patchwork stories

After my dad passed away in the late 1990s I helped Mother distribute his clothing.  I kept quite of few of his shirts knowing that I would one day want to make quilts.  There were Sunday dress shirts, flannel hunting shirts, dark green uniform shirts, and Hawaiian shirts. 

Dad and Mother met in the Hawaiian Territories in the late 1940s.  He was working at Pearl Harbor as a welder and she was working for the Dept. of Defense at Hickam Air Field.  They married, had my brother, and soon had to leave after a shipping strike ended Dad's income.  They never got Hawaii out of their system, cherishing their memories of a beautiful place and wonderful times.  They were able to visit us in Hawaii three times when we were stationed there with the Army in the 1980s. We also sent them back for a multi-island tour on their 50th wedding anniversary.

The first upcycled quilt was for Mother, using the Hawaiian shirts.  These were from the 1980s era, several that I sent Dad from Hawaii.  The red one I made, a polyester matching shirt for Dad and muu muu for Mother.  Dad's original Hawaiian shirts from the '40s were long gone - a later regretted Goodwill donation by Mother. Those shirts would be quite valuable now, and Dad missed them and talked about them occasionally.  
Mother passed away last year and I now have the Hawaiian quilt.  I display it in June around Father's Day. It's a real treasure.

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. "                                       Matthew 6:28-29

The 4th of July is certainly a time to think about more than discount shopping.  I read some interesting stories in the "Good Old Days" magazine about where people were on V-J Day, 14 Aug 1945. I recently spoke with my aunt and asked about her memories and her husband's experience in WWII.  He was a Marine, wounded on Guam and sent home on a hospital ship.  She said he never talked much about his experiences.  Their son was also a Marine, who served in VietNam and was injured as well.  

This is a quilt I made a few years ago to salute the military in my family - me, my husband, my brother, my nephew, my uncles, my cousins, and sister-in-law. My parents are included as Dept. of Defense employees. I also inscribed 13 (only some) of the Revolutionary War patriots from our family tree. It's been an exciting discovery to see how many family members contributed to the founding of the USA.  

Happy 4th of July! 

Donald's company was sold along with his copyright and original molds, so the pink flamingo continues to be produced, in MA.  I think I will always display one of these wacky lawn ornaments, even if in an obscure place in the backyard.  They bring back good memories, like this time at Silver Springs, FL.

I chose to add a whimsical flamingo in my "quilt that went to Paducah 2015" called "Snakes in My Garden."  It was such a thrill to have been selected as a participant at the show from the thousands of entries this year. 
Thanks, Donald, for the inspiration.

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"Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?"                                                                 Matthew 6:26

Donald Featherstone passed away this week, a name of obscurity to most.  I appreciate Donald's artistic work that I see everyday in my backyard - a plastic pink flamingo.  As a native Floridian, flamingos were a rather common sight at local attractions, parks, and zoos.  I've always liked them, perhaps because of their skinny legs and balancing act, as well as their color.  I have a very small collection of flamingo feathers gathered from the pond at our local TX Sea World, and they all have varying shades of pink.  My mother always said flamingo pink deepened if the birds were fed more shrimp.  

The more you sew, the more possibilities you imagine for the tiniest scrap.  That makes it SO difficult to throw those itty bitty pieces away.  And I love scrap quilts.  It's my go-to project just about all the time. I get bored with repeating the same block over and over.  But this weekend the scraps need to be tamed.  

I'm in the process of replacing my sewing room carpet with bamboo flooring, so it's time to get my scraps in order. All the bookshelves will have to be moved out of the room, and I have loads of books, magazines, and bags of scraps filling them.  I've been in a quandary about which sorting method to use after referring to lectures I attended by nationally known scrap quilters, and online Pinterest and google searches.  

My current method has been to put like colors in large ziplock bags.  The bags are overflowing, and to find a piece I want I end up dumping the contents and searching through the pile.  But I do like the visibility see though storage allows.

I then had to decide how to sort the pieces, and based my attack according to some known future projects, mainly Yo Espero (see my other posts.)  The 48" x 60"-ish quilts will go to special needs kids and vulnerable mothers at Village of Hope-Guatemala.  My idea for those quilts is using scraps to make simple 12-1/2" squares, using up any UFO blocks and adding strips log cabin style.  I'm also making color block strips which will be alternated with solid color strips. Both settings will be completed quilt-as-you-go method.  For that joining process I need 1" and 1-3/4" inch strips.

