I love the idea of mail art. I love the idea of mail, and I adore art, so gee whiz, mail art is like punching all of my buttons at once. I've been flirting with a lot of different art supplies lately, and trifling with printmaking, altered books and the like. I've dallied with monoprints, tinkered with screen printing, dipped into letterpress and linocut.  I joined a website, IUOMA (international union of mail artists) over a year ago. Lovely people even sent me things. Now I can start sending some back.

This is a photo by Florence Henri, "Nude" 1938. The words are from a poem by Ana Castillo. I hand tinted it with wax pastels, and stamped the words. This has gone off to a friend in Massachusetts. 

merry bleary us

prosperity on a plate

pennies dollars gold

riches

 cold finish for a year

 ploughman’s lunch devoured

 lip service

 taste of bitter end

It’s my turn to lead the quilt this month for the Love Circle of do.Good Stitches, my charity quilt bee. I truly love sewing with this group of women, making quilts for Wrap Them In Love.

Him Indoors, The Pup and I have just returned from four months roadtripping and spending time with the California family. One of the highlights of the trip was receiving some family quilts. Damon’s grandmother, Thelma Davison, was a quilter. We were gifted three quilts that Thelma had made - one was finished by Damon’s mother, another by his aunt, and one that is incomplete. All of the quilts are beautiful, scrappy utility quilts - they make my heart sing and I feel so honored to receive them, and to be allowed to to complete one myself. The tops are all hand pieced, and the one that I am going to finish has a beautiful little block with a diamond in the center, and that is what I am using as my inspiration for the Love Circle this month.

The blocks that Thelma made for this particular quilt are four inches square and it would be impossible to reproduce the design on a machine, at least not without resorting to partial seams. (Do you hear my bee mates gasping in horror?)  I have worked out a solution to reproduce the same design on a machine, and also I have made the block much larger, to modernize it a little and make it suitable for our quilt bee.

I’m going to call the block Thelma’s Diamonds, in honor of my inspiration.

The instructions are for a ten inch block (ten and a half inches unfinished).

I am asking my bee mates to make their center diamond in any pale neutral shade: white, beige, pink, blue etc - I think it would work best in a solid color or tone-on-tone print.

The outer squares can be anything at all. The only requirement is that all four are of the same print, or are of prints in the same color and similar value. This will give the finished quilt a lovely, scrappy, colorful look - much like Thelma’s original.

Instructions for one block

Please read through the instructions once before beginning.

Fabric selection

• Fat quarter or scraps of one color/value measuring at least six inches square
• Small piece of neutral solid or tone-on-tone print approximately 2 inches by 8 inches

Cutting instructions

• Cut four 6 inch squares of your colorful print. They can be all one print, or four different prints of similar color/value.
• Cut four 2 inch squares of a pale neutral solid or tone-on-tone print.

Piecing instructions (see photos also)

1. Take your 2 inch squares and draw a diagonal line on the wrong side, from corner to corner using a pencil or other non-permanent seam marker. Or simply fold the square in half diagonally, and finger press.
2. Determine how you would like your four 6 inch squares to be arranged, and place your 2 inch blocks, right-sides together, aligned with the center corner of each.
3. Sew along your diagonal lines. Chain piecing is your friend!
4. Trim the corners off of each block, ¼ inch from your seam line.
5. Press open, seams to the dark side.
6. Sew the blocks together in pairs, ensuring that the outside edges of the corners (which will form your center diamond) are properly aligned. You have wiggle room on the outside blocks, which will be trimmed, so don’t worry if they are slightly off. Prioritize the perfect diamond!
7. Press the two pairs with seams opposing, so that you can nest them together to help align the final seam.
8. Pin the two pairs together, once again working to ensure your diamond edges are aligned. Sew the final seam.
9. Press your block flat.
10. Trim to 10 ½ inches, making sure to center the block on the intersection of your diamond.

Notes:

This block comes together quickly, and I have intentionally oversized the four large squares, so that there is plenty of wiggle room and a healthy trim at the end to achieve a perfect 10 ½ inch block. If you are confident of your seams and accuracy, you could easily get away with blocks slightly smaller than 6 inches - but don’t go smaller than 5 ¾ !  The only thing you need to worry about is keeping the points of that diamond aligned, which is not difficult.

Or just fold and finger press

You could sew those corner scraps together for a little HST for your scrap box!

Bottom right has a bigger diamond. It's a prototype. I like it a bit smaller.

I am very much looking forward to receiving blocks from my bee mates and making a new version of Thelma's quilt. And also to using Thelma's original top to make a family heirloom. Watch this space!

Happy sewing, XX Allison

Play in the Sunshine was finished a little while ago, but getting a photo and then sitting down to write about it has taken (almost) as long as finishing the quilt!

I named her after a song from my favorite Prince album, Sign O' The Times. I like to name quilts after songs, or lyrics (like I Don't Mind and Stars Are Never Sleeping).  As a teenager, I kept notebooks of favorite snippets of song lyrics -- yep, rock music was my poetry. In fact, I still scribble song lyrics down in notebooks and sketchbooks to this day. "Play in the Sunshine" (the song) is an upbeat, celebratory song that bounces around with love and happiness, and  I think is a suitable inspiration for this bright, sunny quilt.

