A Quilt Exhibit, Quilt Along, and Book Club...Yes, I am Excited!

“Whether made for public display or for intimate private use, quilts provide a window into their era and visually narrate often-invisible American experiences.  Within a quilt’s fibers, materials, patterns, and decoration are embedded larger stories of industrial production, politics, social change and communities along with the personal stories of families.  Some live on the surface of American life and some are embedded deep within community history and tradition.”

Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories

Director’s Forward

Pamela Parmal, Jennifer Swope, and

 Lauren Whitley

Happy Friday!

This week has been a busy one in the studio...working on two vintage quilts (repairs, new binding, etc.) and two custom quilts have been in the works!  I also had the pleasure of perusing my copy of Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories that I ordered.  The book is a companion to the exhibit now open at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  For more information about the exhibit you may visit here: https://www.mfa.org/

This exhibit is so exciting and the publication is a feat in itself.  I listened to Jennifer Swope discuss the exhibit and the book on the Quiltbuzz podcast, which you can find here: https://quiltbuzzpodcast.com/podcast/episode-040-jennifer-swope-of-the-museum-of-fine-arts-boston  She discusses how the book is an extension of the exhibit because the exhibition space only had a limited space, but the book allows for more exploration of the themes of the exhibit through many more examples of quilts.  The book is beautiful!  I will share more as I read through it.  I am participating in the SuzyQuilts book club, and we will begin discussing the book this week, I think!  I should check what I need to have read!

The companion book to the exhibit of the same name at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

I am also participating in the MFAQAL (Museum of Fine Arts Quilt Along) put on by Amanda @broadclothstudio.  She enlisted the help of some wonderful pattern designers to help her put together the blocks in the quilt.  Each designer chose a classic quilt block found in the exhibit and “reimagined” it and gave it their own “modern spin” (quotations per the MFAQAL pattern!).

This week we are working on the Water Lily block and the Courthouse Steps block...I have been cutting the fabric for my blocks.  I will piece them this weekend.

The MFA Boston is working on putting together a virtual exhibit, so if you cannot get to Boston, then you may be able to see the exhibit anyway!

So much of my work is honoring memories and people’s lives, and I love the quotation at the beginning of the blog.  I am honored to be a part of this vibrant, important community!

Sending Quilting Love, 

Ginger

Coming Next Time: Thread...

I am Reading:  I am still reading Wicked by Gregory McGuire, but I finished Tightrope by Simon Mawer this week. I am working my way through Let Your Creativity Work for You by Heather Allen. Also I picked up the third Witcher book, Blood of Elves.   I am still reading bits of poetry, and I have stacks of things to read, which always makes me happy! Of course I am reading for my quilty book club...I will share as I go along!

Busy Christmas Order Week!

“On a personal level, too, art is life intensified: it delights more deeply, consumes more rapidly; it engraves the traces of imaginary and intellectual adventure on the countenance of its servant and in the long run, for all the monastic calm of his external existence, leads to self-indulgence, overrefinement, lethargy, and a restless curiosity that a lifetime of wild passions and pleasures could scarcely engender.”

Death in Venice

Thomas Mann

Just off of the frame, some of the echo quilting I did this week. See that orange fabric…that is the back and it is going to be the binding! I think it will really pick up the appliqued flowers!

Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a wonderful week!  I have been busy sewing, prepping, quilting, and enjoying my work.  You can see above the lovely echo quilting I did earlier in the week...I am really starting to like custom quilting!  I do enjoy the simple stipple I use on t-shirt quilts; it is a soothing pattern that allows me to avoid any parts of shirts that need special care like pockets, buttons, placards, or areas with heavy paint.  I do enjoy having the opportunity to do some custom quilting, though, too, and I think in the new year I will endeavor to do more practice with it.

I am deep into getting Christmas projects completed.  I am trying to finish the Christmas orders by mid-December, so that if people need to mail items they can.  I feel good about my progress, too.  

I think the anniversary quilt will have to be put on hold until after I complete that work, though, so you will likely not see more about it until later in December.  I have also hinted at showing you the embroidery work I have been doing in the dark evenings before bed...I may get some pictures taken of it, but lighting is not great when I am working on it.  

Next week is Thanksgiving, and I won’t post another blog until the week after, I think...unless I get it set up and ready by Wednesday evening.  I have promised myself that I will take the entire day of Thanksgiving off, so I cannot set up the blog on Thursday if I do!  Maybe I can get it set up on Friday...which will mean it will be late, but even if I do not get a blog written next week, know that I am thinking of you all!  I hope you all have a safe, socially distant Thanksgiving, so that we can all enjoy a table full of family next year!

