"Out of Chaos"

I would like to share the story behind the making of one of my first quilts. It was begun when I really had no time to sew, nor was I unpacked from the seasonal move from Michigan to Tennessee. I was climbing over and digging through boxes to find fabrics. It was "stop the world, I've got to make this quilt!".
There was much chaos in my studio at the time. Although this starry universe of hand-dyed fabrics depicts orderliness, you can see hints of chaos in the batik printed blocks. Thus, the title "Out of Chaos" ... both figuratively and literally.

The strange thing is, is that it was several years between piecing the top and quilting it. Somehow, I find it difficult to finish a quilt until I know who will be getting it. This one was a wedding present for my nephew and his wife. She and I had become close friends during their courtship. I felt as though I was gaining another daughter-in-law when they married five and half years ago.

It is machine pieced and hand quilted. I did a lot of the quilting while on vacation in Colorado. As you can see, I like to piece the backs of my quilts.
Following is what I wrote in the letter that accompanied this gift:

This quilt, like your relationship, has been in the works for several years. Building a lasting relationship parallels the process of creating a quilt. Both require a lot of time, commitment, work, and love.

First, there's finding a fabric that you just love without really knowing why ... you've just got to have it. Then there's discovering how it can work into a pattern that you want to commit time and energy into developing. Then comes the excitement of building patterns, selecting compatible fabrics, and realizing a theme or meaning that emerges in the process. And then, there's the passion of arranging and rearranging the colors and design elements to get it all just right. Then the real work begins ... sewing all those small separate pieces together to make a whole cloth. But it is not yet a quilt.

Decisions must be made about the other layers that will make all of this yardage into a quilt. What batting to use? What fabric and design for the backing? Now, it must all be layered and basted together in preparation for the long process of quilting by hand. Each stitch binds the layers together as well as gives a richness of texture to make a functional quilt that will give warmth and add beauty to the world. Finally, a well worn quilt with a legacy of comfort and love will be passed on to the next generation.

It is signed, "made with much love".

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The Land of OZ

Frank Baum summered in our community, Macatawa. He had a cottage just down the beach next door to a little girl named Dorothy. It is said that this area was the inspiration for the land of Oz in his story "The Wizard of Oz". There were many, and are still a few, brick walks and roads that reflect gold when the sun hits them just right. The brick path to our deck overlooking the beach is gold only a few days in mid-September when the sun sets directly in front of us.
I don't have a digital photo taken in any of the woods of this area in which you really do feel you are in an Emerald Forest. The canopy is very high, the floor is quite open and the light is greenish. We have many huge old Beechnut trees as well as a lot of Maple and Oak trees. I think the undergrowth is limited because this sand dune country, meaning that the sands shift and the young growth has a difficult time getting established.
Our bedroom reflects the "Land of Oz". It's on the third floor and the peak of the roof is our ceiling. To lighten it up I had painted a sky on foam core and decoupaged hot air balloons to it. This gave my husband the idea to float paper balloons from the ceiling. Each one is themed. There's the ol' coot balloon (includes Santa and Ghandi), Garfield and his friends, blond-blue-eyed-bimbos (not saying who all is in that one), old bags (Queen Victoria and Mona Lisa are two passengers), Elvis has his own, and of course there's one for Dorothy and her friends, as well as a number of other balloons that have flown out into the hallway. The room is also decorated with Oz figurines and cows (our cottage is called MaCowCowa).
The quilt I made for our bed looks like it belongs on a bed in the Emerald City. Sorry I couldn't get a full view photo of it. I hung it on the curtain rod for the large window that overlooks the lake to get this one.It features many of the stack'n wack pieces that were made from the border fabric. I had purchased just one repeat (6 layers) and made about 150 various sized circles that have been used in quite a few projects and I still have some left. Note the curved corner. The quilt has a knife edge finish. I chose to make circles out of the hexagons because I love (and have collected) kalaidoscopes.
The hand quilted stitches in the circles and border are wrapped with metalic thread. I had written about the this technique in a previous posting, "The Whipped Quilting Stitch".This is as much of the back side of the quilt as I could get in a photo with it on the bed ... about a quarter of it. As you can see, I like to piece the backs. Quilts are sculptural to me and the the back is just as important as are the fronts. Also, I had thought maybe I'd display this side up once in awhile, but never have.

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Dogwood Arts Quilt Show

The Dogwood Arts Quilt Show is just about the only competition that I enter. It's a judged show with cash awards held here in Knoxville. It draws really good quilt entries from all over the country as well as many local ones. For me, this show serves as a way to share quilts beyond my circle of friends and family. It's also a personal measuring stick to see how my work stands ... that I've still got "it". Here are my three entries.

"Imelda's Dream" ( 70"x7o") - Awarded an Honorable Mention
Each shoe in its "lit" display cube is a translation of a heel designed by Christian Louboutin, a Parisian shoe designer. He paints all the soles of his shoes red. The glow of the lights is achieved with oil pastels. I had great fun designing and constructing the shoes two years ago. Last spring they got names and boxes. Giving them all a venue took just about every moment of studio time since I got back from Michigan. It's contructed with my collage technique of layering all the elements under tulle netting. The machine quilting holds everything in place. This may just be my last large machine quilted piece. It was a real struggle wrestling this much quilt through the sewing machine.

I'm very pleased that "Imelda's Dream" also received the "Just For Fun" special award.

"Regeneration" (60"x34") - Awarded Honorable Mention
I was inspired to make this tryptic when Lee and I hiked through an area that had burned ten years earlier in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I had a strong emotional reaction to the tender new growth under the still standing burned trees. It was a glorious early summer day under a clear blue sky. There were flowers blooming everywhere among the new growth trees. I couldn't help but think of how perceived destruction is often necessary for regeneration. A prominent example being chemotherapy.

I want to express my appreciation to Kate Cox who intoduced me to the technique I learned in her "Fabric Landscapes" workshop. It was pefect for expressing the feelings evoked that most memorable day.

"Dancing Squares" (86"x86") - Awarded Honorable Mention
All kinds of squares joyously dance through this quilt. The design evolved through a "round robin" design exercise with my daughter-in-law, Jeanette Jancius Durand, and niece-in-law, Diane Cross Durand. We had each designed and made the center panel for a quilt. Then we swapped those and added to it. The challenge was to make the addition unique and to have it work with what was already there. At the end we each had a large piece that the three of us had contributed to. I continued adding onto mine to make this bedsized quilt.

This quilt is the first of the wedding presents I intend to make for my grandchildren. I can easily handle machine pieceing and hand-quilting large pieces. Since I want to hand-quilt these, I thought I'd better get started even though the oldest are only seven years old (the 3 boys were four when this one was begun). I can-hand quilt anywhere...the cottage, the beach, the mountains, in the car.....

Thank you for visiting my show quilts. I hope that you clicked on each photo to enlarge it and then clicked again to see details. To view the rest of the winning quilts in the Dogwood Arts 2006 Quilt Show go the Smoky Mountain Quilt Guild website.