Tag Archives: Quilting

Swappin’ it up in 2012

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Alyson| Leave a comment

I’ve decided that I really need to connect with more quilters, like-minded or otherwise. I follow several blogs of friends, casual aquaintences, and people I don’t actually know – you can find that list over here on the right —>

But, I don’t really chat much with those folks. And I’ve been missing having a sewing buddy. To that end, I’ve opted to join some swaps! Years ago I used to participate in swaps through several lists on yahoogroups. I’m still on those lists but over the years they have become less and less and less active. I’ve done a few other swaps, in the mean and in between time, via the Quilt Art mailing list and some ladies on there. But I think I was missing the connection part, where you get to talk about what you are working on and show them pictures and, well, make friends.

Imagine my shock to discover a booming community of swappers on flickr? I mean, what a strange place to encounter this kind of activity. And yet, it’s strangely fitting. I feel a little like the last one to arrive at a party and they started the games without me. Inserting myself feels complicated and uncomfortable, but I think I’ve found a few groups where I feel less complicated and uncomfortable. But anyway…

The first swap I’m taking part is a group that swaps blocks monthly: Nubees. There’s a website and such coming soon. I’ve already chosen my fabrics and the block I’ll be making for each of my swap partners:

The block in the center is using my colors (purple, orange, teal & yellow) and the fabrics around the edges are the fabrics I’ve chosen for my partners in their selected color pallets. The block is “Envy” from Modern Blocks, which I received as a Christmas gift this year.

Next up, I’ll be participating in the Doll Quilt Swap cycle 12!. It’s a blind swap – you make and send a small “doll” quilt to someone who doesn’t know who you are and you receive the same in return. I received my name this morning, so now I have to start stalking my partner and find out what they like! I’m very excited about this one. My quilt wall could use some serious refreshing. That one is due to be sent on April 2ndish. Expect to see some blog posts about it. I have nothing to show for that one yet, but I’ll get there soon!

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Posted in Quilt, WIP

Tagged block, blocks, doll quilt swap, envy, exchange, friends, modern blocks, nubees, Quilt, quilters, Quilting, swap

Monster Work in Progress

Posted on August 28, 2011 by Alyson| 2 Comments

Another To-Do list project: Monster Baby Quilt! No, not an extra large baby quilt, a baby quilt with monsters! I bought these monster “patches” from Jennifer of the Cotton Monster at Crafty Bastards last year. I originally intended to make a new quilt for Caleb, but I can barely get that boy to sleep under a sheet these days, let alone a quilt. I have about a bazillion friends who are pregnant or who have had babies recently, so Monster Baby Quilts just made sense…especially since Crafty Bastards is coming up again soon (October 1st) and I can’t bring myself to shop if I haven’t used what I bought last year! (OK, that’s a lie, I absolutely COULD bring myself to shop, but it wouldn’t be very “responsible” or “adult” of me. *natch*)

The blocks have been randomly pieced around each monster patch – there will be enough for 2 baby quilts when I’m done. This kind of piecing goes quickly until the end when you start measuring & trimming. For me, it also produces a lot of waste, there are lots of little edges that need to be trimmed and they pile up. Still, I love the look.

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Posted in Quilt, WIP

Tagged baby, block print, blue, cotton, Cotton Monster, Crafty Bastards, green, monster, patch, Quilt, Quilting, white

If You’re Going to San Francisco…

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Alyson| 5 Comments

Be sure to bring a quilt.

So I have these two friends. And they are good friends. And for the last couple years they’ve been living in Frankfurt, Germany. I missed them. A lot. Last May, I guess it was, we got a call from Frankfurt that they were finally going to get married! Hip, hip hooray!

In September, they returned stateside for a short stint and began planning. May would be the date, California would be the place; in a lavendar field not far from Davis. My husband and I were asked to do a reading:

i carry your heart with me
by e. e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Fast forward now to January when the bride requested that I make not one, not two, but THREE quilts for the wedding ceremony. What could I do but oblige? I mean, these are goooooood friends, after all.

