Trick or Treat

Liberated Sawtooth doll quilt

16” x 23”

machine pieced, machine quilted

Diane Burdin, 2003

It's About Time!

“Well, it’s about time,” I hear you muttering. “You’ve been taunting us with photos of that same red and green quilt since before Christmas!” Quite true… so with apologies for what may now be an anticlimactic reveal, let me tell you all about it.

This is the quilt I made at my first Gwen Marston Beaver Island Retreat. Gwen's topic that year (1997) was Four-Block Quilts. Much of what she taught us is outlined in her subsequent book, Classic Four-Block Applique Quilts: A Back-To-Basics Approach.

Gwen’s approach to design is rooted in the folk art tradition of artists who are self-taught rather than formally trained. She prefers to work organically, cutting shapes “by eye” directly from fabric, instead of using patterns or templates. She’s more likely to measure “by hand” (finger or knuckle) than she is to pick up a ruler. Gwen even designs her layouts right on the fabric, adding, subtracting, and moving pieces around until they look pleasing. That's what makes her quilts so free-spirited and charming!

For the retreat, I brought along four Oak Leaf & Reel blocks to use as the center of my quilt. By making them ahead of time, I was able to focus more on settings, borders, etc., during the workshop itself.

I framed my blocks with appliquéd dogtooth, vine, and berry borders. As Gwen instructed, rather than having the motifs elegantly turn the corners as they would in a traditional quilt, these march boldly off the edge in a far more casual manner.

I can’t tell you how challenging it was for me to work this way. My quilting style back then was stiff and fussy, and even though Gwen assured us there was historical precedence for her laid-back methods, it somehow felt like I was breaking the rules. 

Notice, for example, that the leaves and berries in my border are hand appliquéd, while the vine itself is top stitched by machine. What? Combining hand and machine appliqué in the same quilt? I kept looking over my shoulder for the quilt police!

Over time, I have loosened up and embraced Gwen’s relaxed, no-nonsense approach to quilt making. Her methods aren’t right or wrong, better or worse. They’re just another way of doing things!

Oak Leaf & Reel

30" x 30"

Diane Burdin, 2000

BOO!

Liberated Jack
© DJB, 1997

Dreamtime

Hello friends! What do you make of this curious fabric? A friend sent it to me as a souvenir of her recent trip “Down Under.”

It’s an Australian aboriginal print featuring witchetty grubs, honey ants, snakes, lizards, and other symbols of indigenous culture--in other words, not my typical quilting fare.

I’d seen distinctive prints like this (African fabrics, Kaffe Fassett florals) successfully used in quilts before, generally to showcase a collection of designs. —a “more is more” approach to design. In my case

Ultimately, I maintained the integrity of the piece by keeping the fabric intact. Who am I kidding... I couldn't bear to cut it up! Instead, I framed the piece with a sawtooth border made of even brighter colors. 

I tried adding pieced blocks but they only made the quilt look busier. So, I pieced together the Broken Dishes blocks I had made and put them on the back of the quilt.

The machine quilting was a lot of fun to do. I stitched random wavy lines with a variety of threads. It not only added great texture but contributed to the freeform style.

Dreamtime
16” x 23”
© DJB, 2003

Small Change

I don't know if it's the cooler temperature today (a glorious 68 degrees) or the little nap I took, but I'm feeling better than I have in quite some time. These "good days" are infrequent and I revel in the small victories they allow.

I was inspired to share this Chinese Coins doll quilt today by Libby, who recently stitched one of her own. In true scrap quilt fashion, this was made with cast-off trimmings from another quilt. Do you find it as hard as I do to throw those little bits away? It may be hard to see the cable quilting in that blue fabric.

Small Change

18” x 27”
© Diane Burdin,1995

Marimekko Surprise

You may wonder how I decide which quilts to post about next. It's pretty random, really. I use those I can get my family to photograph. Allowing for factors like timing, lighting, setting, mood (of the photographer) and how much groveling I need to do, there can be quite a wait for quality quilt photos.

Today's quilt is up next simply because the pictures are already on my computer. Be forewarned! It's not my usual style or color palette.

It began with a shopping bag left on my doorstep, brimful of Marimekko fabric. These contemporary, decorator weight designs come from Finland and are sold at Crate and Barrel stores. A good friend who worked at C&B left them for me as a surprise!

Who can resist free fabric, even when it veers wildly from your usual style? This print became my theme, mostly because there was enough to use as a border. Let's see, day-glow squares on vibrant orange... What quilt block might work well with that? Four Patch? Nine Patch? Both seemed too ordinary, too predictable.


For the unexpected, I turned to the cover of Kaffe Fassett’s Glorious Patchwork. Based on the colors in his quilt, my wacky orange fabric might read as a neutral!

I made 3”, 6”, 9”, and 12" blocks from some of the brightest colors I'd ever seen. The challenge was to balance both color and block sizes throughout the quilt. I sewed until every square inch of fabric was gone!

The finished quilt was given to the fabric gifter herself, just in time for her 17th birthday. She absolutely loved it!