Theodora - A Modern Tree of Life Quilt

Theodora

50” x 50”

It wasn’t her greatest desire, moving West. She had a comfortable life in a respectable home. Growing up in town, in a house her father purchased, not built, meant that Theordora had no notion of what it might really be like to move to the Wild West. But she was in love and her husband wanted to go. At least she wouldn’t have to be a farmer. That’s what she told herself, at least. Her husband was a gentleman and would be working for the government. In the city, not the farm. That notion was small comfort when she arrived in Calgary. It was still rather wild for her tastes. They found a small house, she joined the church, and soon made friends with the other women brought by their husbands. It was one of these friends that introduced her to quilting. Needlework, she knew, but quilting was a new skill and a handy one when the long winter nights settled in. She could piece her little triangles while her husband read and it almost made it worthwhile, the homesickness.

Theodora is a modern interpretation of a Tree of Life quilt I found in the Heritage Park quilt collection. I’m making up the story here, but the original quilt inspired both it and the quilt here. A few years ago I was asked to teach at Heritage Park’s Festival of Quilts. My idea was to look at quilts in their own collection and create a modern version of it for student’s to play with.

I took the original quilt, wrote a modern pattern that uses only half square triangles and squares for simple patchwork construction, then had some fun playing. This is one version I made, drawing from the original colours but scaling up the size of the block.

Theodora takes blocks I made as samples for that class 3 years ago - made into a finished quilt top earlier this year - and finishes it up. My daughter’s pentathlon coach and his wife are expecting their first baby. With a woodland themed nursery and a love of Heritage Park this seemed like the perfect gift for them.

To tone down the greens of the front I added a contrasting backing with fabrics hiding in my stash. They provide a bright contrast in colour, making this truly a double sided quilt. I love doing that, especially for baby quilts, so there are more options for use. Continuing the woodland theme I quilted it with a woodgrain free motion pattern on a rented long arm machine. While I often recommend olive green as a magical blending colour for quilting, this time it was perfectly on the nose.

To make the binding I hunted through my stash for the perfect green. Normally I like a contrasting binding but that didn’t seem like the right move here. With so many greens - shades, tints, low volumes, perfect hues, limes, emeralds - in the quilt itself, any green can indeed be perfect. The perfect green ended up being the only green I had enough of in my stash. So I am calling it perfect. I did a common 2.5” inch double fold binding, hand stitched on the back.

And I can’t let you go without a bonus treat from the photo shoot. To capture this quilt I stole away to the area just outside Heritage Park. There is a little wooded area next to a wetland. It’s at a confluence of a parking lot and a couple of busy roads, next to the main reservoir for the city. It may look like I am in the middle of the forest, but I am actually in the middle of the city. And just as I was hanging up the quilt on a line strung between two trees a friendly visitor joined me. She was calm with me being in her space so I thanked her, took my pictures quickly and left in the opposite direction to avoid bothering her further.

Quilters' Playcation Adventure Sewalong Update

It’s hard to believe that we are 28 weeks in to this sewalong. Mostly because that means we are more than halfway through the year already!

As a leader/instigator/quilt teacher I get such joy from seeing my students and followers enjoy the process of improv quilting. I never anticipated how much joy I would get joining in with you. It is a great comfort to me to show up each week and sew with people. On the occasions where I missed and had to reschedule I’ve been quite sad. I feel like I am letting everyone down, for sure, but I also just really miss it.

This year’s Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong is different for me. How many times have you heard me talk about NOT squaring things up until you are making layout decisions? (Hint, almost all the time.) This time, however, I started squaring up and sewing the blocks together right at the beginning. This means I am composing the quilt as I go. It’s a different thought process. It’s a good challenge for me.

So long story short, I love everything about the Quilters’ Playcation Adventure Sewalong this year.

Yes, You Can Change Your Mind While Making a Quilt

Did you know that you are absolutely allowed, even encouraged, to change your mind while making a quilt? Far too often folks think that because they started down a certain path in the quilt making process they are not allowed to veer from it. This isn’t school and standardized testing. Or, as my husband likes to say when the children complain about him changing his mind: I’m an adult and I can do whatever the eff I want!

Definitely applicable to quilting.

