My Mind's A-Buzz...

These are the books that sit on the table next to my side of the bed. I've been looking at techniques and color palettes and planning for something completely different of my own. I read and look at photos and then put them aside, only to return to them as a relaxing way to wind down at the end of the day.

I'm a huge fan of Yoko Saito. I love everything she creates and am inspired by her designs. They are an inspiration, but I've decided that what I create will only be influenced by her work, not a duplication of it.

 

Then, there are wonderful stumpwork embroideries from Di van Nieken and Kay Dennis. Imagine combining these two arts into one creation. Now, you get a sense of what's keeping my mind buzzing. 

I'm concentrating on finishing those UFOs first, and then...watch out. I can already tell it's going to be fun.

The Kingston Quilt...

It was created in Kingston, NY - circa 1930 - by a family of talented women. Ann was just a child when her mother, grandmother, and various aunts sat at a huge quilting frame to quilt this top.

As I sat with Ann yesterday, she recounted the story of this quilt to me. She still can't remember where the kitchen table "went" while the women worked over this quilt, but she can still see the kitchen bustling with the busy hands and chatter of the quilters working at the large frame that held  their handiwork.

It has been in her care all these years, and she has been a loving steward of her family heirloom. As I looked at it yesterday, I marveled at not only the quality of the work, but also of its current pristine condition. It's spotless, undamaged and clean. The whites are nearly as bright as the day it was completed.

This is a Friendship Star quilt (one of my favorites). It repeats throughout the design, and will symbolize the friendship that Ann and I began over these blocks.

We also spoke about our families. The quilt was born in Kingston, NY. (I was born in Kingston-up-Thames, England); her son is a professional photographer (my husband made his living as a professional photographer); her son's chosen subject of photography is "jazz" (Handsome's life is his music - specifically jazz). There were more such coincidences, but you get the idea. I believe we met for a reason.

The Kingston Quilt now lives with me. 

It will be known by this name from this day forward.

I promised to give it the same love and care that has preserved it for the last eighty plus years. I will continue to marvel at the workmanship of the gifted women who created it, and I'll share its story with those who share my appreciation of it.

I'm going to make a label so that in the coming years, and hopefully another eighty years hence, more will know its history and continue to care for it.

No One Can Make Just One...

My small, round Longaberger basket is just the right size for my hexies...so far.

All the supplies I need to work on them are safely tucked inside my basket, 

and when I finish stitching, each finished piece goes right back into it.

In one afternoon, I stitched all the hexies from one 42 piece Moda™ mini charm

 pack. I'm enjoying watching the pile of them grow so much I just kept stitching!

It won't take me any time at all to prepare the other little charm pack tucked in the basket behind all those hexies. I just have to iron all the fusible forms onto  the back of the fabric pieces first. Then, they'll be ready for needle and thread.   Now that I see how they look at this stage, I may have to get more supplies.  Perhaps I'll get fat quarters to create other blocks to complement these...or more Plum Sweet mini charms and fusible Hexies™ are on the horizon. 
As I was stitching away, it came to me that this just might become my first, entirely stitched-by-hand, quilted project. I'm not sure what I'm going to make yet, but I know I'm looking forward to this process. I'm going to take it one  step at a time. For now, I'll settle for stitching that second package of hexies.
Happy Monday, everyone!

Helping A Friend...

 We have a great group of ladies who gather at Paneras each week.

One of them is Margaret D., who lives in Canada, but winters in

Port Charlotte. She does incredible hand quilting for her friends 

and clients, but remarkably has never assembled a quilt herself!

Prior to leaving Canada last year, she purchased a number of kits for

this single block. "Block Six" was the surplus from a Block of the Month

 project the shop had sold, so the shopkeeper offered them to Margaret for

 $2 per kit. They even included the fabric at that price. She bought twelve!

 Margaret said she was having trouble understanding the instructions

and asked if I'd help. I said, "Sure!" and brought a kit home to assemble.

I took the finished block to her yesterday evening. I showed her how I

colored the pattern image to match the fabrics included in her kit, and 

then explained how she just had to cut each color per the instructions.

 Then I handed her one finished block to help guide her through the 

instructions. She was tickled. She'll be going back to Canada soon,

and I know she'll spend part of her summer working on this quilt.

I'll just bet she'll bring it back, hand quilted and beautiful next

year, and I can hardly wait to see how wonderful it will be!

Thanks for asking for my help, Margaret. I especially love that 

the center of this design a is a traditional "Friendship" block.

It only seems appropriate to me.

Flo Continues To Teach...

 When I saw the girls at Coffee Club last Saturday, I was surprised to find

that each of us received a gift of one of Flo's unfinished works-in-progress.

Each kit was different, and we all got a kit using a technique that is new

to the receipient. Mine looks like paper pieced diamonds assembled in a star 

pattern. She always used to tell us that she liked to save her scraps.

 These stars are examples of all the fabrics she'd used in other projects. I've

 done English paper piecing before, so that's not the technique that's new to me.

 Flo loved hand sewing her quilts. That's right. This entire project so far, has 

been hand sewn by Flo and will be finished by me using the same techniques.

I've never hand sewn a quilt - or even a single block - before. Making 

consistent 1/4" seams with needle in hand will be my challenge. As I take

extra care to create each tiny stitch, I'll imagine Flo looking over my 

shoulder...and hope that I'm not disappointing her. She'll continue to teach 

me,  even as she is absent from our daily lives. I aim to make her proud.

I'm in no hurry. Doing this project right is definitely going to take me a while.