Quilting with friends

I write about my quilts and other sewing excitement fairly often here, so it must come as no surprise to you that Q is for Quilts. I considered just directing you to the "Quilts of Our Lives" series, in fact, and calling it good. But then I remembered these photos I took at our last quilting retreat, and decided you probably wanted to see them.

 The first rule of Quilt Retreat is we don't talk about quilt retreat. No, wait. It's that you don't have to take a shower if you don't want to. No, wait. It's that we offer sisterhood and support to each other in a crafty way. Yes. That's the first rule.

 The second rule of Quilt Retreat is it must include some combination of the Johnson Girls and the Sund*seth Girls (the asterisks protect the innocent from unnecessary Googling). My mom was a freshman in college in 1961 when she met this crazy woman, Kathy from Detroit Lakes. They became part of a rough and tumble group of card players and, after graduation, remained close friends. I wrote about them years ago here. And other places too. Anyway, my point is, I've known Jennifer (above, in green), and Emily, (up above, in pink, saying something with passion) for my entire life, and they are like sisters to me and Jess, but without the weird competition vibe you sometimes get with your own sister.

 Married into this tangled mess is Min*ke, above, who provides a calm, thoughtful perspective under the dull roar that is the rest of us. She also is mama to twin sons, who are the oldest of the grandchildren in our group. She once made a king-sized flannel quilt and decided that was enough quilting for anyone, so she added really cool stencils to t-shirts for her boys during our latest festival.

 And here is Meagan, whose name I rarely spell correctly on the first try, and whose figurative adoption into the Sund*seth clan more than ten years ago (How long has it been, M?) has brought all of us so much joy. She is an expert knitter, a beekeeper, and soon a graduate student who fits right into to our crazy little family.

The third rule of Quilt Retreat is to keep it classy. Above, one of our matriarchs, picking breakfast out of her teeth with a pin, I believe. If you don't know how to play cards, Kathy will teach you, and then proceed to never ever let you win. But she'll do it in a classy way, I tell you.

The fourth rule of Quilt Retreat is something mechanical always goes wrong. Here, Em, Meagan, and I have taken apart my poor Shark sewing machine (don't try this at home. I mean it). On the one hand, cool sewing machine innards, eh? On the other hand, we still couldn't fix it. But we sure had fun trying.

 The fifth rule of Quilt Retreat is no drinking until you're done cutting. Obviously, these three had finished for the evening and were on to wine-fueled discussions of music therapy or dog ownership, probably.

There may be other rules, but if you follow these five, you're sure to have a productive, entertaining weekend of crafty goodness. Now pass me the rotary cutter, and make sure to save me some wine.

Crafty Blitz

As we adjust to a schedule where we see very little of Shaun and we juggle care for V (especially on Mondays), I have lots of papers to grade that I'm avoiding, and my favorite way to avoid things is to sew. And sew and sew and sew. 

 Last weekend, we had a little family-esque craft retreat, where I made 3 appliqued t-shirts (V's and Emmy's, above), and pinned a long-finished quilt top (below, Em and Meagan doing my dirty work).

 I also worked on crocheting a uterus, because I love  combining my political beliefs with crafts. My uterus is complete now, but the oviducts (also, but inappropriately, called Fallopian tubes) are causing me some headaches.

(That's right: I'm using an earring as a stitch marker, so I've pierced my uterus. That's hardcore. )

And then I made quilted duffles. Above are mine and V's on the steps of our cabin at Campfire Bay Resort (awesome place! We're totally going back there!).  V picked her colors (the blue and green polka dots + the firefly fabric) and I picked mine, because that white fabric reminds me of the floor of the Rio in Vegas.

Here are all four of them together: Myra's is on top, and left to right it's mine, V's, and Jess's. Jess' has little yellow stars on a green background. These bags are my new obsession, and if it weren't for my pesky job, I'd have made another dozen by now. They're lightweight, come together quickly, and hold lots and lots of stuff (plenty for a weekend). Plus they provide a good home for all those lovely 1-2 yard cuts of fabric that I buy without having a plan.

I've done more than this, even, but I think this post is lengthy enough. Besides, now I'm just using blogging to avoid grading, and that's not helping, either.

Birthday post #2

The ridiculously fashionable Tenessa, helping set up the food table.

 Including the amazing cheeseball she made. That's $haun's head. In cheeseball form. I really would like all my food to be both delicious AND hilarious.

 Here's the rockstar corner. The Elvis poster was there when we arrived: we just had to add KISS. And the squares on the right side of the photo make up Shaun's present from me: a t-shirt quilt. It probably deserves its own post, but it was part of our decor.

