Colorful quilts

I love making quilts.
It's a fact, simple and short and very very true.

But how many quilts can one household truly need?  Especially when their home is located in a never-snows-here climate?  What's a quilter to do?

I have found an easy answer -- I make quilts for charity!  In fact I make lots and lots of quilt tops that I donate to various causes (most are given to my traditional quilt guild and someone there finishes them).  Basically, I love to piece blocks and to piece together quilt-tops.

After this spring's severe flooding in Texas on Memorial Day, I joined a group formed on InstaGram (#FloodTexaswithLove) making many many quilts to give to the many flooded families.  Originally I planned to make a few blocks and send them in, but somehow I became the Houston coordinator and received many blocks, tops and quilts to finish and label before dispersing.  A few friends even dropped off their colorful scraps which I used to piece more blocks.  Below are a few of the completed quilts.

All the quilts above were all pieced using the Just One Slab pattern found in Cheryl Arkison's book Sunday Morning Quilts.  Many different people from across the country, and possibly Canada as well have made blocks and sent them to Sara.  Click here for my earlier blog post about how this drive started and for further information on how to make the scrappy-one-color block or click here for Sara's original blog post about this.  Many thanks to Sara (@supersara20 on IG) for initiating this quilt drive and also to Cheryl (@cheryl_arkison on IG) for granting us the permission to use her pattern for these colorful quilts.

Many quilters also donated quilts made using different patterns and techniques, as seen below.

A Trio of Scrappy Striped Columns

an Around the World pattern

A Modern Graphic Color-Study

A Texas-themed Split Nine-Patch

A Batik of Abstract Stars

An original design was used to make the labels for these quilts.  Thank you the gracious Instagrammer for the colorful logo which appears below.

Thank you also to Karri (@karriofberries on IG) for printing numerous labels for me.  Photos below show the label stitched onto a few of the quilts.

I confess that I have lost track of how many of these quilts have passed through my hands, but it is well over a dozen perhaps close to two dozen.  I have personally handed out some to dear friends that suffered from the flooding and must thank Marna M. and Jamie B. for helping to deliver more of these quilts.  There are still a few being quilted by other volunteers (so many have donated fabric, thread, time, and their talent and skill!), so I haven't quite closed up shop yet ... but I plan to end the drive as this year draws to a close ... any new blocks or scraps that may find their way to my home will be used for new quilts that will be given away to someone who in need of extra hugs from the world at large. 

Thank yous must be extended to the great InstaGram community of quilters including all those named above and many many more.  We love to sew and to comfort others, especially in their times of stress and discomfort.  Hugs to all who received one of these quilts and more hugs to the quilters who helped to make the amazing gifts of so many quilts happen.

Flood Texas with Love

The week-end of Memorial Day 2015 brought massive quantities of water flooding through several Texas towns.  The photos on the news that week-end and the days following were amazingly awful to look at and the news of the amount of loss, both the loss of life and the loss of property was heart-wrenching.

When I saw this logo posted on InstaGram by "supersara20", Sara,  I immediately wanted to join in and help with this great drive. 

credit to Brenna (IG - beknitpicky) for this great logo!

Quoting Sara  from her blog Southern Transplant:
The state of Texas is many things to many people.  To millions it is home.  Texas has recently dealt with severe weather including flooding and tornados in many areas, the worst of which was in Hays County and the city of Houston.  I am a resident of Hays County, I have had to deal with flooded roads, rain, high winds and losing a few shingles on my house.  I am one of the lucky ones.  Many others have had to deal with flooding of their homes and the loss of loved ones.  To date there have been 28 deaths associated with the flooding and several of these people are still missing.  There have been hundreds of houses flooded and many completely washed away.  As the flood waters recede people are returning home, to find mud, mold, venomous snakes, fire ants and rodents in their homes making the clean up that much more difficult.

The idea is for the community of quilters to Flood Texas with Love (and with Quilts).

Sara obtained permission from Cheryl Arkison, who has graciously given permission for us use her Just One Slab block from her book Sunday Morning Quilts which is a fabulous book (I own a digital copy).  

 The directions for the color-slab blocks can be found on pages 48-49.  

Cheryl gives directions on her blog, Dining Room Empire.  Click here for the specific post or keep on reading as the following is quoted directly from her post:

If you don't have the book (Sunday Morning Quilts), let me summarize how to make a slab:
Take two pieces of fabric and sew them together. Do that a few more times. Then start sewing more pieces to those first pairs. Sew groups together. Add additional pieces of fabric as necessary to get up to your finished size. Start with small bits or big ones, it doesn't matter. Raid your scrap bins and go with what you've got.

