Rock & Roll Soul

Here's another finish from late last year, this time by Jane. Called Rock & Roll Soul, it is a memory quilt for a dear friend and former colleague Dianne, made with her late husband's shirts.   

There were seven in total, all quite interesting designer shirts, some of them purchased in England. A few of them had different fabrics lining the collar, cuffs and inside of the back yoke where the labels were. One shirt had two or three different fabrics used in the same shirt. Jane did not include any fabrics other than what was in the shirts. 

Mel was a huge music fan and loved music of all genres. He especially loved the Beatles, and a couple of his shirts were designed by John Lennon, including this one with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds embroidered across the front two panels, crossing over the button placket. She couldn’t figure out how to use that one without compromising the design, so she is going to make it into a pillow for Dianne. She did use the rest of the shirt, including the tiny embroidered stars that were on the back yoke and cuffs. 

All of the shirt labels were incorporated into the quilt as well, as they were all graphically interesting. I think my favourite fabric is the cream embroidered with small flowers shown in this photo.

Jane's two favourite shirts were the floral ones, the dark navy and the white with blue and navy print. She thinks that the dark one was Liberty fabric, as it was so beautiful to hand sew. There are a few bits of red throughout, the lining of cuffs, a collar and a yoke.

A great blue backing finishes it off and Roberta at Cocoa and Quilts quilted it for her with a terrific ribbon-like panto.

She's very happy with how it turned out and Dianne loved it. Such a beautiful finish, and a fitting and comforting memory for Dianne to cherish....M

Treeday

The calendar might say Sunday but today, sadly, was take-down-the-tree-day. I love having my tree up and never look forward to having it disappear, but it's been up for a month so it's time.

I seem to recall that I was able to do it in about an hour last year but this year it dragged, taking me most of the afternoon. Ah well, nothing left to do now but have the guys pick it up and recycle it.

I'm turning to my Little Trees to help soothe my soul. Each block is about 2" x 4" and they are sweet - a happy little hand stitching project to get me through this seasonal transition....M

Huddling in Place

On Boxing Day our province went back into lockdown so everyone is huddling in place again, except for the most basic of needs. It reminded me that I have been holding out on you. This past fall (a few months ago already), in an attempt to divert my attention from something else that I should have been doing, I picked up all of the blocks for Huddle and arranged the final layout...

ensuring that all of my Xs were angled in the same direction. 

Within a day or so it was all together. 

I love the fabrics in this one. The choices were inspired by the image on the pattern and I'm not sure that I would have made them on my own.

It's amazing how many times you think, ah, this is my favourite...

and then you change your mind.

I find it surprisingly light in colour, but it still evokes the feel of a woven coverlet.

I took a pic of the flimsy outdoors just before the snows flew but it really doesn't do it justice. It will help you see the overall layout though. Not sure if I will keep this one or if it will be a charity quilt but it's nice to have it in the finished column. And with a name like Huddle, it is a good reminder for the times: stay at home and stay safe....M

Just What I Needed

It is not surprising that my expectations for this past holiday season were considerably blunted by the issues that we all continue to confront due to the coronavirus, but on this, the last day of our Christmas vacation, I have to say that different didn't necessarily mean bad. Thanks to food deliveries and Zoom gift openings we found little ways to adapt and still connect to celebrate the season. And, having my new Little Trees quilt to work on was an added bonus!

The last several months have been very busy so things have been a little slow on the quilting front, but having a week to relax and stitch has been the perfect ending to an otherwise herkie jerky year.

More and more prints that are hiding on my shelves are getting worked into the quilts, making it truly scrappy. I'm loving finding new prints to integrate, including the deep dive that I took into the green scrap basket; I suspect that there might be a few additional treasures in the red basket as well...

And I've dug into my surplus Minnie hexies and trimmed several down to use as trunks - they are the perfect length and do a wonderful job of adding to the mix (we'll just ignore the fact that if I wanted a hand stitching project to work on I could have easily picked up Minnie, shall we?).

And so it grows.

So, despite my consternation earlier in December, we truly have enjoyed a happy holiday. I'm not overly keen to have it end and get back to work tomorrow, but I have one day of holidays left and you can pretty much guess how it will be filled.

Thank you for stopping in every now and then to see what I'm up to and for sharing your generous comments - it means the world to me and is so valuable in continuing to feel connected. Wishing you and yours a wonderful, and much healthier, New Year! Let's continue to be creative and find ways to enrich our souls as we work through this challenge....M