Some of the songs we sang (if yours isn't listed, or is listed incorrectly, please leave a comment! I loved every single song but got a little drunk on all the love, so I forgot many):

$haun:

Brick: Ben Folds Five

Chantilly Lace: Big Bopper

Cat's in the Cradle: Harry Chapin

Copacabana: Barry Manilow

One More Minute: Weird Al

Time in a Bottle: Jim Croce

America: Neil Diamond

Soul Man: Blues Brothers

Asshole: Dennis Leary

Superstar: Jesus Christ Superstar

Jen:

Any Man of Mine: Shania Twain

You're the One that I Want: Grease (w/Shaun)

Piece of My Heart: Janis Joplin

Uncle Bill:

Cracklin' Rosie: Neil Diamond

Toddio:

Jambalaya: Hank Williams

Don't Stop Me Now: Queen

Melt With You: Modern English

Anna:

The Gambler: Kenny Rogers (w/ Eric)

Eric:

River of Dreams: Billy Joel

Isn't She Lovely: Stevie Wonder

Ed:

Baby Got Back: Sir Mix-a-Lot

Bring Him Home: Les Mis

A Buck Owens song

Alejandro: Lady Gaga

Tenessa:

Louisianna Woman, Mississippi Man: Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn (w/Dan)

Honestly: Stryper

Act Naturally: Buck Owens

Carla:

That'll Be the Day: Buddy Holly

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Bonnie Tyler

Jess:

Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Israel

Happiest Girl in the Whole USA (w/Jen)

We Didn't Start the Fire: Billy Joel (w/Jen)

Another song I don't remember

Dan:

Work It: Missy Elliot

Hold On: Wilson Phillips (w/Tenessa)

Quilts of our lives, part 7-ish

This is an exceedingly simple quilt that I really like. I always meant to quilt it more thoroughly, but it's been put into circulation, so I haven't gotten to that. It's roughly a twin-sized quilt, and V uses it on her bed when she's not using the chickens.

 The pink, green, yellow, and blue are all the same pattern of a retro-remake kinda thing, and the white is a lovely medium-weight denim. Due to my tendency to sew through my own appendages, I tend to avoid white, but this quilt demanded it, and I think you'll find the blood barely visible.

 It's quilted in a simple grid pattern and then along the diagonals (the squares are 16" or better); this is just enough to keep the thing together, but it's clean and I like it.

This quilt has a nice cotton batting, so it's got a good heft to it. A simple, vintage-inspired quilt that I'm actually pretty proud of.

These....are the quilts of our lives. (I amuse myself).

List #9: Hobbies o' Mine

Nothing too profound this snowy Saturday: just a list of some of my many hobbies. I'd love to hear your favorite hobbies, too, though I certainly don't need anymore of my own.

1. Jewelry making: I especially love making earrings, because they don't take long and they can be so lovely. This summer we made stretchy bracelets for my aunts and cousins, using stretchy bead thread. If you take your time with the knots, you'll be happier with the result. Cute, fast, and easy, just like me! (um...nevermind)

2. Quilting. You've read Languishing's award-winning Quilts of our Lives series, and I do love to quilt. It's hard for me to get inspired without a scheduled retreat or weekend set aside, because they are labor and logic intensive, and I don't have a lot of either to spare. But when I'm quilting, I'm a happy girl.

3. I make books. I can do more elaborate, formal bindings than those in the picture, and am particular fond of Japanese stab bindings (it sounds so violent! But it's not). They make lovely scrapbooks and guestbooks and journals. I taught a group of 5th and 6th graders to do that form several years ago, and discovered working with kids that age is remarkably similar to college age students, but with less swearing.

4. Crochet. My grandmother taught me to knit when I was about 10, but I lacked any semblance of patience, and it ended when I snapped my plastic knitting needles in half in frustration (Sorry, Beulah!). When I was in high school, my mother learned to crochet, and my sister and I followed suit. Mostly I make dishcloths & scarves, now: a girl only needs so many afghans, and the carpal tunnel keeps me from projects of that size. I like crocheting because, after this much practice, I can do it in the dark of a movie theater or while we're watching something at home, and not feel like I'm being indulgent quite so much.  Idle hands do the devil's work, you know.

5. House plants. I have almost totally failed at this hobby, and I have a dozen dead plants in my house to prove it. But I also have a few (5 or 6, maybe?) that persist in living, and I adore the idea of healthy, happy houseplants. I just don't remember to water them regularly enough.

6. Collage: This is how many of my students spell "college." At any rate, I like to cut things up and paste things back together (which is a lot like quilting, now that I think of it). I use collage to make little trading-size cards, alter books, and jazz up my syllabus. Decoupage is my friend.

