studio update

the 'it takes a village quilt' was delivered this week! the only problem I encountered was with the migration of batting fibers during the quilting process. it really is only a problem when I use a lot of black fabrics in a quilt. I flaked as I should have anticipated the problem. unfortunately, I'm finding it more and more difficult to find black batting - last I needed it, I was able to get it at the local joann's but the last time I tried they were out and it didn't sound as if they were going to stock it anymore. time to call the fancy quilt shop and see if they carry it, if not thank goodness for internet shopping.

last friday I began work on the 'healing quilt' for richard's mother. preparing the fabric is quite a process as once again I am using the knit shirts that richard loved wearing. the first step with working with knit fabrics is to stabilize the fabric with a woven interfacing - that means lots of time at the ironing board! this extra layer makes for a sturdy and warm finished product. the quilt for richard's mom will be similar to the ones that I made for his daughters. the blocks will be sashed together with black fabric and if I have time today I will start sashing the blocks together. the finished blocks will be 5.5 inches square.

another project for the weekend is to find black batting - lesson learned from the last quilt completed!

similar to previous three 'healing quilts' I intend to border the pieced center with a mix of a pieced border and expanses of plain black fabric which will serve as a slate, so to speak. I will hand quilt various bits of information about richard and his life. since this quilt is for his mother I think I might include the names of various members of the family - parents, sisters, wife, daughters - a somewhat abbreviated family tree.

village blocks

the 'it takes a village' quilt is coming along nicely. it is composed of quite a few different fabrics - three or four of the fabrics are from my 'africa stash' just waiting for the right project (ironically, the light fabric with the dancing figures is not from my africa stash but rather from the local joann fabrics!) - I'm currently at the 'attachment' stage - which includes handquilting in the middle of the black 'logs.'

after the middle is done I thought I'd stitch along the borders several proverbs from around the world including "the house of the heart is never full" and "it takes a village to raise a child." in researching the origin of the second oft-used proverb, I ran across the following, all some variation of 'it takes a village':

In Lunyoro (Banyoro) there is a proverb that says "Omwana takulila nju emoi," whose literal translation is "A child does not grow up only in a single home."

In Kihaya (Bahaya) there is a saying, "Omwana taba womoi," which translates as "A child belongs not to one parent or home."

In Kijita (Wajita) there is a proverb which says "Omwana ni wa bhone," meaning regardless of a child's biological parent(s) its upbringing belongs to the community.

back to work!

working title: "it takes a village"
block is an adaptation of log cabin - the inspiration for this quilt came from the book Quilt Inspirations from Africa : A Caravan of Ideas, Patterns, Motifs, and Techniques by England and Johnson

after almost two weeks away I'm getting back to work in the studio. finished one of the two baby quilts I had on the 'front burners' and yesterday finished the top of the other. I finally broke away from my start rut!


starry dreams - baby quilt (47X57) completed 4.3.07


Caribbean Star - donated to FEDOPO on 3.3.07