The sort begins.  In this yellow and orange group, it's easier to separate the two as I go, so I have a few extra piles than with other colors.  From left to right starting at the top row I have: reject pile to be moved to the appropriate color family, throw away ...YIKES! CAN I REALLY DO IT?, little UFOs,  folded bindings, 1"-ish strips, trianular-ish pieces, the largest pieces, 2-1/2"-ish strips, and squares.  
I decided to move all the Yo Espero folded bindings and UFO pieces to a separate container.  

Ta Da!  The finished product.  It makes me happy to see this so organized.  (Did I mention I have OCD tendencies?) It will be so easy to look in the box and find exactly the size I need. Some people would go ahead and sub-cut the large pieces down, but I just don't want to waste my time.  I will do any cutting as I go along. 

I've already started with the 2-1/2"-ish piles and larger pieces to make some of the Yo Espero color block strips, aiming for 60" long and about 4-1/2" wide, without repeating any colors as long as possible.  
The two most difficult parts of the process were:  1) deciding the sorting piles, and 2) giving myself permission to throw away pieces. After my first sort of the reds, I did go back into the garbage bag and pulled out a few of the larger pieces.  It got easier to let go as I went along, establishing internally that there was no way I wanted to work with 1/2" wonky pieces of fabric. Although, I do have that mini-circle jean quilt started that needs tiny little inserts...NO, NO, NO...I WILL BE STRONG because I love the results of my scrap discipline.

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       "But all things should be done decently and in order."  
                                        1 Corinthians 14:40

Spring Fever must be to blame for the condition of my sewing room.  I have so many ideas and projects, I just keep starting more and more.  I have 1)one crochet and 2)one knit mini-blankets nearly completed for our local Threads of Love, items for NICU babies.  
The 3)challenge fabric is awaiting inspiration for my local quilt guild's September show.  It's tiny glow in the dark stars on a dark blue/violet background. I purchased an organza type blouse from a thrift shop to try my hand at dragonflies?  It's very clear in my mind. We'll see how it goes.
There is a 4)finished top in the corner using my great-niece's rodeo shirts.  It turned out really cute, just haven't gotten to the quilting.  
I just put a scrap border on the 5)scrap rainbow top for a new great-niece which I want to finish before her first birthday. YIKES, I have to hurry!  
Also have a 6)planned scrap wall hanging top 1/4 finished, using all novelty fabrics with some fussy cutting.  I've wanted to make this for a few years and have been collecting fabrics, but it turns out I think I have enough fabric for about 20 tops...over achieving.  
Then on the wall are about five 7)scrap string quilt-as-you-go 6" blocks I wanted to turn into something, maybe another rainbow of scraps. I'm just itching to use up all my little scraps.
In the bags below the cutting table I have turn of the century 8)cheddar and shirting blocks that I am taking apart to remove the disintegrating fabrics.  I spent many weeks researching the fabrics and ordering similar reproduction prints to remake this treasure.  True vintage cheddar is hard to find. This project will need to be hand quilted, of course. 
I've started hand quilting the 9)random Amish Log Cabin quilt which just makes me happy when I see it.  It's for our quilt guild's Storybook Quilt Project, a collection of over 70 small quilts loaned out with accompanying books to schools throughout the county. 
In my attempt to clear out some of my PIGS (Projects I've Gotta Sew), I pulled out some old donated 10)paper pieced cowboy boot blocks. They were marked heavily with lead pencil for hand quilting and the marks won't come out, so I'm doing a quilt-as-you-go method and just ignoring the marks. I have all the backs and battings cut.  These two kid sized quilts will go to our local Children's Shelter.
I recently decided to start a 11)circle jean quilt but decided I wanted miniatures, so I have a small string of 2" circles. What was I thinking?
Waiting in bags are 12)red-white-blue blocks and pre-cut borders for about four tops which will go to Home of the Brave (www.homeofthebravequilts.com). These quilts go to families of military KIA from recent Iraq/Afghanistan conflicts.
.. finally, a finished project!!! I have leftover pieces scattered about from my 2015 Quilt Alliance  "Animals We Love" entry. Look for touring of the 90+ mini-quilts over the US and the ebay online auctions in November.    (www.allianceforamericanquilts.com) 
Well, that's a dozen projects staring me down every time I open the sewing room door.  That doesn't even include all the projects hidden behind the closet door.   Oh, for a little more time and energy...
Anyone else in this pickle?

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   "Whatever you do, do it from the heart for the Lord 
            and not for people." Colossians 3:23