Farm Quilt

 Back in the 1970s I wanted to be a landscape painter. When I lived on the edge of a small town in 1977, I rode around the country photographing barns, planning to use them as models for paintings. I managed to begin one of those paintings, but never finished it. Life got too busy for that hobby, and then when I later discovered quilting, I abandoned painting altogether. I'm really too messy for painting; fabric makes a mess, too, but it's easier to clean up.

Last summer I started taking photos of barns again while on vacation--this time as inspiration for quilts. And today I have a quilt to share, not from one of the recent photos, but from two I took in 1977.

Okay, that might be enough for anyone who just wants to see what I made, but if you are interested in the process and some details, here's more. First, those old photos, fuzzy images from a cheap old film camera.

I took digital photos of the photos and enlarged them to use as patterns, tracing over major lines with a marker for seams.

I also made a tiny sketch of my idea.

I traced the barn parts and added more lines on newsprint for a pattern,

divided it into sections, and traced each in reverse on freezer paper for no tear-off paper piecing. 

                   Sorry about the bad images. These were hard to photograph. 

The first part of my piecing was with fabrics from my scraps. I gradually built up the quilt top, piecing sections and layering fabrics to determine the next placements. I ended up having to shop for some greens (as well as the sky) because I didn't have enough on hand. So now I have leftover fabric for more landscapes if the mood strikes again. Here are some in-progress photos.

I cut a narrow freezer paper pattern piece to help me attach the sky to the land piece. This was the only tricky seam in the quilt. All the others were straight seams. I used a technique from one of my Ruth B McDowell piecing books for curved piecing. Since the seam was gentle, it was pretty easy to do. 

A finished top:

I quilted the quilt the way it wanted to be quilted, mostly following structural details and contours of the land with a walking foot, but meandering in the foreground and sky with a free motion foot.

I finished the quilting and did the machine sewing on the binding and sleeve just before we went on vacation and did the hand sewing to finish them on the porch at our charming rented house. The binding is a combination of two navy prints.

I also started the embroidery of the fence wire, but didn't quite finish it until I got back home. Just for fun, and because it's kind of part of my art signature, I also added four buttons from my ceramic collection by Sandra Lance.

Here are the usual garage and driveway photos back at home. I should have probably taken the quilt to a farm. In recent years, I have not found those barns from the photos in the area. I suspect they have been demolished. We still have lots of similar barns around here, though.

                                           Breeze bulge at the bottom.

                                I suppose that red button could be a wheel.

           Yellow button just 'cause it matches. I think this is wheat, so not a bale.

I like how some of the flowers poke through the fence. They are the last bits of fabric that is in a very old bedspread and many past quilts. I see my fence wire is sagging a bit. Tired, old fence.

The back is a woodprint I've had for years. Joel Dewberry, I think?

                                                   More breeze play.

On the driveway, again.

          If you look really close, you can see my initials and date below the button.

Some stats, such as they are--

Pattern: My own, based on my own photos

Size: 43 3/4 inches by 23 7/8 inches

Fabrics: A variety of old and new cottons/batiks

Binding: Two navy prints, cut 2 5/8 inches

Batting: Hobbs 80/20

Thread: Superior Masterpiece in Granite for piecing; Superior King Tut in White Linen for bobbin when quilting; a variety of all kinds of threads for top quilting thread (I think I finished up at least five spools); Superior Treasure in Antique for hand sewing.

Embellishments: Hand embroidery with DMC floss in 3072 (Beaver Gray); four ceramic handmade buttons by Sandra Lance Pottery.

Machines: Singer Featherweight for piecing; Singer 115 Treadle for walking foot and free motion quilting and first stitching of binding.

I was going to share some other photos from our trip, including quilt-related ones, but I think I'll put them in a separate post in a few days. This is enough for now. I must say this though: When I started this quilt, it was meant to be a somewhat challenging distraction from all the horrific and disturbing things going on in the world--and because I live here--in my country. As I worked on the quilt, I was often thinking of the chaos we wake up to every day when tuning in to the latest news. I was making a seemingly idyllic scene, but as I worked it felt more like a protest piece. Protest about so many governmental actions that affect farmers/food security/human life--all of us:

--Ping ponging imposition of tariffs 

--The dismantling of US Agency for International Development (USAID) 

--Proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

--Proposed cuts to clean energy programs and climate protections 

--Cuts and proposed cuts to US Department of Agriculture (USDA) funding to food banks and schools, food safety regulations and agricultural research, and

--Recent raids on agricultural workers without regard for their constitutional rights.  

