Inventory of Quilt Tops Awaiting Completion

 The Watermelon Quilt

Along with surveying completed work in 2024, I thought it would be useful to also survey the quilt tops that have yet to be completed, to help map out some of my work for 2025.

 

The Scrappy Spider Web Quilt 

 

Winter on the Christmas Tree Farm (wall hanging)

Deck the Halls (wall hanging)

 

Holly's Smokey River Quilt Top

 

Holly's Bargello with a Twist

 

The Ugly Stash-Busting Quilt

 

The Cathedral Windows Quilt

 

 

Black Jack Quilt Top

 

Oceanica (Panel)

 Desert Blooms Layer Cake (Still needs borders)

 

 Curry & Red Spice Quilt Top. This one is waiting for some surface design treatment -- I started with oil sticks and stencils, but that was a bit too tedious.  I may finish with textile paint and stamps -- someday.

Somehow, I feel like I have many more quilt tops than this waiting to be finished.  

Perhaps I will have to dive into the tall boy to see what is there ...  Maybe it's not as bad as I thought?

If I can see them like this, they will be pushed back to the top of my mind, and I can start to make a plan to get 'em done.  Either on my own, or by paying someone to do the quilting for me.

There are many more in earlier stages of development.  Some kitted up, some still just ideas, some in partial stages of development.

 

 

Pale Blue Whig Rose Coverlet

Pale Blue (maybe even light gray) Whig Rose Coverlet - wool and cotton

I saw this coverlet on eBay a few weeks ago.  It's very similar to the other whig rose reproduction coverlets I have from the 20th century.  (They are softer than the older ones.)   I thought they were probably all made by The Goodwin Guild,  but maybe not?  Not all of them have tags to prove their provenance.

What makes this listing so interesting is the paperwork and the history of the coverlet and the weavers who made it (although not included in the purchase):

 There is a Wisconsin connection, too!

Viola did the fringe treatment on the edges.  I don't think I have another one quite like this.  

Interesting to have it up close to study!

  

Art and Viola's Weave Shop in California.  I think this might be more about them?

The fact that this coverlet was made within my own lifetime (I was a teenager in the 80s, and in no position to weave myself back then, although I already had a huge fascination for Gramma Medo and her spinning wheel), I still had an appreciation for those who did weave.  It makes me feel closer to them somehow, in that long line of weavers before me.  Sigh!  And now I am making cloth too!  ;-)

It makes me wonder if some of my other reproduction coverlets (without tags) were made by this couple instead of The Goodwin Guild?    Star of Bethlehem is featured in the paperwork above-- I purchased the "Pumpkin Spice" coverlet last fall in the Star of Bethlehem pattern.  Maybe it was made by this couple?

Meanwhile, I am contemplating my next weaving project.  I know it will be difficult to make the circles of a whig rose even and true circles.  So perhaps it's better if I continue to collect whig roses, instead of attempting to make them as misshapen coverlets?  Or try a smaller scale like a scarf or table runner?  Or go for a more square design?

I was the only one to put in a bid on this one, and I won!

2024 Finishes: A Retrospective

 

 

The Kiss: LSQG 2024 March Madness Challenge Quilt

 I still love this one! 

A pretty good year, all in all!  

 

 

Twilight Quilt

I find it useful to review the things I've accomplished in the past year -- as a way of logging productivity, and also as a way of logging what quilt tops still need finishing.  Here's the 2024 Year-End Review.

 

Laundry Basket Quilt-as-you-Go Crumb Quilt

 

Watermelon Quilt Top is Complete

 Still need to sandwich and finish this one.

 

Scrappy Spider Web Quilt Top

 Still need to sandwich and finish this one.

 

Embrace Your Curves - EAA Quilt Challenge 2024: Clyde the Octopus is Complete

 

The Mountain Cucumber Coverlet is Complete!

I forgot that I finished this epic coverlet early in 2024!  I've been working on the wandering vine for so long now ...

 

The Twilight Quilt is Complete

I finished this quilt shortly after Christmas.  It's always a good time to work on quilting a quilt because the house is cold and I don't mind wrestling a quilt sandwich to get it sewn up.  Working under a quilt this time of year has it's advantages!  I did a grid to follow the colored patched along the diagonals as well as the horizontals.  I started with a variegated purple, but decided that was too dark, and shifted to a varigated blue that seemed to work better on the white parts.

