Wishing Stars

Wish Number One

Dear Timothy,
I was inspired to add three wishing stars to your cloth. The thing is, I couldn't visualize what the stars would look like nor where to put them. 

Thinking I would add three small stars to the Jungle somewhere, I thought to rummage in the box of small scraps that I keep handy.  

Three Wishes.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered these three stars in the box. I had forgotten all about them. And if I had remembered, I would not have had a clue where to look for them. I put them in the box in the first place because I wanted to incorporate them in your quilt. Up to now, I could not visualize where to include them. 

I can't be for sure who pieced these stars. That is I'm not sure if it was one of your great grandmothers or my Granny. My Granny is your great great grandmother. What I do know is I made myself a top with the red, white and blue cloth in the middle star. And I recognize the plaids in the other two stars. I can see my Mother in those blouses as if it were yesterday. 

These three stars are beautifully hand pieced and near 50 years old. Serendipity is an odd feeling. These stars were just waiting for me as if I would know what to do with them when the time came. 

And I did. I knew immediately. I pieced the three stars together, called them wishing stars and included them on the backside where the traditional log cabin quilt pattern is growing. A perfect place for these vintage, four-point stars. 

Never stop wishing Tim. Wishes can come true. 

The Beast With Spots

Dear Timothy,
Last Wednesday, I took a day off and met up with Aunt Paula, Aunt Sue, and cousin Diane.  Sue and Paula are Granny's girls and she taught them to quilt too. Sue is Diane's Mother.  Paula lives in Oklahoma and was down for a visit.  Diane is learning to quilt so Paula is giving her a lesson on "The Texas Star" quilt.  Sue is holding a section that she has started. 

They are into what I call a contemporary method of traditional quilting.  

I'm not sure that they "get" my kind  of cloth making.  But they do really like this one that I'm making for you. While I was there I started adding the spots to The Beast. 

I guess you could say now, The Beast is no longer a burden to me. I like him now and with a few more stitches, he will be done.

Do you think I got carried away with his spots?  

Layering and Conjoining Method

This past week, I enjoyed a visit from my brother and family who live in Arizona.  Saturday we invited a whole bunch of family for dinner so they all had a chance to visit with Mark.  We had a great time and my Aunt Sue and Aunt Irene came.  Sue is Granny's daughter and Irene is Granny's daughter-in-law.  I enjoyed showing and telling them about Tim's Quilt.  They both have made many quilts but nothing anywhere similar to this cloth I am working on.

So, just touching the cloth again after a few months made me want to do a little stitching.  Well, that and the fact that I am quietly involved with Jude Hill's Magic Diaries class.  I liked the slow format that she planned for the class and thought I could focus on the continuance of Tim's quilt.

Sunday evening, I picked up these two forest components for the ring of trees and finished the raw edge applique stitching.  Then I conjoined the two.  I'm showing my method of layering the two edges and then stitching to conjoin.  

My Winter Memories

Back to the cloth.  There is something inside me that just has to play with cloth and quilting during the cold months.  I think it might have something to do with growing up helping my grandmother make quilts.  My memories are "winter" memories because my job was to iron the quilt scraps with a real "iron".  It was not electrical and was heated by sitting on top of the cast iron wood burning stove in the living room.  Granny made the most beautiful quilts that all began from tiny scraps.  I spent hours pressing them flat so she could cut out the pieces.  I suppose she mostly quilted in the winter because during better weather, she would have been out chopping cotton, pulling corn, feeding chickens, hoeing the garden, or maybe frying chicken and making biscuits for supper. I suppose.

Feeling the cold and the urge to play with my cloth, Saturday, I started pulling out more fabric from the sewing studio stash to incorporate into Tim's quilt. 

The black and green gold checkerboard component has become problematic as I can't seem to incorporate it with the other components.  I decided to surround it with a forest of trees and make it the center of the quilt.  For now that is my plan.

When I started playing with the possible composition for the first forest component, I got so frustrated.  I am committed to only using what fabric I already have and yet nothing seemed to work in a cohesive way.  I doubt Granny ever purchased fabric for the sole purpose of a quilt other than maybe for the backing.  Furthermore, I'm pretty sure she never got frustrated with her scraps not being cohesive.  That, I know and have evidence of it.

So, I walked away from the pile until the next day when I had a thought to just throw all the pieces in a big pot of avocado Rit dye.  (You will remember green is the theme I started with)  It didn't matter what is was I put it in the pot.   I am so excited about the results.  I will be dumping more in the dye pot soon. 

My first forest component is not finished and I'm not sure these photos really show how lovely and cohesive it is but I'm so pleased and that makes me want to keep going.