Stepping Stones



Four and a half years ago when I was in Sisters, Oregon for the annual outdoor show, I picked up several yards of a colorful print fabric that I just fell in love with. The fabric was designed by Valori Wells, a native of Sisters and co-owner of the shop that sponsors the annual show. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it, but I was pretty obsessed by it. Some months later I was browsing through my copy of the book We Love Color, a compilation of quilts by designers using all solid-colored fabrics. Ironically, Valori Wells has a quilt in the book, but it wasn't her design that spoke to me, it was the one by Lisa Call. This link will take you to her blog and a picture of the quilt she made for the book. Her inspiration for the design is pretty cool. Anyhow, I was able to take her muted color palette and translate it into my bright, colorful version of "Stepping Stones."


I love this quilt. All of the colors in the focus fabric are used for the "stones" in the various blocks. I used the lines created by the blocks, big and small, to quilt uneven parallel lines vertically and horizontally along the quilt. I found the perfect shade of Aurifil 50 wt. thread that matched the eggplant background. These pictures were taken after I washed the quilt and it shrunk just enough to give it that puffy, soft feel.


Some of the blocks went a bit wonky in the quilting--it's not technically perfect. But I don't care. I made it as a souvenir of a fabulous vacation and to celebrate a gorgeous piece of fabric. Also, this quilt serves as a lovely reminder of my sister--I cut all the fabrics during her final visit out here when she was still healthy enough to travel.


See? I loved that fabric so much, I put it on the back.


It took me about 4 days to make the quilt top. I let it sit for over two years until I began quilting it last fall while I watched football. I finished it up in January. My second finish of the year!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I think I have ADD

Image
I'm one of those people who constantly moves from project to project. I do finish things, but midway through one project I'll stop and pull out fabric to start another one. Or something will come up that makes me start in on something else--a challenge, a class, a need to make a gift, or a new fabric purchase. All of those things change my focus. I don't want to admit how many UFOs (UnFinished Objects) I have here, but if I were totally honest, it's probably at least a dozen. Here are 3 I started this summer. And I'm not including the one I started the other night because I couldn't get a decent picture of it. This first one is from a class I took in June with 2 friends. I still have 4 more flowers to add to it. This is funky and fun, but it's large and appliqueing down the flowers is awkward at times. A while back I posted a picture of some flower blocks that I'm doing as part of an exchange with the same 2 friends. I had another set of blocks to finis...
Read more

TBR Day. Conor's Way / Laura Lee Guhrke. 1996

Image
Back in the early 2000's, when I began lurking at the old AAR  boards, I heard talk of this book. And according to Amazon, I apparently broke down and purchased a copy for myself via Marketplace in 2004 for a "mere" $4.75. Today a used print copy goes for about $25. I don't know why I waited so long to read it. I'd keep seeing references to how good it is, especially from KristieJ who has been nagging our TBR hostess to read it forever. I think I was saving it for a day when I knew I needed to read a really good book. But when I saw that this month's theme was "Recommended Read" it was clear that this was the book I had to read. I was really, really stupid to wait 8 years to read this. Frankly, I should just end this review with that statement. I am writing this Tuesday evening. Earlier today I saw on Twitter that at least 2 other TBR participants are reviewing this for today as well. And they'll probably do a better job at it than me. B...
Read more

57, 3, 15

Image
57 years. 3 months. 15 days. That's how old my sister was when she died on December 30, 2015. Char spent four and a half years in a tug of war with cancer. For a while there she seemed to be in total control. But that insidious disease came back and this time would not let up. Here's the kicker. She had uterine cancer, just like me. Only hers was Stage 4 when they found it. Mine barely qualified as Stage 1. Life is often unfair, but that seemed the cruelest irony of all. As I wept that she was dying, she wept because I was not. It's taken me a long time to process this and to be willing to talk openly about it. Some of you reading this have been very open with your own struggles with health, grief, death, and dying. I've wanted to be, but I think I needed for the worst of it to be over first. Every time I tried to write about it, I'd sit paralyzed at the keyboard. I just wasn't ready I guess. Char decided to suspend further treatment last August. It wa...
Read more