7. Card-making: Connected to #3 and #6, this was a natural outcropping. My mom and aunt and friend have a ridiculous collection of supplies, and when I can get there to play, it's a breeze to make cards. Lately, though, I've been sending Mary a card a day, which really ups the ante: I'm trying to keep things interesting but don't have access to the supply mecca. It's been fun, actually.

8, Facebook: Oh, facebook, you evil temptress. I came to this party late, but I find myself checking it time and again throughout the day, almost automatically, like looking at the clock. When I'm bored, I get irritated, and want it to entertain me. Gak.

9. Dexter: We don't have Showtime, but we recently discovered how to run Netflix through our XBox 360, so we can livestream all sorts of things, provided our somewhat pathetic internet cooperates (which, by the way, do any of you, gentle readers, have internet through DirecTV? Any thoughts?). We'd heard about this show, and just finished season 1. I love it: it's like CSI meets Criminal Minds meets the Sopranos. What's not to like about that?

These are some of the things (besides blogging) that I do in my spare time, or in my avoid-doing-what-I-ought-to-be-doing-time, like cleaning and/or grading. What's your favorite distraction?

Quilts of our lives, part 6 (or so)

Along with the chicken quilt, this was from my whole-cloth phase. The fish fabric was from two sets of flannel sheets I got on clearance at Target. Both sides are fairly well-quilted, and by "well" I mean "lots o' stitches, not necessarily nice ones." It was my first non stitch-in-the ditch quilt, and I still sleep under it.

This photo makes it look like I quit quilting once I felt like it was going to hold together. Which I did. I find it hilarious, apparently, to showcase my limited abilities and dedication.

The next quilt of our series will likely be one I didn't make, so stay tuned!

Quilts of our Lives, Part 5 (or so)

Long-time readers have seen bits of this quilt before. I made it to replace the first quilt I made Shaun (which I haven't yet photographed) because that one plum wore out. This one is a bit less beloved, for some reason, perhaps because it's simpler, or perhaps because the original is always better.

I made 4 giant log-cabin blocks, using fabrics to represent things important to Shaun or to our lives together. I know that the color and pattern combination is a bit less than...perfect, but that's intentional, too. The fabric includes baseball, football, music, gambling, bumble bees, and ladybugs. Two of those were V's Halloween costumes of years past...you figure out which is which. It's machine stitched, and since the blocks are so large (each strip is 6" wide) I had to go beyond stitching in the ditch, so after stitching straight lines, I zigged and zagged in a kind of abstract sunburst pattern. You can kind of see it here.

I pieced the back, which is not something I've usually done, but all the cool quilters are doing it, and I find I like it quite a bit. Plus, when I went to put the quilt together, it was much larger than I'd expected (I think about 6 feet x 8 1/2 feet), and I didn't have enough backing, so it was a necessity. My first dozen or better quilts were not labeled; I learned a long time ago about the importance of labels to quilt historians, but 1. I don't know that my quilts will hold much historical significance, since most of them get used until they fall apart, and 2. I was lazy. But I'm trying to do better, and for Shaun's second quilt, I embroidered a label, using an extra block from our wedding quilt (lord, that's a whole nother post on its own. Far, far in the future). It says: "You are my Sunshine/For Shaun/ love Jen/9 November 2008".

I like making quilts for people I love, especially if I can sneak under a corner now and then, too.

And I don't mean that as naughty as it sounds. Honest.

Quilty McQuilterson

I am prouder of this quilt than perhaps any other one I've ever made. It is the first one I ever designed myself, and I made it in 2001, at the first quilt retreat after 9-11, and slept under it on Saturday night (this is a big accomplishment, non-quilting people). It's based on the bullseye quilt, with layers of fabric sewn on top of each other, with seams left ragged. Like the bullseye, it looks way more complicated than it is. The fabrics are 100% cotton, with a cotton batting, making this a medium to light-weight quilt.

Within a year of making this quilt, Shaun and I got engaged, bought a house, Shaun got fired, we got married, adopted a dog (who rudely chewed three holes in this quilt, which I promptly patched) and my dad died. It was a wild year.

And now this quilt is almost nine years old. Nine years! I've slept under it every night I've been home since that first night at quilt retreat. The blue and yellow are for Sweden, where my grandfather proudly hailed from. I'm more of a red-orange kind of girl, but I wanted something soothing for my bed, and this quilt brought me many sweet dreams.

It's far from perfect: some of the squares are glaring at me even in these photos (gold check, I'm looking at you) and you can see it's finally falling apart. I doubt it will make it to age 10. I should start work, soon, on a replacement for it, because it has served me well.

