I've Got Plans...

The Process Pledge

Have you noticed this logo cropping up on your favorite quilt blogs lately? The link leads to an excellent post about changing the focus of our blogs to include the process of quilt making rather than simply sharing the final product. When you read the post, read the comments as well. They're enlightening.

You won't see much about process on my blog because most of the quilts I share were finished years ago. It's hard to recreate the design process for readers, once sketches, notes, and memories are gone. But if my quilts have stories, I will tell them.


This Square in a Square quilt, for example, is typical of what I was making in the early 1990’s ~ traditional pattern, controlled color palette, loads of hand quilting.

Roberta Horton‘s Mood Indigo fabrics inspired this quilt. I'd sent away for 4” sample squares of the collection, reasoning that variety was more important to me than quantity. Horton's plaid and striped fabrics were unique for the time and I simply wanted to document them in a quilt.

I'd read Horton‘s book, Plaids and Stripes: The Use of Directional Fabric in Quilts,  where she suggests cutting some of your fabric “casually off grain” to mimic the look of antique quilts, and add the interest your eye seeks when using nothing but linear fabrics. I laugh now when I see my timid attempts to heed her advice.

This quilt was a good candidate for hand quilting, since the fabric is luxuriously soft and easy to needle. I used Mountain Mist Cotton batting, which requires quilting as closely as 1/4" to 1/2" intervals. It has a flat loft and puckers with washing. If you don't mind doing all that stitching, you're rewarded with a quilt that looks antique.

People sometimes ask, especially about my small quilts, "What are you going to do with that now that it's finished?" "Own it, look at it, love it," I'm always tempted to reply. In this case, I truly made it just to chronicle a beautiful collection of fabrics. The joy was in the making. That was enough.

Horton’s Got The Blues

30" square
machine pieced, hand quilted
© Diane Burdin, 1993

Kindness of Strangers

Well, it’s happened again! I’ve won another terrific giveaway, this time from LibbyQ at Paper Napkin Poetry. Libby is a talented photographer, multi-media collage artist and needlewoman whose work reveals the often overlooked detail of everyday things. Visit her blog ~ it's a gift in and of itself.


Her prize included an assortment of exquisitely stitched fabric postcards, exotic tea and honey sticks, sweet little packets of wildflower seeds and a luscious chocolate bar. I can’t stop studying, and admiring each hand stitched postcard. The detail is incredible and the longer I look, the more I see. Click each photo for a larger view.

This one is embellished with tiny shells, textural ribbon, feather stitched embroidery and rubber stamping...

fused fabric trimmings, foil...

buttonhole embroidery, tiny french knots stitched
with a single metallic thread, charms...

more hand stitched embroidery,
cute little sticky dots...

rubber stamping, single thread embroidery,

a miniature needle punched topiary inscribed

with the words ”thinking of you” ...

hand embroidery, charms, and a

hidden message ~ "wonder"

The kindness of quilt bloggers like Libbyquilter astounds me. That someone would put so much time, effort and skill into a project, only to offer it to a complete stranger, shows a generosity of spirit that few possess.

Thanks again, LibbyQ. I feel very fortunate to own these little treasures. They won’t be wending their way through the post anytime soon.

Con"grad"ulations

Thank you for your congratulations and good wishes on James and Rachel's engagement. We are so pleased! What a joy it’s been to watch them fall in love.

Our family passed another milestone last week with James’ graduation from college. Bet you can’t tell where he went to school (that's Carolina blue).

Can you spot James and Rachel in the stands? Just kidding; they sat on the field, creating their own “pomp and circumstance” by playing in the band.

With diplomas in hand, they're off to graduate school in the fall.

Best of luck!

Great News!

They're engaged!

Liturgical Art

For some years, I served on the liturgical arts team at church. Our role was to “set the stage” for worship, no small task considering we met in the cafeteria of a local middle school at the time. Transforming the space for worship required Banners and displays went a long way toward creating a sense of "place" in an otherwise  austere setting.

Even so, our focus was more , I longed to add something more elaborate to the liturgical art rotation, something bigger, bolder, and more engaging, something made specifically with young church families in mind -- a baptismal banner!

"a visual sermon, a parable in pictures, a catechism for the eyes!" 

With I chose the theme of baptism, based on the following scripture:

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from Heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”    Matthew 3:16-17 

        

Wow, talk about dramatic imagery, Bargello patchwork, with its gradient colors and flamelike designs was the perfect technique for depicting this scene! Green, yellow, and blue represent the water of baptism, the fire of the Holy Spirit, and the turbulent heavens. Of course, the bright colors and eye-catching design are equally suitable for other church events, such as first communion, confirmation, weddings, funerals, or any other time "the Spirit moves!" Trinity

I approached construction like making a quilt, layering the Bargello top with thin batting and backing, then sewing around it pillowcase style to avoid binding. Machine quilting helped stabilize the seams and encouraged the banner to hang straight. Surprisingly, the dove required the most work in the form of interfacing, hand beading, satin stitch appliqué, and a flourish of silver braid, all finished at the last minute.

Our son William was the first child baptized with the banner. Here he is, a proud six year old, with Pastor Dan Poffenberger (1998). 

I can't fathom the number of children welcomed to faith with this banner. It's gratifying to know that what grounded us in our early years as a congregation continues to inspire all these years later. 

Rejoice Lutheran Church, Geneva, Illinois

I See London, I See France

Some of you may recall a giveaway I won a couple years ago from Lucy of Quilting with the Past II. My prize was this charming primitive doll named Little Faithy.


I'm embarrassed  to mention it, but Faithy arrived immodestly dressed, with no undergarments to speak of! Fortunately I had these hand crocheted panties that fit her to a tee.

Does anyone know what these fancy pants were originally intended for? I doubt they were made as doll clothes since there is a crocheted loop at the waistline for hanging. The bloomers are far too small to be used as a hot pad, as so many crocheted oddities were in the 1940’s and 50’s. I thought perhaps they were meant to cover a small sachet pillow for one’s lingerie drawer .

At any rate, I’m happy to finally put them to some use. They’re far too pretty to keep hidden in a drawer. Ironically, the only way of revealing their lacy loveliness is to encourage people to peek under Faithy’s skirt. So much for modesty!