Everybody is quilting. Mouse is plotting and planning and haunting fabric stores. And I’ve been right along with her. I’ve been to the Viking store three times in the last two days and Joann Fabrics once. Jean and her sister are working on one or two or three quilts. They are *always* making a quilt or two or three. Sue is making a house quilt. Yes. Sue is making a house quilt. For her oldest grandson. I was oohing and aahing at all of Sue’s beautiful house blocks as she was laying them out in the costume room at STAC. And then, I was hit by a lightning bolt! I have *made* a house quilt.

That house quilt in the picture is the last full size quilt I made. The colors are a little more vibrant in real life. I made it for Mouse back in about 1989-1990 or so, that would make it 17-18 years old. It’s old enough to have a little hole in it and almost looks kind of antique now, except for some of the fabrics. It’s machine pieced (I think) and hand quilted.

I wanted to keep making quilts but somehow I could never manage to fit them into my schedule, at least not full-sized ones. You would think that would stop me from buying fabric, right? Not. I have about half a basement wall of yaffa blocks full of quilt fabric down in the dungeon. I didn’t totally stop doing fiber arts stuff. I made doll quilts and wall hangings. I made little patchwork bags for birthday party favors and girl scout ceremonies, overstitching and beading them or whatever technique I was experimenting with at the time. I got sidetracked on beadweaving for a few years. And then little fabric collage projects in various forms. And yes, I have more than my share of unfinished projects hanging around.

I think I have come full circle. As I began slowly dredging through my studio dungeon earlier this summer, I got to the point where I can almost get to the fabric. There’s a mattress and box springs in the way but I can navigate around that. Actually it makes a good sliding door. But here’s the important thing: I have an idea for a quilt! A full-sized quilt. I’m not going to use a pattern, at least not exactly. It’ll be based on traditional pattern elements like squares and triangles but it’ll grow more or less organically. I’m gonna hand piece it. When I saw Sue’s house quilt, I knew I had to get going.

Don’t worry. I won’t turn this into a quilting blahg any time soon. But if I actually come up with something I *like*, I’ll keep y’all posted. I betcha I won’t even have to hit the fabric store to complete it. But I’m sure I’ll find some excuse to go there anyway. For just that perfect little piece of fabric. I promise I won’t start stockpiling again.

So, while y’all are reading about quidditch, I’ll be quilting away. On the beach. And wherever.

Love, Kayak Woman

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 6:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.