Gift of Gilberto Cárdenas and Dolores Garcia.]

I used her image in a guild challenge quilt when I made her the center of a quilty ofrenda. I threw everything on this one, including the little milagros attached with ribbons. I enjoyed seeing one of the original prints of Catrina.

From the title card: “Posada invented this famous skeletal character in 1910, just as the Mexican Revolution was catching fire. At first, he called her La Calavera Garbancera, using the derogatory term for Mexicans who claimed solely European ancestry and rejected their Indigenous roots. In her ostentatious hat, this bony fashionista was intended as a symbolic epitaph for the wealthy privileged classes, a satirical emblem of the sins of vanity and greed, and an allegorical representation of government corruption under dictator Porfirio Diaz (1830-1915). However, her naive, beguiling nature soon endeared her to the disgruntled masses. Posada renamed her La Calavera Catrina, after catrin or ‘well-dressed.’ Reproduced repeatedly in the penny press, La Catrina became a national icon among popular folk, who embraced her as a demure champion of the underdog.”

Now you know.

Austin food: two plates of tacos from Velvet Taco, and they were all standouts with an interesting combo of flavors. Unfortunately, the closest Velvet Taco is in Phoenix. My husband Dave said that the “fish and chips” taco (lower left) had bits of potato-like chips under the fish, which was topped with a yellow curry sauce. Who dreams up these things? I don’t know, but an award to them. And then this impulse purchase of pineapple-flavored popcorn at Buc-ee’s, which now I have to order from the Evil Overlord in a box of 25. It’s always good to expand your food horizons, but it can get more expensive.

And the penultimate image is of a cool Lego spray of flowers, courtesy of my son-in-Austin’s passion of building with Legos. It was amazing to stand in his “Lego room” and see all the things he’s built. Long ago, when all the children were at home, he and our other son built a Lego village that encompassed the top of all the dressers, desks, TV tables in his room. He would have probably put some Lego houses on the bed, too, but I said no.

I think his passion is just like our passion for quilts and color and shapes and making. And while we like our quilts, isn’t the messing-around-in-cloth the fun part? In the Life Kit podcast last week, Dr. Stuart Brown, founder of the National Institute for Play, said that “when you’re doing something for the end result, you lose joy in the process.” I realized that pulling a quilt or too from the closet to put on the beds for our new guests (daughter and granddaughter below), was just this: I enjoyed the process of making my quilts, so that others can gain joy from them as well.

Oliver Burkman: “When you get to the end of your life, the sum total of all the things you paid attention to will have been your life. If there are some friendships there that you never actually paid any attention to, well, you didn’t really have those friendships, right? I mean, if there was an interest that you had, that you never actually spent any attention pursuing, well, you didn’t really have that interest. So it really matters what we’re paying attention to because it just adds up to a life.” (from Life Kit podcast)

Whether it be fashion or tacos or art or popcorn or embroidery, enjoy!