Quite contrary

Not long after I did my first Creatures in My Stash post, I was at an HMQG gathering. A group of us were chatting, when one of the young women in the chatting group said to me, "Oh, you're the one with the owls."
Was there actually a what-stinks look on her face or was it just in the tone of her voice?
Yes, sweetie, I am the one with the owls.

After that, this same person became in charge of the Guild's swaps & challenges & handed out a list of fabrics that were unacceptable for participation in them:

no batiks

no blenders

no reproductions

no novelties

nothing from the big box stores

etc, etc

Well, this freed up a lot of my time because, with my odd & old stash, I no longer felt welcome to participate in the swaps & challenges with my guild friends. It also made me really dig through my stash -- not to get rid of my offending fabrics, but to pull them out & try to use them in ways that Modern Quilters would not find so offensive. What began in a state of peevishness has turned out to be a whole lot of fun! I wish I could impress upon younger quilters what a thrill it is when a long-time member of one's stash comes together with some newer members & the combination makes all greater than themselves. Then there is the creative fun of trying to make something lovable from not-so-lovable fabrics -- it's easy to make something beautiful from beautiful fabrics, much more of a challenge using ones that are less than beautiful.

It isn't accurate to say I don't love the owls & browns (all from big box stores, not a single designer's name on any selvage) in this project, because I really do -- the chocolate-y browns & the big-eyed owls really make me happy. But somehow it had gotten sidetracked. I pulled it out early this year & have been building away at it. Then Shug said that he really likes it, could see it as a summer quilt on the bed. Well OK then. The quilt of undetermined size that I had been dabbling at now became a quilt of determined -- & quite large -- size that I was motivated to finish.
Time to get sewing!

p.s. Did you notice my new banner? I thought it was time for a fresh look. And my new "picture"? My avatar, if only I was as cute as her! It was recommended that I add an email update feature, useful since my blog posts have become pretty erratic & a translator, if English is not your first language or if you want to see if I make more sense in Urdu than in English.

Creatures from Deep in My Stash -- Out-of-Date Colors

Everything new, well, it just gets old.

Those on-trend colors & prints that make quilts look so hip & modern today will eventually make them look old & dated. Harvest Gold & Avocado Green, Dusty Blue & Dusty Rose, Gray & Aqua, Gray & Tangerine, Gray & Gray.

Sad, but true. 

The good news is that, if you wait long enough, those colors will become retro & vintage & will again be hip -- but you'll have to wait a while for that. In the meantime ....

In the early 1990s I worked in a quilt shop. At that time the very trendy colors were deep blue-green grading into reddish purple. I liked these analogous colors, I liked them a LOT -- evidence: the yards & yards of fabrics I own in these colors. I have to say they aren't yet old enough to be Retro Chic, they're just a little old-fashioned. So what to do with them? Can I diminish their stodgy-ness?

You've already seen me using some of these -- the painterly floral was in Constellation Wonkulae & the daisy-like print is in my winged squares. I've used the blue to green watercolor-y one in a donation lap quilt or 2.

The leaf-y, frond-y one I'm making into old-school applique block -- though I won't be doing old-school applique -- machine zigzag & fused leaves will make it fast & fun. I found the block in one of my oldest quilt books -- a Better Homes & Gardens book copyrighted in 1985. They call it Ohio Blue Leaf. An internet search yielded nothing that looked anything like this, but really old applique patterns, especially outliers like this one, tend to be hard to find.

I've been thinking that a smart thing for me to do with some of these creatures would be to experiment with something I've never done before. A quilt with words has been on my mind, so I'm starting to build some letters. Stay tuned!

Creatures from Deep in My Stash -- Containers

I'm as surprised as you that there were enough of these fabrics to be a category -- containers: vases, pots, baskets, cups, teapots.



Where did they come from?

