Advertisement
Published: January 23rd 2015
The Starting Point
This was the magazine that started this whole project!Round Robin Quilt - Shasta's Reveal
So I have been sitting here for about 2 hours - sorting and cropping pictures, trying to get a few extra ones, because since this is MY quilt, no one could send me pictures along the way, and trying to figure out what to say. All three of my sisters have said so much of what I would say if I had been the first blog, that it took awhile for me to get going. But as most of you know who have been reading my blog now for almost 9 years, it soon passes and the words flow freely.
I will take partial credit for this crazy year of quilting only from the stand point that MOM gave me the magazine and I can actually read while driving without throwing up. Not me driving of course, ha! but while I am a passenger in the car.
It has been one of the most incredible chain of events that I have ever been blessed to be in the middle of. The odds of mom picking up that very magazine to give to me for Christmas of all of the quilting magazines out
Most of my fabrics came from Little Blessings in Crossville, TNthere, and that very unique article being in THAT issue, and all of us willing and able to participate in something we all love to do, is beyond my statistical analysis ability. Remember I am just an accountant, don't make me add anything up without my 10 key!
I remember thinking when I read the article ... "we could do that!" But when I sat at my sewing table with all of my fabric in front of me I honestly thought - now what?! I did as all of us did, and started looking at magazines. I have no idea how many I looked through, and I started even looking in the back of the magazines at all of the advertisements.
My block actually came together as a result of an article I found in one magazine on creating fabric patterns using wax and wood block printing, and an advertisement in another magazine for quilt patterns. I took part of each of the pictures and then added some stuff, and "whaalaa" it all came together. I drew it all out on some scrap paper, and did needle turn applique for every bit of it. I use a sheet
of mylar plastic, liquid starch, a paint brush, and a craft iron to create my pieces before I ever put them on the background to begin sewing them down. (If you want to know how this works, just let me know!)
I am not sure that even my Mom and sisters even noticed, but in the picture in the magazine there were 5 or 6 round flower petals coming off of the yellow bulbish looking leaf. I specifically only used 4 to represent us four sisters. Then I placed them below only TWO larger flowers joined together to represent Mom and Dad looking over us as we bloom and grow. The one to the right was to 'balance' it out ... doesn't really represent anything ... just art.
From the very beginning every time we shifted quilts to the next person, one of the first things that we did was put it up on our wall, or area where we could look at it and try to find inspiration. Usually in the beginning all we found was that none of them were squared off! HeHeHe! It quickly became a joke as we passed them on to ask, "did
Betty's Part
Each of the small squares measure only 1 inch square! you square it up?" As we hung them up on the wall and handled them, the fabrics stretch and our seam allowances weren't always the same. And since we had no pattern, in the end one side might even be a little longer than the other ... but hey, who cares - I would sleep under it if it were a triangle!
Remember Tammy mentioned that Ryan had told her one of the ideas that she had for my quilt was 'ugly'? Well that was a reoccurring nightmare that I had when adding to each of theirs, as it is very well known in my family that I am a little eccentric when it comes to color and design. For those of you who don't know my 'other life', my first degree is in Art from Freed Hardeman. So, as I sit in my sewing room looking at what do to, I was grateful that one of the rules was that we had to use the fabric that they gave us. That saved me from just a little anxiety about making color choices.
Probably the hardest thing, after we had a general idea of what we were going
What's in a Name?
Each of us signed our names in the section that we completed to help remember who did what in the many many years to come when these are handed down. to do, was creating the pattern for it. If you think that sounds simple to do, give me a call and I can tell you how many times we took seams out because the ends or the corners, or the points didn't match. Because of this project I purchased for me and all of the others a very cool tool that not only helps you rip out seams, but has a rubber end on it to whisk away all of the threads. A special tool for ripping out seams? Gives you an idea of just how often I used it. Can't speak for the others of course, their work looks flawless!
Sonia's was probably easiest for me to come up with the design and I didn't change it at all. Tonya's I had all but done and ended up not liking it at all and totally changed it. And Mom's and Tammy's were the hardest to feel comfortable with what I did and how my section fit in with the rest of the quilt. We all discussed how we wanted to make sure that we just didn't add a border for the sake of adding fabric to make the
Tammy's Turn
It's always hard to know what to do - so we try several things and see what jumps out at us. This was one of Tammy's alternate ideas. I would have loved that too! quilt bigger, but that we wanted the quilt to look as if the entire thing had been designed with the end result in mind. I think we totally accomplished that goal 110%.
And as I look back at all of the quilts I have to find a little comic relief in almost all of them, or at the very least a theme of sorts.
Sonia, who we all KNEW would do a very traditional block, surprised us most of all with her block of an applique' picture rather than a pieced block. It is anything BUT traditional. And for her to not have ever done applique' she has certainly proved herself more than adequate to the task. And then she proceeds to only do a traditional pattern in 2 of the 5 quilts. Talk about getting out of your comfort zone!
Tammy, who has on more than one occasion mentioned that she is her own worst critic, and who I personally know has taken apart previous quilt projects MULTIPLE times for something only the Hubble telescope could see, picked a star pattern requiring unbelievable precision, rather than a very forgiving pattern like my center block where there
Then ... you look again, and it morphs into something else .... yep! ... love that look too!are no points to match at all. No pressure there! But, she doesn't stop there, she creates an entire border on Tonya's quilt with POINTS, Birdhouses on Sonia's quilt with POINTY roof lines, and pin wheels on Mom's which is points, points, points! (Sorry - spoiler alert ) Is there a pattern here? (No Pun intended HA!)
Tonya gets the award for dimensionality - is that a word? The leaves on her tree, and the borders she did for mine and Sonia's quilt are largely done by raw edge machine applique, on Mama's (Sorry - spoiler alert again) she created 3 dimensional flowers, and then on Sonia's fence she hand crocheted flowers. Is texture her theme?
For Mom's ... you'll just have to wait on that one for a couple more days ... it is the Grand Finale!
We have always been good at getting together to do projects for each other or others. One year Mom and Dad left to go on vacation and we surprised them by remodeling thier kitchen. It wasn't long afterward that they INFORMED us they were going on vacation again just in case we didn't have anything else to do -
Tammy's finished section
In the end, the hardest part is actually making a final decision ... "yes, Regis, that is my final answer!" so we did their bathroom!
The year that Anthony and I returned home from Tanzania, our sister weekend trip was changed and they all came up and we stayed in a camper next to the house we were building, and helped me lay hardwood flooring and bathroom tile.
But this project was different. With the kitchen, the bathroom, laying the flooring, and so many other projects we have gotten together in the past to do, there was already basically a plan for what needed to be done. But these quilts had no plan when we started. As they moved from one to another, each one individually created something unique to them. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that not one of us would say that if left to our own, would we have created anything out of the same pile of fabric nearly as beautiful as what we have created together.
I am constantly amazed at these amazing, beautiful, creative women who share my life with me, and have given me a piece of themselves in this quilt.
And 'Katy Bar the Door' for anyone who stands between it and Me!
Shasta
Advertisement
Tot: 0.218s; Tpl: 0.02s; cc: 10; qc: 75; dbt: 0.1032s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Rachel Corlew
non-member comment
Anxiously awaiting 5th quilt reveal!
Shasta, I read all four quilt descriptions this afternoon-it was like reading a book that entices you along-you just can't resist reading the next chapter right then! I can hardly wait to see your mom's quilt and read each daughters' struggles with designing additions that reveal their individual personality and passion for their mom & family:)