Bargello Spiral Quilt

I like the way color flows in a bargello quilt pattern and wanted to design something that was a less traditional bargello pattern. I liked the idea of a spiral. One didn't seem sufficient so I reversed a second spiral and off-set it on the ground fabric. I chose a grey scale for the spirals and a muted orange with soft grey for the background. Once I had the line of the spiral established it was easy to place the strips. The line was first drawn on graph paper. Then quarter inch squares of paper strips were pinned to a piece of foam core to determine if it would translate into a true spiral.

I used a 12 step value scale and made the initial strips one inch wide. These were then sewn together and cut into half inch, one inch and two inch strips to sew together for the spirals. These are the finished sizes not cut sizes. About half of the fabric needed to be used on the reverse side in order to get all of the values.

Monochromatic Quilt Design Exercise

This exercise involved making a small view finder by cutting a rectangle from a piece of paper and moving it over a larger design to find a pleasing section to enlarge. I was not inspired by any of my selections and have decided that I do not like to work with fused fabric. Rather than agonize over it I just picked a random design. I did a value run of a nice turquoise and thickened it with sodium alginate. Then soaked a small piece of fabric in soda ash before painting the design in the manner directed. I then did a variety of stitch patterns to finish it off.

Back side is a bubble wrap screen print scrap of muslin.

Garrett's Crocheted Cell Phone Case

Garrett learned to crochet a few years back and works a very even stitch. During a recent visit he learned to make a pouch. He designed and made a cell phone case.

Antique Quilt Blocks

These are a set of eight quilt blocks, circa 1850, that I inherited. The red is turkey red and the yellow is known as cheddar. The green is achieved by over dyeing blue with yellow. You can see a bit of blue showing on the green leave. The pattern is princess feathers with star. Each block is hand cut and hand appliqued. No two are alike. I framed each block and gave to children and sister so all could enjoy a bit of family history.

Fractured Quilt

This fractured quilt is made with hand-dyed fabric and demonstrates color values and placement.