Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Janet's Contrast Quilt - Thank You Dr. Ives

Janet's Contrast Quilt – Thank You Dr. Ives


     Here is how I started quilting five years ago.  We live in a fairly small town so if you need good quality fabric you drive to Dallas or Austin to get it and believe me it gets really old after awhile.  We passed the quilt shop in Waco one day and I told my husband their fabric could not be any worse than our one fabric store so in we went.  I had watched my grandmother quilt all my life but she only used scraps from clothing, tea towels, chicken feed sacks, whatever she had.  Here was a store with beautiful fabric and quilts like I had never seen before.  I started picking up patterns and was especially drawn to one that was paper pieced.  A clerk in the store asked me if I quilted and when I said no she informed me I could not do that pattern.  Wrong thing to say, she might as well have waved a red flag in front of my face.  So I bought a beginners book on paper piecing by Alex Anderson and started to teach myself.  This was the first time I learned about the Ives color chart where the primary colors are magenta, turquoise and golden yellow.  What I liked about it was I could make out a lot of the colors.  As some of you know I'm color blind.  My husband picks out my fabrics, puts them in order, numbers them and I write the number on the pattern.  He liked it so much he began to quilt, and then to win big blue ribbons.  I am so happy and proud (we are working it out in therapy).  Anyway, when Contrast was picked for this month I dug through my discard box because I knew I had a square that was a great example of contrast on the Ives color chart.  If you are looking for one I finally found one at an art supply store.  By the way, years later I did buy the pattern I fell in love with and 300 hours later I had a quilt top.   It is called Anesthesia because I had had day surgery and while still pretty sedated I ordered the pattern (the last one and they were not going to restock) and a lot of really expensive fabric from Batiks Plus.  I got an e-mail from them the next day telling me my order had shipped.  I called asking them what order.  The clerk said you ordered a pattern and fabric and they were sorry but they could not take it back as the fabric was cut and it really had already shipped.  The whole day I tried to figure out how to tell my husband I spent $360.00 in my sleep.  I finally decided it was his entire fault because they told him to keep an eye on me and he took a nap.  We are working it out in therapy.

 P.S.  We just had our twenty fifth wedding anniversary.  Talk about contrast.  When we got married David had hair, neither of us wore glasses, between us we were eighty pounds lighter, and really broke.  I wore a suit I already had, the wedding party wore their own clothes and the reception was chocolate cheesecake, regular cheesecake and punch.  David took me hiking for the weekend at the Boy Scout camp south of us.  So last weekend we got married.  David wore a tux and my present from him was a beautiful tea length fifties style Oleg Cassini blush satin dress with an ivory chiffon and lace overlay covered with tiny pearls and covered buttons all the way to the hem.  And yes he picked it out by himself.  It was perfect as it was boned all the way around which held the bust stiff and kept if off of my mastectomy incision which still has not healed. It also gave me the illusion that I still had a bust. Our original wedding party attended and a long time friend who decided at fifty to become a minister officiated. She is also a monster quilter and walked off with a bunch of ribbons from the fair this month. We also had our oldest and closest friends surrounding us while we took our new vows.   We only had twelve guests because we got married in the chapel at the hospital.  It is an oval room with one wall consisting entirely of a stain glass window from floor to ceiling depicting the Creation with a huge mariners compass in the middle, my favorite pattern and this month’s quilt. 

16 comments:

  1. This piece is truly a mix of the both of you - the Contrast is evident and spectacular.

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  2. The colors are stunning and the piece has amazing presence to it! Great job!

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  3. Thanks for sharing your story, Janet. Love the colors in this piece!

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  4. Your ability to tell a story is almost as superb as your quilting! Love the stories, love the quilt. Happy 25th anniversary and so happy you had just a beautiful second wedding to the same wonderful man!

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    1. If it is ok with you I will post a picture when we get them, just so you can see what a great fellow I have. I also want to say goodbye to Gloria Stabeno who we lost this week. At 88 she was a fixture at the quilt store. She taught me how to use a rotary cutter and rulers after watching me draw squares on fabric with a school ruler and an ink pen and then cut them out with scissors. She took me by the hand and introduced me to rotary cutters and real rulers. I will miss you so much.

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    2. Yes, she was a lovely person and will be greatly missed! Please do post pictures on our group blog. I think the entire group will be delighted to SEE the "rest of the story"!!

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  5. Loved the story and the quilt! Here's to 25 more years and many more quilts. The colors are fabulous. The outer gold border is like a wedding band and the compass is like a star because the future is bright.

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  6. Oh my goodness, Janet - Your story is equally as intriguing as your quilt ! I loved reading your story and thinking about the journeys we all go through in our lives. Your quilt is a perfect study in contrast: color, shape, and design --- Beautiful !

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  7. Thank you Janet for the quilt and the stories. I want to research the Ives Color wheel now. I can't imagine the nerve of a clerk telling you that you can't do a pattern. I also like the idea of blaming anesthesia for fabric purchases. You are a really gifted story teller.

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  8. It was the owner of the store, everyone in Waco who quilts knows what she is like but this was my first time and I was flabbergasted and then I got mad. It was a good lesson though. Don't let anyone else discourage you from your course in quilting or anything else in life. I almost threw this piece into the trash, glad I saved it.

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  9. What wonderful CONTRAST , what a wonderful story and your wonderful sense of humor jumped off the page. Congratulations on your first 25 years and I too, am looking forward to see the photos of two wonderful, deserving friends. Love you!!

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  10. I love your commentary and sense of humor!! Whenever I read your narratives, I know I will be thoroughly amused. I've never heard of the Dr. Ives color chart but love your choice of colors for this striking mariner's compass. Am not sure, but did you or your husband choose these colors? Doesn't really matter - it's great. I don't think I'd let my husband choose mine - all he would pick was blue, tan, and gray!

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  11. I picked them, didn't like them and that is how it ended up in the scrap box. Alone it was ok but with the other parts not so much. I can see really bright colors but blue green brown black blue purple are just dark. My father must have been color blind as everything in our house was brown. My son is also color blind.

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  12. I would have to say that you are certainly capable of producing intricate quilt patterns! What a marvelous story. I so look forward to seeing your dress and your husband also.
    I love the block with so much graphic detail. And it uses my favorite colors, blue and orange!

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  13. This quilt is as awesome as you and David are! How wonderful that you were able to have a wedding for your 25th! I want to see that fabulous dress and all your photo's. Thanks for the grins, chuckles and beauty!

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  14. Color blind??? I'm just amazed to learn this as your quilt is such a wonderful, vibrant example of contrast. I love reading your narratives and read this one three times to make sure that I absorbed it all! I laughed as much with the third reading time as I did the first! My sincere congratulations on your 25th wedding anniversary and marriage in an oval chapel.
    Your dress sounds beautiful, as does the whole event with your original wedding party etc. Looking forward to seeing the wedding photos.

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