Blogger's Quilt Festival: We The People Crazy Quilt

That's right!  It's Blogger's Quilt Festival Time!  If you're new to my site, welcome!  

One of my first introductions into the world of quilt bloggers was through one of Amy's link up festivals.  I'm adding 2 of my quilts to this fall's festival, which is going on now.  My art quilt entry is my recently completed "We the People Crazy Quilt.  It was created out of my frustration with the recent government shut down.  The whole process was very cathartic for me, and left me with a beautiful new quilt.

As usual, when I start a new project, I like to try out or learn a new technique.  I have been wanting to try reverse applique for a while now, so I used my red and blue scraps first to make a crazy quilt of the different states in the Union.  It's art, so I ad-libbed a bit.  Our politicians are very good at doing this.  Crazy quilts are made in exactly the same fashion, and it just seemed a perfect way to "portray" our country right now... a little bit crazy, and also a little bit (OK, maybe a lot) divided into "red" and "blue" states.  I'm a little bit crazy myself right now, so it just seemed perfect.  My opinion is that a little bit of crazy can be a good thing.  From this springs creativity, ingenuity, perseverance.  Going over that fine line, though, can be a very bad thing, and I think we're pretty much right there...

Of course our colors are red white and blue, so I found some almost white batik fabric in my stash.  I've learned that tightly woven batiks hold up better to the applique process.  I traced the outline of the United States that I had printed off, enlarged and also pieced together with paper, onto the batik fabric (did you follow that?).

I then pinned the batik on top of the crazy quilt top, both facing up, and free motion quilted just outside of the traced lines.

Now came the tedious but oh-so-fun step of cutting out along the line I drew, revealing the craziness underneath.

Then came the layering of batting and a back fabric, and the quilting.  I decided to quilt "pebbles" or people in the country part, all from a nice variegated purple thread, because we're all pretty much the same when it comes down to it.  To emphasize what this country is about, and maybe to even send out a little message of my own, I quilted the words "We the People" across the top, because this country is all about We the People, not we the politicians, or we the corporations.  Stippling and a scrappy binding finished it with the exception of one last detail.

I sewed on a button, and made a 2 sided fabric postcard sign that reads "open" on one side, and "closed" on the other.During the government shut down, it remained "closed".  I'm very happy, relieved and grateful that it is now open, and hope it stays that way for a very long time.

Be sure to click over to Amy's Creative Side's Blog to see all of the other wonderful quilts!

A Few Finishes: Minecraft Pillow, Give the Dog a Bone Pillow, and Another Sea Star

I realized today, that I haven't posted a few recent smaller "finishes" that I have sewn together.  The first is a Minecraft Creeper Pillow for my boys.

I also finished August's Lucky Star BOM block, or what I have been calling, Sea Stars.  This has been a fun club, but I'm looking forward to finishing a quilt top once December is here, and being done with it. I decided that I work best all at once.  This month by month block thing is just not for me.  That may be another reason my last WIP stayed that way for years.

Finally, yes, I made the dog a pillow, using a bunch of scraps.  I've finally forgiven him for tearing up the last one LOL!

Open

FINALLY!

MQXWest

Over the week-end I was able to travel to Portland, Oregon for a family visit and to see the MQXWest quilt show!  Above is me with my Med Tech Quilt, and the sign :-).  The quilts were just stunning!  Below is a few of my personal favorites.  Enjoy!

It looks like that's all blogger will let me upload. There was many more.  This is really a great who, and I'm glad I got to go!  I also met Anya of Rainy Day Threads while I was there.  Proof that it's a small world, as she used to work with 1 of the 2 ladies I went with!

We the People Crazy Quilt

I love my country.  I really do.  This craziness in our political leaders, though, has just got to stop.  I know everyone has their own opinions on how to do this. I also know that the stress of having a furloughed federal employee husband, who is also our sole bread winner has been very stressful, to put it mildly.  I don't claim to know much about politics, but I do know about quilting, so I decided to channel my own craziness into a quilt.

