Smile for the Camera!

When Designer Quilts Magazine asked for photos to accompany their feature on quilting with MS, I called my friends for help. Sheila Lewis and Kathy Smith, both accomplished quilters, convincingly played themselves as my neighbor and professional photographer Sherry Simonetti snapped away. et the stage for the photo shoot and also posed for the camera.

Now that I no longer go upstairs to my sewing room, I work at the dining room table. It's become a dumping ground for fabrics and quilt projects, as well as anything else my family doesn’t quite know what to do with. Before we could take photos, the table had to be cleared, a stunt quilt located, and various poses discussed and rehearsed (so much for spontaneity).

Even thou the scene was staged, our laughter and smiles were authentic. 

The quilt that hangs in my dining room is a deceptively simple one patch, made from Milly Churbuck’s hand dyed cottons. The assorted 3 ½” squares came precut, in swatch packs Milly used to sell, featuring various color ways of her fabric. For a small price, I got plenty of colors, with scraps to spare for another project. 

What I tried to emulate were the simply pieced yet elegantly quilted comforters of Provence, France. CLICK TO ENLARGE the photo below. As you scroll around, you’ll see the borders are each hand quilted with a different motif. The date appears in the lower left corner.

Readers have often asked if Milly Churbuck’s hand dyed cottons are still available. They are not. However, I can recommend Cherrywood Hand Dyed Fabric or Vicki Welsh Hand Dyed Fabrics.

Final Issue

A few months ago my friend and editor, Julie Golimowski, asked me to write about my experience as a quilter with MS. The article is part of a feature on Multiple Sclerosis in the summer issue of Designer Quilts magazine.

Since hiring me as a pattern proofreader four years ago, Julie has shown concern about my health and the impact of MS on my life and work. Does the stress of deadlines increase my muscle tension and fatigue? YES. Is my ability to concentrate good enough to check math, diagrams, and wording for ten quilt projects an issue? MOST of the time. Am I able to climb stairs to get to the computer where I do my work? NOT ANY MORE!

Over time, her questions have become more specific. What was my first symptom? NUMBNESS and tingling. Am I in pain? SOMETIMES. What kinds of medical tests confirmed my diagnosis? MRI and SPINAL TAP. What medications do I take? DAILY INJECTIONS and PILLS for everything from muscle spasticity and incontinence to anxiety and depression.

Julie’s interest became more than concern for a good friend when she herself was diagnosed with MS. She revealed her condition to her readers in this latest, and last issue of the magazine. Her husband Joe writes:

Designer Quilts Magazine (formerly Designers’ Quarters) has ceased publication. In 2006, Julie, the editor of Designer Quilts Magazine and my wife, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. MS is an incurable disease that attacks the central nervous system. Lesions in the brain and on the spine cause a variety of symptoms from blindness to the inability to walk. Julie has relapsing and remitting MS which means that her symptoms come and go without warning and it is no longer possible for us to publish our magazine. Sincerely, Joe Golimowski Publisher, Designer Quilts Magazine

There's no predicting the path MS will take for either of us. In spite of that, Julie and I maintain good attitudes. That's half the battle in managing this debilitating disease. It's been an honor and pleasure working with Julie on Designer Quilts Magazine. Now, if we could only edit MS out of our lives. 

Summer's Last Hurrah

During the heat of summer, quilting is the last thing on my mind, but when a pile of scraps presents itself, what's a quilter to do? I couldn't resist whipping up an hourglass block or two, until at last i had enough to make this little quilt. It's not my usual way of working, but that's precisely what made it so fun!  

Who could resist these luscious colors when they look like summertime itself? The colorful assortment of scraps reminded me of popsicles, and icy fruit sorbet. vibrant colorful  from these hand-dyed cottons

Once again, these are Milly Churbuck'sd  (sadly no longer available). 

They were perfect for making small quilts like this Hourglass with 1 1/2" (finished) blocks.