My fabric picture of a farm is pristine--no people, no equipment. Is this beauty or a prophecy of loss? I can hold two thoughts in mind as I view it--appreciation for the beauty of farms/farming as well as a sense of outrage over decisions that would certainly roll back progress made in addressing a basic need of humans--food security and safety--and result in the loss of farming livelihoods and communities.

As Willie Nelson said, "Farmers and their fields are the fabric that holds our country together."

I'm linking up today with Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Brag about Your Beauties, and later this month I'll link up with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for June's Favorite Finish. (Update: At her request, I'm also linking up with Andree at Quilting and Learning What a Combo for Free Motion Mavericks. And with Frederique at Quilting Patchwork Applique, too) I appreciate your comments if you wish to make them. I know some may not agree with what I have said about my protest, but I believe that we have a right to speak up (and must) when we disagree with our government. This is my way, whether you agree or not. Know that I might not post related comments, but I will respond to you personally through email. 

Keep quilting; keep speaking up.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores, I'm just documenting what I used or liked, not officially promoting anything. )

Outstanding Blogger Award

Well, I'm flattered. A few weeks ago, Sandra at Musings of a Menopausal Melon--mmm quilts nominated me for an OBA. I laughed at first because I feel like my blog has been running on fumes the last few years. I certainly have not been as prolific as in the early years. Nevertheless, I am trying very hard to continue blogging because I do like having documentation of my quilting journey all in one place. So thank you, Sandra (and anyone else who checks in) for still reading my words and encouraging me. And if you hadn't already been nominated, I would nominate you, too. Your posts about your quilts, designs, tutorials, home reno, your Great Lake, and your sensitivity to social issues are a highlight of my blog reading.

As a recipient of an OBA, I have some questions Sandra would like me to answer. So here goes...

1. Have you made any quilts of your own design? If so, please share. Yes, I make a lot of different kinds of quilts (mostly lap sized ones), but the ones of my own design tend to be landscape art/wall quilts. I'll stick with those for this blog post because I'm too lazy to find anyone I need to credit for ideas for my other quilts. The one I'm most proud of (is that okay?) is Reminiscence--a quilt based on a photo I took at a local park on a mild winter day. I used freezer paper templates to piece it, and I hand quilted it.

2. Have you entered any quilt shows, and if so, which ones? If not, do you have plans to? As far as I can recall, I've only entered quilts in the online Blogger's Quilt Festival of October 2014 hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side. I'm still thrilled that my Reminiscence quilt (above) won the viewers choice in the Art category.

A couple of years ago, I entered another landscape quilt, Mi Barca, in a general art show at my church. It's a reflection on a Spanish song, "You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore," particularly the line, "En la arena he dejado mi barca" (translation: "On the sand, I've abandoned my small boat"), a call to leave our daily occupations (pre-occupations?) to serve others with love and commitment. 

And that's it. I find in-person quilt shows overwhelming. 

3.Do you have a mentor, or someone to whom you look up to or have learned a great deal from in your craft? Explain how this person or these people have influenced you. These days I'm inspired by numerous bloggers and instagrammers. I have eclectic tastes, so my social media perusal covers a pretty broad range. I would say that most of my donation quilts are influenced by the posts I read, whether it's a pattern or color or a call for blocks or quilts to distribute. So thank you, quilters!!

In terms of my own designs, I have been most influenced by the work and books of Ruth B. McDowell. Although I've never met her, she has taught me how to design and construct a quilt using freezer paper patterns/templates. I am still trying to capture the abstract nature of her work--the unexpected fabrics and colors--but I'm content to use her techniques to make my own work. Reminiscence was made using her techniques.

Another influence is Karen Eckmeier and her Accidental Landscapes (you can see that influence in the quilt above and below), which I find fascinating as a way to interpret the shores of my beloved state. And that leads me to...

4. Do you find that where you live influences your choices of colour (well, color for me) and design? Can you give examples? Oh, yes. I'm very much inspired by my beautiful Mitten state surrounded by 4 of the 5 Great Lakes. Here's my Accidental Landscape of Lake Michigan.

