Agathe - October Morning Make Finished

Agathe

66” x 74”

Agathe is a German women. She grew up running the fields of her family farm, hands trailing in the grasses as she eyed the woods ahead. She wasn’t allowed in the woods, bad people could be there. The same bad people that loaded the trains they sometimes saw. The same people who knocked on their door at night demanding food. Agathe was still allowed in the fields though, even if her parents insisted she be in their sight at all times. Not until she’d moved to Canada did she really understand their fear. By then she also understood that they gave her freedom from fear by still letting her run the fields on sunny days. All her life she knew to take pleasures in the feel of flowing grass under her hand, of good pastry, of daily sunshine. Even if life isn’t good around you, to look for the simple pleasures.

October 2020 Morning Make is finished. I named her Agathe.

One improv block a day for the month of October. Composing as I went, playing the entire time. Some days the block related to the day before, some days the connections were harder. Each day was about finding a bit of joy, a respite from the daily slog of life in 2020. And at the end of the month I had a finished quilt top!

Fast forward a few months, one afternoon with my girls helping me baste and 8 spools of thread later and I have a finished quilt.

To quilt her I used my walking foot and creating a map of parallel lines. In spots I followed the lines of piecing, in others I went against the flow. There was a lot of starting and stopping, a lot of threads to bury. (This time I was smarter and buried them in spurts as I went while we watched Brooklyn 99.)

It is no secret that I love a contrasting binding, but this time it didn’t feel right. She got the same black binding used in piecing. It’s actually a tone on tone from my Tag Fabric collection. The other two fabrics are a cream solid that I think came from my Baba’s stash because it smelled like her when I pressed it, and a random white solid I found in the closet. The cream is actually more like a pale yellow, which I didn’t realize until the whole top was done. That’s what happens when you do all the sewing in the dark of morning.

Making this quilt really was an escape. From the piecing to the quilting to the binding. It was a respite from daily life, a moment to give myself where the rest of the world melts away. The grass isn’t green here yet, but the hares are giving us smiles. I even had one check things out as I was snapping pics. Life goes on. Life is beautiful. Finding the simple pleasures.

Mask Scraps

It’s time to make another batch of masks. Between constant wear and loss the mask basket by the front door needs replenishment. That means extra safety for the family as we ride this third wave of Covid AND more scraps.

Not sure why, but from the get go last year I kept the mask scraps as we sewed for ourselves, family, and friends. Part of me wanted to keep things together, as a form of documentation of this time. I figured I would keep them together and could always recirculate them back into general population of the scraps if I changed my mind. It would be harder to locate them again after the fact though.

Then, at one point in the summer we succumbed to the tie dye lockdown trend. I bought the good fabric dyes and we spent an afternoon dying sheets with the kids. I threw in some solid whites I had with the leftover dye. As a result, I have a whole bunch of red fabric that fits the rage mood of a lot to do with Covid. A match made in creative conscious heaven.

You can learn how to make these sweet blocks in the latest Quilters’ Playcation Playdate.

Snowballs Playdate

Announcing the next Playdate on your Quilters’ Playcation!

SNOWBALLS!

Winter isn’t quite over yet here. After a bought of fake spring we had a few inches of snow the other night. As a winter lover I am not quite ready to let go. Needless to say, these blocks are the perfect inspiration!

Quilters’ Playcation Playdates are live Zoom events where I demo an improv technique then we hang out. Bring your beverage of choice, an open heart, and get ready to laugh. You can even bring your fabric and sew along with me. Each event lasts 60-90 minutes. And now, thanks to a number of polite requests, I am happy to offer a Friday night and Saturday morning option. This will allow friends to join one or the other event (or both) from around the world.

On our first Playdate we had a friend join us from Saudi Arabia where it was 3 am!

For my sample blocks I dug into my overflowing solids scrap bins to make the corners and my endless low volume stash. Together they make some magic! Kind of like the energy of a snowball fight. Generally, as a quilt teacher I end up with a lot of class samples that never make it to a finished quilt. These blocks definitely will, I am so in love with the combo and I have a few more ideas for playing with them. That’s just how play works: you get an idea, try it out, and sometimes it works (and sometimes it doesn’t). No matter what it was time well spent because you were playing!

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Snowballs Playdates

April 9 at 5 PM MDT

OR

April 10 at 10 AM MDT

Color of Connection Quilt

Color of Connection

58” x 64”

The premise behind the Color of Connection quilt along was to sew together, yes, but to also inspire discussion and efforts around diversity and inclusion in the quilt community.

Diversity and inclusion in the quilt community? I believe that while quilters come in all stripes and colours, the spaces are dominated by white women. So yes, quilters are a diverse bunch, but it is still a far from inclusive community. This #colorofconnectionqal is highlighting that. I've met a number of new quilters and new to me quilters, quite a few with stories about bad experiences with quilt guilds and communities. It is painful, but not surprising that this is still happening. Quilting community is going to be a reflection of the larger world. Just because we are quilters we aren't all magically kind and wonderful, despite the grandma stereotype. If we want the change here and everywhere we have to make the change.

This was my first quilt along, at least the first I can remember participating in. I felt it was important to both join the discussions and lead by example. It really wasn’t about the quilt. (But I will still talk about the quilt in a moment.) It was about a bit of a reckoning for our quilt community. It was also about building community for ALL quilters, for acknowledging that the spaces we are creating may not be welcoming, and for having this Color of Connection community be a truly inclusive space.

Kudos to the organizers Porfiria Gomez, Keyana Richardson, and Michelle Collins.

Now, to the quilt.

It’s me, so you know I have a hard time following a pattern. I followed the quilt along and the discussion prompts, but played with the pattern a bit. The original quilt called for large solids or at least large cuts of prints. As my scrap bins were overflowing I decided I would make slabs and cut my pattern pieces from them. I started with black solely because I was thinking about Black Lives Matter. This particular quilt seemed like a good one to get symbolic. After that I chose warm colours to share joy and warmth of people. And because they looked good.

As usual, The Monster helped me baste the quilt and she suggested the red thread. I used a Wonderfil option from my thread stash. In fact, I bought nothing to make this quilt. The backing was a combination of two fabrics from my Tag collection. I loved the mix of the names prints - showcasing the diverse community of our local elementary school where all the signatures came from - and the texting print of all thumbprints. My batting was put together from leftovers. Nothing like Frankenbatting to truly embrace a make-do approach!

The binding was a fun choice. We know I like a contrasting binding. It actually wasn’t my intention here, but nothing I chose in black, red, pink, or otherwise looked good. On a whim I pulled out my blue and green bins. This royal blue Pearl Bracelet was exactly the right colour and I had just enough to make this work.

The quilting itself, with the aforementioned red thread, was a fun grid. Vertical lines first, every 2”. Then I did a diagonal line with the same spacing, following the lines of the large HSTs in the pattern. It isn’t fancy, but it is effective. And quick.

Obviously, a quilt along is not going to solve systemic racism. What it does achieve, however, is a continued conversation and visibility for the topic. Both are important in our community. With the quilt along finished it is now up to the rest of us to continue that conversation.

As a quilt teacher one of the places I do this is in my classroom, virtual or in person. My goal is to create a space where everyone and anyone is welcome. I promise you I will shut down the commentary, judgement, and racism/homophobia should it come out in the classroom. And if people don't think I should do this then they shouldn't hire me. As a quilter, I will do this by continuing to read, to listen, to encourage the conversation, to use the materials I have on hand, and to use my platform for all of this. I know loads of people want to keep politics out of quilting, but you just can’t. And I won’t.

If you are interested in the Color of Connection pattern or the goals of the project you can find out more here.