Thank You

All quilters owe a big Thank You to so many individuals who inspire and teach us. This tiny quilt, smaller than a placemat,was made several years ago as a gift for a Chinese friend. It's based on the marvelous work of Jane Davila. Click Here for Jane's site loaded with creative energy. The applique is fused, trim and yarn binding are couched. I learned the yarn binding technique from Wendy Butler Berns. The text ("Xie Xie", the Chinese character for thank you) is done on a lightbox with Pigma pen. Talk about fast and easy. Many thanks to Jane, Wendy and so many other quilters who help us "hone our craft." If I wasn't so absorbed in getting a large quilt completed (more on this later) I'd be tempted to design some placemats for my kitchen table.

Yellow Stuff

My "Happy Chappy" rose. I have two of these bushes.

"Who would have thought it possible that a tiny little flower could preoccupy a person so completely that there simply wasn't room for any other thought." - Sophie Scholl

This quote intruiged me so I found out more about the author. Sophia Magdalena Scholl (1921 – 1943) was a German student, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. She was convicted of high treason after having been found distributing anti-war leaflets at the University of Munich with her brother Hans. As a result, they were both executed by guillotine. Sobering. Horrific. I stopped to count my blessings and really look at my rose. Enjoy these other lovelies blooming in my yard.

Here's another "oldie but goodie" -- a Carolina Lily quilt, machine pieced and hand quilted. Plain fabrics really show off the quilting. Classic quilt patterns are always fresh and remind us of our rich quilting heritage.

Splendor of the Rajahs

Made in 1989, Splendor of the Rajahs (designed by Joyce Schlotzhauer) is one of my few hand quilted pieces.


Although I love the look of hand quilting it's extremely time consuming so in the interest of productivity I switched to machine quilting in the year 2000. But I have to admit there's just something extra special about hand quilting.

Yellow Stuff

Earlier in my yard . . . the beauty of blooms . . .

Anchor

Happy Easter!
Arms of Love is my "Holy Week" quilt as it reminds me in symbols of the death and resurrection of Christ. He is the truth that anchors my life. Here's a close up of the anchor in the larger quilt.

Sometimes you can reuse an image in another quilt. Different fabrics create a new look in Into the Deep.

The Palm

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week in Christianity, commemorating Christ's entry into Jerusalem as the crowds waved palm branches.

I thought I'd post another image of Tropical Radiance, a quilt based on a traditional block called The Palm.
The palm block makes a strong statement in sharply contrasting colors and values.

Quilting Contrast

When choosing quilting motifs keep in mind the use of contrast to create interest. Here a curvy meandering style is juxtaposed against an angular straight-line style. Variety adds spice.

Encouragement

There's much to see in a tree . . .

The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Wisdom of the Sands, translated from French by Stuart Gilbert

Playing With Color

Tropical Radiance is featured on Joen Wolfrom's informative color blog. This post discusses the strength that dark shades add to a design's visual impact. As Joen points out, these principles apply to interior design as well. We need dark shades to stay grounded.

Be sure to follow Joen's blog for tons of information and inspiration. Never stop learning!

AQS blog: Stash Talking

Please visit the latest AQS blogpost: Stash Talking to learn more about The World and my fabric stash.

AQS blog: It's a Real Zoo!

Here's another clever title and blog from Jan Magee on the AQS blog about my quilt The World.

AQS Quilt Views and News

My quilt, The World, is the subject of this cleverly titled (The World According to Rachel) short blog today on The AQS blog: Quilt Views and News. You can see more images of The World on my posts in July and August 2011.

Grandmother's Flower Garden

This image on a ceramic tile in my studio brings to mind a lifestyle and perhaps an era far distant from mine. I imagine one of my grandmothers in her prime caring for family, home and farm while still managing to carve out time to make the quilts hanging on the line.

My husband's grandmother made this utilitarian "summer quilt". The large hexagons are whip stitched directly onto a muslin background with no batting or backing so it doesn't actually qualify as a quilt. Nevertheless it truly is a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt handmade by grandma.

Grandma's quilting wouldn't win any prizes but my husband's prize is the memory of him cutting out pieces for her as she sewed. Sometimes the greatest beauty of a quilt is the link to it's maker.

Yellow Stuff

My husband suprised me with this smiley guy several years ago when I was going through a bit of a rough patch at work. He actually does make me smile! Yes, that applies to my husband and smiley guy. I found a bit of the history of the yellow smiley face on Wikipedia.