I've also made some miniature quilts of Michigan lighthouses, which are mostly foundation paper pieced, with some accidental landscaping thrown in.

And I'm inspired by nature, even in my own backyard. One quilt I recently designed includes traditional blocks and my own paper piecing. It's my interpretation of Bear Paw blocks as Coleus plants.

5. What do you do with your makes? (keep, decorate, use, give away, etc.) All of those. My quilts are part of my home environment on the walls and wherever we need a cozy layer, but most of my quilts are given away for celebrations (weddings, births, birthdays) or donation to some favorite organizations to give cozy hugs to people in need. I've also made the difficult quilts to help comfort and heal people after a traumatic or tragic event. Making/giving away quilts is the most satisfying and heartwarming way I know to spend free time in my retirement. It's a celebration, a meditation and a mission. 

I think I'm supposed to nominate some other quilters. Because I've been away from blogland a lot this past month, I honestly don't know who has already received this honor. So I'm going to nominate anyone reading this post. I don't have a question, but I am going to encourage you to keep it up. Keep blogging. It does still have a wonderful place in social media. You are an Outstanding Blogger.

Scrappy Grands--or Grandly Scrappy

"Gramma, can we sew something?"

It had been months since we could be together, but that's one of the first things L said when they came to spend a couple of days with us during their spring break. Music to my quilt-loving ears. She even had an idea of what she wanted to sew: a landscape (lakescape?) like one I had made that hangs in their living room. Woohoo! It was a gorgeous day, and I knew we would want to spend a lot of time outside, so it had to be a quick project--maybe 20 or 30 minutes tops.

I just happened to have lots of scraps handy--especially blue for my RSC color of the month. I quickly cut some small pieces of backing and batting, and let her have at it to choose fabrics for an Accidental Landscape mini in the style of Karen Eckmeier. To be super fast and easy for a beginning sewist, raw edge quilt-as-you-go seemed to be the technique of choice.

L found a piece of cloud fabric for sky. Then she cut wavy strips of blue for the lake. Don't you love the star fabric? Like sparkles on the water. I love how kids do art! We pulled out the bin of neutrals for sand. 

She laid them out, and I put a few pins in to hold them in place. Then she got her first opportunity to use the foot pedal to sew them down herself with some wavy lines. She mastered the pedal speed immediately and quickly figured out how to move the fabric to make wavy quilting lines.

I knew binding would be too time consuming for this project, so after stitching around the edge, I trimmed it for her with pinking shears. And done! A cute little mini for her bedroom wall. Didn't she do a great job?!

While we were working, C started sorting through the blue scraps himself. He is a major crafter, and his adhesive of choice is tape. Lots of tape. In no time, he had laid out his first quilt block. 

What a fun way to spend the first part of our weekend together! We spent most of the rest of the weekend outside. There was a little trip to meet up with cousins to hike some trails and play some baseball, more baseball and all kinds of other sports in our backyard, and a short hike in the prairie behind our neighborhood. A perfect way to end our isolation of the last year. Hurray for vaccinations!!

I'll wait until the end of the month to share my RSC blues. But I just had to share these blues today!

I'm linking up this weekend with Angela at So Scrappy for ScrapHappy Saturday and with Cynthia at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap. Oh, and with Sandra at mmm quilts on the last Saturday of the month because this was a perfect DrEAMi (Drop Everything and Make it) project.

If you live in my hemisphere, Happy Spring, which as far as I can tell from our trees and flowers, is about a month ahead of schedule. I hope you get to do some unexpected projects, maybe with your own little kiddies.

Life is Grand again.

Sewing Double

No, you're not seeing double. I've been sewing double, bit by bit, for most of 2020. The project I hinted at has been gifted and I can finally share. 

The quilt on the right is a very belated wedding present (and by now, a housewarming present) for my brother-in-law and new sister-in-law. They were married in January. Why is there another quilt? Well, let's see...

