Search Results for: shirts and skirts

My wool quilt is bigger than usual, about 85″x90″.  It just turned out that way.

I finished piecing it together this morning and then made the backing form 6 king size pillowcases that  a friend dropped off at the farm just yesterday.  They’re have a chambray look so the fabric works really well with the wool.

Now to put it all together.

I pieced together one more square of wool fabric from the shirts and skirts that Carolyn gave me then decided I had enough to start putting together the quilt.

I started by sewing a solid border around some of the pieces, then began pairing them up.  Eventually, most if not all of them will fit together to complete the quilt. Right now, I have no idea what that will look like.

But that creates the tension and fun.

I look at these rectangles of wool that I pieced together and wonder how I’ll fit them all into one quilt.  But then, that’s part of the fun.  I have some long pieces of navy and off white wool that I may use between them, so they each hold their own separate identity.

I’ve never been drawn to do that in the traditional way, the even squares each in their own block.  But then these pieces are all different sizes and anyway,  I’m trying not to think that far ahead.

Between shoveling out from the snowstorm and Christmas, it’s been over a week since I’ve been in my studio.

I always get a little anxious about going back to my studio after being away from it for more than a few days.  Even after ten years of making art full-time I still have this fear that I won’t be able to start working again.

It’s less than it used to be.  But this morning when I first woke up, I didn’t want to get out of bed.

Once I did, I decided to ease back to work slowly.  I had a box of wool shirts and skirts taking up space in the laundry room since Carolyn gave them to me.  I’ve been thinking of making a quilt from them for some time.

But first, they needed to be cut up.  Most of them are pocked with tiny holes.  My plan was to cut around the holes, then wash and dry the wool that I could use.

After taking care of some shipping, I got to my studio, put on Selected Shorts and started cutting.

Right now the pieces of wool are sitting in the dryer.  I’ll wait till tomorrow morning to take them out and sort them.  I hope as I go through all the colors, patterns and odd shapes of wool, I’ll be inspired.

After working on my Corona Kimono this morning, I thought I’d make some potholders.   I tried making wool potholders with the leftover scraps from my Shirts and Skirts wool quilt, but it just wasn’t happening.

So after feeding the animals, I focused on my Owl Woman instead.

I found some orange silk for her sleeves that match the owl beak.  Then I used the leaf-shaped pieces from the center of the applique I had removed from the quilt,  above the owl eyes.

I’m almost ready to sew her onto the old quilt backing.  And I even have an idea for what might come next.