Hopeful Homemaker

Suddenly, everything is blooming.  Which makes today the perfect day to share an old quilt top, dormant for years, which is now new and finished.  A new layer of life atop the first round of piecing.  Here is she is, my Grow quilt top.

This quilt top is actually a lone star quilt featuring my Mod Lone Star pattern, with a second layer of applique on top of it.  I made the star in 2019 and then decided to add applique (see the start here)

I hung it in a window to ponder the finishing touches, and thought how lovely quilt tops are as curtains.  They look like stained glass.  I like seeing the lone star diamonds more clearly this way.

My original plan called for yellow circles around the center, to re-introduce the yellow center that is mostly covered with purple applique.  But it had very little impact or contrast, and mostly blended in.  So after looking at it for a while, I settled on the icy cool blue.  It was the perfect unexpected thing to finish it off.

I added more blue circles around the outside of the star in the same blue.  It pulls everything together.

I worked on this project, off and on, over 5 years.  Crazy, I know.  Part of the slow pace was the sheer size of it.  I could only do it on my kitchen table, because I had vines overlapping and multiple needles and thread colors going.  It needed lots of hours on the table, which is difficult with a large busy family.  I have new large scale applique projects I want to start, so I gave this one a big investment to complete it.  Wow, am I glad I did!

I named this quilt sweet dreams at first, after the Anna Maria Horner fabric collection I used.   As I stitched, I started calling it Grow in my head.  I like the way the organic “growth” meanders over the very structured lone star.  I’ll share more thoughts about this after I quilt it.  So, Grow it is.  And I couldn’t be happier with my Grow quilt top.

I’m on a roll with quilting lately, so I plan to finish this one quickly.  I have a fun little stack to share.  Finishing this will feel so good.

 

At last, another quilt is finished.  I quilted my Come Round Right Quilt, stitched the final few inches of the binding, and managed a photo on a sunny day.  That feels like a win in February.  Come Round Right surprised me, though I can’t fully explain why.  But I feel that surprise again every time I look at it.  And guess what else? I also wrote the pattern, which is available here.

Lately I’ve been quilting more than piecing.  I really need to get going on some unfinished quilt tops.  But custom quilting my own quilts – on my Juki, no less – has been really satisfying.  This one is no different. I wrote here about some of the meaning behind the design.  It began with that black and white print which reminds me of a wrought iron gate, surrounded by a plaid that reminds me of a chain link fence.  Am I on the inside or the outside of that fence?  Does it matter?

I invested many hours in quilting the white of the background with tiny organic lines to make the black design really pop, and also to enhance the chain link feel of the first border.  In the photo above, I love the texture and dimension it creates!

I quilted a simple leaf design in the pink border and echoed most of the pieces in the flowers.  Again, the texture is great.

Such dense quilting certainly takes extra time and work, but look at how the flowers come to the forefront of the quilt now!  They were already there, obviously, but more pronounced.  I kept the quilting super simple on the applique pieces so I could preserve that dimension.

It’s lighthearted and whimsical.  Part of me is still surprised that this whimsy came from the heaviness of a long carried struggle.  Even as I created it, I didn’t picture how cheery it would be.  I like that part – the idea that simple gifts can be even better than we hoped.

Regarding the matter that inspired the quilt, I have no idea what’s next.  I am equal parts committed and ready to quit.  Energized and completely wrung out.  I don’t know if it’s the extremes, or the constant back and forth that drain me most.  But I’m also learning, trying to grow.  This is why there is so much green around the edges.  Bowing, bending, turning.  Growing.  And hopefully, one day, we’ll come round right.

I quilted my “10” border with vines and leaves to continue the theme, and bound in an old Julianna Horner design.  Green with little circles of stars.  The backing continues the theme with leaves climbing dark stripes.  Another fence, perhaps?

Come Round Right quilt is a new personal favorite.  It reminds me to be flexible, have a little faith, and see where things end up instead of worrying.  To ask, “what’s the best that can happen?” and pay attention.  And also, I kind of want to make another, but maybe with a bright background?  Hmmmm.

Happy Sewing!

Who were you ten years ago?  I finished a book recently and happened to skim through the acknowledgments at the end, and last few sentences struck me.  The author finished by writing, “And to the woman I used to be.  Thank you for getting me here.  I’m so grateful for you.”  I’ve been thinking about it ever since.  What would you say to your past self?  What are you grateful for? And who will you be ten years from now?  It’s an interesting thing to think about.  And that’s exactly what I did as I put the final stitches in the binding of my Decades Quilt.

As I wrote about here, this quilt means a lot to me.  It’s a tribute to my cherry tree, and a fun modern take on the tree of life quilt.  It’s also a reminder of growth and becoming someone better.   To make it more fun, I also wrote the pattern, which is now available here.

I had my Decades quilt quilted in large stacking circles, which I wanted to represent fruit.  So much fruit, all stacked up to overflowing.  It reminds me of my cherry tree last summer, so covered in cherries that it looked more red than green.

I bound the quilt in the same blue I used in the border.  I like the way it matches the corner star background.  This Dresden border originated with my Awake Quilt, and I’ve been waiting for the right time to use it as a full border.

I also pulled out a lovely linen blend print I’ve been saving for years to use as backing.  It’s a pretty floral and geometric design which will only get softer with time.  The colors are perfect.

Mostly I’m happy to have my Decades quilt finished.  It’s one of those “me” quilts, very personal, and was also fun to design.  I need to make more of them.  For now, we will enjoy this one while we wait out the winter and hope the cherry tree survives.

Happy sewing!  I hope you’re working on something fun!