Sara adds to make each block using one color per "slab".  Any color.  Each block should measure 15.5" square.  The hope and plan is to make quilts 60" x 75" in size, in a rainbow of colors.   Sara is collecting blocks through the month of June, then the piecing, quilting and binding will be completed in July.  

So far I have made four slabs....

 an orange one came first...

 then a green one ...

 then not one, but two blue ones!

I discovered that piecing two slabs at a time is very time efficient.  I love this creative way of using up the fabric scraps that I can never toss into the trash.  This is a fun block to piece, perhaps because there are no specific rules. The directions are to improvise as you go, ending up with a block that measures 15.5" square.  I believe improv piecing is quite freeing! 


Thank you to Sara and to Cheryl for this wonderful project.  I have so many friends who lost so much in the flooding, specifically here in Houston, but also all across our mighty state.  The time to heal is now and sadly it is moving forward ever so slowly.  I know it is still hard for many.  I hope that these quilts, when presented to their new owners, will provide them with much love and with new-found strength.

Here is Cheryl's update on the Canadian floods from 2013, with photos of the quilts made then.  Click here.  She also acknowledges the drive we are currently holding in Texas to help flood fellow Texans with love and quilts.  How awesome is that!  Besides piecing slab blocks, I am also helping to quilt and bind the finished quilts too.  An amazing project that I am very proud to be a part of.... truly.


If you would like to join us, it is not too late.  Make a slab or two -- in your favorite color or in whatever color is most predominant in your scrap bins.  If you can't make a block(s) you can donate through Paypal to sara_stetson@yahoo.com in any amount.  All money will be used for quilt materials (batting/backings/thread/binding), shipping and long arm services. Any excess money collected will be donated to the Red Cross of Central Texas.  (Sara is happy to provide documentation if requested to show the donations are used correctly!)

Please email Sara at sara_stetson@yahoo.com or send her a private message on Instagram @supersara20 when you have blocks that are ready to send to Sara in Austin, or contact me in Houston.


Thank you all in advance!


#floodtexaswithlove

Temporary ... now gone

I can remember driving down Montrose a few years ago and discovering this curious structure being built.  I loved it and loved watching it grow and continued to wonder how long it would remain ... after all, it looked so temporary!

I wanted to walk under it and photograph it from many angles.  Imagine my surprise when I happened past it two days ago and discovered that it was being dismantled!  How can that be?  I never took my photos.  I never walked under and around it.  I miss it now as they were taking it apart.

Here are the only photos I have of the "Funnel Tunnel" created by artist Patrick Renner.

This end points to Inversion Coffee House (I should try their coffee one day).

 The skeletal remains are bare and remain.

This is the ghost of a former sculpture, or the bare bones.

Funnel Tunnel once thrived on the median, starting at the intersection of Willard and Montrose and snaking down Montrose.

I did find one article online telling more about the creation of this intriguing sculpture.  Click here to read it and enjoy these two photos from that same article.

Somehow I missed the opportunity to paint one of these wonderful yardstick-like pieces.  Now there is a sign at the corner where this sculpture used to stand stating that these very pieces can be purchased! hmmmm..... I decided to do a little more digging ....


Here is a conceptual drawing back when the idea was germinating ...

Click here for more on the story telling the beginning of this idea.

Click on these links for a few more photos and stories behind this Funnel Tunnel sculpture that is no more.  Click here for installation news, also here, and here and even here, oh, and here too.  There are probably many more websites featuring photos of this unique sculpture (try researching Funnel Tunnel by Patrick Renner, Houston, TX).  Please share them with me!  Before I end, below are a few favorite photos to represent the very photos that I never took the time to take myself.  Lesson learned: Be aware of procrastination!  It will likely bite you in the end ....

I love this photo by Barry Tse (above) 

and

the two below, both by Pablo Gimenez Zapiola.  

This one is fantastic, which is a still from a video from Houstonia Magazine, which I pulled from a website - click here to see.

One question remains - why was it dismantled?

I have not found that answer .... yet .... do you know why?

Ruby Jubilee

This year the International Quilt Festival is celebrating its Ruby Jubilee, 40 years of fabulous-ness.

As per their usual, they are celebrating in grand style with a wonderful exhibit of red-and-white quilts...

 Making a red-n-white quilt has been on my "quilt bucket list" for a long time.

After seeing these wonderful quilts,

 the urge to make my own, and possibly to make several of my own, 

has moved higher on my "must-make-this-quilt" list!

