I'm a Fan of Easy

I am a huge fan of easy.  

I like being able to look at something complicated and figuring out a way to make it easy.  I like making easy quilts.  

For me, nothing is easier than making string blocks.  Just slice fabric into long thin strips, and sew it back together on foundation paper.  Almost any paper works - copier paper, an old phone book page, or even lightweight non-fusible interfacing.

I started this quilt a long time ago.  It was another Gala donation.  Our theme that year was heavily influenced by the colors and feel of Mexico.  I pulled fabrics from my stash in our chosen colors of lime, turquoise, deep red, and white.  My favorite fabric was a turquoise and white sand dollar print because both the color, and the sand dollar, represent our school.  

Piecing this quilt happened rather quickly.  Quilting it, not so much.  But, one day this past October while I was spray basting outside, inspiration, literally, fell from the sky.  The shadows of the screen enclosure made great intersecting angles!  I immediately grabbed my water soluble marker along with my 8' straight edge, and traced what I saw.

Again, because I love easy, I knew I'd quilt straight lines.
    
Instead of dense straight line quilting that I am a huge fan of, I chose to keep it even simpler.  Each angle was initially stitched, and each quadrant filled with stitching lines about 2.5 inches apart.  That wasn't quite doing it for me - the quilting was a little too sparse - so I went back and quilted .25' from each of those lines, which added the extra texture I wanted.

As it so often is, the quilting lines, in white, are subtle on the front and more pronounced on the back.  Once again, pulling from my stash, this time my BATIK stash (Oh, no!  Batiks aren't modern, so goes the old argument), I matched our theme colors, even inserting another good-sized chunk of that sand dollar fabric.

I chose Warm and Natural as the batting because it's lightweight.  No one in Florida wants a heavy lap quilt!  We just want something to cover our legs when the nights turn cool.

The binding is a gloriously scrappy with lots of red prints.  Once again, I chose easy.  The machine binding method learned from Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts is my favorite.  

When I mentioned to a friend I was using so much red, and even red batiks, with a mostly white top, she thought I was crazy.  Never fear, cold water, and three Shout Color Catchers in the first wash left the top free of bleeding.

This quilt measured 54" x 54".  So why did something with so many easy parts, take so long to complete? Because Trish said she'd wait forever.  And I'm real good at finding something else to do.

I 'm glad I gave it to her this past October and she had it to wrap up with during our unseasonably cold winter.

Something for Julie

I have a very artistic sister.  My whole life, she's been to the one to paint, or draw, or now, create intricate mosaics.

I am lucky, because she generously shares her talents.  This is the mural she painted 13 years ago on the walls of SweetP's nursery a few weeks after his birth.  

When I was pregnant, I knew I wanted our baby's room to be sea themed, and Julie offered to paint a mural.  (This was before the Navy started moving us around.)  She poured so much love into creating this vibrant space for my baby!    

It is from the children's book, The Runaway Whale, written by Keith Faulkner and illustrated by Jonathan Lambert.  I immediately fell in love, not only with the story, but the colors and whimsical underwater illustrations that long ago day in the thrift store.  

Every time we travel back to Virginia, I make a point of taking a picture of BigP and BabyBird with his mural.  

When I began sewing again several years ago, I fell in love with batiks because of the color and movement.  Mainly, because I CAN'T draw.  Or paint, unless walls & rooms count.  But playing with fabric and colorful batiks fueled my creative desires.

Julie admired these blocks from the start.  She even claimed them for her own before I was sure I wanted to give them up.  She suggested I make a GIANT duvet cover for her down comforter.  Um, I'm not quite up to that.  

Like so many things, I've put this project away.  Then, two weeks ago, terrible news came from my sister regarding her niece Holly.  She had passed away unexpectedly while sleeping.  A horror I can't begin to imagine.  Understandably, Julie was devastated.  

As soon as I heard, I knew I had to pull this project out of the WiP basket. Julie needed something bright and colorful.  She needed something made with love.  

I'm still not sure how this will look when it's finished.  As it is with all sewing I do for others, Julie has constantly been in my thoughts while I stitch and contemplate design.  I've always said sewing with intention, with thoughtfulness, with mindfulness, is a moving meditation.  I hope Julie will feel my love when this finally arrives on her doorstep.

LOVe to Peggy

I grew up with two sisters, Julie (older by 11.5 months) and Tracy (younger by 11.5 months).  However, I've always known, if "always" is defined at age nine, that I had another sister, an older sister, who had been placed for adoption at birth.

The Hayes Girls 1968 or 1969.  Tracy, Cindy, Julie.

Not that I was told details at age nine as to why she didn't live with us.  Not that any details about where she was, or who she was, or who adopted her were available in 1972 when my Mom told me about Peggy, my other sister.  Mom told me her name - Peggy Sue - but that was all she knew.  Or maybe that was all she figured I needed to know.  Because I was nine.

Sometime in my adult life, maybe around 2002 or 2003, Mom & Peggy, connected.  In turn, Peggy & I corresponded, briefly, but as Peggy said, "she wasn't ready for all of us".  It wasn't really until Facebook and several years later that she and I began getting to know each other.

Fast forward to late September/early October 2010.  A weekend wedding in Vegas.  Mom flew from DC; we flew from FL to meet Peggy and her fiance  Richard, my niece Tracy, and Peggy's brother, Doug, and his family.

Peggy & Richard - Vows.

I can't say we did a lot of catching up.  I can't say we even began to fill in gaps.  I can say we learned that family is important, regardless of how, or when it comes about.  Because a family is about love.  

Mom, Peggy, Richard, me, Doug.

My February project from our ECMQG sew day.  The pattern, from KelbySews can be found here.  I knew right away I wanted to make something for Peggy. I brought my blue and brown batik scraps which, from previous Facebook conversations, I already knew she loved.

i

I believe the solid is Kona.  Maybe oatmeal?  I know I had it in my stash for another project that is still a WIP.  The quilting in each letter echoes the pieced shapes, or in the case of the L, the wavy patterned fabric.  Let me tell you how easy that was to do!

Above and below are my favorite organic wavy lines.  I figured they were appropriate for this, and for Peggy, as love is very much like water - it ebbs and flows; it comes in waves; it can be deep or shallow.  But like water, we can't live without it.

Naturally, I pieced the back with a strip of the scraps.  I really like how the quilting lines, especially the blue, show against the solid.  Still need to label it and send it on it's journey.

Love you Peggy.  

C is for Chevrons and a Cat

Sunday, as much as I wanted to sew with some of the new fabric I received for my birthday, and with the tiny bit I purchased at the quilt show Friday,  I realized the fabric bomb that had exploded all over the living room and a good portion of the bedroom, needed to be organized.  I also intended to make a list of WIPs.  I'm really good about starting things.  Terrible about finishing them.  

Check in the box for cleaned up better organized.   No check for the WIP list.  No check for playing with new fabric.

BUT, I did pull out a 2+ year old WIP (random width WOF batik strips sewn, well, randomly) and began working it into something else.  

This.  Chevrons.  HST chevrons.  Imperfect HST chevrons, even with lots of starch and PRECISE (no-that's-not-really-my-thing) measuring and cutting.  

My plan is for a small-ish car quilt.  Because I live with someone, who, on road trips, keeps the air conditioner frigid.  Did I mention that same a/c is usually on high too?  And smaller is better, because whenever we travel, we're packed to the gills.

So that's my plan.  Not sure if I eliminated a WIP, but it feels good to work with my batiks again. 

And that is Bella who decided to take a stroll over to her food bowl.  Just as I pressed the shutter button.  LOVE her.