Monthly Archives: May 2020

It’s All About the Story

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hyacinth block

As I work my way through a huge pile of unfinished projects (my goal is one per week) I’ve come to realize that, for me, it’s not about the finished product, it’s frequently about the story. The supplies for this project were purchased at Main Street Quilts in Bozeman, MT in one of our wonderful Yellowstone summers. I looked at an entire quilt made of hand-appliqued woolen blocks like this one most of the summer. The expense of all the blocks was prohibitive so I settled on buying one. (not to mention that there is no way the supplies would fit in the Toyota). Each time I picked it up to stitch on it over the last 8 years it brought with it memories of that time. Tim and I would wander the streets of Bozeman, stop and have green chili at our favorite little restaurant and then typically end our day with a wonder-filled drive back to the park. The supplies came from a now-defunct company in Bozeman called Wild Thyme. The wools are all hand-dyed and the hyacinth has more than 100 separate petals in it. The blanket stitching on the edges isn’t perfect but I learned and got better as I went.

A New Kind of Crane

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In addition to folding paper cranes, I’ve also been making fabric ones. These take much more time and concentration and can fill the better part of a day. While my goal for the paper cranes is at least one per day, my goal for these is less definitive. They are easily done when I need something to kick start me. Something for when my brain is saying “Go do something productive” and my body is saying “It’s just easier to sit and watch TV.” I’ve been working on them for about 3 weeks and so far have 16 done. They are a little bit like potato chips; you can’t do just one. They also are typically the lead in to being productive for the rest of the day. (Though there’s not much of the day left when you don’t start crane-sewing until 8 at night). At the end, I will put them together into a quilt. You need 24 cranes for a lap quilt; you need almost 50 for a queen sized quilt. I certainly hope that we don’t get that far. I’m not sure, as of yet, how we will know we are at the end. Is it when all the shops reopen? Is it when I finally get to travel to Colorado to see my grandkids? Is it when we have a vaccine? How big will this quilt be?

For the sewing-geeks among you. The foundation paper pattern is from Flying Parrot. The background fabric is Jinny Beyer’s black eyelash and the cranes themselves are being made from a fat quarter stack of Alison Glass fabrics. I love Alison Glass. Her color sense has forced me out of my more traditional and Williamsburg color palette into something vibrant and alive.