I picked the largest bag of fabric I saw out of the gift exchange bag. Then I checked the name to make sure it wasn't one of the Queen Bees or Wannabees (every group has a couple) in our Guild. It contained a MoMo HoneyBun solids and a great piece of a Feed Sack reprint. I loved the idea of using an old print with moderns.
Turns out it was my pal Kim, I wouldn't say that we are super close but I know her and she always so nice to everybody. I tried to hide her bag from her so she wouldn't know I had it. I didn't think I had time to do what I did last year and I didn't want her to have expectations.
I looked on Flickr and saw that she had favorited a technique called Strip Race (see more about it here and here)
What ever I did, I wanted it to be fast, easy and simple. We had 2 months to make our gift but with the Habitat Quilts and family obligations I hadn't started till about a week before it was due.
While my husband was gone to the gym I produced the top... Yes it was that fast! no joke! petal to the metal! balls out sewing! bam! I read that it only takes 90 minutes and its true.. it does.
This border treatment is one that I have used on my Jackson School quilt and I've been drawing it for years and years... so it was super simple and fast as well ..
Next came the quilting:
I'd been doing this on a previous quilt Here so I had lots of practice and it goes so fast. Its basically "S" quilting. The quilt is pretty small at 50 x 60, a size that is very similar to Passage Quilts and I've had lots of practice.
Took a couple hours total over a couple of days.
I call this Awesome Blossoms- Mostly, because when I first started making them I would stop and marvel at my genius and whisper "oh wow, that is so awesome". I freehand quilt and wanted flowers that spoke to the old quilting patterns but were more free and organic. I view my quilting as sculpture, something that changes with use, and also as an expression of my femininity and of the connection I feel to women past and present.
A lot of my work shares its vocabulary with nature, being non symmetrical, using natural images rather than a grid based motif system.
See the whole set over at flickr ... and the Habitat quilts too
Next came the Label. As Treasurer/Membership of the Guild this/last year my duties included sending out the new cards and I asked for a stamp for the envelopes. I inked it with Fabric Ink and used it with my usual stamps... I think it turned out great.
All in all, it took only about 6 -8 hours which I'm sure was pretty average.
Late in the evening before we all went home I finally managed a snap.
Heres Kim with her Xmas Swap Gift. I hope she will enjoy it as much I did making it..
Quilters Rock!
4 comments:
You are so talented Rachel! Fortunately you've upped the bar for our swaps there were so many beautiful things this year. Love the label!
wow, what a great quilt! and i love your quilting, too. the recipient is sooo lucky to get such a beauty!!
have a great new year,
Claudia
The flowers are really stunning. I keep thinking about them. Your organic style is something that I really want to try playing with myself. Your quilting looks so relaxed and I love that.
Absolutely amazing quilt - love that I was able to see your work in person!!
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