Quilt Restrospective - Blocks for Hamish

It's been terribly quiet here on the Stitchity front and with not much opportunity for creative stuff, I thought perhaps I could trawl through some old photographs and share another retrospective project. This happy little quilt was whipped up for baby Hamish in the midst of a feverish, baking summer about six years ago (circa January 2007). I remember how very hot the air felt in my sewing space at the top of the house. How terribly mad it was to be stitching away at a top and quilting a quilt through those days of radiant heat and light.

Perhaps my decision to use these bright fabrics, all pulled from my stash and from the voluminous basket of scrappy  prints left over from the quilty projects of years gone by was somehow influenced by this crazy tropical atmosphere. My quilts are rarely planned. I find I mostly prefer to just make things up as I go. There is a certain kind of enjoyment in the experience of letting the creative process unfold, and allowing the materials at hand to have their say.

With no particular starting point in mind, I began the experiment with just one block, a 4" finished star block (the one in the top left hand corner). A border with cornerstones was added, and there was a beginning. Block after block followed. Some just cut and machine pieced, others foundation pieced, like the sailing ship, the fish in the corner and the Australian rosella parrot. I really love the puppy dog, foundation pieced with hand-appliqued eyes and nose, and I couldn't resist throwing in an English pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden block (my one weakness).

Each block was sashed with plain black homespun, followed by a deep border of black and white checked fabric. Then I continued to rummage through scraps of fabric, finding pieces that could be cut into lengths, some longer, some shorter, but enough to strip piece a border of bejeweled squares to finish it off. The elements are simple, the end result pleasing. Not necessarily a work of genius, but an eminently harmonious blending of colour and form, and a gift perfectly suited for a newborn baby's foundational years.

I can't believe that Mr H. has grown up so quickly, that hot summer fortnight of feverish piecing and quilting doesn't seem that long ago. I expect that this quilt will look somewhat worn now. It has probably endured endless days as a playmat, a bright and happy playtime friend on the floor, and a warm and familiar comfort for night-time snuggles on the sofa. It will not last a lifetime, these things rarely do. They become used, soiled, are washed, re-used, scrunched, ruffled and sometimes even chewed! They may be patched from time to time, and eventually become relegated to the back of the cupboard, or may find an even sadder end.

But the memory of fabrics, of the images and colours and shapes will remain. Those things that are very dear to us as small children are generally imprinted on our psyche, deep within the very fibres of our being. There may be times throughout our lives when snippets of happy play days return to us, gentle as the whisperings of the wind, or like waves crashing on the shore. Who knows, what legacy this quilt may leave to a small child. My simple hope is that some pleasant relic of a childhood memory will remain.

Happy birthday Hamish

love,

Evie xxx

Time to revisit ... Piecemakers Train Quilt

Old quilts. Well, not really an 'old' quilt, but one finished several years ago. This is the Piecemakers Times and Seasons Calendar Quilt design that was released in the year 2000. In 2006 my two sisters and I put our heads together and began the collaborative journey of crafting this applique masterpiece as a gift for our model-train-mad father. It took about four years to complete, taking the ups and downs of life into consideration.

I reckon the learning curve was fairly steep, despite the fact that all three of us are competent stitchers. Each block must connect accurately with the one beside it, the one above, the one below and so on. We decided to tackle it by dividing the quilt into four rows, and we worked each section through so that there was a consistency of background type fabrics (sky, mountains, hills, rocks, water etc). It was important to forward plan each stage so that there would be enough of a given fabric allocated to flow into the surrounding blocks. Once these main fabrics had been sorted, we each took our respective block away and had creative licence to choose the remaining fabric elements for that block (houses/trees/shrubs etc). It was surprising how well the finished pieces blended with each other, and in some ways I think the finished quilt has more interest as a result of our individual influences.

Once all of the blocks were completed they were stitched into rows and then joined together to make the completed top. This was no mean feat! Despite the fact that we are all pretty reasonable sewers, it was definitely a 'fudge' job to make it all fit. My sister J is the measurement genius, and it was pretty tricky to square up each block within tolerances. In the end we found it easiest to applique each block to the next to ensure that the connecting pieces came together accurately. A final border was then added, the quilt top was basted and then quilted by hand.

At this point I really have to acknowledge J as the driving force behind this project. I know it would never have happened without her encouragement and enthusiasm.Taking on a project like this definitely taught all of us a whole lot more about colour and tone, and how sometimes it is the ugliest of fabrics that works best of all. I think we would all say that we look at fabric in a different way than before.
Oh, and our Dad does love it ...