Sending Quilting Love, 

Ginger

Coming Next Week: That depends on you...what would you like to hear about?  Leave a comment by next Monday or Tuesday...maybe a few suggestions will help me get the blog finished early next week!  Really, I would love to hear from you!

I am Reading: Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands. I am also reading Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, and now I am casting about for what my mind needs next.   The Mann novel was acquired at the library along with Blue Rose by Carol Muske-Dukes (poetry).  I am also reading The Yellow House by Martin Gayford.   

Cutting is Magic!

Measure twice. Cut once.

Very appropriate proverb!

My favorite cutting tools in the studio.

Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a super week!  I have been busy finishing a few projects, delivering quilts, and meeting with new customers, so my week has been less present in the studio than some weeks.  

As you probably know I finalize the blog on Thursday afternoon, and today when I was piecing a quilt I had cut out last week, I started thinking about cutting.  Cutting really is the magic in quilting.  If a quilter cuts the pieces right, then the quilt will go together so easily!  I remember my PawPaw, who was a woodworker, say often to me to “measure twice, and cut once,” and I live by those words all the time in the studio!  Too often, though, I find cutting rather arduous, but I think I will look at it a little differently now...it really is what makes everything better!

Great preparation always helps!

Have a great week. Stay safe. Vote!

Sending Quilting Love, 

Ginger

Coming Next Week: That depends on you...what would you like to hear about?  Leave a comment by next Tuesday or Wednesday!  More about the Anniversary quilt next week, too!

I am Reading: Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (unabridged); I am getting so close to finishing! 1112 pages finished...the end is 1243, so only 131 to go...oh my...so good!  Maybe Agatha Christie soon?  I am also reading various poetry.   

Busy Week!

“Chloe reached out and touched a branch of cottonwood. ‘It’s so beautiful here. Hearing what you’re saying, the stuff that never makes it into the history books, I wonder how you can stand to associate with anyone who isn’t Indian.’

‘You forget I’m not full blood.  Lots of people feel the way you’re describing. That’s part of what AIM was about.  Where I live in Massachusetts was Indian land, once.  There isn’t any place you can walk in the US that doesn’t fit that description.  The Indian part of me alternates between feeling conquered and murderous, but the white part of me, my mother’s blood, can’t quite rest easy there.’

‘I don’t see why not.’

He shook his head. ‘It’s a tribal thing.  It’s tribal, and I’ll never be part of that.”

Loving Chloe

    Jo-Ann Mapson

This image is from a month or so ago when I was repairing a well-loved comforter.

Happy Friday!

I hope you are having a super week!  Again this week I have been busy with prep, fabric choices, cutting, and communicating with customers.  I have two quilts ready to piece, three ready to quilt, and a bear finished along with a small quilt finished!  Whew!  

I posted a fun walk through the bear making in my stories on Instagram this week...would you like to see more of that?  I plan to post more of those as I feel inspired.  Sometimes I get so busy and involved that I forget to share, which I don’t necessarily consider a bad thing.  Focus and diligent attention are always good!  If you don’t follow me on Instagram, then go over to the gallery and click on the camera icon or search for finished.fibers. Also let me know what other types of process pictures you would like to see!

The Anniversary quilt is still in the works...I am trying to get enough pieced to take good photos!  Hopefully I will have an update next week. 

I may have to move to a blog every two weeks with my holiday work load kicking in, but I’ll try to at least drop a note each week!

Have a great week. Stay safe.

Sending Quilting Love, 

Ginger

Coming Next Week: That depends on you...what would you like to hear about?  Leave a comment by next Tuesday or Wednesday! I write and set the blog up on Thursday evening!

I am Reading: Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (unabridged); I am getting so close to finishing! 910 pages finished...the end is 1243, so only 333 to go...those plot lines tightening!  Maybe Agatha Christie soon?  I am also reading various poetry.   

Studio Reorganizing!

“But our dreams are the anterooms between quickness and death---where we divest of meaning’s demands.”

“Conversations with Sleep (IV)”

Lines 19-21

Kyle Dargan

Happy Friday!

May I ask:  Where has August gone?  I can hardly believe we are so close to September.  Well, school has resumed for all of my boys (husband included both teaching and learning), and it has been an eventful week.  NCSU began classes a little over a week and a half ago with a hybrid in-person schedule and this afternoon (I am writing this Thursday evening!) undergraduate classes were moved to all online.  ASU looks like its Covid numbers are good so far, so we will hope Sam can safely stay on campus.  High School classes for my youngest have been underwhelming, but I think this week has been, really, just an acclimation week.  I think everyone is trying to settle in before major work starts.  I seriously want to give Sidney some work, though! (Can you feel the eye roll?)  Teachers, professors, administrators…everyone trying to school has my deepest sympathy and respect right now.

