INCLUSION

 I always enjoy playing with my fabric scraps.  It is interesting to me to see how similar colors and patterns react to each other.  The slightest change in hue and value always surprises me in their interaction to their neighbors.  This quilt is playing with yellow, rust, burgundy, and brown all trying to get along -- inclusion in the neighborhood.

THE STATS:  "Inclusion", 2022, 30"x33", Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

 My designs for quilts evolve from many sources.  Some begin with a memory from my past that evokes pleasant (or not so pleasant) thoughts.  Some just come out of my mathematical brain, as I have always loved geometry and architecture.  Others evolve from fabric or an old traditional quilt that captures my fancy.  Travel near and far is a good motivation for a quilt.  Some are learning quilts -- a new skill or a sharpening of an old technique. This particular quilt covers several ideas --- learning more about color value and hue; the political news about voting rights and inclusion; and, along that line, it brought me to thinking about the memorial to the murdered Jews in Europe that I saw in Berlin, Germany.  Inspiration is out there just waiting for a personal variation. Not all of my quilts appeal to everyone, as they are not what we always think of as a traditional quilt.  They are created from my own introspection, then interpretation.

 EDITED TO ADD: Inclusion is an interesting concept.  I think often about it in both the human sense and in the quilting aspect.  I feel that all people, no matter their personal life circumstances, should be included.  Marginalized humans are often held below or behind others, but their inclusion is indispensible for a fair and functioning society in the future. 

 In this quilt,  I wanted to project the idea of inserting fabrics next to different colors to blend together and form a complete, integrated unit.

REPLAY, REPLAY AGAIN, THEN MAYBE AGAIN

 With football constantly on the TV, I needed to have some handwork to do in the evenings for distraction.  I decided on a small, simple project combining applique units with patchwork units.  I haven't done any hand applique for a while finding it difficult with my arthritic hands. I kept it small with just three 9-inch blocks enough for a table topper. 

THE STATS:  "REPLAY", 2022, 13"x33", Hand appliqued, machine pieced, machine quilted.

This got me through the play offs --- just the super bowl remaining.  Maybe I'll just take a nap then!! 

ABC DELIGHT

This is an older quilt made in 2001 with some of my favorite words written on it.  I ran across it in my attempt to document in photos some of my older quilts.  The words still resonate in me today 20+ years later.  Some of the words are just fun on the tongue; others have deep meaning for me and in my lifestyle.

There is a word for each letter of the alphabet:  aubergine, brilliancy, chocolate,

detail, eclecticism, family, grace of God, hospitality, integrity, justice, kitsch, liberty, mementos, naptime, observation, porcelain, quilts, remembrance, solitude, triptych, unemcumbered, vintage, wintertime, xanadu, yard goods, and zephyr.

Photographed on the steps of my childhood, hometown library.

The Stats:  "ABC Delight", 24"x27", 2001, Machine pieced, hand inked, hand quilted.

DIAMOND DAZZLE

This quilt was begun in 2021; now finished in 2022.  Sometimes it takes awhile.  I wanted to do a two-block quilt that would produce a different secondary pattern.  As is my mode of operation, I spend more hours thinking about a quilt than actually making it; and that is usually in the middle of many sleepless nights. (I'm a lousy sleeper.) That is my "planning period"!

These are the two blocks involved in this design.

There are 22 of the blocks on the left; and 32 of the blocks on the right. I rearranged and rearranged in my mind until I came up with this design.

THE STATS: "Diamond Dazzle", 2022, 26"x30", Paper pieced, Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

MONTANA SKY

Montana is known as "Big Sky Country" for good reason.  You feel as though the skies are huge. Where we lived in northeastern Montana from 1966 to 1971, the winters were brutal with lots of snow and cold; often with even daytime temperatures that did not reach above zero degrees. But, the night skies were spectacular!  I just finished my "Montana Sky" quilt.

This quilt appears to be simple, but I soon discovered that it became a bit of a challenge.  Since I wanted the stars to be offset to appear floating, it couldn't be joined in an usual block format.  Keeping track of all those 2" units became a challenge -- some unsewing went on.  Also, I decided I would not purchase any new fabric; pulling the fabric from my blue, green, and teal scrap bins.  It seemed like I spent a lot of time digging for the right color in a size that I could cut the matching pieces.  I've realized that these little challenges are what keep me making quilts!

THE STATS:  "Montana Sky", 2022, 22"x22", Paper pieced, machine pieced, machine quilted.

I was anxious to return to southeastern Colorado in 1971 to the milder climate; but, now in 2022 we are desperately in need of moisture of any kind.  I would almost welcome Montana snow and cold. Well, maybe not quite as brutal!

