Some Good Things

 It's been awhile since I posted--this is nothing new (but nothing much is new these days, seems like). Spring is on its way and with it the usual spring winds. And pollen. And allergies. I have a love hate relationship with spring because of all this. From the end of February until mid-April is the worst time of year.

 But there has been some good news: 

Most of my friends and family have at least one Covid vaccination shot under their belt and those that don't are scheduled (except for those hold outs that are going to refuse, which, please don't get me started on that bullshit). 

I also got a stimulus check that will get mostly put into savings, but which I will spend a small bit of, possibly at the local quilt shop which recently sent out an email that, despite the raise in minimum raise failing to become law, have raised their employee wages to $15/hr (which the minimum would have been, though that is still chump change considering that cost of living should have the minimum wage at around $24/hr).

And speaking of quilt shops, here are some of my quilts:

Recently I took the time to photograph some of my past quilts, including the Covid quilt (made from the off cuts from making masks last year):

It's done as fat quarter panels with raw edge applique, sashed together. It's actually the largest quilt I've made yet and would fit a full- and possibly queen-sized bed.

This is another quilt from 2020 (or 2019, possibly), a chopsticks-style quilt in shades of purple and green, inspired by one made by Freddie Moran.

It is similarly made to the above, with panels of pieced blocks and borders sashed together after quilting.

I also tried stamping some fabric with some stamps I carved, but my ink pad needed some rehab. I will try again soon, as I have since purchased a re-inker for my dry little ink pad. I should get better images next time.

I also started another quilt based on a self-portrait that my grandmother drew a handful of years before she died and which she used as an embroidery pattern to make a pillow bearing her likeness. I love that idea and somehow, luckily, the pillow she embroidered and the pattern she drew have made their way down to me. I am using a copy of her pattern to make these blocks out of various printed fabrics. In this block, her red hair is made from a monarch butterfly print and her face from a tone-on-tone musical score print. Her shirt is cactus and birds.

Making the blocks is kind of a pain in the ass, involving double-sided interfacing and tracing paper and lots of detail cutting (hell on my hands, which are trashed right now from hand stitching) and raw-edged applique to stitch everything down. As a result of how time consuming these are, I only have four blocks done. Luckily they are quite large blocks, starting out at about 13 inches but with room to be trimmed down to 10 inches square. Eventually they will coalesce into a medallion-style quilt, with a nine by nine grid of these portrait blocks at the center. Or who knows. Things may change as I go along. 

Anyway, I have other photographs of my quilts to post, which I will do again soon.

Stay home, stay safe and healthy!