In 1963 Harvey Ball, an American commercial artist, was employed by an advertising company to create a happy face to be used on buttons. His rendition, with bright yellow background, dark oval eyes, and creases at the sides of the mouth, was to become the most iconic version.

In the early 1970's French journalist Franklin Loufrani registered the smiley face image as a trademark in France in 1971, and he created "The Smiley Licensing Corporation, Ltd." to sell, license, and advertise the smiley face image in the United Kingdom and Europe.

In 1997, Franklin Loufrani and Smiley World attempted to acquire trademark rights to the symbol (and even to the word "smiley" itself) in the United States. This brought Loufrani into conflict with Wal-Mart, which had begun prominently featuring a happy face in its "Rolling Back Prices" campaign over a year earlier. The issue went to court where it would languish for seven years before a decision. The Loufrani vs. Wal-Mart case was finally closed in March 2009, when the judge dismissed Loufrani's claims to any rights on either the generic smiley face symbol or the word "smiley," noting that both had become "ubiquitous" in American culture long before Loufrani's initial trademark application.

The court decisions effectively ruled the smiley face (as well as the words "smiley face") to be in the public domain, at least within the jurisdiction of the United States.

Conclusion: We humans have the uncanny ability to ruin even a simple smile.

I learned a new word today: emoticon (a pictorial representation of a facial expression using punctuation marks and letters). Like the text version of a smiley face :-)

Emoticon is a portmanteau word of the English words emotion and icon. OK, I learned two new words today. A portmanteau blends two or more words into a new word.

The Quilt Life

The theme of the February 2012 issue of The Quilt Life is "where in the world?" I was so pleased when the editor contacted me about featuring my quilt, The World, as the centerfold. Gregory Case's superb photography plays up the quilting in high relief.

Unfortunately, my amateur photo above doesn't do it justice. You can see more images of The World on my posts in July and August 2011. Pick up a copy of The Quilt Life and be inspired by quilters from around the world. It's an issue filled with color, variety and inspiration.

Encouragment

Looking ahead to the new year, I have stacks of fabrics waiting to become quilts.

I have oodles of spools of colorful thread.

The quilt possibilities are endless.

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. ~Bill Vaughan

May you be an optimist in 2012. Happy New Year.

Light of the World

Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. Tomorrow the daylight begins to lengthen every so slowly as the earth's tilt inches its way closer to the sun. Four of my quilts include a sun.

The World:
Good Morning:Arms of Love:24/7:
Since we're on the theme of light and it's almost Christmas I'm including a tribute to the birth of Christ, who said "I am the light of the world." Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes, let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of my life spent with You

King of all days
Oh, so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly You came to the earth You created
All for love's sake became poor

And here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely
Altogether worthy
Altogether wonderful to me (written by Tim Hughes)

The annual tradition of decorating the house for Christmas is a time-consuming yet satisfying task. Right after Thanksgiving we crank up the Christmas music and get out the decorations. My husband puts up lights outside and places candles in each window while I decorate the tree and set out Christmas specific items accumulated over the years. Until New Year's Day, when it all goes back in storage, our eyes and memories are treated to something "new" around the house. The decor in my foyer features angels like the two pictured here. Sometimes the holidays are tinged with feelings of sadness or fear. While adding ornaments to the tree I experienced some of these emotions as I thought of family and friends no longer with us, and others living with insecurity due to health and financial concerns. But when I took out these Christmas angels I thought of this verse in the book of Luke,

"The angel appeared to the shepherds saying "Don't be afraid . . . I proclaim to you good news of great joy . . . today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you."

Yellow Stuff

What would we do without our rotary cutters? "Back in the day" we cut each piece with a scissors, and often not too accurately. With a rotary cutter all straight line (or gently curved) pieces are cut precisely and quickly. Let me emphasize quickly because, in a moment, this razor sharp tool can become a hazard.

Recently I was--unwisely--rotary cutting while watching a favorite HGTV show. What's the rule? Never take your eyes off the cutter when you're using it. Well, I violated that rule and paid the price with a deep slice to my index finger and nail. My neighbor, who is a nurse, patched me up and declared it would not require stitches.

So this is simply a public announcement for safety first . . . and gratitude for how efficient rotary cutters are when used properly!