This all started with a squirrel project back in mid-October--that leaf you see in the bottom right corner. I had an urge to make a freezer paper pieced aspen leaf that you can read about in the second half of this post here. At the time, I knew I wanted to expand that block into a quilt with other natural elements, but I didn't have a plan. I knew it would become part of a wedding present for M and C because they live in Colorado, where these leaves are glorious in autumn. At the time, I was also looking ahead to our church's art show in May 2020. I figured I'd make two quilts simultaneously, using the quilt on the left as my practice blocks  and then entering that quilt in the art show. So while my October post showed one leaf, there were actually two identical squirrels that month. For a little extra interest, I made the central vein and stem a three-dimensional flap. 

Art show quilt

M and C's quilt (with initials and date)

I had a nasty virus all during January, so I was slow getting started with the project at the end of the month. I knew that the next block I would make was a columbine blossom. For this one, I used a pattern from Ruth B. Mc Dowell's book Pieced Flowers. You know she's my favorite quilt artist, and I love using her freezer paper piecing, which I think of as puzzle style piecing. Her quilts often make dramatic use of fabric color, pattern, and value rather than more realistic representations. I have not mastered that, but I do love using the techniques and developing my own interpretations of color and texture. Most of the fabric used in the blocks were from my scrap bins and drawers. I had to use two different purple and white fabrics for the centers of the columbines as I didn't have enough of one fabric. Figuring out how to get the purple parts where I wanted them was a challenge with lots of do-overs, but I think they both worked in their own ways in the end.

Art show quilt

 

M and C's quilt

I was a little stumped about the next small blocks because I had sort of exhausted my knowledge of Colorado nature, but an internet search revealed that the state butterfly is the Blue Hairstreak. Well, sure. I've been on a butterfly kick for the last couple of years, so that would be fun. I made my own pattern on graph paper with multiple versions to simplify the design, and then transferred it to freezer paper for the patterns. It was fun fooling around with a batik berry print to make the "eyes" on the wings. I used embroidery after quilting for the antennae and little hairs at the bottom of the wings.

Art show quilt

M and C's quilt

I also found that there is a state cactus: the Claret Cup. Breathtakingly beautiful in the photos I saw. I drew a pattern and then waffled about how to represent it in fabric. I tried two different ways--one with subtle red shading and the other with more pattern in the fabrics. I like both of them. By this point in the process, I had ordered some fabrics online because I wanted some that represented spines and dryness in the background, so most of the fabrics in the background are new fabrics (except the dark brown scribbly print that I've often used to represent woody landscapes). I don't often buy fabrics online because I have a really difficult time visualizing them from a computer screen, but I had no choice. By then we were in lockdown due to the pandemic. I think I bought these from Lark Cottons, and all but two worked. I loved the other two, but the designs were too distinct. 

Art show quilt

M and C's quilt

M and C live near the foothills of the Rockies with a rather subdued mountain right outside their windows, but they have a second home in the mountains looking out at the chalk cliffs of the Collegiate range. I tried making a pattern for their mountain in the foothills, but never having been there, I had a hard time figuring out how to draw it just from photos. I did have access to photos of the chalk cliffs, though, taken on a brilliant day. My brother-in-law and some of his family members are in the foreground. I've blurred them out for privacy.

I knew I had found my header block when I found these photos. I designed an abstract version of the cliffs on newsprint and then made a freezer paper pattern. After that it was a matter of, little by little, building the different sections. (Sorry, forgot to take a picture of the pattern.)

I tried various patterned blue fabrics for the sky thinking they would fit with the other prints in the quilt.

But, I kept going back to that brilliant, cloudless blue sky in the photo and just had to use that. And I'm glad I did. 

Art quilt

M and C's quilt

You can see that I put frames around each block. I wasn't planning to do that at first, but as I developed a plan for the background of the quilt, it started looking mushy, so I framed the mountains in brown and the other blocks in various greens according to whatever was needed for a bit of contrast. I also tried some lighter fabrics for the background, but eventually chose a patchwork of yellow greens to represent various types of foliage. After laying out what I had on hand, I bravely made my way out to a local fabric store that had just opened after the virus lockdown to buy a few more pieces of fabric. It was the first time I had been to a retail store except for early morning "senior hour" grocery shopping, and kind of scary and surreal. The shop was outfitted with clear shower curtains to separate workers and customers, X's on the floors for social distancing, and of course, everyone was masked. It was probably the fastest I ever made decisions about fabric choices, but I did find what I needed to finish the quilts. By this point, it was easiest for me to foundation paper piece strips to make my quilts similar. It also ensured that I kept the quilt as squared as possible.

