SQ11: Finished

You saw the face of this one last year, but here it is completed. It's made from salvage denim, backed with green cotton material that was probably curtains in its past life, and batted with an old poly blanket. It is nothing if not warm.

The quilting is pretty visible here, and simply followed the -- what's the word I'm looking for? -- the grain of the corduroy. I'll point out, too, that the photograph makes it look yellower than it really is, which makes it look a little dirty, which it isn't. UPDATE: I got a better photograph, so the colors aren't all yellowed out now. The blue and gray is actually pretty sharp in person. If I do say so myself.

Quilting the Jennifer Challenge

I did virtually no quilting in September and the bulk of October, mostly because I was doing other interesting and worthwhile things instead. Started edging back up to speed this week by quilting the Jennifer Challenge. I decided on the quilting pattern rather spur-of-the-moment, and I'm making all of those curves with a walking foot. Seems to be working....

The Jennifer Challenge

In the last post I mentioned the "Jennifer Challenge," which my friend Jennifer seems to think of as the "Michael Challenge," where we both bought six fabrics about a year ago and did the obvious thing. And now both of us have finished the faces, and have finally revealed to each other what we've been working on all this time. I think you will agree with us that they are, as Jen put it, "freakishly similar."

Here's one:

And here's the other, not yet quilted:

Are we peas in a pod, or what?

The 09-10 PreSeason List

Well, it's August, and right on schedule I'm starting to get interested in quilting again. I even did a little piecing last night. That means it's time for the list that I always make this time of year, my priorities for the coming quilt season. It's a long list, but then you probably understand that. There are always so many more quilt ideas than there is time or energy to make actual quilts.

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First Priority

Top priorities to finish this year. It would be nice to get ALL of these done.

Devil's Claw -- This is one I've talked about a lot in the last few years. The face is complete, and it's been pinned, so it just needs quilting and binding. "Just."

Jennifer Challenge -- Me and my friend Jennifer both bought a set of fabrics, and she is currently putting the hanging sleeves on the quilt she made with hers. I started cutting and piecing mine last night. I need to catch up, or Jennifer will hurt me.

Mondrian I -- My awesome (if I do say so myself) reproduction of a Mondrian painting in scrap corduroy. The face is finished, so it needs a back, some batting, and some quilting.

Symbol -- Another one I've talked about a lot here. The face background is complete. I need to select a fabric for the symbol and finish the face.

StormQuilts -- I have four of these on the First Priority list, but I won't belabor the details.


Second Priority

Second Priority quilts would be awfully nice to finish this year, but hey, I'm realistic. Hopefully, I'll make some solid progress on these, at least.

Mondrian II -- Already have it picked out!

A Couple of Child Blankets -- For some children of my acquaintance. If I was a good person, these would be First Priority.

Labyrinth II -- Most of the cutting is done for this sequel. I started the assembly, but ran into problems. I need to do some thinking and figure out how to get it going forward again.

Four Seasons -- I thought this was the world's oldest UFO, but I recently learned about an even older one. But it's MY oldest UFO.

StormQuilts -- I have three more of these on the Second Priority List

Third Priority

If I blast through the above and have time left over -- an unlikely prospect at best -- I might take on one of these. Or, I might putter with one from time to time with the idea of having it ready for serious attention next year.

The Legacy Quilt -- One I've talked about, but haven't done much with.

Labyrinth III -- I haven't even designed this one yet. I just like the idea of doing more Labyrinths.

A Project I'm not ready to tell you about.

Another Project I'm not ready to tell you about.

However many additional StormQuilts would get me to the ultimate goal of twenty.

Fourth Priority

Fourth Priority is a holding pen for ideas I hope to work on sometimein the future. For now, I'll just give you the working titles:

The Sarah Horowitz inspired light on light-light design

Requilting my own baby quilt

Oregon Map II

Yet Another Project I'm not ready to tell you about.

And Another One.

A wall hanging using my mom's Silhouette technique.

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There you have it! More quilting than I could possibly accomplish! Let's see how far I get!

What are YOUR quilt goals for the coming fall and winter?

SQ7: Finished

It's not technically quilt season, and in fact nobody's doing much of anything right now while a massive cloud of superheated steam rests sullenly atop the City of Roses. But last week I got a sudden burst of quilting mojo and, over the course of three or four nights, did the quilting and binding for StormQuilt #7. And here it is:


Again, like all of the StormQuilts, this one is made completely from scrap and salvage materials. Here's a detail showing the squiggly quilting, which came back to me pretty easily despite not having practiced for the better part of a year.

Then, having finished that, I put all my sewing stuff back away for another month or so. This little burst of activity was kind of like the "exhibition season" before quilt season kicks off in earnest at the beginning of September. Until then, I'll be continuing a gradual deep-clean of my studio space and planning out my quilt priorities for the fall. See ya then!

Summer Recess

State of the Craft is off on blog vacation for the summer! Publication will likely resume in September with the beginning of the 2009-2010 Quilt Year!

The Northwest Quilters 2009 Show

A few of you who have Reader know I wrote this a month ago, but never got around to adding the pictures. Check me out! I'm catching up!

Last year, I wanted to display quilts in as many shows as possible. Really, it seems like I spent half of the spring either attending a quilt show or on my way to drop off or retrieve a quilt. This year, not so much.

In fact, I've been a real quilting hermit. There were a couple of days when I couldn't make it to my guild's meeting because of a schedule conflict, and after that they had programs scheduled that were way too -- for lack of a better word -- girly. I'm just not into, for instance, learning how to make a quilted purse. Call me crazy. After a while, I hadn't had contact with the guild for half a year.

So I was out of the loop enough to forget that the guild's annual show would be in early spring this year, instead of early summer. By the time I caught on, it was way too late to submit work. But, I had just enough wherewithal to get my name in as a volunteer. I was what they used to call a "white glove lady" but which they were this year just calling "white glove." I appreciated the change.

And here's the thing: the show was awesome! In terms of organization and of the quality of work, it was easily among the best three shows I've ever seen. It got great press, and probably three times the number of guests as we had in recent years. So, that made me think that maybe I want to be less of a quilting hermit now, and get back into the community. It kind of inspired me, like. We'll have to see if the inspiration really "takes" or not, but in the meantime I've submitted a few of last year's quilts to be shown at the big summer outdoor show in Sisters.

I took several photos at the show based on gut response -- these are just a few of the ones I liked the best, with no particular reasoning applied.

The "I Would Never Make One Like This, But I Love It Anyway" Category

"Lady Liberty," pieced by Carol Brown, quilted by Carol Parks.

"Carley (Prairie Flower)" by Marjorie Rhime


"Most Amazing Story" Category

...and the story:

"These Quilts Give Me Ideas" Category

"Nine Blue Characters," pieced by Ann Johnston, quilted by Oswego Quilters.

"Batik Woven Star," pieced by Trudi Luther, quilted by Barbara Schulenburg.



"No Payne No Gain," by Maureen Orr Eldred.