Quilting - Part 2

This is part 2 of my quilt making summary. Quilts 1 to 5 were featured in yesterday's post....and now we're on to quilt number 6:

Trailings was made for my upcoming Trailings exhibit, which is an exhibit of photographs and quilt art inspired by walking the Bridgewater trails. Made with 736 two inch squares of fabric, Trailings is an abstract map of my daily walking route along the LaHave River (blue squares) and through the forests of the trails (green squares). My walking route is indicated by the floral yellows and oranges, symbolizing my joy of walking on the trails.

Quilt #6 - Trailings - 46" x 64"

 

Quilt 7 was the result of a challenge posed in my Inspiration Collaboration group. Helen Eaton supplied this Raggedy Ann Doll painting as one of the inspiration pieces for September. I absolutely could not come up with an idea to create a photograph, so I turned to quilting to create my response. Creating a warm and comfortable blanket using Raggedy Ann as an inspiration was a wonderful challenge for me. I tried to take the essence of Raggedy Ann and stitch her into a one dimensional form. Black stripes for her shoes, a strip of red and white striped fabric for her stockings, flowered strips for her dress, and white linen with zig zag stitching for her pinafore. And let's not forget the wild, wild red appliqued strips for her hair! I learned about using bias tape from youtube videos by Joe Cunningham and I bought all the red bias tape I could find at my local fabric shop.

Quilt #7 - Raggedy Metamorphosis

In September I decided I was going to make a quilt for each of our three grandchildren. That idea was scuppered when I received confirmation that I did receive an art grant...and I also received confirmation that I had acquired exhibit space. Everything not exhibit oriented went on the back burner. I did finish one quilt top but it will not be finished and gifted until next year.

Quilt # 8 - Mikhaela's Quilt - WIP

 

Back in March when everything shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I ordered some fabric online because the second hand stores were shut down. I felt guilty about it...purchasing new instead of reusing something! The fabric sat in my closet and I couldn't bear to use it. I found out my youngest granddaughter's favourite colour is blue. It was the perfect excuse to pull those 5 inch squares out of the closet and use them. I ran out of blue, found out her next favourite colour is purple so off I went to the second hand store and found lots of purple choices.

In early October my son asked me to quilt him a scarf. Quilt a scarf?? He wanted purple. I decided I had enough time to whip one up so I used left overs from Mikhaela's quilt and made a long, very skinny quilt!

Cody's Scarf

modeled by Riley

Back to quilt making, and on October 17th I started another quilt for my Trailings exhibit. I called this one Blossom. Bordered with a creamy white fabric with vines, thin green vertical lines transition into wider floral lines towards the centre. A large appliquéd flower in the middle has raw edges, symbolizing that we are not perfect. Machine quilted in a floral pattern that grows larger moving towards the edges. I finished it on November 7th. May we all blossom and grow.

Quilt #9 - Blossom

By now I was getting a little stressed about quilting. I had plans to include six quilts in my Trailings exhibit and had completed three. Quilting had turned into an obligation instead of fun. But I kept to my plan and Seasons was quilt #10 for the year. I started on November 16th and finished on Dec 5th.

Quilt #10 - Seasons - 43" x 66"

The four season tree is something that I have created in many different mediums over the years. The trunk of the tree has been textured by stitching numerous darks, replicating the glorious texture of many types of bark along our trails. Buttons have been added to represent the falling snow and spring blossoms. Leaves have been machine appliquéd with raw edges to add a sculptural element.Hand tied with embroidery floss.

Last, but not least, The Keeper is quilt #11 for the year, and quilt #5 for my Trailings project.

Quilt #11 - The Keeper

I really must improve my ability to photograph quilts. This is an improv quilt...meaning there was no plan involved. I knew I wanted to use pockets and scraps from all my previous quilts so I made blocks around 19 pockets and then sewed the blocks together, building up each block as required to make rows that were the same length. I used strips of buttons and button holes to make up the "blank" spaces. I also added some tags from a couple of the shirts. Who could resist using tags that said "ARTISTRY IN MOTION" and "LOVE IS MY RELIGION"? Another shirt scrap had stitched feathers...a favourite symbol of mine.

I love this quilt! It's a hodge podge of colour and shapes and left overs. And...it will be used in an interactive display at my exhibit. How do you interact with a quilt? I am going to ask the public to write down their favourite trail walking memories and their wishes and dreams and put them into their choice of pocket on the quilt. I'm not sure how I'll use their written words, but I plan to make a future quilt using their memories, wishes and dreams as the inspiration.

I have had such fun making quilts this year and am beyond pleased about the number of quilts made...11 quilts and one scarf..12 quilting projects in one year! (never again...lol) Like photography, I don't quite follow the "rules" and I do my own thing. I have learned that I don't particularly like quilts that follow a pattern. I prefer the "improv" style and I definitely prefer using pre-loved fabric. I hope to make all future quilts without purchasing any new fabric. Future plans for quilt making...I hope to make more quilts that tell a story. I will finish my plans to make a quilt for each grandchild. And maybe, just maybe, I'll make a quilt for myself to celebrate my 60th birthday next year.