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Quilting amidst chaos

So what was I doing, before the packing cyclone hit my studio?

I decided that if I didn’t make this piece right away, which is due for a juried invitational in mid-March, I would (a) explode with frustration and (b) it would  not get made.  The closing date for buying our new house is February 9th.  We are packing up pretty much EVERYTHING ourselves, so that is several weeks of work with all the c-r-a-junk (as my dear old Dad used to say) that is in this house.  The basement is downright SCARY. So I needed to move quickly, fuse-applique and quilt, or the piece wouldn’t get done before I absolutely HAD to start packing.

Since I am not allowed to share the finished piece, I thought I’d show you the drawing, blurred in the middle.  The finished quilt will be 36 inches wide by 48 inches tall, pretty good sized, with the theme The Spaces Between.  An e-mail conversation with one of the curators, in which she said “YOU are the one in between” (as in caught between the demands of being a daughter (mom has dementia so I do all her billpaying etc), a mom (obvious), wife, quilter, teacher, etc….).  BINGO!  Picture in my head instantaneously….

I decided to use only “color”—no beige, brown, black or white in this entire quilt.  I had, this past summer, had a seriously wonderful visa accident at Batiks Etcetera and Sew What Fabrics in Wytheville, Virginia.  They have awesome customer service–I first ran into them when teaching at Paducah in 2008.  If you want yardage of something in their boxes of half-yard or fat-quarter cuts, they take that sample back to the store and within 24 hours I think of returning from a show, the orders are starting to be shipped.   They have an entire room  packed three shelves high which means they have a good range of the hardest to find batiks, the light lights and deep darks.  So I spent nearly half a day’s wages there filling big  gaps in my stash.  I have never spent that much money on fabric in one go ever, but it was worth it.  They also…yeah!….(I am not responsible for Visa moments that you might have….) are online at www.batiks.com (easy to remember, eh?).

So I raided my supplemented stash and came up with this for the quilt:

lights/warms on the right, darks/cools and a few others on the left

Here’s another shot:

Aren't those gorgeous? And see all those pale-pales at the top--those came from Batiks Etcetera

And the to-be-used-later batiks in the darks:

Yummmm.....

I ended up not using as many of these as I anticipated.  The background changed from busy to simple because the focal point of the quilt kind of insisted on it…

It was fun playing with all that color in mid-winter!

4 Responses to “Quilting amidst chaos”

  1. Sally Says:

    Wow! Love your color selection. I’d love to come and play with them…I’m also amazed at how quickly you have decided on your idea. Takes me days, weeks sometimes. Anxious to see how it comes along. Is there a “reveal” day or must we wait until Spring. And–good luck with your packing. At this point I’d just shove it all in boxes and sort later.

  2. Jean from 7700 yahoo group Says:

    Ok, first off, I love the monster drawing on your design wall. LOL!

    I’m hoping the move is going well. It’s definitely a challenge to working when your mind is on other things. I applaud you for tackling this project. you can do it! Be sure to show us the project when you can.

    Those batiks are beautiful. I need to bookmark that site. Have a great weekend…

  3. Dorothy Karman Says:

    Oh, I just love batiks. Yum, yum! I think I should have a look at that shop. Our dollar compares well with yours at the moment. Good luck with the quilt and the move. Dorothy.

  4. Maggie Szafranski Says:

    Such a tease! Glorious batiks! And how do we accumulate such stuff?