Basketful of Color

One week to go and I can't decide if I'm caught up or just behind and don't realize it.  I didn't have a lot of Christmas quilting to do and we don't go to a lot of parties and I'll eventually do some baking -- but for now, I'm in a spot of limbo.  Should I be doing something?  Can I enjoy the moment?  What (or who) have I forgotten?

One thing I had forgotten is how much I love this wallhanging!  I have actually never hung it on a wall for Christmas.

But the fabrics are divine!

I got this years and years ago from Keepsake Quilting when I saw it and fell in love with the fabrics.  Never mind that I had no idea how to do any of the techniques.  I had to have it.

It's machine applique and quilt as you go.  Or at least it was when I did it.  The instructions were average, the templates were scary since I had never had to do anything quite this freeform, and the fabrics made my heart sing.  I was terrified of cutting into the fabrics and clueless about how to use the natural shadings in them to emphasize the design.

Nor was I sure how to use the quilting to create additional design.

In the end, I love it -- even though it stays hung in the closet.  Hopefully, by this time next year, I'll have hangers somewhere in the house (out of the sun) so I can enjoy my seasonal wallhangings.  For now-this one is on my design wall so I see it everyday!

I wish each of you peace, joy, and color in your world -- Jan

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As a postscript -- it seems insensitive to be speaking of joy and color with such darkness and sadness in Newtown, CT.  Words fail me in this incredibly sad sad time.  I can only pray those affected will someday find peace, joy, and color again.

And the year comes to an end....

And, finally, here are the last three months of wallhangings.  Previous posts on these monthly wallhangings by Nancy Halvorsen are here, here, and here.

The October wallhanging of "be forgiving" has a bit of history.  My niece-the-quilter had a dog that was really a family dog and loved by all of us.  One day, while visiting, Baxter's treat didn't set well with him and he managed to find relief in one of my favorite pair of blue shoes.  It's definitely a bit of a family joke and this wallhanging was made with Baxter in mind.  He was brownish with terrier in him and the shoe is obviously blue.  His nose was a button that had to be specially ordered and the buttons for the tabs are from my grandmother's button jar.  RIP, Baxter.

November would obviously have a Thanksgiving theme and I love the harvest bounty theme and the oak leaves as wings -- not to mention the crooked halo.  The "berries" are more antique buttons that needed a good scrubbing!  I like her....

I love the message of "joy" for December.  This santa's beard is slightly padded with cotton batting for a bit of depth.  His suit and hat were actually scraps that I saved from years ago when my niece-the-quilter had created a strata from a number of red fabrics in my stash.  She was making a stocking for her boyfriend and when you make a stocking with fabrics at an angle, you have to make a pretty big piece of "fabric".  So, obviously, Aunt Jan saved the bits - knowing there would be a time to use them.  And, magically, here it was years later and was going to be on her mom's wall every December.  I like the scrappiness of his hat and suit and LOVE that it was done by a young woman who was not yet a quilter....but certainly is now!

I've said this before and I'll close this series of posts with it.  I love these but there are only a handful of people that I would have done this for.  My sister is obviously one!  The quilt out of these blocks is darling and would have been a bit easier as I had to resize some of these to make them around 15" x 18" (+/-).  Her instructions are easy to follow and I'd definitely do another one of her quilts at some point.

I hope there are special people in your life that you enjoy sharing your art with!  Jan

Continued...

Here are an additional three months of wallhangings from Nancy Halverson's Be Attitude quilt .  If you missed the background and first posts on these, you can read about them here and here.

The month of July wasn't patriotic as expected but was about honesty and featured a special little button that looked like butterscotch candy that could be ordered.  Without it (or something in her hand), it just wouldn't work.  I did this one with 30's scraps.

I liked the August block but don't think my fabric choices necessarily did it justice.  It's a pretty basic block to being with and not many design elements.  Once again, I was able to get something out of the cedar chest and repurpose it.  I had been hanging on to one of our mothers' blouses that I always loved for some reason.  It was a little white short-sleeved Villager blouse that she had monogrammed.  Since her birthday was in August and her faith was extremely important to her, it seemed appropriate to cut out the monogram and appliqué it to the back -- complete with some of the tucks.  So, one more thing got used in a way that has meaning (at least to me) and isn't in the cedar chest waiting for my son to pull out and wonder what in the world to do with it!

September carried a back to school theme and the buttons for the tabs were from my old wool camel "car coat".  How's that for dating myself.  I have no idea why I still had it but it is no more!  I suspect more than half the people reading this will have no idea what a car coat even is.  The buttons for the berries were from my grandmother's button jar and I obviously caught a glare from the shiny red one.  I really like them but they had to be scrubbed to be used.  Just a tad dirty from sitting around for so many years!

We're lucky enough to be in Wisconsin babysitting for a few days and there's not much "new" sewing going on here!  Just grammie loving, a bit of laundry, and maybe cutting some scraps before the day is over. 

I hope you're finding time to stitch or create or repurpose!  Jan

April - May - June

As we move into spring like weather (actually we're under severe weather warnings for today!), seems like a good time to take a peek at three more months of wall hangings from Nancy Halvorsen's "Be Attitudes" quilt/calendar.  I showed the first three months last week in this posting.

I really love the April block!  This little bunny looks so joyous, doesn't he?  The eggs are actually my favorite part.  They are some teeny tiny batik scraps that friends had given me and they were less than 1.5" so I needed to find just the right place to showcase them (or toss them....) and these eggs were just the right size!  Aren't they cute?

The May block was fun -- I enjoyed using the batiks...and had to buy buttons for the plant stakes and tabs. Everything else was stash, of course. It always looks so "springy" on my sister's wall (which is brick red).

June is in honor of Father's Day and it's a bit hard to see the detail.  When I look at this quilting (done on a longarm), I am particularly unhappy with it.  The trick with these was that once you were started, there was no going back and picking it out.  I just had had to grit my teeth and finish it.  It was hard to pull it tight and that shows here.

When our father died, there were a few items of clothing that I couldn't get rid of for whatever reason.  I went into the cedar chest and pulled out his jacket that he loved and wore a lot and decided to repurpose the part that was special to me.  The buttons were used for the tabs and his monogram was appliquéd to the back.  So we now have that preserved for as long as she wants!

I hope you're finding time to stitch!  Jan

Have you ever gotten in too deep with a project?

This falls into the "what was I thinking" category when I offered to make a different wallhanging for every month for my sister's housewarming gift. Do you know what it feels like to have a deadline hanging over your head every month (or two if you get ahead)? What was I thinking! I love her dearly and I have decided she's one of only about 2-3 people in the world that I would do this for! BUT, I'm pleased to say that I am putting the binding on the last one tonite and will take it to her at Christmas. I can go back to my serendiptous approach to quilting and jumping from one project to another. Don't you love that? No deadlines unless you want there to be one? Happiest of holidays to all of you quilters! Aren't we lucky to have this creative outlet (even if we do get in over our heads?). Jan