My Finds: A couple techniques you might want to try

I've been on the hunt for the new, unusual, or useful. You may or may not already enjoy the projects I discovered today and what I began working on. Both topics made me smile and made my fingers itch to get started. I hope you'll join in and share some of the projects you're working on along these lines.

First up is plarn. Love the word. Love the concept. It is, if I understand correctly, yarn made by recycling plastic bags.

Directions for making plarn can be found here at My Recycled Bags.com A great Earth Day project for all year around. I stumbled upon this site that has excellent directions for a purse crocheted out of VCR tapes and a basket crocheted out of plastic bags/plarn with a base that is a plastic microwave dinner tray. If you have other sites or projects to add to this, please do!

The second technique is the Disappearing 9-Patch quilt. It is a simple concept involving my beloved 9-patches. And made even simpler by starting with charm packages. Charm packs, in case you're confused, are what Moda calls a collection of 5-inch precut squares that you can purchase usually in packs of 40-50 for around $6-$8 dollars. It takes several packs to make a full size quilt of course. These packages of smaller cuts of fabric that are packaged together to introduce you to a whole collection are excellent ways to add to your stash.

The Disappearing 9-Patch begins with piecing together nine of the 5-inch squares together into a traditional nine-patch square. Make sure it is absolutely square, well pressed and starched or sized. Then cut this square down the center both horizontally and vertically. One person described it with a plus sign which is exactly how you cut this nine-patch square. +

For better directions and visual aids. Visit the blog "p.s. I quilt. This makes a quick and easy pattern for charity quilts or lap quilts for nursing homes or hospitals. Quick baby quilts, too.

Send me photos of your plarn and or Disappearing 9-Patch projects and I'll post them here. Send to my Subversive Stitchers email.

EMAILS:

Hi Dawn

Here are some pictures of the disappearing 9 patch I used for a comfort quilt.  I added some random rectangles in between the disappearing 9 patch blocks.  This project really goes fast when you start with large size blocks, like 10".  You can find more on my blog here.  --Karen

What a great idea for a comfort quilt. Love the words and messages.

It gives me ideas for the ALS quilt(s) I am making. Thanks so much!  -- Dawn

Diane of O'Quilts sent along a photo of her solid color Disappearing 9 patch quilt. She wrote: "This is fun....Here is mine :)"

You can view more of her quilts at her blog that features old, new and antique quilts.

Thanks Diane for letting us see your Disappearing 9-Patch quilt.

Following the thread

A crochet newsletter "Talking Crochet with Carol Alexander" arrived in my box and I followed some of the links. Indirectly it led to Carol Wiebe at Silversprings studio site by way of Joana Vasconcelas' work. I am in awe of both artists and their creations. But I returned to Carol's site when I saw the word: quilt.

Carol considers art a bridge and I happily cross the bridge into her country.

She somehow combines paper, crochet and quilts into her gorgeous and ingenious and thought-provoking projects. The one pictured here is titled Messengers and is 36x44-inches. She has worked on it for three years before adding it to her exhibit at Greenwood Quiltery in Ontario. Carol's art will hang in the gallery throughout October.

Carol writes about this piece: "The edges have a crocheted binding. The fabric is my own hand painted fabric. After quilting, I keep painting. The first time I painted onto a quilt that I had spent a lot of time stitching, I was really nervous. Now, I’m excited by it. You never know how the quilted surface and the paints and other products you put on it will interact. It’s a kind of “dangerous” serendipity that I’ve never regretted yet."

The saying in the quilt is one by Brenda Ueland who has a Wikipedia entry and is perhaps best known for her book "If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit"

"Think of yourself as an incandescent power, illuminated and perhaps forever talked to by God and his messengers." -- Brenda Ueland

And this is what Carol writes about the message of her Messenger quilt: "The messengers are gathering in prime formation: 2 butterflies, 3 dragonflies, 5 angels, 7 crows, 11 stars. To truly hear their message, you must kill the ego. Egos are wont to kill the messenger when they dislike the message they are receiving, but that is a useless tactic. The message will simply find you another way, through another messenger."

Finding this quilt and Carol's art has been serendipitous, precipitated by a need to knit which led to a search for easy patterns. I admit that my own creations certainly pale in comparison. This need manifests periodically, especially when I need a reprieve from the world. In this case the need coincided with my purchase of an audio book that I am thoroughly enjoying, but can't sit around empty handed while I listen. So I knit.

My first effort during this knitting marathon was made to use up yarn that I've had sitting around forever -- a huge ball raveled from unfinished projects time and again. This piece of knitting seems to serve as an unusual table runner. Then I discovered some cotton yarn that had been tucked away for at least a year. Of course that turned into a dishcloth. Those little suckers are addicting!

And now while digging around in my stash, I've rediscovered some exquisite cashmere and I don't know what else blend of yarn that feels so good to handle. At present it appears to be turning into a neck scarf. I will never make art. Certainly nothing to rival the beauty that Carol creates, but I think we both get similar feelings of joy from our creativity. And being a meat and potatoes kind of woman, I like the utilitarian aspects of what I've made.

Oh, and the audio book, purchased at Recorded Books online, with which I'm obsessed? "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon of course.