Friday, October 30, 2020

Luca // 3

And this is finally the layout that I picked. And the more I look at it the more I'm convinced to have taken a very good decision.

I chain pieced the top, joining first one column after the other from left to right without never cutting threads, then pressing all the seams in alternating direction and finally joining all the rows. I love this technique, it came to me all by itself some years ago while picking the blocks from the design wall next to my sewing machine.






Isn't it just gorgeous? I've ordered some backing fabric and can't wait for it to arrive!


Thursday, October 29, 2020

Luca // 2

I've been working on the design wall for quite a while until I found the layout that convinced me. This process is a lot of fun but also a difficult one as there are always so many different options making it hard to pick one. Some are obvious drop outs, others it's harder to part with. Then there are lots of minor changes to consider. The more time I have the more time I take with making a decision. Which again can be good or bad as sometimes there just isn't right or wrong and I can get lost in details. Anyways, I'm glad I've meanwhile found my preferred one.

The ones I'm sharing today are all rejected ones.










Tomorrow I'll show you what I picked and how it looks all sewn together.


Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Luca // 1

Five years ago I started the tradition of sewing family members a quilt as a gift for a special birthday. 

I decided at the time that I would set myself the challenge of sticking to the disappearing ninepatch pattern trying to come up with as many variations as I could think of.

I have completed six quilts since, these being
Cathe 2015, Gerry 2016, Ariel 2016, Danbar 2017, Nelly 2018, and Otiv 2019.

Recently I've started on my 7th and for the first time I'm late as the birthday was already last week. As we all know this year 2020 is a strange one and many plans and intentions had to be adjusted or postponed. Nevertheless, I'm happy I've finally gotten to it. It's going to be a gift for a young man and I'm very excited about my fabric choices. I have the feeling he is going to love it. At least, it's what I'm hoping for. Since I don't expect him to read my blog or checking in on my Instagram feed I feel safe to sharing some work in progress pictures.








All the ninepatches are sewn and cut into their four quarters. Now the fun part of arranging and shifting around until I find a pleasing layout can start.


Sunday, October 4, 2020

Learning to let go // 2

This is another quilt that has been purchased and I had to say bye bye to. The good thing is that I know where it is going to live and I will still be able to see it from time to time.

I made Floating Colors back in 2012 and I combined cotton and silk fabrics. I chose a very simple patchwork to give the silk patches enough room to shine. Spread out it shows all the different colors, folded on a couch one can choose which colors to show and by arranging it differently bring variation to the room. It is free motion quilted with a rather large scale design that brings a lot of life and structure into the calm background. 

It got a lot of attention during the exhibit and several people showed interest. It seems that its calmness and elegance is much liked these days.

To celebrate its parting here some last pictures in all its glory.

These were taken during my exhibit:




The maker and her work


These at my home back in 2012:



And these in its new home:





Pictures taken last week by the new owner, Thank you! Doesn't it look as if made for that couch and that room? Bye bye Floating Colors, wishing you and your new owners lots of joy and coziness together.


Saturday, October 3, 2020

Learning to let go

I have to let go of quilts that where purchased in connection to my exhibit of last month. While I'm happy that they found a new home that will love and value them I'm at the same time learning what it means to say goodbye to a work that means a lot to me and that even it has been stored for a while out of sight it is still close to my heart. I guess it's the nature of things. I made quilts thinking that in the end they may be a benefit to somebody. But now that they are chosen out of an exhibit it is totally different than the ones I made from the beginning as a gift for someone special for a special occasion. As odd as it is I'm happy and sad at the same time. Yet, more happy than sad.

Here I'm wrapping up T1. A small quilt finished 2014 and that was kind of a prototype for T2 and T3. T stands for triangle as the design is based on half square triangles. This is one of the rare if not the only time I made up a design with the help of my computer. Normally, I just work on the design wall or follow a rough sketch. But here everything was laid out from the start. This is also the only quilt I've made so far that is clearly meant as wall hanging as with its 100 cm square it's too small for anything else. I love to make quilts to wrap oneself into them, so they at least need to be lap size. But this is the one that was purchased first. Maybe because the cost is lower due to its size, maybe because as so many said, it is easier to have them on the wall than to use them since they are so precious. There is a lot to think about for me. I'm not sure I want to make quilts that sell well. I want to make quilts that can be both, art and utility.

For T1 it looks as if it has found the perfect new owner. He definitely loves the colors.




published with permission