This quilt speaks to the theme of Comfort on several levels. I spent a good deal of time reflecting on what I find comforting. One of the first things that comes to mind is keeping my hands busy. Quilting has been my method of calming myself for 20 years. It also occurred to me that quilts offer comfort to others and the touch of a loved one is a major comforter that reminds us that we are not facing life alone. I never throw away my scraps and rummaging through them is a comforting trip through many memories.
These thoughts swirled around during the last 2 months. I attended a guild lecture by Alice Kolb in which she described the meaning behind crazy quilts. I found her out of print book on the subject and decided to make a crazy quilt using her techniques rather than the stitch and flip method that I've used previously (I'm still trying to explore different ways to create a quilt) in this case I brought order to a little bit of my scrap and life chaos. Digging through my scraps I found a little log cabin piece leftover from one of my early quilts, a heart log cabin quilt I created for my daughter. She dragged it all over and I remember being upset when I actually had to repair it. After my daughter's death I kept that quilt near and dear to me. The quilt also has scraps from a family portrait quilt that I made for my dad and also pieces from one of the more recent things that I made ( an Eiffel Tower zip travel bag). Two of the class that I took at IQF this year involved quilting a quilt and then painting in the quilted area so that technique to be included too. (The classes were with Lisa Walton and Anna Buzzalino ). Since crazy quilts often carry embroidered messages, I added one from a calendar my cousin gave me after my daughter's death- "she who laughs lasts", a message that I have taken to heart whenever I find my stress meter starting to overload. I had my husband take a snapshot of my hands and I traced them in my IPad during an IQF presentation about IPad apps taught by Susie Monday
Love that you equate quilting with comfort. Working with our hands is comforting, and laughter is always the best way to go. Great messages and wonderful quilt.
ReplyDeleteHow lovely that you were able to include such dear pieces of quilting into your work. The log cabin quilt you made for your daughter gave her comfort and it's wonderful that it is incorporated with the scraps from your portrait quilt. Your hands are a clever addition and make it look like the piece is floating under the needle of a machine quilting away!!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to look up all the teacher's names you mentioned...especially the crazy quilt one. And the fabric use is so touching. I keep looking at the quilt but must go look up the names. I also am interested in crazy quilts...like laughter, crazy is the way to go!!!
ReplyDeleteLinda, I've mentioned Alice Kolb to you before and told you about her book, which I own. She came to OUR guild several years ago as well, and I made our dear friends S and C a crazy quilt pillow based on Alice's methods. She was once co-owner of QA in New Braunfels. Alice is a love and a wonderful teacher, and I love her name!
DeleteWhat a wonderful quilt and so many memories. I love the crazy quilt and your hands
ReplyDeleteI can't toss my fabric scraps for the same reason... too many memories. You made wonderful use of your scraps and leftovers and I know how rewarding that is. I liked reading about the transfer process of your hand. Quite imaginative. I'm often reminded of the 'heart and hand' reference to handmade items. Did you notice the inverted heart negative space your hand print made? This truly is a heartfelt quilt.
ReplyDeleteJudy I can't believe I missed that - it sure is there. I did quilt a heart in too. The transfer process is straight forward. I traced the hands in a drawing app and emailed it to myself. I printed it on normal paper and plopped the paper on the quilt sandwich. I quilted through the paper and pulled it off and then finished up my quilting. After quilting was done, I painted the hands in with blue metallic paint (either prochem or Stewart and Gill - not sure which I used)
ReplyDeleteHi Sara.... Thanks for sharing your story. I lost my precious boy 10 years ago next Tuesday. I have one of his old jackets... its all beat up, and frayed; the zipper's broken, and it has paint on it from when we helped paint a Habitat for Humanity house in Anchorage, AK a long time ago. I wear that jacket when I'm taking our dogs for a walk, or when I'm outside and need some warming up.... Ian's jacket brings me comfort in much the same way the piece of your daughter's quilt comforts you. Thanks for sharing your story with us. Peace and blessings, to you..... Kathy
ReplyDeleteKathy and Sara--both of you know that all three of us share a terrible bond--the loss of our three beloved children. I have the old quilt that my mother gave to our beloved Katherine when she was a little girl, when we first moved back to Texas. It is tattered and torn but it brings me great comfort.
DeleteA beautiful quilt and a beautiful story. I understand the comfort quilting brings and often (not really in jest) tell acquaintances that it is my therapy.
ReplyDeleteLike Rita says, I often tell people that quilting is MY chief and most effective therapy! Thus, the little quilt in MY Comfort quilt this time! I love the way you have conveyed the comfort of quilting, Sara, by incorporating the scraps (I have scraps carefully kept of Kathy's wedding quilt, the 2nd quilt I ever made) in your lovely piece. And I LOVE that you placed your hands on the quilt. Believe this or not: my first attempt at a Comfort quilt incorporated a photo of one of my hands, Kathy's daughter's hand, and my daughter Susan's. I just could not get the hands arranged to suit me, nor could I come up with something symbolic for the background. I could have used those scraps from Kathy's quilt, but that didn't occur to me. But if I HAD done that, my quilt and yours would have been almost too spookily similar. But how our minds do run along similar channels, dear dear friend and fellow of this terrible sorority we three Mavens are members of.......
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention the gloves! so nice.
ReplyDeleteYou have created such a beautiful and touching quilt. When I started buying new fabric for making quilts, I was concerned that they wouldn't have the same strong memories as the quilts made from garment scraps. That has not been a problem because more quilts are made from these scraps and make us smile with warmth when we think of the people we made them for. I am so glad I am part of such a beautiful group of ladies who understand the depth of what quilting can do for us. May we all continue to feel comfort with our quilting. Thanks for sharing and creating a quilt with so much heart.
ReplyDeleteSara, what a wonderful quilt so full of comforting messages and memories. Thanks for sharing your story with us and for presenting us with such a special quilt. I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story Sara. This is a such a sweet quilt, and the addition of your "busy" hands is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautful story quilt. I think it's so important to record our lives in our art
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