My week has been busy and enlightening...I have been wanting to move things around in my studio for a while now, and I have a pretty solid plan.  My business, five years in, is beginning to outgrow my little studio above the garage, so reorganization has become a necessity.  This week I started moving things around, and I think I have decided to dig in and finish the shuffle tomorrow.  Otherwise my head might explode!

Earlier this summer, I moved my desk, where I do paperwork and answer emails, completely out of the studio.  I now have a sweet, very organized desk in our dining room, and I love that set up.  (I am typing this blog there right now!)  In the studio this week, I cleaned off one bookcase, so that I can store fabric in it, and I moved my bolts of fabric to the corner where my table used to be.  The bolts are now more accessible, and they are organized and neat!  

Easily accessible and organized…I am so motivated and excited to finish more reorganizing for you to see!

I plan to move my embroidery machine to the corner where my bolts used to live, and I have acquired new bins to keep customer orders in.  I plan to get all of that squared away tomorrow, so I should have good pictures for next week.

The cleaning and organizing so far has been at odd times built around the work I am currently trying to complete, but I decided today that I need to just get organized.  My work-flow and my mind flow will appreciate and benefit from the studio being cleaner and more organized.  I hate to halt production of quilts for even one day, but I know that getting the studio finished in a day will be better for me.  And every little bit helps these days!

I am also looking at another big...and excellent...change for the business, but I will have more information about that later.   I have also been spending a lot of extra hours on this plan!

All of that being said, you know my half square triangles have been in tiny bits of production all week!  I will continue to work on those, but the Anniversary quilt is only one facet of this five year celebration!  I will not lose sight of it, though! How are your quilts going?  Can I see some pictures?  Are you struggling to get all of the half square triangles finished?  Let me know how things are going in the comments below.  Are you super peeved that I am taking so long?  Let me know! I would also love to see your work!

Have a great week. Stay safe.

Sending Quilting Love, 

Ginger

Coming Next Week: Okay...definitely studio pictures.  I’m sure an update on the Anniversary quilt, too.  And who knows, my other plan may be ready to be revealed, too! 

I am Reading: Cræft: An Inquiry Into the Origins and True Meaning of Traditional Crafts by Alexander Langlands and The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (unabridged).  I am also reading various poetry---Kyle Dargan’s Honest Engine lives on my nightstand--beautiful, timely, and important.  What are you reading? I would love to know!  I haven’t started Mozart’s Starling yet, but I am still thinking about it...still.  

Large Half Square Triangles for the Anniversary Quilt: Complete!

Happy Friday!

Today’s quotation comes from Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt, and it is a description from “the homely little house beside the pond,” and the busy sewing spot of one of its occupants:

“...patches and scraps of bright cloth; half-completed quilts and braided rugs; a bag of cotton batting with wisps of its contents, like snow, drifting into cracks and corners; the arms of the sofa webbed with strands of thread and dangerous with needles…”

I love this quotation and think of it often when I am sewing!  When I hand sew at night, I invariably stick my needle in the arm of the chair, while I fetch some thread or move my hoop.  Of course, I don’t leave it there, and I should probably get a needle minder, but “the homely little house beside the pond,” really holds a lot of charm for me.  I think the house’s “eddies of dust” and “the silver cobwebs” speak to the importance of priorities...yes, read the book, and you will see what I mean.

I have been feverishly trying to keep my priorities in strict order this week, and I think I have accomplished a lot.  I finished another quilt and two pillows...I will share those on Instagram soon.  I also completed all of my 8” half square triangles for the Anniversary Quilt...for both quilts!  Don’t worry if you haven’t finished your squares yet...we are all working through this at our own pace, so no need to rush or feel hurried!

Kona Meringue and Kona Geranium with my scrappy fabric squares.

I cut 16  9 ⅜” squares of each solid fabric and 32 9 ⅜” squares from my scrappy fabric.  I started by cutting four 9 ⅜” strips from each solid fabric.  (By the way, I am using Kona Meringue and Kona Geranium for my solid fabrics for my two quilts, and I am in love with both!) Then I cut four 9 ⅜” squares from each strip. 

When I cut my scrappy fabrics I decided to stack and whack them. I stacked them to cut the strips I needed and then to cut the squares.  I specially picked these scrappy fabrics for these larger half square triangles because I like the patterns, and I remember the quilts I made with them.  The fabrics will also be the first ones I cut for my smaller half square triangles, and then I will supplement with other fabrics in my stash, too.  We have a lot of 4” half square triangles to cut, so I think variety will be good.  

Stacking fabrics to make cutting easier! 9 3/8” strips ready to cut into 9 3/8” squares.