 

This photo is more true to the actual colors. 

I call this one Twilight not just for the purples and blues indicative of blue hour.  It has another meaning related to end-of-life ...  The colored blocks are made from scraps left over from the giant quilt made to commemorate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary in 2019.   In 2020, my mom's health was deteriorating, and I was called to take care of her at home in her last 2 weeks after a fall that rendered her bed-ridden.  She was pretty out-of-it in those last days ...  We had to keep an eye on her.  Somehow she knew if I left the room briefly to go to the bathroom, or brush my teeth, she would try to get up and out of her hospital bed -- which only meant she slumped to the floor because she was too weak to stand.   We had to shift her position every few hours to prevent bed sores / pressure injuries.  She wasn't eating or drinking, but I still had to clean her mouth with a little foam stick in water ...  Hospice came in and did other cares for her, for which we were very grateful.  I had been a Hospice Volunteer for 10 years and knew the value of their services.  Now I was experiencing Hospice from the family caregiver side.

I am not cut out for nursing / caregiving.  I know this -- That's why I'm in the medical library and not a nurse!  Still I was glad to take care of my mom in her last days.  But it was hard.  Now I understand the need for caregiver respite.

At the time, my Dad was trying to finish planting his latest crop of Christmas trees.  There is a short window to plant before it gets too hot and the seedlings will die ...  He was going through his own grief at losing his long-time partner, of course.  But he was outside doing things, and being productive.  I was trapped in the house with my dying mother ...  After a week of no breaks in caregiving and sleep deprivation, I finally set down my foot and told my Dad and brother that I would be off duty for a few hours each evening, when they would be in charge of taking care of Ma.  During that time, I retreated to my mom's sewing room to work on this Twilight Quilt.  That was enough of a break for me to rest and restore myself to take care of her again that night and the next day.  And it was spending time in her old creative space, more like we used to do ...

There was a period of time in the last 5 years where I had to put this quilt top away.  It was hard to look at due to the grief built into it from that time.  But I seem to have worked through that, and I like it again.  These are some of my favorite colors after all.  I can remember the good times sewing and laughing with my mom, and not so much her failing health and the end times in her last 2 weeks.  Now it brings comfort, rather than grief and distress.
 

 

Previous Posts about this Quilt:

Blue Lagoon at Twilight Quilt on the Design Wall (August 2020)

Blue Lagoon at Twilight Quilt Top Complete  (August 2020)

Quilt Sandwiches (Jan 2023)

Blue Lagoon at Twilight Quilt on the Design Wall (August 2020)

Let There Be Scraps ... in Colors You Love (June 2020)

 

Holly Matucheski December 25, 1950 - June 3, 2020

Banner Day at St Vinny's: Wool Rag Wheels for Rug-Making

It was a banner day at St Vinny's this week!  I put that down to my friend Karla being along.  If there is any wool in the store, she will find it!   We started with the usual circuit over by the donated fabric and craft supplies ...  Not much there for fabric that day, but an entire laundry basket of these wool "wheels" with the yardage listed on the tag!  They seemed to be reasonably priced at $4 and $5 per wheel -- but now that I think of it, 9 yards doesn't really go very far as weft on a rug ...   

It's a great time-saver NOT to have to cut the fabrics and prepare it for weaving.  Even if I get woolly worms or the premium strips from Pendleton blankets, there's still a fair amount of preparation to make the "yarn" into weft suitable for making rugs.  It looks like all that work is done for these wheels.

There was plenty there for Karla to also get several wheels for her own weaving stash.  Perhaps this will be the motivation to get her own rug loom up and running in the new year?

We will have to check it all over to make sure we are not bringing in a bunch of wool moths with it ...  There are ways to mitigate that with either heat or cold.  It is winter here now -- They could stay on the porch for the next few months, or you can bake them in the oven to raise the temps enough to kill any critters that might be present.  So far, they look pretty clean ...

It makes me a little sad to see someone's stash here at St V, that she never got to use it, that she's given up on this part of her creative life.  I think of my dad having to give up nearly everything this past year to move into assisted living.  My time will be here before I can use up my own stash, but for now, I'm going to continue making things as long as I can!