I asked my bee mates to make me a quarter log cabin block, using yellow and orange fabric for inner logs, and a true, tomato red for the final, outer logs.  I asked for the blocks to finish anywhere between 10 and 16 inches. I tend to favor a slightly wonky, imperfect look to most of my quilts. I also find that having the challenge of fitting together different sized blocks can lead to a lot of fun and to surprising design decisions! I suggested that I would also welcome smaller blocks if anyone was so inspired.  As usual, the generous and talented ladies of the Love Circle did not let me down.

One of the great things about the log cabin design is that there are so many options when it comes to arrangement.  I think I played around with every possible option before deciding to go with simple rows and keep the blocks all pointing northwest.  I chose to "float" some of the smaller blocks in a solid background. To make the different sized blocks fit together, I inserted strips of "coping" fabric. And I somehow managed to place two of the smaller block facing the wrong direction, which I didn't notice until we took the photo! But I think that just adds to the fun. I finished up with some Carolyn Friedlander wide-back grid (becoming my signature, oh dear!) and some fabric from bee-mates: Ivy gave me the cute kids for the strip on the back, and Yeechi gave me the wild red and orange print which I used for the  binding. The quilting is a simple diagonal grid, done on my trusty Juki 2010.

Play in the Sunshine has already been sent to the Love Circle's chosen charity, Wrap Them In Love up in Washington. Wrap Them in Love quilts go to children all over the world, from local food banks and shelters, hospitals, to orphanages, to soldiers and earthquake, hurricane and tidal wave, mudslide and fire victims.

I think she is quite a jaunty, cheerful quilt and I hope that she will brighten up someone's day soon.

'Cause one day, everyday will be a yellow day...

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I wish I had more time for… sewing. Reading. Listening to music. Exploring the world. There are a million things that I would love to fill my days with. You know how teenagers just want to sleep all the time? All that youth, vitality, strength and never-ending supply of braincells, but Don’t. Make. Me. Get. Up.?  Yeah, me too. And then the old people who jump out of bed at 6am every day, just to embark upon the exact same routine that they completed yesterday, and the same routine they will repeat tomorrow?

Why are we so bad at using time?

Me, I’m somewhere in between. Firmly lodged in that indistinct limbo between becoming an adult and being an old person. If I stop and think for too long,  I sense the impending doom of old age, but it hasn’t yet developed into full-fledged fear. I’m not stupid enough to think I can still run rampant through a bottle of tequila until 3am and that there will not be consequences.  But I have Stuff I Want To Do!  Things I Want To Accomplish! I have 156 unread novels on my shelf, 203 yards of bolt-fresh fabric to stitch together, and something close to 4508 albums that I haven’t had time to listen to in over three years.

Where does the time go?

What awful magic summons the Time Ogre, that drooling fiend who devours our minutes like succulent grapes from the vine? What black hole does the day disappear into? It’s not like I’m losing my days to Schadenfacebook (© The Hidden Brain, NPR),  I mean, I’m on a social media diet, for chrissakes, I’m DOING STUFF. I am Productive. I work at a job. I earn money (sometimes). I have friends, and family, and some of them will tolerate my presence. I have hobbies. I fully intend to finish that meditation video class, and that Agile Scrum Tank tutorial. I have thirteen partially completed quilts in progress. I am writing a novel! I am eschewing email in favor of longhand correspondence! I am doing that Postcrossing thing. I’ve signed up for a four-day workshop in Napa. I’m doing a cross-country road trip.

I do not have time to waste.

But yet, I waste time. I must be wasting time, because I never have enough of it. I am like that lazy, recalcitrant, ungrateful wretch of a teenager, sleeping away the best years of her life.  I am also like that tired, scared old lady who gets up every day to run a set pattern of activities because I want to stay alive a little longer, and if I’m moving, I’m alive.  I am wondering if I am making the best use of my time while I am writing this. I am mentally reviewing my to-do list and counting the hours (minutes!) left in the day, and wondering what I can pack in before I pass out.

Why do we even have to sleep at all?  (No! Sleep! Til Brooklyn!)

Why did I waste so much time in bed as a teenager?

When I get old, I will do different things, every single day. 

[This piece of writing was inspired by a prompt from Writing Class Radio, which is a wonderful podcast that you should check out.]

This quilt is both a thing of beauty and a thing of shame. Beauty, which of course, I don't need to describe to you. The wonky stars of this quilt were made by the beautiful ladies of the Love Circle of do. Good Stitches, and they are indeed glorious, are they not?

[Cast]

If you're just catching up, do. Good Stitches is a group of virtual quilting bees and the good work and creative offspring of Rachel Hauser of StitchedInColor. I believe there are around 25 bees altogether now. Wot wot wot? Amazing, right?  Each Circle is ten women, sewing up a storm of quilts. At ten quilts per bee a year, that's 250 quilts for charitable causes. 

[Pause for effect.]

That's mighty.

[Fade in...]