If you've looked closely at the small blocks, you'll see that I kind of scribble quilted different aspects to emphasize the main design elements and then I did stipple quilting in the backgrounds. The mountains were a bit more tricky. I set up my Ipad to look at the photos of them to try to imitate some of the features of the rock faces and the trees. 

I did some scribble trees in the foreground, but it's mostly texture quilting. I quilted straightish horizontal lines in the sky to add texture but not clouds. To soften the lines between the trees and cliffs, I did some zigzag free motion along the edges of the tree sections. Have you ever zigzagged with free motion? What fun! 

M and C's quilt

M and C's quilt

M and C's quilt

Here's one of the quilts before binding. Not a great photo, but it does show the quilting texture well. It was a bit ripply, so I had to do some stay stitching before sewing the binding on.

I bound the quilts with a green batik that I've had for years for my landscape quilts. The backing is a piece I ordered from Bernie's Needle and Foot Etsy shop. I bought it while we were still in lockdown, and I'm glad I did. It is really too pretty to be up against a wall, but I'll know it's there, and that makes me smile. 

M and C's quilt

The process of making the quilts was very slow. We were in lockdown much of the time, and during the early days of the pandemic, I had little energy or ability to concentrate for very long. I had another project that was a good distractor for me (which you can read about in most of my previous posts for 2020), but in between, I picked away at these quilts. I was happy if I only did one little thing on a day, whether it was cutting out pattern pieces or piecing a little section. I did not give myself a timeline--it was past the wedding anyway, and by the middle of March we knew there would be no art show at our church. (That quilt is temporarily hanging in my quilting room, but I think I have a plan for it.) So it was just a matter of working off and on as I felt like it. Over time, I got used to a relaxed--if isolated--way of living and regained my creative energy, which is why these quilts are finished now. It feels good! I did not keep good records, but here are the stats as well as I can remember them. 

Pattern: My own design, except for the Columbine block, which is Ruth B. McDowell's. The other blocks are based on various photos. 
Fabrics:  Pieces I had on hand except as noted above. I did not keep track of new fabrics, except the backing is a Harmony with Nature print by Norman Wyatt for P&B Textiles.

Batting: Hmm, hard to remember. I'm thinking maybe bits of Dream Select Cotton. Or maybe the Warm Company. Perhaps one in white and one in natural? But don't hold me to it. My mind is mush. I think I had to piece one of them.I really need to keep track of these things, but when I make wall quilts, I always dive into the batting bin looking for scraps and pay more attention to size than type. 

Thread: Superior Masterpiece in Granite for piecing; King Tut in White Linen for quilting the background and in the bobbin. Various random threads in colors to match the other elements. Luckily, I had them on hand. Treasure in Old Lace for handstitching on binding. 

Binding: 2 1/2 inches cut, double layer, machine sewn to front and hand stitched on back.
Finished Size: 39  5/8 inches by 26 inches quilted. Not washed. 

Machines: Singer Featherweight for piecing; Singer Treadle 115 for free motion quilting (and walking foot quilting in the sky).

And just a few more photos--

(The sedum flowers have turned pink now.)

I'm linking up this week with Kelly at My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday,  Michelle at From Bolt to Beauty for Beauties Pageant, Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop and Wendy at Wendy's Quilts and More for Peacock Party. And now that I've got my quilting vigor back I have two more finishes to share. One is a fresh one that started as a squirrel recently, and the other is a real oldie. Watch this space over the next two weeks. And then?? I've finished everything, so time to start something new. Whooppee!!

(Oh, and a question for anyone that can answer it. Some of my photos end up squished and elongated on Blogger on my phone. I've made all the photos on this post in Large size rather than Extra Large hoping that fixes the problem, but any tips you have would be appreciated. I prefer to make my photos as big as possible. Blogger is just one surprise after another, isn't it?)

Remember to take care of/for yourself and others.This country I'm living in is such a mess. Hopefully, there will be some cheer and relief in the future. I'll keep quilting, and you keep quilting, too, if you can. It is truly therapeutic.

(Just a reminder: I'm not affiliated with any company, so when I mention products, services, or stores I'm just documenting what I used or liked.)