we have hardly begun, we are already here

tiny red hearths 

she was born 2014, the quilt was finished in 2016

velvet shapes

she was born 2017, quilt was finished 2018

cotton pinwheels

she was born 2020

quilt not finished yet.  Pictured are front and back, hand pieced.

the 10 year old.

the seven year old

the almost four year old.  

indulge me

Do you think the world has enough quilts yet?

the rescued Dresden plates from my earliest quilt,
re-appliqued onto new plant dyed linen, silk, rayon, wool

The title of this post is from my journal.

I wrote it a few days ago at 2:30 am when I was in the middle of un-stoppable creativity. 

 

You Are a Single Star

the round and round one-patch quilt that uses up my remnants of dyed damask 

I've been allowing myself to make and make without a plan or purpose, just a deep need to create.

What I make with my hands is related to the rhythm and finality of a human time span.

Your Fragile Life

I usually finish the quilts I make, but sometimes I don't.

Sometimes I come across false starts and don't understand them.

Other times I come across things I've started and become excited and need to work on them again.

 

on the wall left to right:  Suvi's baby quilt, White Cross, A Sky Full, and untitled, 
the folded green quilt was made by April, on the railing is Canadian Pioneer,   
left side of sofa is a wool grid backed with red silk,
right side of sofa is New Beginning, my pandemic patchwork

Creativity is a human activity. 

hand stitched cotton

I live my life.

I make quilts.

inspired by cloth and play and by that pink doily quilt I made a few years ago 

I know myself by making my quilts. 

Labour Day weekend

My quilts make my personal daily experiences meaningful.  

Marimekko cloth I have been hoarding

American sculptor, Anne Truitt, said that her work helped her to see her own life as something between natural and abstract.  

A Sky Full

"As I live, certain aspects of what is happening adhere to me as if magnetized by psychic gravity.  I have learned to trust this center"  Anne Truitt

The Countdown Quilt

"The process of art contains my intensities but also exorcizes those beyond my endurance"  A.T.

The Countdown Quilt with one layer of gauze upon which I've gone over with ink the weekly journal notes that I wrote on the back of the foundation blocks. 
One log cabin block each week, this quilt contains 49 weeks.  
I started it on our 46th wedding anniversary.  I appreciated every week that we both kept our health. 
 I was counting down towards the 50th, which happened this year.

"I depend on objectification for defense." Anne Truitt  

The weather this month was unreal.  

It poured light and imagination every day. 

quilt in use

Aili Evelyn 30 months

 It's nice to see Aili using the quilt I made her .  She had it in her crib last October when we visited.

 Her room is filled with colour and light, another of my quilts is on a wall.

That one (pictured above) is inspired by an Emily Carr painting, and is covered with blanket stitch embroidery - quilting.

 I was pleased to see that these quilts are such an important part of my grand daughter's life.

We visited Aili again just before Christmas, and found out that she has moved out of her crib into a big girl bed. After all, she's going to be a big sister in January!

I hope that her quilt will help her through this big transition.

quilted all day

 I am nearly finished Aili's quilt and spent most of today working on it.

It's out of the hoop, bound with bias.  I am finishing the quilting at the edges and the corners.

 We were driving north as I stitched.

I like to pull the stitches snugly in this piece.  I want the cotton fabric to have the texture of time.
I stop often to admire the square red dots and their pale log-shaped surrounds.

 We started with weather, but as we got closer to home, Ned had to put on his sun glasses.

 Dad is back in hospital.  I notice that there is a new leather sofa for visitors.

I notice that my stitching has distorted the corners.  I can fix that.

In January

In the winter evenings, we've been watching Borgen.

Oona and her family were here for new year's, April was here for over a week.

Our time together is held with my needle and thread.

I began to go to yoga and am learning how to breathe.

I prepared to teach a workshop and then did.

Ned drove to Toronto for two meetings and it snowed while he was away.

He mended the little chair that used to be his and took it with him for our grand son.

Everything is here in my stitching,
the place of memory.

hold still

keep going

robert frank

simplicity

I am completing the quilt I started for my grand daughter before she was born.
I am following through, loving the slow process.  It's a log cabin arrangement, hand pieced and hand quilted.

I respect the materials by handling them gently.
I respect the finished product by taking my time.
I respect the future owner (not two yet) by touching and holding this piece as I make it.
I believe that she will feel my touch in this quilt for the rest of her life.

Making something become real and that will have a place in her life makes me feel useful.
Quilts are protection blankets in so many ways and I want to protect the ones I love.

The back is a square of large dots within a square of tiny ones.

"Simplicity stands at the end, not at the beginning of a work."  Anni Albers 1944