November 16, 2011

16 The Blue Quilt





I’m not a quilter, but I got conned into quilting by one of my biology professors, Dr. Harriette Schapiro. Perhaps she thought I would improve mathematically if I quilted. I know she sensed my love of color and of fabrics. Love and passion do not help when you have learning disabilities and can’t add two and two.

I picked the pattern for this quilt from a book of scrap quilts and began to choose my fabrics July 27, 2010. Just today, I was telling someone that it had been two years since I started, but it’s been one year and four months instead.

About a month later, most of the blocks were cut out, and I ground to a halt.



In July of 2010, I also converted my photography blog to quilting Blog I titled “Quilt-O-Tropic….notes on a few quilts.” By March 2011, I’d begun putting the blocks together but also begun to develop a dislike of the quilt itself. Boring. Endless. The colors didn’t excite me. I wrote about every bit of agony I felt. Not light at all.



In of 2011, I found a blue and white quilt top at the American Cancer Society Thrift store, and grabbed it. Stirred at last to do something with this quilted weight on my mind, I got the “Blue Quilt” jump started at last.



Pinned in one week, it was tied the next week, and the week after that it was first stitched in the ditch by the yellow. The following day childlike sea creatures were drawn on the blue border in a two day sewing stint. On the fourth day, It was finished with a bit of self binding, the pins taken out and photographed.

I actually like it now. The yellow perks it up, the several major errors aren’t glaring, and it’s comfortable when draped across your lap. What more could one want. Perhaps if I had understood measurement, it would have been a lap quilt. Perhaps if someone else does the measurements for the next one, there will be a next one albeit vastly smaller.







My ability to draw with a needle is much compromised by my lack of hand eye coordination. That's what I do....draw. Now days, my quilting looks more like a child did it, but in the past it had more accuracy. On this quilt, I started not knowing what I was going to do. One corner now has an amorphous flower shape, but just a few inches into the border, I drew a fish, and the design is set. Three corners have conch shells, and the remainder of the borders have sharks, fish, octopus, and other denizens of the deep marching around the edges.

9 comments:

  1. I love it! (Does Dr. Schapiro have any idea what she started?)

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  2. I am amazed! Good job!

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  3. I love it too! Especially the special touches of your unique art ideas for the border. I'm sure this quilt will be loved for years to come.

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  4. Your quilts are gorgeous. Love the shades of blue and how you have put them together. That sea theme quilt will be a real work of art, I am sure. Still having brain buzzes with you post on my blog about TV. Not allowed to watch...really. Kind of smart on their part and also kind of dumb. Oh well...

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  5. What is accuracy anyway? As an artist you know perfection is in the eye of the beholder, and is quite boring. From what I see, you created a beautiful quilt. Now you can send it to me. Just kidding of course. I imagine your daughters want it. Dianne

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  6. It's beautiful, charming and free. I really admire your choice and arrangement of color too.

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  7. It is truly stunning, my friend.

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  8. Oh wow! These are really spectacular. I am really impressed. Never was blue so beautiful.

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  9. Is that free-style machine quilted? I love it.

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