Could it get any better?

Today I discovered the marriage of the world's two greatest (obviously up for argument) pleasures: quilts and coffee. During my daily Design Sponge meanderings I came across these amazing pictures from Thatcher's Coffee in Vancouver. The shop's entire aesthetic is simply charming, but personally I adore the use of old coffee-bean sacks as decor and upholstery. I mean, I have seen people hang bags like these on the walls, which is also a pleasing sight. But these people took the re-purposing a step further. Suffice it to say that I dream of the day when I can craft my very own quilt out of a stack of cloth coffee-bean and/or rice sacks.

an epic journey

Every once in a while a person will take an epic journey to a far away land. And sometimes even a quilt will get to come along for the ride. 'Tis the tale of a quilt made a few months ago, sent to a neighboring county for a yardsale, then packed away as my father and sister trekked to Nicaragua (por avion) for a week-long experience making friends and building a church.

"We gave a gift of a quilt to the church that Pastor Dan’s daughter Joy made. There was a joke about how they don’t need quilts here with all the heat. They are planning to hang it on the wall inside the new building." (from the church's blog)

Now, I must be honest. Had I known that this quilt would become a gift from a North American church to its Central American counterpart I probably would have crafted something a bit more beautiful, and a bit less decorated with baby turtles. However, I'm glad that this project has gone farther than expected and symbolizes something beautiful: like two groups of people with two very different cultural experiences converging for a week of hospitality, hard work, and awkward moments.

Though I continued my normal existence here in the States while my Dad and sister discovered the wonder of rural Nicaragua, in some ways their journey was my journey as well. Incredibly (and with a ton of sleuthing) my dad was able to locate my host family from my studies in Nicaragua 4 1/2 years ago! He spent time with them on two occasions, delivered a letter (that I wrote in butchered Spanish and my beloved Kristen edited for me), and took a bunch of pictures that I can't wait to get my hands on! He wrote me yesterday, "We saw your family again yesterday in Masaya. Grand baby y two sons y son's wife y momma and papa.". I quote him so all can witness his astounding grasp of conjunctions in the Spanish language! :)

I suppose this is my 2nd quilt in Central America, seeing as I gifted one to my Costa Rican host family in 2005. Maybe I should start sewing something less warm and cozy for our friends from the tropics. Like quilted speedos?

Miscellany

Over the past few weeks I've taken a blogging sabbatical in the pursuit of crafting knowledge. As we all know, there are loads of incredible people creating gads of awe-inspiring works, and then generously sharing their expertise via the "interweb". I find myself poring over sites and blogs, gleaning inspiration rather regularly. And in turn I have a lovely (haphazard) list of thoughts, ideas and crafting dreams. And now, through the glory of "cut and paste" and hyperlinks I will impart their genius to you.

1. even food with no nutritional value can redeem itself through art:
My friend/co-worker/wedding photographer/art curator, Lisa, recently drew my attention to Stuff You Can't Have, the blog in which Wonderbread is used as an art medium. Apparently these pieces can last for years without disintegrating or molding. That's awfully convenient for artwork, but awfully disturbing for foodstuffs.

2. child exploitation in the least controversial sense:
I have come across two women who recognize the awesomeness that is childrens art skills, and in turn have created marketable and adorable commodities. Rachel Galloway of Mamma Made Designs will take a child's drawings or sketchings and turn it into bright, trendy and perfectly use-able, sew-able, love-able fabric. I can't express how incredible I think this is. In the same vein, FineLittleDay is a site kept by Elisabeth Dunker, a mother who (among other skills) creates wall paper from her 8 year old son's drawings.


3. on the back burner:
Here are two quilts that I want to make. They make me salivate. Seriously, I think they are delectable.


So there, very briefly, is a cross-section of my thoughts and meanderings as of late. I do have a recently finished commissioned quilt that will make an appearance on the blog very soon. Until then...

Breaking down stereotypes (aka ways to bide the time)

Ok everyone out there in the bloggosphere. We are going to do a brief exercise in breaking down stereotypes. Get out a pen and paper.

Step 1: Write the first 5 words that come to mind when I say "Quilter".
Step 2: Describe in 10 words or less the type of person who finds embroidery and hand-stitching to be a calming break in a busy day.
Step 3: Draw an amateur sketch of someone knitting.

Ok, now let's assess our results. Raise your cyber hand if your imagery, descriptions or amateur sketch resembles this picture in any way:













If so, be cool my children, and prepare to have your minds blown.




The Wall Street Journal recently published an article describing a new crafting trend among the trucking population. That's right, truckers who are bored of napping and reading between runs have turned to quilting and knitting instead. One trucker has even rearranged his sleeper cabin to fit a sewing machine for his quilting projects.

Thomas McConnaughy, a married grandfather from Hemet, Calif., hauls cereal, reads his Bible, plays Sudoku, and talks trout fishing at truck stops. He doesn't let on to other drivers that he keeps 15 coils of yarn in his cab and makes what he describes as "really cute slippers."

Personally, I think it's a brilliant and stimulating way to bide an otherwise monotonous day. You can read the whole article here.

Me and You and You and Me

"Anytime you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help." Alex Haley














I consider this colorful and somewhat haphazard quilt an ode to friendship. Symbolically speaking, all of this fabric was either given to me from good friends, or left over from past gifts for friends. In that spirit it has been named "Me and You and You and Me", from the Turtles' song "Happy Together" (also notice the sweet correlation between the name of the band and the main characters of this particular quilt)!

"Me and You and You and Me" has three characteristics that make it unique compared to my other projects: 1) It's much larger than any of the rest of my quilts (which have been designed with babies in mind). At 56" x 56" this one could certainly be used as bedding for a toddler or child, and could even keep an adult warm on a chilly winter's eve. Heck, you could even use the thing as a picnic blanket! 2) Rather than sewing the pieces together in strips I decided to iron 1/4" under on each side of the squares, and then layer the squares on top of one another, sewing around the edges of each. For this method I used an old table cloth as a base/stabilizer and sewed the entire quilt top to it. In the end it is a heavier quilt that lays very nicely (again, perfect for a cozy winter night). 3) To attach the layers together I decided to use my free-moving quilting foot and sew various sized circles (as opposed to the straight lines I generally use). I'm not a superb drawer, so I took a cup, a bowl and a plate, traced their edges with a chalk pencil, and followed the lines with my machine. I love how these big quilted circles resonate with the various circles and dots represented by the other fabrics used.

I characterize this project as a somewhat-moderately-crazy-quilt. It was a fun and experimental way to reuse some materials, and it will be quite effective as a sturdy and warm blanket. Also, the turtles are just plain adorable.