Eerie Alley Quilt

This summer, while I was in Pittsburgh, I got notice that I'd won something! I read a number of craft and/or quilting blogs --oh dang, it's been too long and I can't remember which blog I found the give-away on! That's terrible. Well, I'm pretty sure it was Jaybird Quilts! I won this package of fabric and scrapbook items from the Robert Kaufman Fabrics blog. Here's the photo Ralph sent to me of the items in the package.

That bundle in the back is this roll-up of 40 21/2" strips of fabric in various Eerie Alley prints.

I've always wanted to try using a "jellyroll" of fabric like this, when you get a sampler of a whole collection of fabric in coordinating colors and designs, but they're too expensive for me. It's funny to me that the one I won is in Halloween designs!
You see I've spent years decades conflicted about Halloween. I love planning and making and dressing up in costumes, and carving jack-o-lanterns, and I love kids trick-or-treating, and I even like playing around with scary-creepy stuff like spiders and mummies. I don't like gruesome and horrifying and demonic stuff.  I want to be sensitive to people whose enthusiasm for their faith makes them consider Halloween festivities a compromise of their devotion, or worse. But I refuse to consider any day of the year as belonging to the devil, and to consider playful fun as part of satanic ritual, any more than any other cultural customs. And there's candy, too! (I bought this season's first bag of candy corn today!)

So, back to the fabric: I hardly wanted to untie that sweet bundle, it was so cute all rolled up like that! Finally I did, and I laid all the strips out on the floor.

They're so colorful and cheerful, and a little weird because of the spiders and hilarious hearses with coffins falling out of them! (I took out the white strips, because they seemed to stand out too much, and to break up the intensely bright colors. I have other ideas for them...) I played around with different block designs, but I liked the linear and directional quality of the strips, so I decided to just shake it up a bit. I used AmandaJean's zig zag pattern that doesn't use triangles; what a great idea!

Cutting into fabric is a commitment, but it is a sensual pleasure to re-create designs! As the little scraps pile up, other ideas for compositions come to mind...

Hmmm, how about a wall hanging?

Something like this?

Here we go...

Wait, what about all those embellishments that came with the fabric? Now I have to take it apart again...

I'm working on both of these projects, and I'll let you see them soon. I hope. 

Her Cheery Outlook

I call this quilt "Her Cheery Outlook" in honor of my sister, Laura, and because I couldn't think of a more clever name!

Laura's birthday quilt, in process:


My sister Laura; she's a wonderful person who brings great joy to friends, family, and her students. She's very creative/crafty! Since her college days, she zealously protects her Ornament Therapy Weekend; a time when she and her college buddies gather and make crafts together for Christmas gifts, while enjoying food and libations and laughter and all that comes with longtime friendship. Sounds, wonderful, doesn't it? And every year, I love being the recipient of those OTW products! This year, a personalized wonderful calendar with photos and rubber stamping and family birthdays already marked, so awesome. Previous years include holiday aprons, accordion book with favorite family recipes, and embroidered felt Christmas tree ornaments, and many other treasures. And sometimes there's a Valentine's or Easter or birthday surprise, or something for no special reason. Lots o' love!

Laura just spent a year celebrating her birthday, number five-oh! And my newfound enjoyment of quilting easily found inspiration and aspiration to make Laura a birthday tribute. I didn't pull it together in time to stay inside that birthday year, but no one minds, right? I wish I could find the quilt online that inspired this one; it's a combination

of sophistication and quirkiness,

tradition and innovation, exuberance and order.

When we were teenagers, Laura's bedroom was decorated in pink and orange, in the 70s lazy daisy motif. These colors reminded me of our girlhood, plus I just love their joyfulness! This yellow I used for binding and in some quilt blocks has a smidge of gold ink; it's actually a Christmas fabric, a nod to all the Christmas presents Laura has made! Ellie-the-niece recognized this pink swirly fabric as a remnant from her Christmas present!

You can see the background is a few different whites, giving the quilt another depth of expression. I saw that idea in my inspiration quilt, and appreciate the freedom to not have everything matching and even. I'm also really happy with the stippled quilting, my second time free-motion quilting on my sewing machine.