After I cut my squares, I stacked them, marked them, sewed them, pressed them to the darker fabric, and then I trimmed each square to 8.5”.  I used my 9.5” square to trim each one.  I just lined the square up on the 8.5” mark, making sure the diagonal line matched the diagonal in the half square triangle.  Then I trimmed and trimmed! Whew!  Don’t forget there is a tutorial for half square triangles in the June 5, 2020 blog if you need it.

All of my finished 8.5” squares…now on to the 4.5” squares!

Don’t feel like you have to do everything at once, though.  You can break the process up for yourself, and you only have 32 squares to make!  I am making two quilts, which is why I made 64. 

I would love to see your work...leave me a comment or send me a DM on Instagram.  Or post something to Instagram and tag me!

Sending Quilting Love, 

Ginger

Coming Next Week: Progress Check in...hopefully some 4” half square triangles and maybe a few words about how versatile half square triangles are!

I am Reading:  Elantris by Brandon Sanderson and Man in the Blue Scarf: On Sitting for a Portrait by Lucien Freud by Martin Gayford, and Emma by Jane Austin.  I read more of the same poetry this week, but I think I am craving some Middle English...a little Chaucer maybe...hmm...yes.  I’ll let you know what I read next week! I’m thinking a visit with Dorigen and Arveragus in “The Franklin’s Tale” is needed... those black rocks...I love to read it aloud.   Have I told you I love the smell of books, yet? Well I do...love the smell of books.   My copy of Emma is a copy from 1957 that I bought at Reader’s Corner in Raleigh, and it smells just like that book shop.  My Elantris copy is new, and it has that beautiful newsprint smell.  My Chaucer book has a lovely smell, too.  Yes, smell is a part of my love of reading, and yes, I am aware how weird I am.  But I am also unashamed to admit that I have taught my boys to be weird about book smells, too!

Counterpane Comfort

“Upon waking next morning about daylight, I found Queequeg’s arm thrown over me in the most loving and affectionate manner.  You had almost thought I had been his wife.  The counterpane was of patchwork, full of odd little particolored squares and triangles; and this arm of his tattooed all over with an interminable Cretan labyrinth of a figure, no two parts of which were of one precise shade--owing I suppose to his keeping his arm at sea unmethodically in sun and shade, his shirt sleeves irregularly rolled up at various times--this same arm of his, I say, looked for all the world like a strip of that same patchwork quilt.  Indeed, partly lying on it as the arm did when I first awoke, I could hardly tell it from the quilt, they so blended their hues together; and it was only by the sense of weight and pressure that I could tell Queequeg was hugging me.”

Chapter 4; The Counterpane

Moby Dick

Herman Melville

Counterpane:  The outer covering of a bed, generally more or less ornamental, being woven in a raised pattern, quilted, made of patchwork, etc. a coverlet, a quilt.  OED definition. [Melville is one of the examples in the OED]

I often think of this quotation when I think about my work making quilts--one because it is beautiful writing--two because it really gets to the heart of quilts for me.  The juxtaposition of Queequeg, the so-called “savage,” warm-hearted, preternatural, heroic, and the homespun, patchwork quilt is a lovely picture that ends with that unconscious hug at the end.  For me quilts are all of these things.

Quilted items date back centuries, and their utility, comfort, and beauty are deeply embedded in our human consciousness.  Knights wore quilted garments for protection and padding under their armor.  Fabric scraps and worn out or out-grown clothing found their way into quilts that were the only defence against a particularly harsh winter.  Crazy quilts, featuring hours of hand embroidery, have been lovingly created simply because the process and the finished product are beautiful.

Quilts are the very essence of humanness---the base of who we are.  Our need for protection, comfort, and beauty are all found in a quilt, which is, I think, the reason why I find so much joy in my work.  I love making lovely, meaningful pieces for people, and  I love the process and the meaning in the quilts.

I think today, more than ever, quilts can be a beautiful balm for our souls.  Even with spring slipping into summer, when we won’t necessarily wrap up in a quilt, simply having a quilt in a room---on a bed---over the back of a couch----draped over a chair---or spread out over the grass---can be pleasing and comfortable.

I love a good quilt (or two or three or in a stack!)  Quilts remind me of what is important and essential:  Love, comfort, security, and hugs.

Sending Quilting Love,

      Ginger

P.S. By the way, I love Moby Dick---It is a viscerally written catalogue of a horrifying industry used as a backdrop to a close study of the patchwork that is humanity.  There is so much beauty amongst all of its ugliness...and who doesn’t love a novel with a whole chapter devoted to a quilt. 

P.S.S. I love the OED, too.  I used to spend hours pouring over it at NCSU’s DH Hill Library.

Coming Next Week:  My Favorite Kind of Quilt to Make!