Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Past-Due Post: A QUILT?!?!

Blogging takes more time than one might think. Fellow bloggerses, do you agree? Maybe I'm just slow (I am), but I find that I always have a folder full of images on my desktop, destined for a post that never happened. Sometimes that's probably a good thing, but sometimes I dust these folders off and feign surprise and say, Hey, buddy, where have you been hiding? and feel guilty because obviously I knew they were there all along.
All this to say that I'm going to be putting up some not-so-recent photos, and all of them will begin with something like "Last summer at the National Clogging Championship..." or "When I was 12 and my family lived on a submarine..." Except, you know-- different and less exciting. Welcome to the start of the past-due posts.
GUYS, I ACTUALLY HAVE BEEN MAKING QUILTS. No joke. Last Spring, I participated in a gallery show at our church, where we were asked to make two 18" x 24" pieces- the first based on the concept of barrenness, and the second, flourishing. The first went up on Ash Wednesday, and the second on Easter.
So of course, being the thoughtful, introspective artist that I am, I came up with this deep, symbolic, and highly meaningful interpretation: Barren = gray! Flourish = colors! Hyuk, hyuk! (I promise, there was some thought behind it. Mostly because I was told I had to write a statement to hang next to it, but fortunately, that ended up not being necessary, which is good, because I have little patience with writing that sort of thing.)
I don't have any pictures of the first one, because I forgot, and it is boring, and it is currently at the bottom of some pile and covered in cat hair. Maybe some day I will unearth it? I actually do like it quite a bit, but gray quilt with gray quilting and gray binding isn't all that exciting.
And this was my first foray into hand quilting, if you can call it that? Utility stitch? Utility stitch by a four-year-old? I thought it would take a few hours... Ha. Haha. Hahahahahaha. THIS IS A WEEK OF MY LIFE. But it's colorful! So I'm ok with it.

There were actually multiple versions with different piecing configurations, but then Brian laid out some of the strips I had sewn together, and it was obnoxiously perfect. I feel a bit like a four-year-old tying my shoe when that happens, because it's like, Oh, thanks, that's awesome! but also, I AM MAKING IT, I CAN DO IT MYSELF (EVEN THOUGH I HAVE BEEN COMPLAINING THAT I CAN'T DO IT)! Do you know this feeling, friends? I still have a lot of those other pieces, though; so someday I might make a second COLORSPLOSION.
 So! That's that. Only a year late, that's not too bad... And, on a related note, if you live in KC and are looking for a place to celebrate Easter, Redeemer is having a big ol' shindig at the convention center that we're calling Downtown for Easter, because we are creative with names. You should come! It will be fun! I will be there! There might be chocolate! (I don't think there will be chocolate, sorry!) But there WILL be Jesus, and singing, and good coffee, I am sure of that.


12 comments:

Bridget said...

That quilting is totally neato and perfect for the piece.

arajane said...

i love that quilt so much it hurts. the hand quilting is gorgeous.

teaginny said...

gorgeous. glad you took the time to do the and stitching. it totally makes thia amazing!

Kate said...

The colours! The stitching! It's perfect!

rachel said...

Lovely quilt, jolly colours, great hand-stitching. Happy Easter!

Sharon said...

LOVE the hand quilting!

Jenny said...

THANK YOU for posting this inspirational quilt...both in its meaning, and the fact that 1 year is not too long to blog on a quilt. this little beauty is knock down drag out gorgeous. i have a hand sewing project going, but i think i need a portable quilting project after seeing this.

Vicki said...

I love it, Lauren. Did you use perle cotton or embroidery floss for the quilting? The colors (fabric and thread both) are amazing.

Lori said...

This is so beautiful & kinda inspiring...

Jenny @ Anything Pretty said...

I love this. The stitching takes it over the top.

Project Denneler said...

That quilt is lovely, lovely, lovely. I'm smitten with your stitchin'. The perfect marriage of colors. Pat yourself on the back if you haven't already, my dear.

Unknown said...

This is so beautiful! Absolutely lovely! I especially like the way you've combined some wavy up-and-down lines with more curvy u-shapes in your quilting (sorry- I'm sure there is a much better and more technical way to phrase this, but this is the best I can come up with!) And I agree that blogging takes more time than you'd think sometimes.