I think the richly-colored abstract vases & the odd magenta & turquoise pots were purchased in the late 1980s, in the early days of my new-found love of quilting. I probably got them from either So-Fro or Cloth World -- do any of you remember those stores? In those days it wasn't easy to find anything but dusty-pastel calico prints, so whenever I found something bright & bold, I got it. The big bands of flower vases & fruit came from France. I remember my difficulty in trying to convey how much I wanted -- lots of finger pointing. It's home dec weight, but I think I had plans to make a skirt from it. Hmmmm? The wicker baskets are a half yard cut -- kind of a rarity from the early days, I tended to buy big -- & I got them just because they're cute. And talk about cute, the teacups & Mary Engelbreit teapots are that; they are probably contemporaries of each other from the early 90s.

So now what?

The vases could save a failed project I began with a roll of deep Kona solids. I'm thinking an Orange Peel block.



The magenta & turquoise is weird & oddly appealing. The large print might be interesting cut up into narrow strips so the pots are not so recognizable. For some reason -- there is no green in the print -- I like it with a celery solid. Do you remember the antique quilt I saw at last year's Quilt Festival?



I've obsessed about it ever since; then recently a Blue Underground pattern showed up in American Patchwork & Quilting, very like my obsession, but with an interesting twist. I'm going there!



The baskets I had already lined up to make a re-usable shopping bag. The pattern I use is great for conversation prints & it doesn't take much fabric. I have made dozens of these bags -- great to have on hand for gifts, great to keep in the car to use. But my bit of baskets was too small for a whole bag. Not to worry though, I of course had a wicker-looking print to go with it!



I think the obvious way to go with the giant flower vases is a medallion quilt! I've been wanting to make one for a long time, especially after I got Gwen Marston's book, Liberated Medallion Quilts. Now all it needs is lots of borders.



The teacups & teapots? I have no plans for them right now. Do you have any suggestions?

Creatures From Deep in My Stash

Cue scarey organ music.

Unfortunately/fortunately, I've gotten rid of some of the uglier & more embarrassing pieces from my stash, but I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the ones I've held on to -- for better or worse. I won't show you them all at once, my creatures will be a recurring feature we'll come back to from time to time.

First, some real creatures: fishes, bunnies, ponies, owls & wild things from the American West. (I'm not including my cat fabrics -- that's a topic on its own!) How did these come to be in my stash? Well, the ponies & national parks critters were from the remnant bin, both about 1yard cuts -- I don't know why I bought them other than they probably didn't cost very much. The fish & rabbit cut-outs I probably planned on making up as pillows -- whimsical, right? The owls are a fairly recent purchase; I was making reusable shopping bags for everyone on my Christmas list one year & one friend has an especial fondness for owls. I found them on sale, asked for a yard & ended up with 2 yards.



I still like these fabrics (she said sheepishly (no creature pun intended)). I think I can find time to use them. And, most importantly, I think I can have fun making something fun with them.

So, let's see.

I think the owls could be interesting cut into strips, just their little eyes peeking out. They combine nicely with the stack of browns I got a few years ago. So maybe log cabins, maybe simple string blocks? Or! Maybe a teetering stack, inspired the Totally Tubular technique in Tula Pink's first book. I LIKE it!



The ponies with dots & swirls are kind of fun  -- what about wonky stars with pony centers? (Is it just me, or does that sound like a children's breakfast cereal? Wonky Stars with Pony Centers! Now with MORE Ponies!!!
No? Just me? OK.)



Hmmm, the fish & bunnies? I've seen real make-do quilts, the Gee's Bend quilts for example, that use these cut-out panels as just another piece of cloth. But I've cut around my pieces, so can't do that. What about using them as applique -- trout swimming on top of patchwork, rabbits with some garden-y fabrics?



And the big game? My inclination with a fabric like this is to highlight the fabric with fussy cutting, maybe a square as the center of a medallion quilt. But I think it would be too easy to let this fabric look too lodge-y. One of my favorite things to do is to try to make something "modern" with very not-modern fabric. So what about something inspired by a painting from the 1940s by the artist Leon Polk Smith? Still very much a work-in-progress, I'm having a good time with this one!



And who knows, maybe the trout will show up on the back!