finished: phoenix twin quilts i and ii

Tags

finished quilts, phoenix twins

I looked back at this post and realized I’ve been working on these quilts since August.

Really, I had lost track of time.

These quilts pushed me as a quilter. I started with a tiny idea, for some paper-pieced improv chevron blocks. I pulled some fabric; my friends and I changed our minds; I puttered and thought and hemmed and hawed. I don’t usually make quilts without patterns, you see, and starting these was a creative free-fall.

What if I ran out of fabric? Chicopee is still fairly easy to find but…what if it stopped being easy to find, right at the wrong moment? What if the block design was splitty and unstable? What if it all just looked like crap? What if I couldn’t finish them on time? What if I didn’t make them big enough? (I’m still a little nervous on that count. These suckers shrank big-time when I washed them, so they’re cutting it close width-wise.)

And then the even more insidious worries, like, what if I think I’m being creative and original and really I just saw something like this on the internet, forgot, and then regurgitated it. What if my friends say they like them and really, they don’t.

So, to me, these quilts have ended up being about me as a creator. About pushing aside those evil voices that nag at you when you’re working–voices that sometimes make you put down your work in discouragement.

I’ll be pleased to make a couple of quilts from patterns as my “next things,” but these have taught me that I can make something wild and beautiful that comes out of my own head. I can trust myself to do the quilt math, and make all the blocks, and do 20 hours of straight-line quilting, and produce quilted work that I’m very proud of.

I’ll be mailing my big babies off on Monday, to make my friends’ home a little warmer for Thanksgiving guests. I couldn’t be gladder that I took on this challenge–and I couldn’t be prouder of the results.

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for love

Tags

home dec cushions, nate socks, phoenix twins, rainbow hat

Like a swimmer poking her head above the surface just for a moment, to gulp the air

 

here I am.

The Phoenix Twin quilts will be done tonight. I have to get them done by tomorrow so I can photograph them with Nate’s help (we’re a little stumped about how to photograph two huge quilts together) and get them mailed to Phoenix on Monday or Tuesday.

The straight-line quilting is quite time-consuming, and possibly the most boring sewing ever. It had to be done this way, though. I can’t imagine these quilts without this added level of rich, quilted texture. And, as it turns out, I really love the friends who will receive these quilts.

As fulfilling as I’ve found this project, I am ready to have it it out of my hair.

 

Funny, “Outta My Hair” is the colorway name of the yarn I’m using to (slowly) knit my husband’s requested socks. I’m using the free-on-Ravelry pattern Porthos. The yarn is Plucky Feet in the club colorway Outta My Hair (which I have had to beg for THREE TIMES on Ravelry, a fact I don’t think my husband truly appreciates). (Does he think the yarn just SHOWS UP in the mailbox, eh?)

I told him that only someone who really loves him would knit socks this huge, and turn a heel TWICE for him.

 

I’m finding that my knitting energy keeps getting redirected though; yesterday, I took Lucy to the park and she flatly refused to put her fleece North Face hat on. It was 40 degrees, and I told her she had to a) wear her hat, b) wear her hood, or c) get back in the green car and go home. She chose her choice: go home. Rather than wear the hat. That’s my stubborn kid.

On the way home I asked her, “why wouldn’t you wear the hat? It’s a NICE HAT.” Quietly, stubbornly, she said, “No it’s not.” What kind of hat will she wear? “A rainbow hat.” I’m making some mods to Jane Richmond’s Renfrew pattern, and holding double some rainbow-y Tosh Feather, and hope to have a hat to keep away the ear infections by tomorrow.

 

By far, though, the project that took the most love to get through was this little home-dec project I did for a friend. She bought two chairs off Craigslist and the chairs came with black pleather cushions. She didn’t like the black, so she did a Sherry-and-Jon-Petersik and spray-painted them red. But the paint ruined the texture and made the cushions smell. She would never have asked me outright to make the cushion covers, but I offered, because I knew she’d pay through the nose for custom covers on this easy little job.

She chose a poly jacquard home dec fabric from fabric.com, 3 yards. I used this tutorial on Sew Mama Sew by creative little daisy and made these two piped cushions. By far, the worst part was working with the fabric. The day after I started the project Lucy pulled a clump of greenish poly fuzz from her mouth, clearly aftermath from the cushions, and I almost barfed. But I stuck it out, and finished them. They’re not perfect, but they’re full of love.

I’ll be back VERY SOON with beauty photos of these two big quilts. Believe me–you want to see them. 🙂

what’s happening

Tags

lowbrow hat, phoenix twins, super tote

Oh, hello, two weeks that went by without a blog post. I’ve been ever so busy, in the best possible way!

I realized Christmas is coming. And so soon! So I went bats for hats.

I knit two gorgeous hats:

These are the Lowbrow Hat pattern. The lace pattern might look special, but is ever-so-easy to knit. I felt like a genius when I quickly memorized the lace pattern and didn’t mess it up at all. The blue hat is Plucky Primo Aran in Outta My Hair; the green is Tosh Chunky in Thoreau. (I think this is the IDEAL pattern for a lonely skein of Tosh Chunky, if one happens to have one languishing.)

I also knit a hat dud.

Purl Soho’s Chunky Cabled Hat, knit up in some heathen stash acrylic yarn. This might have turned out better had I ponied up the bucks for the gorgeous-looking Super Soft Merino, which undoubtedly has better drape. As it is I looked like Marge Simpson. I’m considering: trying to shrink the hat in the washing machine, adding a pompom (go bit or go home amirite), or giving it to one of my more-stylish younger sisters who seem to wear everything fabulously. I will not be frogging back or futzing with it in any way that requires real effort.

I made a Super Tote, too! I don’t have much to say about this pattern that others haven’t already said; that Noodlehead knows how to write a pattern. I will say that if you choose Essex Linen for your exterior gusset, DO choose to interface it. I did not, and the gusset is a little floppy for my taste.

I went to a Victoria Findlay Wolfe lecture hosted by my guild last Friday. (I wrote a little writeup of the lecture over at my guild’s blog.) You guys? I think Victoria Findlay Wolfe is a genius. Her lecture was luminous and inspiring; her quilts even more so. I’m still working out what to think about what she had to say (there’s always more fabric! cut it up and use it; never make the same quilt twice, try something new every time; make the quilt you said you would never make; if it’s not working cut it up; challenge yourself by using the fabric you think you hate) but I know that 100% of what she said is true.

I also worked hard at soaking up every last bit of fall sunshine before we fall into the cycle of 6 hours of grey daylight every day all five months of winter.

Oh, and I finished a little quilt top. No big deal.

Yes, this is the first of the two twin quilts I’m making for my friends living in Phoenix (so I’m calling them the Phoenix Twins). I started the second one today and I can tell it’s going to go very quickly. I’ve worked all the drama out of my system on the first one. I’m quite pleased with how this top turned out.

I’ve had a couple of questions about how I made the center blocks for this quilt. I took a few process photos today and will post a little behind-the-scenes tomorrow. You don’t need a tutorial, for goodness’ sake. They are just improv-pieced on a paper foundation (and I owe a lot to Rachel’s Ziggy Strings tutorial for helping me get here). Check back to see how it’s done!