A couple of pictures from February 1969 in Montana; the temperature was about 10 degrees BELOW zero that day, but you can't stay in the house forever!  The snow was taller than Mike was.

BOXES OF BLESSINGS

When my grandmother moved to a nursing home before she died in 1988, my mother put me in charge of sorting out the sewing room. In a box, I came upon this piece of fabric.  Upon closer inspection I realized it was the skirt to my childhood dressing table.  

I don't remember my mother sewing anything else during my lifetime except I remember her struggling to make this with the matching curtains.  How my grandmother ended up with it, I don't know.  Needless to say, I brought it home with me.  Just like my grandmother, I'm a saver of dibs and dabs for a possible future project.  It is now time 33 years later; and I'm including some of this fabric in my "blessing boxes" quilt. I used it in this block and for the binding.

All of my grandmothers and my mother were influential in my life. I was fortunate to spend time with them all. Great-Grandmother Delong was an emboiderer, a collector of beautiful dishes, and purchased the family 1927 Steinway piano.  Great-Grandmother Maddex was always tatting and had such a gentle nature. I also knew my step-Great-Grandmother Haines. She was a talented Sunday painter with an artistic temperament; I was fasinated with her. Grandmother Billingslea embroidered, sewed, quilted, and was the saver of all those dibs and dabs. Grandmother Haines crocheted, wrote poems and stories, and quoted many bible verses from memory.  And, my mother knitted and was so intelligent; a college graduate with a long career with the Federal government. She could play the piano and gave me and my son the gift of music by making sure we both had years of piano lessons. Our son now has the family Steinway.  Mother instilled in me that I was able to achieve anything I desired to do.

A 10-year old me with
 4 of my grandmothers.

My 19-year old mother and me.

I have been fortunate to inherit a myriad of physical things in boxes of blessings from these women including photos, books, linens, quilts, paintings, dishes and furniture (not in a box!) including the piano. It's fun to have these things in our home to see everyday, but it's the memories that are important. One special memory is when Great-grandmother Delong was bedridden, I would sit on her bed; and we would look through this post card box at all of the beautiful, early 20th century cards that had been saved.

I'm sure some of my inspiration for my quilts, especially borders, came from this experience. And now my Boxes of Blessings quilt has been made in honor of these strong, talented women.

The Stats:  "Boxes of Blessings", 2021, 26"x26", Paper pieced, Machine quilted, 51 different fabrics.

ON POINT

Quilt blocks set 'on point' in a quilt appeal to me.  Maybe it is because they can have a directional look to them depending on the sashing used.  But, I think I just like the challenge of a different mathematical mind-set in the design process.

For this quilt, I used a block that I have previously used in quilts, but all are different settings. Two examples are Calling Card and Foulard.

Calling Card, 40"x40", 2001

Foulard, 16"x29", 2021

It's a fun, easy block to make; and I wanted to try it in a quilt "on point". 

Thankfully, our first snow of the year -- and it's on Thanksgiving morning. But, of course, it is Colorado and the sun is shining!

The Stats: "On Point", 2021, 26"x26", Machine pieced, Machine quilted.

SYNTHESIS (BETSEY'S BLOCK #2)

One meaning of synthesis is to combine a number of different pieces into a whole.  To me that means a quilt.  This quilt contains 800 different pieces sewn together to make a whole entiny.

I made the top in 2006; and now I finally quilted the top and made it whole. I think it deserves the name, Synthesis.

This is probably my favorite quilt that I have ever made. It has everything that thrills  me in a quilt -- many, many different fabrics including a stripe fabric, lots of small pieces, and a fun and easy graphic block with a history. For 10 years, I kept thinking my artritic hands would improve so I could hand quilt it; but I was fooling myself.  Finally, I decided if the quilt was ever going to see the light of day, I would have to machine quilt it. Then, it took me another 5 years to work on my machine quilting skills. I still don't feel as though I have done it justice with the quilting, but I still love it!

The Stats:  Synthesis, 2006-2021, 47" x 47", Machine pieced, machine quilted.

For more about the history of Betsey's Block check: Q-BITS: BETSEY'S BLOCK (qbits-salmagundi.blogspot.com).

A ROW TO HOE

I was looking through my design sketches of quilt blocks recently, and realized that I have used so many 3" and 4" blocks in my quilts.  Some were used as single blocks, but the majority of them were combined with another block to produce secondary patterns.

Looking for a challenge, I decided to see how many of those little blocks I could work into a small quilt.  Over the years, I have made several strippy-style quilts, but never a row quilt.  The idea is similar except one is vertical and the other is horizontal.  A horizontal row quilt sounded right for this project ---- "A Row to Hoe".

I used 13 different 3" blocks for this quilt for a total of 48 blocks.