These blocks started as class samples. I use them in my Scraptastic class as one option for when you are playing with scrap strips. I make one in a class, put it with the others and move on with life. I had zero plans for the blocks, they served as a teaching tool.

Last month I was teaching a virtual workshop with the Thompkins County Quilters’ Guild out of New York. I had a pile of these blocks on my cutting table and starting arranging them to show possibilities. Quite quickly I was struck by a certain layout of 8 blocks. I don’t think I even had 8 blocks at the time, but I could see potential.

After the class, I finished up those 8 blocks and quickly sewed them together. Smitten, I decided to make more blocks. A lot more blocks. My initial plan was that top picture there. Every 8 blocks sewn together with them all assembled in an alternating layout. In my mind it was perfect.

Not so much on the design wall. My seemingly brilliant idea looked a hot mess.

When I am lecturing and teaching about using scraps one of my big messages is about finding order. When people complain that scrap quilts look messy it is often because they do, because they are lacking order. You can find that order with colour selection, playing with value, or through shape. My blocks are multicoloured, improvised, and made without regard to the value placement of the fabrics. That meant that shape matters the most.

Now my initial blocks - an improv variation on the Prairie Braid - are all trimmed to the same size. That helps. I thought the block layout made with 8 blocks would be totally fine in repeat. As you can see in that top photo, I was wrong. Even with the repetition of the original block shape/size and the repetition of making the larger square block, it still looks messy.

Here’s the thing, nothing was sewn together or set in stone. Even if it was, I would have taken it apart. If it’s not working, it’s not working. If you subbed salt for sugar in your cake would you still eat it? If you installed a bathtub too small for the space you framed, would you just live with it? No matter what, you aren’t tied to finish something that isn’t working.

So I tried something different. I played around and realized the second layout was much stronger, way less messy. Better yet, it used the exact same amount of blocks that I had planned to make!

That is, until I changed my mind again.

Sunshine for Days - A Bold Star Quilt

Bold, full of sunshine and memories.

This quilt top began its life as a leftover stack of fabric squares. On our big trip to Egypt and Turkey last year I travelled with a stack of 6.5” squares. I made a block each day to reflect our travels - a trip diary of sorts. That turned into this quilt. The scraps from making all those blocks then turned into this quilt. Of course, I cut far more fabric than I needed and carried it around with for the entire month. When I got home and finished those other quilts I was left with a stack of pre-cut squares.

You know me, nothing it going to waste! I pulled them out and played until I landed on making HSTs with the non-yellows plus yellows. That gave me nearly enough to make 4 stars. I did have to augment with a bit of stash for all colours, but not much. My goal was to use the leftovers and that’s it.

I made the HSTs and sorted out a layout early in the winter. Then the blocks got put aside (all numbered and ready for assembly). A few weeks ago I needed some no-brainer sewing. After consulting my big list of quilts under construction I decided to turn these into a quilt top. I did, then I realized it was too small for me. It came in, with only the leftover squares, at 44” square. A good little baby quilt. The problem, however, is that I have no need of another little baby quilt. So I debated my options.

1. Accept it’s size.

2. Make a border of some sort.

3. Make more blocks.

Truth be told, I am incapable of making small quilts with no reason. It is very, very difficult for me to stay small. When pressed or shockingly motivated I can stop at a small size, but it is not my norm. Option 1 was out.

Borders… oh borders. Any fabric I used on a conventional border was only going to take away from the stars. I did debate a yellow patchwork border, two rounds of squares all around. The yellow and feature fabrics, however, are pretty close in value. I felt that the stars would too get lost this way. Besides, when do you ever see me use a border? Option 2 is out.

That leaves me making more blocks. This is almost always the best option. You can see that it worked well too. With HSTs finishing at 6” this was easy and relatively quick sewing. I did have a lot of the fabrics from last year still so it was easy shopping. My yellow supply, however, was very slim so I did spend some cash to fill in the gaps (and fill up my yellow bin again). Luckily I was able to get some of the same fabrics so it really doesn’t look like I have two separate sections.

She is done for now. I am debating adding that patchwork border too. Maybe just one round of yellow squares all the way around? Yes, I am suggesting that despite what I said just two paragraphs above. We’ll see. For now, I have some sunshiny memories sewn into this quilt and that makes me happy.