February Morning Make 2022

No, you have not gone back in time. It’s February and I made crumb blocks for Morning Make. Again. That’s because the scraps never disappear and there was a whole year of quilting between now and then. Besides, you can never go wrong with crumb blocks.

The technique is the same, the collection of fabric is 95% my own scraps, but there is one difference between this year’s blocks and last year’s: the size of the crumb. When I went to sort the scraps into size - always the first step in these crumb blocks - I realized that my scraps were just that little bit bigger. What counted as a small in this collection was a large in last year’s. I debated cutting things down for a brief moment, so that the blocks were similar. Then I, wisely, decided that that would be ridiculous. Extra work and it would then barely make a dent in the scraps.

Design wise, I was sure I could make a combination of the blocks work. You can see above a hint of what might happen when they come together, as the first few blocks made with smaller crumbs are in the center. With small bits in all the blocks regardless you can make transitions come together.

Of course there is still fabric left. Of course.

One of these days I will get last year’s blocks up on the design wall with this year’s. Then I will use the scraps I have left to fill in any gaps. After that? Well, I make no promises on the scraps’ fate.

Color of Connection Quilt

Color of Connection

58” x 64”

The premise behind the Color of Connection quilt along was to sew together, yes, but to also inspire discussion and efforts around diversity and inclusion in the quilt community.

Diversity and inclusion in the quilt community? I believe that while quilters come in all stripes and colours, the spaces are dominated by white women. So yes, quilters are a diverse bunch, but it is still a far from inclusive community. This #colorofconnectionqal is highlighting that. I've met a number of new quilters and new to me quilters, quite a few with stories about bad experiences with quilt guilds and communities. It is painful, but not surprising that this is still happening. Quilting community is going to be a reflection of the larger world. Just because we are quilters we aren't all magically kind and wonderful, despite the grandma stereotype. If we want the change here and everywhere we have to make the change.

This was my first quilt along, at least the first I can remember participating in. I felt it was important to both join the discussions and lead by example. It really wasn’t about the quilt. (But I will still talk about the quilt in a moment.) It was about a bit of a reckoning for our quilt community. It was also about building community for ALL quilters, for acknowledging that the spaces we are creating may not be welcoming, and for having this Color of Connection community be a truly inclusive space.

Kudos to the organizers Porfiria Gomez, Keyana Richardson, and Michelle Collins.

Now, to the quilt.

It’s me, so you know I have a hard time following a pattern. I followed the quilt along and the discussion prompts, but played with the pattern a bit. The original quilt called for large solids or at least large cuts of prints. As my scrap bins were overflowing I decided I would make slabs and cut my pattern pieces from them. I started with black solely because I was thinking about Black Lives Matter. This particular quilt seemed like a good one to get symbolic. After that I chose warm colours to share joy and warmth of people. And because they looked good.

As usual, The Monster helped me baste the quilt and she suggested the red thread. I used a Wonderfil option from my thread stash. In fact, I bought nothing to make this quilt. The backing was a combination of two fabrics from my Tag collection. I loved the mix of the names prints - showcasing the diverse community of our local elementary school where all the signatures came from - and the texting print of all thumbprints. My batting was put together from leftovers. Nothing like Frankenbatting to truly embrace a make-do approach!

The binding was a fun choice. We know I like a contrasting binding. It actually wasn’t my intention here, but nothing I chose in black, red, pink, or otherwise looked good. On a whim I pulled out my blue and green bins. This royal blue Pearl Bracelet was exactly the right colour and I had just enough to make this work.

The quilting itself, with the aforementioned red thread, was a fun grid. Vertical lines first, every 2”. Then I did a diagonal line with the same spacing, following the lines of the large HSTs in the pattern. It isn’t fancy, but it is effective. And quick.

Obviously, a quilt along is not going to solve systemic racism. What it does achieve, however, is a continued conversation and visibility for the topic. Both are important in our community. With the quilt along finished it is now up to the rest of us to continue that conversation.

