SOLITUDE QUILT #1

"The World is too Quiet without you nearby..."

-Lemony Snicket

 It's usually very quiet around here anyways. But now it is extra quiet. Everyone home. Home is a good word these days. Just the birds making spring song.And once in a while the sound of a lawnmower...

 My first quilt top done. With bits of this and bits of that from my fabric stash.

 Stars in gold leaf....

 While outside it feels like November. Ice  and frost.Cold winds in April...

 "The house was very quiet, and the fog..we are in November now....pressed against the windows like an excluded ghost.." 
-E.M. Forster, Howard's End.

 Sari ribbon  stitched into Sawtooth Stars...

 Hail and rain and Snow billowing outside. Great Spring weather.....

 Sari strips turned into stars....

 "Quiet is here and all in me...." -Richard Matheson

 No people. Just quiet.

 And rain. 

 "Quiet is the new loud..." -Joe Robtail

 Frost on rain in the April Showers

 Boardwalks empty....

 Bring on the solitude. Bring on the creative spirit..........

 "Solitude is the house of peace..."
                         -T.F.Hodge (From Within I Rise: Spiritual Triumph.....)   
                                                  
Photographs 2020

We are all a thread.....

 "We are all a thread in the cosmic, collective collage..." 
                 - Michael Jennae

 So much thread, yarn, it boggles the mind.  Just a bit of a sneak peak at some of the gifts I've been frantically putting together. Some for donations. My daughter Dale made this mini Spencer and Smokey.  Adorable. Destined for the Women's Shelter....

 Adorable. Smokey and Spencer side by side once more. 

 We imagine Smokey bouncing around somewhere, in kitty heaven.......catching birds.

 An artsy bed runner, layered and stripped with sari fabrics....

 Beads, lace, ethnic ribbons....

 Sequins, quilt pieces...haphazard. That is what I like best about it.

 "We are all creative beings.The act of creating puts us in direct connection with the greatest creator.The master artist that is our Divine Creator." -Eileen Anglin

 I find that I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to make, and how. Often the first idea I have I toss out, then just go with something else. 

 But then other times, I come back to basics...I love Civil War quilting, other than the abstracts. Spencer often rolls around in his flower pot, while I decide on fabrics. He kind of blends in.

 And then I end up with something like this.......easy squares, but great fabrics  dyed with tea.

 "Seeing is making, whether you see with your mind or your true self...." -Katherine Catmull

 And then there are the ones that leave this country and saunter down south for a friends' birthday.  A huge civil war table runner, that can double as a bed runner.

"When you imagine it, feel it...." -T.F. Hodge

 And as always, Spencer was terribly helpful, as I sorted through batiks and  solids for another project. Personable cat. He likes to help. Smokey used to like to help.

 I often wonder if he notices that Smokey is gone. His  shadow still remains.

 As the days grow longer, and the sunrises and sunsets grow brighter. 

 And the last quilt, just finished. Another wedding runner. I ripped the batik fabrics and paired them with more sari strips and twisted/braided netting....

 Supposed to be like the sun's rays ( in my imagination). Shows up well against the bright green grass, that has just a touch of snow left.....winter still on the west coast.

 And then at end of day, I see Spencer standing in his pot. Cat Plant  ready for spring. He's watching the silly doves swooping and bumping into the trees. 

Spencer 2018

 "Create. For the pure joy of creating something and sharing it...."
                                                  -Ernest Barbaric

Smokey 2017

Photographs 2018

New Quilt

 New year. New quilt. Have been hanging onto  a swatch or two of Flower Fairy fabric. Sincelast year. Just waiting to figure out how to use it. For Morgan's bday in May.  For all this time it has eluded me what to do with it.

 The fabric is lovely. Little glistening specs cover the wings of the fairies. Flower Fairies were orignial drawings done by Cicely Mary Barker, in the first part of the 20th century. Gorgeous , whimsical creatures that flit and float. On fabric they pop up from the threads.Cicely Mary Barker had epilepsy as a child and was home schooled. She would paint for hours. Her majesty,Queen Mary, loved the flower fairies and because of her interest in them, Cicely's artwork sold like hot cakes.

 I decided to go with something that resembles an Irish Chain, using beautiful green squares to offset the other fabrics.

                              Cordelia helped to supervise. To get an idea of what it would look like, I spread out the pieced squares in some sort of chain design, making sure the green squares would parade down the whole of the panel.

                                   With a few breaks . Of course. With the cats from the hill.

             In 1923 , the first flower fairy book was published. Cicely Mary Barker received 25 pounds for her first book.

                    After laying out the squares, it was time to sew into strips. I tend to number them from the left to the right, so they don't get mixed up.Oh, how I love fabric........

                              At the end , I decided to add a green border with floral accents to complement the fairies, who fly across the panel. All that is left is add a backing and batting. Then quilt! Spencer came down from the hill at the very end of laying out the quilt top. Not interested in the quilt, he got cuddles instead....