Quilts of our lives, part III

This is a quilt we use every single day, and it's also one I didn't make. Our dear friend Jeni made it, as a housewarming gift. When Jeni and Tami came to visit our house for the first time, in June 2002, they brought this beautiful Bulls-eye Quilt with them. And since we had decided that very week to get married the following Wednesday, it quickly turned into an engagement/wedding gift. As I recall, she made this from the cut-outs of another bulls-eye quilt, for her sister's wedding. I love this quilt, because I had just a few months earlier talked Jeni through the process of this pattern, which is a fun technique that looks a lot harder than it is. I adore the fabrics she chose for this quilt, and I wouldn't have thought to put these together. I love the corner circles, the double borders, and the blue and red flowered background (which you can peek in the first photo...).

It's the only quilt in our TV room, and I or Shaun use it every day for sure from fall to spring, and I use it most days in the summer, too.

It is so much more than just a blanket: everytime I use it, or fold it up before we go to bed, or hang it out on the line on wash day, I think of my Jeni, and miss her (as she lives in the Minneapolis), and I'm so thankful that she is in my life.

Whole cloth quilt

This is the second in a series I've cleverly named Quilts of Our Lives. (Apparently, this is my go-to topic when I feel like I need something new on the blog but I really don't have time to craft a brand-spanking new post.)

In the interest of full disclosure, note all the photos from this whole series were taken this summer, when we had green grass and wore cropped pants and generally enjoyed the out of doors. Now we have 8" or so of snow and it hasn't been above 15 degrees in two weeks.

Sometimes, for a variety of reasons, I chose to just leave large pieces of fabric as they are and quilt them. Historically, this is referred to whole cloth quilting, and it's unusual, in that one purpose of quilting that I especially admire is the careful use of scraps. It was pretty rare that our foremothers had 6 yards of fabric laying around that didn't need to be cut into clothing or wagon wheels or something. Still, I like the idea of a whole-cloth quilt, and by my definition, the chicken quilt is an example of that.

You'll note, if you went to the whole-cloth quilt link above, that mine looks nothing like those. I mean, mine looks like a preschooler's attempt at Starry Starry Night. I'm comfortable with that.

And you all know better than to do what I do, right? Because I'm not a professional, I'm totally making this up as I go, and often it doesn't work out at all. Okay?

Good.

So I sewed around the edges with the quilt sandwich inside out, flipped it, straightened it, pinned it, and quilted in large (5") squares. The batting is, I think, a warm cotton batt (as opposed to the loftier but less warm poly, or ridiculously warm wool), and both the chickens and the gold swirl backing (pictured below) are upholstry weight, denim-y type fabrics, which make for a good thick heavy quilt. When I bought the chicken fabric, I fully intended to make myself a jumper. Leave me alone: I was a librarian at the time, and desperate for some excitement. Luckily, I needed a quilt more than a new jumper, and chicken quilt was born. Considering its weight, I must've used a denim needle or three to do the quilting, and every 5" is almost certainly the very least amount of quilting that batting allows. (which means that if you quilt it more than 5" apart, it's like to disintegrate sooner rather than later and become sort of a crumbly pile of yuck.) You didn't know you were going to learn so much about quilting when this post started, did you?

The chicken are really lovely, and over the years this quilt has held up very well. That may be partly because it wasn't in daily use, until some little sprout got a big girl bed, and needed a big girl quilt to tide her over until Mama gets her shit together enough to make her "a real one." I don't think the chickens have any idea who they're up against.

Snuggled up together....

Since winter has finally arrived, I thought I'd start a new series of posts. I've been planning these since this summer, and I'll be posting them sporadically throughout the winter. I've been calling it "Quilts of Our Lives" and then I hear the soaring soap opera music in my head. You do what you like with that information.

One day this summer, I was doing our laundry and realized that we have many, many homemade blankets. Store-bought blankets are outnumbered 5 to 1 or better at our house. This makes me tremendously happy.

This is the first quilt I made at Camp Lebanon's quilt retreat, way back in the 90's. I had already made several quilts by this time, but being surrounded by women quilting made me more careful and conscientious. It's a standard log cabin stitched in the ditch, and is crib sized. I made it before I even met Shaun, and many of the attendees of quilt retreat commented that it would be a perfect quilt for a little boy. Which made V's birth even more victorious: I was thrilled for my daughter to roll around and drool on this. Those are lizards on the green jungl-y fabric. It was also the first quilt I finished with a proper binding, and after machine sewing the homemade binding on one side, I hand-sewed the whole thing to finish it.

It's still big enough for V to use, though not by much. Soon it will be relegated to babydoll swaddling, I suppose. Not a bad way for a quilt to retire.