What Do You Get?

This sounds like one of those jokes where you cross two things, say a cat and a parrot, and end up with something new. What do you get when you cross animal print fabrics with Gwen Marston’s Liberated Quiltmaking techniques? You get a quilt like this:

Click to Enlarge

When my boys were little and had to accompany me to the quilt shop, I’d sometimes placate them by letting them pick out a fat quarter of fabric they liked. My nine year old son spotted a whole bundle of animal prints and begged me to make a quilt with them. How could I refuse, even though they were just about they last thing I ever envisioned myself using?

The beauty of making a “liberated” quilt is that you don’t have to start with a plan. I had no idea where the design would take me. I just began cutting out animals and framing them with a dark fabric, aptly named “Kitambaa,” the Swahili word for “cloth." These vignettes became the quilt’s focal points.


Next, I added familiar quilt elements like flying geese, log cabin, shoo fly, stars, four patch, nine patch and hour glass blocks, all made with Gwen’s characteristic wonkiness.


The quilt evolved organically. When units were too long, I cut them down. When they were too short, I added to them. And while the layout may look random, units were arranged and rearranged, puzzle-like until they fit.


This quilt was successful on many levels. It used up just about every square inch of jungle fabric we bought. It taught an up-tight quilter how to loosen up and enjoy the process of working intuitively. And it pleased a young boy so much that he's slept under the quilt for years, even taking it off to college with him!


And if you're wondering what you get when you cross a cat and a parrot, it's a carrot!

Look Ma, No Hands!

Things are already looking up for 2008! For those of you following my recovery, here's an exciting update. Two days ago, my sons helped me stand and support myself with the walker. I tried taking a few steps, albeit baby ones, and ended up taking ten! Yesterday, the home therapist came to evaluate me and I was able to take 16 steps. As an encore, I did a 360 degree pivot, all without anyone hanging on to me. It was a triumph that gives me great hope for recovery!


As everyone else puts their Christmas decorations away for another year, I’m just beginning to enjoy ours. Many of these holiday treasures evoke sweet memories of crafting with our young boys. These special handmade gifts were stitched for aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, some of whom are no longer with us. They’ve become irreplaceable family heirlooms.


We made this Christmas wall hanging when the boys were 7 and 10 years old-- just old enough to use a needle and thread. I satin stitched a simple Christmas tree to a background and let them embellish it with buttons. Their handwritten quilt label is just as precious as the tree itself.

Little Quilters

I've been thinking about the new little quilter here and thought he might like to see what another little boy had fun making "once upon a time."


I use this little Froggy Nine Patch as my computer mousepad. My son made it when he was 7 years old. Sewing these nine little squares together on the machine was enough to satisfy any quilting aspirations he might have had. What does he recall from his brief foray into quiltmaking? The frog stitch. That's what you do when you "rip-it."