Friday, January 13, 2012

Limbo Land

Ellen said...

I love the sashing. It works so well...my question for you is, did you have that sashing in mind as you selected your scrappy block fabrics? What process did you use for fabric selection? I can't wait to see your choice for the setting triangles. Thanks for sharing your journey.

January 12, 2012 8:21 AM

Ellen: your e-mail came as a "no reply comment" , so I will answer here. Others have been asking similar questions, and hopefully I can shed some light on my process for making the Farmer's Wife quilt.

Each quilter travels their own journey. I feel that many the quilts we select to make are a reflection of particular events or experiences going on in our life.

These are individual paths, and one of the beauties of quilting is to see the unique reflections of each person in their quilt.

I love to see the same pattern made in a wide variety of fabrics. It tells me so much about the quilter. Have you noticed how much our tastes in fabric change over the years? Mine certainly have!


For my particular situation, we recently moved to be near our two oldest daughters and our most precious, heart stealing grandchildren.
With the slow real estate market, we have rented out our home in Southern Utah, put all of our belongings in storage and have moved into an apartment in Arizona.
Mr. Cactus told me to bring along only the bare essentials until the house sells.
For me, that translated into my sewing machine, and quilt fabrics.

O.H. M.Y.
I thought I had a pretty good concept of how much quilt related items I had gathered over the last 13 years, plus I'd sorted out and donated quite a bit before the move.
Then reality hit when we began lugging bins of fabric to our apartment.
(you know, that ESSENTIAL stuff you just can't part with?)

Thus: my goal has been to use
What I Have!

One of the reasons I joined the Farmer's Wife Quilt-Along is because I knew it would be a good stash buster.
I did not have a pre-planned color scheme before I started.
The fabrics selected for the blocks were random pulls from my baskets that have been sorted into colors.
When I reached the point to select a sashing, I looked into my basket of solids, and auditioned several colors. I ended up selecting the gray Kona because it framed the blocks well, and I had a large piece.

I wish I could tell you there was more of science or technique to my quilt, but in truth, it is a reflection of what is going on in my life right now.
We are living a little bit in
LIMBO LAND
waiting for the real estate market to bounce back.
(hmmm... Limbo Land just might be a good title for my next stash buster quilt)
I must mention how patient and supportive Mr. Cactus has been of my quilting addiction.
He agreed to let me cordon off the entire dining room of our apartment for my fabrics, quilt books, cutting table, and boxes of quilt related stuff.
He has been kind about hauling quilt bins up stairs and having my sewing machine set up in the living room.
But, do we want to move ALL of it again when we purchase our next home?
(nope)

12 comments:

Jana said...

I love the scrappiness of your Farmer's Wife quilt! So glad to finally see it all on your design wall. It looks great!

Sorry about being in limbo. Hopefully the market in St. George will pick up in spring.

Cindy said...

So Nedra--you're telling us it's not rocket science??
But what you didn't tell us is that you have a wonderful eye for color and design. It's turning in to a beautiful work of art.

Ellen said...

I have been silently reading your blog for quite a while, learning so much from you. Thank you so much for sharing your personal quilting journey in blogland and for graciously answering my questions about process. It really is a personal road and probably why quilts and quilters are such an enriching part of my life.

Material Mary said...

Good luck with this stash. There is a fun scrap quilt at imagingermonkey.blogspot.com. She calls it the vomit quilt (ick) but it is really pretty and would be a great stash buster--all 2 1/2" squares. I'm going to do that one.
Mary

em's scrapbag said...

Thanks for sharing your process. I do the same thing. Hope your home sells soon and you can get out of limbo land. Always good to have a supportive hubby. Give hime a big hug and kiss and let him know how great you think he is.

Lois Evensen said...

Ooooh, how I know what you mean! Every ten weeks we move: first to the ship, then back home. Of course, I have to bring along my knitting/crochet supplies when we move to the ship. That sounds simple, huh. Just bring along a set of needles, a hook and some yarn. No, not so fast! I need enough to keep me busy for ten weeks! So I bring sets of knitting needles and hooks, a whole bunch of yarn, and my enabler (my daughter) at home is only an email away to visit my yarn room at home stick some yarn into our weekly package of mail and other goodies. Yes, it is amazing how much we have stashed at home, isn't it! I really like your storage system by color. You have some gorgeous pieces there.

fiberchick said...

Limbo Land sounds difficult but you are making a beautiful quilt in it! It is great to see all the blocks with your sashing together...

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

I bet it was hard trying to put a quilting space into an apartment when you were used to a spare bedroom perhaps? Use up some scraps but I bet you still have a lot left over when you finally get a new house.
Karen

Quilting Claire said...

Welcome to Arizona! I lived there a long time. It's great you're by family. Your limbo land approach is how I do a lot of my quilt tops, too. Limbo Land is a great title. I can't wait to see your Limbo Land quilt.

Maxine said...

Love your Farmers Wife quilt. Can't wait to see the finished project. When you lived in St George did you belong to a quilt guild? I would like to join on here in St George...

Jan Marie said...

Even though you say you used what you had its was with an artists eye. Love the quilt.

Janet said...

Mr Cactus just wants you to be happy, what a guy! I love how your FW is looking, I bet you discovered some treasures while packing up the fabric. I hope the market gets a kick start soon.