The border and binding plaid is an early Kaffe Fassett fabric that came from a friend’s stash (Thank you, Helen!). Several of our quilt friends have chosen to “pass on” their fabric after they’ve passed on. Using it in our own quilts is our way of honoring them.

Summer’s Last Hurrah

17" x 22" 

Diane Burdin, 2003

Wrinkle Free

The creators of Downy Wrinkle Releaser undoubtedly had teenage boys in mind when they invented a product that not only eliminates the need for ironing, but in a pinch, can stand in for laundering as well. When James went off to college, we sent a bottle along with him. Judging by the piles of laundry lying on his dorm room floor, he had ample opportunity to use it.

William just came home from a week at camp. Naturally, the last thing on his mind was the status of his laundry. When he needed a clean uniform for work this morning, I heard him grumbling as he rummaged through closets and dresser drawers, looking for the requisite plain polo shirt. Apparently, the one he found was wrinkled.

First, I heard it…a telltale spritz, spritz, spritz…spritz… spritz, spritz… spritz, spritz, spritz…SPRITZ…SPRITZ, SPRITZ, SPRITZ. He must have nailed each individual crease in the shirt!

Then I smelled it: a fresh, clean scent wafting down the stairs. Let’s see, would that be the “light freshness” or the “vibrant freshness“ variety? Actually, it was the nose burning, eye tearing, headache inducing freshness and an hour later, I can still smell it. I wonder what his poor co-workers and customers are experiencing right now!

I give the boy credit for caring about his appearance and smoothing out a wrinkly situation on his own, but I’ve got to introduce him to an iron!

A Rompin' Stompin' Cowboy Quilt

Our son, Will, adored cowboys as a kid, so I wasn't surprised when he pointed out these retro-style cowboy prints at the quilt shop and begged me to make him something. He was ready for a "big boy" quilt anyway, so why not?

I started pulling fabrics -- blacks, browns, reds, checks, stripes, and paisleys. Yee haw, this was going to be fun!

Choosing a quilt design wasn't as easy. Standard blocks like nine patch, log cabin, and churn dash left me uninspired. I wanted something unique, something to really showcase the fabrics, something quintessentially COWBOY!  It took months, but I finally came across this "Cowboy Boots" pattern in a magazine. Yippee ki-oh ki-ay!

The most fun I had was mixing and matching fabrics for the blocks. Fussy-cutting the sashing and cornerstone was more tedious but well worth the effort considering how much interest they added to the quilt.

Believe it or not, the "barbed wire" border was an afterthought. I'd seen it on a quilt somewhere and thought it would be a great way to use up those precious scraps.

A year later, while vacationing in Montana, I found the perfect backing fabric. It's a Native American-style blanket print by Alexander Henry. He must have designed a whole western themed collection because it coordinates with another fabric I bought for window valances. 

More time elapsed at the machine quilters: Stover Quality Quilting, Stover, Missouri. 

All in all, it took three years to finish the quilt and decorate Will's bedroom. Guess what he had to say when he finally received the quilt. “Mom, I don’t really like cowboys anymore!” 

 

And here's the room he'll be sleeping in until he heads to college! 

Wandaful Quilts!

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Have you ever visited my friend Wanda at Exuberant Color? If you have, you’ve been treated to daily posts of color-drenched inspiration, like the photo above (Wanda's little quilt, photographed in my lilies). If you haven’t, today’s the day to visit and enter her anniversary giveaway. She’s offering six fabulous prizes and you get to choose your favorite!

Wanda has been quilting for 50 years! In that time, she’s owned her own quilt shop and managed others. She’s sold everything from sewing machines to her original fiber art. She’s transformed her cozy home into a studio with sewing spaces and fabric collections even professional quilters would envy. After thirty years of teaching beginners and advanced quilters, she can explain how to do almost anything related to quiltmaking.

Wanda has a penchant for batiks and machine embroidery, gardening, photography, and computers. She absolutely loves color and is “driven to create with it.” Fortunately for us, she’s driven to share all this through her blog, Exuberant Color. Thank you, Wanda, for your generous spirit and daily doses of inspiration!

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!