The design and piecing of the quilt top was easy, but the challenge came for me, as always, when I got to the machine quilting. With every row being different, they each required a unique quilting design with numerous starts and stops with several thread color changes.  Always a learning experience!!!

The Stats:  A Row to Hoe, 2021, 27" x 34", Paper pieced, machine pieced, machine quilted.

I have missed my Navy grandson who has been deployed on his submarine and out of regular communication.  We have always had interesting conversations about my quilts.  He is very creative and understands about color, space, and light; and is also interested in associated family stories.  He is now back to his home port; and I am looking forward to having face-to-face conversations with him again.  'A rough row to hoe' is farm-speak for meeting a challenge and accomplishing it.  I'm sure this 19-year-old submariner can teach his 82-year-old grandmother something about meeting challenges.

Lots of rows to hoe on the Haines Family Farm when
 the snow melts and Spring and Summer arrive - c1950s.

I have never 'hoed a row' in reality, but now I have done so symbolically in a quilt.

TENETS

 Occasionally, I enjoy working in a crazy quilt format.  It is easy with no corners to match; an unlimited color scheme using up small fabric scraps; design as you go with no expectations; plus fun practice on my new sewing machine.  It is relaxing and with a little introspection, you have cheap therapy all rolled up in a small quilt!  This is "Tenets".

The Stats:  Tenets, 2021, 25" x 28", Foundation pieced, machine embroidered, machine pieced, machine quilted.

A word or two about the title, "Tenets".  To me it means the personal philosophy that I attempt to follow in my life.  Sometimes, I fail miserably, but I try to "get up and try again".  The other words/phrases included in this crazy quilt (and life) are a snippet of those tenets that I attempt to live by.

Our son, the high school math teacher, says that the only way to learn math is to do it again and again.  I was struggling with the learning curve on my new sewing machine; so I decided to listened to his advice and apply it to my machine.  This quilt gave me time (and time again) to practice on most of the available tools of my machine.  I feel that I am the master of it now!!!  It pays to listen to your kids occasionally.

FANFARE

All these years of quiltmaking I have shied away from curve piecing on the machine.  A couple of times I have done a practice block then discarded my idea for the project.  The idea of matching up a concave curve to a convex curve with seam allowances seemed to be more than I wanted to conquer at the time.  Since now I quilt only to satisfy my creative urges and as a learning experience, it is time for curved piecing.

This is what I have learned:

#1:  An accurate pattern is imperative.  I discovered that even 1/16th of an inch error can mess things up.  I'm sure there are very good patterns in the marketplace; but I'm old school and design and draft my own patterns.  I have confidence in my mathematical and drafting skills, but had to tweak my orginal pattern.

#2:  Practice does make perfect (well, almost!).  After doing the curved seam sixteen times for these four blocks, I feel confident and even found it easy. Granted, these are 5 1/2 inch blocks, so the curve is relatively shallow; therefore a smaller block may not be as easy.

#3:  Not sure I am ready to tackle a 4 inch-New York Beauty block yet, but who knows.  I may be harboring false confidence!!

When I finished the top, I wasn't that fond of the design.  Now that it is quilted and finished, I'm liking it better.  Guess it proves the old adage -- "It's not a quilt until it is quilted."

The Stats:  Fanfare, 2021, 28" x 28", Paper pieced fans, machine pieced curves, machine quilted.

SCALLOPED PINEAPPLE

Sometimes I just want to make a small quilt with a traditional pattern that to me is always fun to make.  A pineapple block is one of those blocks.  I think this is my third quilt project using it -- this time in the format of a table runner. 

The Stats:  "Scalloped Pineapple", 2021, 18" x 36", Paper pieced, Machine quilted.

This is the first quilt I have quilted on my new Bernina.  The learning curve has taken me a couple of weeks, but it is going well now.  Everything is in a different place from my old machine; so my muscle memory must be getting old, or is a slow learner! I kept pushing the wrong buttons at the wrong time. The Bernina produces beautiful stitches with the perfect tension, however.

The name for my table runner comes from one of my family's favorite dishes -- Scalloped Pineapple.  I received the recipe from a coworker at my first government job back in 1961.  That was a long time ago, and over the years we have enjoyed it as a side dish with ham or turkey at holidays or with any family meal.  It is also good to take to potlucks.  The leftovers are even good cold right out of the refrigerator for breakfast the next day!

Scalloped Pineapple

4 egg yolks, beaten; 1/2 cup sugar; 3 1/2 cups crushed pineapple with juice; 5 slices of sandwich bread, cubed; 1/2 cup melted butter.  Mix all ingredients, put in greased baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

OR

Make a quilt with the traditional pineapple block --- and call it Scalloped Pineapple!