This exhibit is in honor of the amazing exhibit called "Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts".  For more information on this exhibit that was on display in New York City in March 25-30, 2011  please click here.  Note - there is a free ap to download that features great photos and more information on each quilt.

If you can, come to the International Quilt Festival at the George R. Brown Convention Center this week.  Opening Preview night is Wednesday, October 29, 2014.  The show runs through Sunday, November 2, 2014.

Lawndale Mural

What's this I see?

 ... on Main Street in the Museum District ...

... on the north exterior wall of the Lawndale Art Center ...

I heard it was there so I drove past and took these photos to share. 

This mural is a collaboration between artists Daniel Anguilu and Aaron Parazette.

I learned (via Fresh Arts/Spacetaker) that:  This project is the third phase of the rotating mural at Lawndale. Both painters employ forms of abstract patterns in their work, though their individual approach differs greatly. Anguilu’s intuitive approach to painting outdoor spaces results in gestural forms that take shape on the wall, while the clean lines and mathematical forms of Parazette’s work  result from a more calculated approach to painting.

... and (via Facebook) that the mural is already being painted over and prepped for the next artistic creation.  

Apparently I happened by the mural during its final days!  I'm glad I did and I will share photos of the next mural soon ....

Wrapping up another Festival

It happens every year .... the quilters leave town and the George R. Brown Convention Center is in need of a good cleaning!

When that final closing announcement is made, everyone exits the building.  Then the taking down of the quilts from displays everywhere commences.  The Festival quilts are secured and moved to Quilts, Inc. headquarters where they will be wrapped, packed and returned home.

The red carpets get rolled up even as workers scramble to get all the quilts down.  Is it a race to see who can finish first?

I love the peek from the upstairs windows.  All the Shoppers are gone and the Venders are busily packing their unsold wares.  See the many boxes and empty walls?  The samples are down.  Boxes are out from under tables, filled and moved to trucks parked outside.  It doesn't take long ... soon the place is deserted again.

Yes, Festival closed several weeks ago and I am only now coming off of my Quilt Nirvana High.  I am thankful to live in Houston where this wonderful Festival of Quilts takes place every fall.

I plan to share some of my favorite quilts from this year's show in the next few weeks .... I never can get them posted up during Festival -- but then I'm too busy AT Festival enjoying them!  Festival never lasts long enough for me!!!  Of that, I am positive.

Butterflies!

 My butterfly collection began over two years ago with these butterflies:

This is a small portion of the many colorful butterflies made by my dear friend Carol C in New York.  She made them for the centerpieces of a luncheon that I was hosting (when two special people were celebrating a momentous life marker).  Carol could not travel to celebrate with us in person, so she made these lovely butterflies to decorate each table at our kiddush luncheon.

Why butterflies?  Because we were planning to donate these butterflies (the ones above and the others below) to the Houston Holocaust Museum.  The museum is collecting over one-and-a-half million butterflies for an exhibit in memory of the many children who perished during the Holocaust (click here for more details on the Museum's Butterfly Project).

These butterflies were made the day of my sons' B'nai Mitzvot; made by their friends who came to witness as they chanted from the Torah and shared their insights into the Torah portion of the week.  As the luncheon was taking place, guests were invited to make a butterfly or two to be given to the Holocaust Museum.

Other friends heard of my butterfly collecting and asked to be included too, so I delayed turning in the B'nai Mitzvah butterflies to allow time to gather more ... and more ... and more.

My quilting and fiber art friends made fiber butterflies: some quilted, others embroidered and each one unique and special.  Each is a gift from the heart ....

My friend Sheryl L made five butterfly garlands with her daughters to add to my collection.   I love that her garlands are ready to be displayed!

Tissue paper can be used in a variety of ways to make and/or decorate butterflies.  This collaged collection is made in honor of my recent Toddler classes and Kindergarten classes.  In another class, we dyed coffee filters then gathered with a pipe-cleaner into a butterfly shape (see below).

This is my full butterfly collection, shortly before I bundled it all together and delivered it to the Houston Holocaust Museum last week. While it seems like a lot, remembering that I collected them from many places, people, students and friends alike, this is a teeny tiny portion of the over 1,500,000 children who perished in the Holocaust.

If you wish to add to the butterfly collection - you may send (or deliver) your own group of unique butterflies to the Houston Holocaust Museum.

The current deadline for submission is June 30, 2013.  

The final exhibit promises to be amazing, moving, one-of-a-kind -- just like each of these butterflies -- and just like each of the children lost to the horror of the Holocaust.