I very much love being part of the Love Circle of do. Good Stitches. Let me count the ways: making beautiful quilts, making them with such super talented women, connecting with women all over the country, who I might not otherwise ever meet, and of course, the fact that the beautiful quilts made by the talented and far-flung women end up going to children who need a bit of a special quilty cuddle.  Win, times a thousand, right?

When it was my first time to lead a quilt for the Love Circle, I was pretty new to the quilting game, and even newer to the concept of improvisation in quilt-making. We can all thank Gwen Marston for the last part. (Never miss an oppo to thank Gwen.) As a result, for my quilt I chose to have us all make liberated eight-point stars. My bee mates made some beautiful blocks for me.

[The shame! Oh, the shame!]

And then... nothing. Oh you know, we bought and renovated a house, I helped form a new quilt guild and set up a non-profit organization, built a website, joined the board of a quilt show, ran my business, got sick, looked after sick people, watched TV, made dinner.... liberated stars remained unliberated in a box. 

[The process]

At first I thought I would just piece all of the blocks together, adding some fabric "filler" to work the many different sized blocks into a grid or design of some sort. I had some fabric failure (bought fabric, dye fault, return & replace) but I settled on the Hot Springs print from Sarah Watts' Honeymoon collection. The deep blue skies, pink moon crescents and leafy treetops seemed a perfect setting for our stars.

I really wanted to achieve a scattered effect, as opposed to a grid. I started improvisationally piecing sections together and soon found myself going up the partial seams cul de sac. Partial seams are great, once you've mastered them, but I was driving with a learner's permit.  The quilt kept growing and growing... and growing. Eventually it was hovering somewhere between a queen size and a king.  But at last, it was finished.

[Exit, stage left]

Stasis.

What stalled me? A few things... overcommitment, for one. But that is another blog post.  Fear of large quilts. Obsession with perfection. Those two, together, are zingers.  And so very, very wimpy of me.

Okay, so I have a domestic machine... but it's a Juki 2010Q, with a pretty big harp space and it chews through layers of fabric like a kid in a doughnut shop. And yes, I do want every quilt I make to be utterly perfect and gorgeous. 

[Enter, woman screaming, stage right]

That right there. That perfection thing. We all laugh and say "finished is better than perfect", but do we really believe it? Do we let ourselves act accordingly? Not in my case. My head knows it, but it's time for my hands to get on board.

[The finish]

Her backing is Carolyn Friedlander Architextures crosshatch wide-back in grey.  I inserted one super big star that I received in a strip in the middle to break it up. She is quilted with straight-ish vertical lines, about every two to three inches. I started with navy blue thread every four inches or so, and then went back and filled in more lines in five other colors: pale orange, deep pink, lime green, pale pink, and yellow-gold. I used dove grey in the bobbin throughout. The binding is scraps (extra binding left over from other projects) plus some jelly roll strips that were in the scrap box. I attached the binding by machine, first sewing it onto the back, and then doing the front with straight lines.

I named her Stars Are Never Sleeping, which is a line from the David Bowie song "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)". The video for the song is an amazing short story featuring David and Tilda Swinton (watch below).

Thanks to the Love Circle for their patience while I completed this quilt.

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[Data]

• Name: Stars Are Never Sleeping
• Size: 67 x 86 inches
• Started: April 2015
• Finished: February 2017
• My favorite part: I love the way the machine binding looks on the front, with a line of top stitching.
• Donated to Wrap Them In Love.

This little quilt (and it is little, only 14 inches by 20 inches) represents three firsts for not-so-little-ole-me. 

• First mini quilt
• First mitred border
• First knife-edge binding

Woot! How about that? I made this for my quilt guild, who will be participating in the Broward Quilt Expo in March. There will be a mini auction and the funds from our quilts will go to help the guild do community service work, hold workshops and exhibits, and start new programs!

I used a paper piecing pattern by Carolyn Friedlander called Shirts. I bought it from her during a workshop she taught in Miami a couple of years ago. In fact, she is responsible for helping me "get" paper piecing, which I previously had not thought it possible to love. I am also working on a quilt based on her Stripes pattern.

Paper piecing is the contemporary evolution of foundation piecing, and is definitely something that requires a brain rewire to accomplish. It is generally used to create complicated blocks that require odd-shaped segments or acute intersections, though it can be used for more simple patterns in order to keep points precise. The idea seems straightforward enough: a pattern is printed on a piece of lightweight paper, and the fabric is actually sewn together on the paper, as a guide for seams. However, the intrepid sewist has to work backwards, through the paper. She also needs to ensure that her fabric will cover the appropriate areas once sewn, backwards, through paper, and flipped over into position. Crazytown, right? It really is just one of those things one must keep trying, hopefully with lots of helpful encouragement, until the eureka! moment when it sticks inside your cerebellum. 

I called this quilt Be Careful When A Naked Person Offers You A Shirt. This is an African saying, most famously quoted by Maya Angelou, who used it as a metaphor when speaking about how we must love ourselves before we are capable of offering love to others. Both the quilt and the saying remind me very much of a dear friend who I wish to love herself much more than she does, because she is worthy of it.

Nine years old today. Hard to believe. We went to the beach, which she loved. And for a hot dog afterwards, which she might have loved even more.