As promised at the end of my last blog entry, here are some pix of the finished patchwork quilt. Danielle and I worked together on it for over four months. It was a long and arduous process with many fits and starts, pauses and changes, ideas and discoveries. When we first talked about down to stay in my rental apartment for six months, part of the agreement was that she would help me with the project that had been percolating in my mind for so long. I am incredibly grateful for her knowledge, skill and patience as we waded through each step of the creation of this masterpiece!
First I unearthed all of the fabric bits Id been saving for over 30 years. There were clothes from Bali that shredded after three washings, scraps from my African tailor shop, pieces of fabric from clothes that had once belonged to me, my Mom, my Dad, and my former husband. My storage trunk included: pieces from Ecuador and Guatemala: batik cloth from Malaysia, Indonesia and Africa: ikat weavings from Indonesia and Ecuador: African jacquard and wax print cottons: and yards
Luckily, it fits perfectly on my bedroom wall! So I get to admire it and wander down memory lane looking at each piece of fabric.
and yards of cotton muslin that I bought on clearance decades ago with quilting in mind! Everything had been stored in a tea chest that I bought at the Salvation Army in Tokyo, so it smelled pretty rank when I finally pulled it all out.
I washed everything, then soaked it in a starch solution in an attempt to stiffen up the soft cottons, and finally hung up each tiny scrap to dry. Next step, to iron each and every piece. The starch plan had not had the desired effect, so using of the dozens of yards of stabilizer fabric and several cans of spray starch, we stiffened the chosen fabric pieces to make them easier to work with. Thank you to Shana and Maricarmen for loaning me your ironing board and iron! I do not own an iron...IRON is a word...and ironing has not ever been a part of my lifestyle. I havent ironed much since my Mom used to pay me pennies to iron handkerchiefs, pillow cases and tablecloths when I was a kid. For the quilt project I borrowed back a sewing machine
Danielle and I worked over 4 months (on and off) to create this masterpiece. The concept and design emerged as the project unfolded.
that Id helped my goddaughter buy 8 years ago when her first child was a newborn and she wanted to be able to work from home. (Shes now 24 and has three children).
Danielle and I decided on a repeated pattern of volcanoes, and I incorporated her brilliant idea to use some of my vast collection of antique lace for clouds and smoke wafting from each volcano! Depending on the size of the fabric scraps we had, we created squares for a 4 or an 8 row, each row separated by a strip of beige muslin to rest the eye between the busy patterns of the fabrics. A large piece of lavender jacquard, left over from the African outfit I had made for my brothers California wedding in 1996, would serve as the outermost border, framing and unifying the colors and patterns. The backing would be an old cotton bedsheet that had followed me around the globe (clearance bin at Bed, Bath and Beyond in the early 90s). Several trip ups to Ambato (nearest big city an hour away) to buy the batting, cutting wheel, scissors, etc.
For Shanas 82nd bday we blindfolded her and took her to Samari, a fancy hotel with an awesome restaurant!
I warned Danielle that I am the smash with a hammer and see how things fit together type of artist - so she was in charge of the precise cutting and sewing aspects of the quilt. My big moment came when it was time to tie all three levels together. Using colored cotton embroidery floss, I carefully passed a thread through all three layers, artfully spacing, knotting and trimming in and around the colored squares. And the finishing touches were the lacy smoke plumes and clouds (one of them puffed up with cotton batting).