As usual, when I start a new project, I like to try out or learn a new technique.  I have been wanting to try reverse applique for a while now, so I used my red and blue scraps first to make a crazy quilt of the different states in the Union.  It's art, so I ad-libbed a bit.  Our politicians are very good at doing this.  Crazy quilts are made in exactly the same fashion, and it just seemed a perfect way to "portray" our country right now... a little bit crazy, and also a little bit (OK, maybe a lot) divided into "red" and "blue" states.  I'm a little bit crazy myself right now, so it just seemed perfect.  My opinion is that a little bit of crazy can be a good thing.  From this springs creativity, ingenuity, perseverance.  Going over that fine line, though, can be a very bad thing, and I think we're pretty much right there...

Of course our colors are red white and blue, so I found some almost white batik fabric in my stash.  I've learned that tightly woven batiks hold up better to the applique process.  I traced the outline of the United States that I had printed off, enlarged and also pieced together with paper, onto the batik fabric (did you follow that?).

I then pinned the batik on top of the crazy quilt top, both facing up, and free motion quilted just outside of the traced lines.

Now came the tedious but oh-so-fun step of cutting out along the line I drew, revealing the craziness underneath.

Then came the layering of batting and a back fabric, and the quilting.  I decided to quilt "pebbles" or people in the country part, all from a nice variegated purple thread, because we're all pretty much the same when it comes down to it.  To emphasize what this country is about, and maybe to even send out a little message of my own, I quilted the words "We the People" across the top, because this country is all about We the People, not we the politicians, or we the corporations.  Stippling and a scrappy binding finished it with the exception of one last detail.

I sewed on a button, and made a 2 sided fabric postcard sign that reads "open" on one side, and "closed" on the other.  I'm eagerly awaiting the day that I can flip the sign to open, and my husband can go back to work doing what he chose to do as a career, helping both our national forests and wild lands, and the people who use them.  These lands belong to all of us, not just 1 party.  They are important and essential, just like all federal employees and the people they serve.

Let's get on with it!!

October Goal

Truth be told, I'm down to only a few UFO's / WIP's in my sewing closet.  When I found out a long-time friend of mine has had a possible recurrence of a malignant brain tumor, I decided that this month's goal is to get a quilt made for her.  I had some of the fabric already, and a trip to a new quilt store in Hermiston, OR, The Material Girl, rounded out the collection.  She has an on-line store as well.  Lovely Shanna, from "Fiber of All Sorts" went with me, and used her talented eye for color to help me pick out a few of the teals! There's only one thing better than fabric shopping, and that's fabric shopping with a friend :-). She also gave me permission to put this in the queue of my year's "A Lovely Year of Finishes" Goals ;-).

Be sure to click on over there to see what other's are doing.

Government Furlough and New Items in my Etsy Shop

I'm afraid I haven't been doing a whole lot of sewing lately.  Our family focus has been on the Government Shut Down, as my husband's US Forest Service paycheck is our sole source of income.  He was deemed "non-essential" on Monday, and sent home.  So instead of planning for the fall prescribed burning season, which would improve forest health and mitigate wildfire danger, he's home trying to navigate the Unemployment Website.  To say we're upset would be an understatement.

Sooo.... in the spirit of trying to scrabble by, lemonade, bright side, etc, I've put together some thread racks that I'm selling in my Etsy store.  I made some for myself a year ago, and recently needed more, so when we bought the materials, we bought enough to make a few dozen, and my husband helped refine and improve them.  We'll see how it goes...

Luckily, the fires that my husband worked on in Oregon and Colorado paid well, and for this we are extremely thankful.  We'll be fine for a while.  I'm always thankful at these times that we both have strong families who may not live close, but would help if needed.  Let's all hope that Congress gets its act together and figure out a way to govern.