There was also a cone of wool in that bin suitable for warp.  We both tested it for strength and couldn't break it.  $4 for that cone!

I was thinking the next project would be a set of sumptuous towel from a kit, but perhaps I can do a batch of rugs to use up some fiber in the stash?   I do have 2 floor looms now so why not both?

Plans for a New Quilt: Disappearing Hour Glass 2 in Blue

Disappearing Hour Glass 2 Quilt Tutorial with Jenny Doan

Just wanted to have a bookmark for this video, as I'm planning yet another new quilt.  I had a layer cake with the intention of working up a different quilt, but couldn't wrap my head around the pattern or the color changes light-medium-dark.  So I think I'll make this one instead.  ;-)

Here are the steps for the disappearing hourglass 2 quilt blocks:

 

Step 1: Layer 2 10-inch squares right-sides together.  In this set, there is a light square on the bottom and a batik blue on top.  I like to press them together before I start stitching ...

 

 Step 2: Stitch 1/4 inch around all the edges.  Press flat.  Then make 2 cuts along the diagonals.

 

Open these "new" 1/2-square blocks and press open.

 

Step 3:   Arrange these 4 1/2-square triangle blocks into an hourglass configuration as shown above and stitch together.

 

Step 4: This is a good time to square up the hourglass block.

Then, align the ruler at 2-1/8 inch from the center seam and make 4 cuts.  It's helpful to have a rotaing cutting matt for this step.

Step 5: Rotate all the corner blocks so that the small triangle (light or dark) is in the corner.  This will be a 180-degree turn for each of the corner blocks:

Step 6: Next, turn the center block 90 degrees to the right.  Now your re-arranged block should look like the above.  Sew them into place.

 

It makes a nice BIG block.   I have been doing one or 2 or 3 blocks a day.  It's very satisfying to make them.

It's similar to Anita's Arrow, but seems a little simpler to make.

Yes, I am fond of blue!  That is a regular color in my personal pallette.

3 Scrappy Place Matts for Oliver

Oliver requested 3 place matts for his apartment.  He doesn't sew, so he has to ask me ...  

These are leftover bits from the giant purple, blue and gray quilt I made for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. 

 

 

 

My Happy Place: Weaving at the Loom

My Happy Place at the Loom!

I woke up at 6 am this morning, overjoyed that I would be able to weave today.  

I can't do it on a work day.

 

I started on the green wandering vine towel, using up the leftover warp from the red wandering vine coverlet.  I love how these are turning out so far with the Brassard cotton made for towels. 

You can see the blue one underneath.

Wondering what I'll do in retirement?  More of what I did in my working life to attain balance -- quilting and weaving.    That and some kayaks.    And Scotland!

Thanks to my Dear Husband who takes these pictures until there are good ones to share!  He makes me smile, too!

Color Journeys: From Graphite Gray to Deep Blue

Alpaca Wristers from Peru

A quick little dye job on some alpaca woolen wristers.  The natural color was a graphite gray.  I decided to dye them blue for my oldest friend, Janna.  The 2nd pair is for her husband, a musician who can play through the winter with these!

 

I used the crock pot to warm up a pot of water plus 1/4 cup vinegar with the wristers submerged, as the water warmed on low for a pre-soak.

Once the water was hot (after about 1 hour), I removed the wet wristers, squeezed out the vinegar water, and set them aside for a moment.  Then I mixed 1/2 tsp of Wilton's icing (food grade) dye) in a cup of hot water from the pot.  Stir that long enough to completely melt the dye.  Add 2 T. vinegar and pour into the crockpot of hot water.  Stir.  Add the woolens and let simmer until the water turns clear.  It took about 6 hours.  Then I unplugged the crockpot and let the water cool to room temperature overnight.  Then I rinsed the excess blue dye out over a few days.

The amount of wool was so minimal in the wristers, I might have been ok to use just 1/4 tsp of Wilton's blue dye.  They came out very dark -- such a rich and deep blue. Almost black.  I love the richness in that blue -- layers of color add complexity!

I still have to add some beading for her -- Glass Czech Beads, not the cheap painted ones where the color rubs off after a while.  She will be pleased!