Upstate Artist Collective

The Colorful Quilt Is Finished

Whew! Seems so small for such a lot of work.

Finished Valentine

Done...at least with the top. Now quilting.

I've run the gamut of quilting in the last 60 years. English paper piecing, strip piecing on templates cut out of The Tuscaloosa News, making templates out of cardboard, hand piecing feathered stars, allowing a rotary cutter into my toolkit, creating quilts in the style of Judy Martin, Alex Anderson, Judy Niemeyer, Jacqueline de Jonge, Ricky Timms, Philippa Naylor, and so on and so on.

So what's up for 2012?

First, quilt the five tops I made this year. Finish, finish, finish.

Then, explore new fabrics, more duponi silk.

Then, more bed quilts, fewer sandwiches that don't fit anywhere in my house or any one else's. How many wall hangings and table runners can one use!

And then, if I'm not quilted out (and what quilter ever gets "quilted out"?), I'm going to encourage quilters to return to quilts that feel good to the touch and make them feel good when they're snoozing under them. My chorus will be keep your quilts away from those manic compulsive longarm quilters who add so many stitches that you can't see the fabric you fell in love with and lovingly guided into a beautiful top. Or, perhaps I'll find a longarm quilter who understands the words less dense, perhaps become one myself.

My New Year's wish for all my fellow quilters is that you'll find the joy of hand quilting a sandwich with wool batting (quilts like butter), take pleasure in your uneven stitches through the four-layer intersections, and wake up from a nap every Sunday afternoon under your snuggly palette of beautiful fabrics.

Celebrate Solids

Sometimes I forget how nice solids are since I get so caught up in pattern fabric. If you're in the Atlanta area, watch for upcoming classes at Kiwiquilts focusing on solids. However, when I shoot the backing, you'll see I did fall off the wagon and add a print, oh well, nobody's perfect. I'll post that pix soon.