Doin Thangs

Two Quilts, Two Seasons

2009-12-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

These two quilts certainly have a Winter/Summer theme. The dark quilt is heavy and warm, with thick batting, while the lighter quilt is simply backed with flannel and is the perfect weight for late spring/early summer nights when it can still get a little chilly. Both quilts use fabric from 3 generations of women in my family.

Winter Quilt
Several years ago, (actually, over 10 years ago - yikes!) I started my first full/queen size quilt. I had made a smaller quilt before, but never as complicated or large a quilt as this one. I decided to use a classic Log Cabin pattern. Fortunately, I come from a family of crafters. There were more than enough fabric scraps to make all the squares for the quilt top - I only needed to purchase fabric for the backing and batting.

It took several years to finish this quilt, though I did not work on it consistently and took a break for several years. Every piece of fabric comes from a previous project - some are from the first dresses I ever made, a few are from curtains in my parent's first apartment, one is from a lunchbag i made for a friend, dresses my mother made for me as a child, etc. In that way, the quilt is incredibly personal.

Ultimately I chose to tie the quilt rather than hand quilt it - although the spacing of the ties does suggest that quilting would have been an equal task.

Summer Quilt

The second quilt has had several incarnations. My grandmother originally made two baby quilts using a classic Baby Block pattern. My mother and her siblings used them as kids. When I was a kid, my mother had sewn the two quilts together and they were used as a curtain over a large stairwell window.

A few years ago, I rediscovered this quilt and decided to make it into a 'summer quilt' - rather than quilt it with batting, I backed it with flannel. This gives it enough weight and warmth for a late spring, early summer blanket.

I added a border that reflected the colors in the quilt top. I hand quilted the top and flannel backing with yellow embroidery twine, using a large stitch than I would if I were traditionally handquilting. I stitched the white diamonds in the pattern, extending the pattern out across the added border.

This quilt has a great weight and feel. I love that it contains 3 generations of work.

What's That On Your Head...Lampshade?

2009-10-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

My mother's family suffers from something we refer to as "Furniture Worship". They invest objects with an unusual amount of importance, and have been known to harbor resentments for years over a particular clock or sleigh bed that they believe ended up with the wrong family member. I've tried my best to avoid this curse, but I do have a few family heirlooms. One of them is a pair of lamps:

These lamps, according to one story, were liberated during WWII by my grandfather from somewhere in Europe - they were candlesticks in a church. At some point the candlesticks were turned into a pair of lamps. The lampshades my grandmother had for these lamps were oversized and were still wrapped in the original plastic... After trying to find appropriate lampshades, I gave up and decided to make my own.

I used lampshades.com for supplies and found fabric at my local fabric store. The whole thing was so easy, I made a few more:

Drum shade for a wooden floor lamp - the fabric is textured lace.

This is such an unusual lamp that it needed an oval lampshade.

This is one of a pair of lampshades I got at goodwill for $7.00. I rewired them, replaced the original metal bases with teak ones, and made simple drum shades.

Stuff and Things

2009-10-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

I make a lot of 'stuff'. Some of it gets filtered into the trash, some it becomes 'art', but alot of it is just 'stuff'. That doesn't make it bad 'stuff', it just isn't easily classified.

I wanted a place to share some of this 'stuff'. I love making things. I love working with my hands. This is a place to share some of those impulses.

The inspiration for the title of this blog is below.