Beautiful Quilts, Beautiful Week

Nana's Hannah

 This is Nana's Hannah.  I quilted it quite heavily with all sorts of free motion designs.  I actually photographed them all and will be compiling them on my website at some point in the future.  I was really happy with how this quilt came out.  It was hand pieced by my  paternal grandmother and I got to quilt it.  How fun to be able to pass along such a treasure carrying the generations of a family working together.
I was also able to finally finish a quilted wall piece that has been around a while.  It was an inspired day when my husband handed me this piece of hand-dyed fabric.  I just saw the landscape.  Moonlit Mystery is the first in what I hope to be a long series of landscape quilts.  I find them so peaceful, tranquil and inspiring both to create and to gaze at almost in meditation.  I am not he only one who loves this quilt.  It was unfinished but on display at my open studio tour.  I had several offers for if I finished it.  It was on hold while I did all the other quilts recently and then I had a day to finish.  It was easy to decide who to call first with an offer.  I was struck by the last woman to visit my studio that weekend.  She had obviously been having some health issues and just wanted something new (she also wrote down that she wanted it with her phone number on my mailing list).
Years ago, I was told by an amazing woman that I should/needed to be making healing quilts.  It has been tickling my brain as to what these quilts would look like, not just the healing intentions sewn with the threads that hold the quilts together.  Maybe I have found them in the landscape quilts.  Healing is an ever going, ever changing process.   My one wish today is that all people have the strength, courage, and support to heal themselves and this beautiful earth we all call home.

Our Foxy visitor this week

6 Quilts in a Week

The sun rises on this beautiful day which is surprisingly still very fall-like.  I've been expecting snow for a while, not to worry though, it will catch up and I will be whining in January.  It is fun though to watch the snow blow around outside.  I have a lot of windows and the wind is fierce up here, often times I can look out and feel like I in a snowglobe.  Wow, it sounds like I miss winter, that's weird.  I have been working too hard.

Block from the Reversing Climate Change Quilt

Block from the Stopping Domestic Violence Quilt

I got 6 quilts done last week.  The first was the little dog quilt I blogged about last Sunday.  Then, I got a rush order to do 3 quilts dealing with big issues.  The blocks were created by a group of Methodist women and they were large banner type quilts each 55" wide.  The quilt that dealt with Immigration Reform was 120" long, Reversing Climate Change was 99", and Stopping Domestic Violence was 88".  There is fourth in the series, but lucky for me it still needed borders put on and was not dropped off with the others.  My client told me not to take the time with custom quilting.  I was too honored to be a part of these visual portrayals that I had to give my piece.  They were simply quilted, but I did more than just straight-ish lines that we discussed.  They looked great and I am happy.  That's part of being a quilt whisperer, always do justice to the quilt regardless of price and time.
 The next 2 quilts I did were for another client who does white quilts with poems and such written into them.  Some have great stories with them and this weeks were wonderful.  I do not share these stories here, as she has her own quilt business and I hate being the one spoils any surprises.  You can visit her website, www.commaworkshop.com if you are interested in these quilts.   
Today, I am going to load and begin the next one for my grandmother.  It is either a Dear Jane or Hannah, I've been referring to it at as Nana's Hannah cause it's fun to say.  She hand pieced this quilt and it is gorgeous!   Once again, I find myself nervous in beginning.  It is hard being a realist perfectionist (you know, wanting and striving for perfection yet truly knowing it is unattainable). 

Threadplay Breathes Life into Quilts

A dog named Bailey gets new life.

I was given this cute dog quilt to do something with.  It was already quilted with the binding firmly attached when I got this quilt.  The quilting was done well.  It was invisible thread holding down the edges of the applique pieces.  My client's desire was to have it look less flat.  It was a wonderful little quilt already (and this client happens to be my grandmother's), so I began with a little trepidation honestly.
It was such fun though and I quickly learned all the stitching looked great.  I kept changing thread colors and designs depending on where I was in the piece.  When I was finished, this dog had so much more character than before.  The texture of the hair was what was really missing on those fabrics.  The back of the quilt looks really cool now too!  I hope Nana loves it.

Here is a little food bit for you all.  Now that I am home again for the winter, there will probably be more postings of recipes.  This is just an idea that I know I can not have been the first to come up with.  So, I made a box of mac & cheese the other day and then while reaching for the parmesan cheese, I spied the leftover bacon.  Oh, what a delight!  I am so glad I sprinkled the cheese and the bacon crumbles onto the macaroni!  Delicious but Dangerous is the board I am creating on Pinterest for all these recipes.
I am blessed with work and would love to be doing the next quilt (I have 7 to do this week).  Sadly though, I woke up though with a seriously swollen thumb. (arthritis?)  Hopefully it will go away soon and I can get back to playing on my long arm.
 I wish you all a beautiful fall filled with inspirations!