As a quilt teacher one of the places I do this is in my classroom, virtual or in person. My goal is to create a space where everyone and anyone is welcome. I promise you I will shut down the commentary, judgement, and racism/homophobia should it come out in the classroom. And if people don't think I should do this then they shouldn't hire me. As a quilter, I will do this by continuing to read, to listen, to encourage the conversation, to use the materials I have on hand, and to use my platform for all of this. I know loads of people want to keep politics out of quilting, but you just can’t. And I won’t.

If you are interested in the Color of Connection pattern or the goals of the project you can find out more here.

Morning Make February 2021

Phew!

That was a bit of a doozy. In a good way, of course, but still an incredible amount of stitching. That right there is one crumb block for each day in February.

What is a crumb block? That is a block sewn together with little scraps, the crumbs of your previous quilting. I think of them as mini slab blocks, the often used technique from my book Sunday Morning Quilts. What counts as a crumb is a personal definition.

In my case, crumbs are as small as 3/4” and as big as 2”. They might be skinny and long or so small you wonder why I bother. All of it is precious and valuable. This really is sewing with every last bit.

The month started with a basket of scraps that had accumulated over time. I sorted them one evening, pulling out the bigger bits and setting them aside. A few days in I remembered a half full IKEA bag of various scraps. Sigh. That’s a lot of scraps. But a zoom call with girlfriends in another city got me through most of those. Sorting scraps can be daunting but I find it is easier to do when I am multitasking with conversation or viewing something. It was those two sources that fed the crumbs. Yes, there are still some left.

That’s alright, because I am not done making these blocks!

I actually had a handful from previous sew days already. And with my upcoming Crumb Blocks Playdate on the Quilters’ Playcation I have more sewing on the agenda.

I have no idea how I am going to put these all together. You may be shocked to hear this, but I am debating using sashing! All the blocks are different sizes - they finish when I feel like stopping sewing. It would be very enjoyable to puzzle it all together, filling in the gaps with more crumbs. Indeed, that is my favourite part of making a quilt. However, I already have one large quilt made in a similar fashion. Slightly bigger crumbs and the addition of a word, but still very similar. I think I will challenge myself to do something different, I’m just not sure what that will be. In the meantime, there will always be more crumbs.

One Little Block at a Time

One day you are just staring at the scraps from some log cabins and the next you are starting a new quilt. To be fair, I didn’t really plan on starting a new quilt, I just wanted to see what would happen if I made some little four patches. Well, I can tell you this, JOY happened. Little four patches are deliciously delightful!

Tedious to sew at times, but delightful.

Initially, I only made the red and white ones. After a batch of those I decided they needed some other colours for company. It was only after I made some green and turquoise ones that I decided these little bits would become a quilt. But what kind of quilt?

THIS kind of quilt.

A meta four patch showing off all the best in the colours and the low volume fabric. See? Delightful.

My Covid brain would not allow me to imagine what it could truly be as a quilt though. At least not at a useful size. Usually, I could fo the math and dive right in. Alternatively, sew a bunch and then figure out a way to make it work. This time I needed to draw it out a bit. No one will ever complain about a little sketching either. Some coloured pens an graph paper did the trick. Now I could count squares instead of totally winging it.

Sometimes you don’t want to do the math though. Only because the answer is daunting. Really daunting. That is one of the downsides of small piecing. The only downside. It takes a lot of blocks to make a useful size quilt. In my case, this quilt will end up 21 x 27 blocks. That means I need 567 of the bigger blocks. So double that of the four patches! Yeah, I didn’t like that math either.

The good thing about small piecing and no deadline, is that I can plug away and one day it will be done. This causes me zero stress. If I finish this project this month, next year, or in 2025, I don’t care. It will be a cool quilt no matter what.

So I’ve cleaned up dangly bits from the stash of low volumes, tidied up the scrap bins, and got myself a pile of blocks by the sewing machine. As I work on any other project the pairs become my leaders and enders. Once a good stack of them are ready I plug in the iron and put a show on the computer to press. Then repeat, making four patches. I’ve actually squared up quite a few of them while on Zoom calls for school or sports AGMs. Keeps me busy, at least.

I feel my mojo creeping back so getting these assembled doesn’t feel like work. More like a comfort, a return to home. Just like our lives right now have to be about taking it one day at a time, we can make a quilt one block at a time.