We shopped for fabric, designed, cut and sewed together two lovely, traditional (in pattern only) table runners, but the pièce de résistance was left up to me – the altar decoration.

I looked at tons and tons and tons of pictures of California and the rolling hills and lavender fields in California and even in France. I printed out my favorites, cut them apart and pasted them back together again to make what I felt was an interesting, if not quite accurate, representation of the wedding venue. And then I re-made it in fabric. And the whole time I was sewing, I was singing …

“If you’re going to san Francisco/Be sure the wear some flowers in your hair…”

I didn’t, by the way, wear flowers in my hair. Feathers worked better with my dress.

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Posted in Art, Quilt

Tagged altar, California, cotton, Davis, field, hill, landscape, lavender, May 2010, Quilt, Quilting, ribbon, rolling hills, San Francisco, thread painting, wedding

Wind Moon

Posted on June 19, 2009 by Alyson| 2 Comments

Wind Moon
Originally uploaded by alyson_olander

Hare Moon, Seed Moon, Moon of budding Trees,
Let fertile magic sprout within me,
Kali, Hathor, Ishtar, Bast,
This abundant, creative cycle now be cast.
-Dallas Jennifer Cobb

Living in the DC Metro area, there is one thing that you just cannot escape from in the early part of April – the Cherry Blossoms. The delicate, ephemeral quality of these of these blooms attracts me…I don’t know what it is about ephemera, but I love it. Maybe it’s just the sound of the word itself…I wrote a post a while back in my personal blog all about my love of ephemera…when I have a little time and some patience, I will sort through those posts and link to it here. But anyway, I digress. In early April this year, in the DC Metro area, when we were firmly in the grip of the Cherry Blossom frenzy, that is when the full moon fell. Known as the Wind Moon or the Pink Moon it wasn’t just apropos that the idea for this quilt include cherry blossoms. They are the herald of spring for us, after a very long spell of cold, dry, brown grass and barren trees and things stirring IN the Earth, but very little on the surface of the Earth that we can see. The cherry blossoms are an explosion and a celebration of life after the winter has ended.

Wind Moon detail
Originally uploaded by alyson_olander

I quilted this piece with the swoops and swirls and spirals that you would see if wind were visible, then used thread painting techniques to create the tree branch that passes in front of the moon. I clustered beads together on the branch as they would appear on an actual cherry tree and added swirls of beads flying from the tree as the flower petals get caught up in the wind. The beads are a combination of small and large seed beads purchased from the craft store; and small & large Swarovski crystals and sequins, purchased from Accessories of Old in Bethesda, MD.

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Posted in Art, Quilt

Tagged 2009, Accessories of Old, April, Art, bead, cherry blossoms, cotton, crystal, free motion, full moon, Pink Moon, Quilt, quilted, Quilting, sequin, spring, thread painting, Wind Moon

Storm Moon

Posted on June 10, 2009 by Alyson| 1 Comment

Storm Moon (Working Title)
Originally uploaded by alyson_olander

Seed Moon, Plow Moon, Moon of Winds,
Illusion ends as true growth begins,
Hecate, Athene, Astarte, Morrigan,
In pure inspiration the cycle begins again.
-Dallas Jennifer Cobb

Once again, I was left in the dark; clouds filled the sky on the night of the full moon and there was nothing for me to gaze at in order to find my inspiration. I had to imagine it all.

I find that I am generally fascinated by water color quilts & the idea of taking the traditional quilting methods and weaving them into an art piece. I love that I can create a piece from tiny little squares of fabric that give you the impression of texture. Have you ever looked at a stormy sky? At first glance, it seems like it is all one color, but there are shadows and tints and shades hiding in those clouds. The same goes for the moon, it is not one solid color either. That is the idea that I am attempting to convey by piecing both the sky and the moon with tiny 1 inch squares, the texture of a stormy sky and the true face of the full moon.

The piece is quilted using three colors of thread in a style usually used to convey the impression of water – here it is also used to convey water, just in a different form.

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Posted in Art, Quilt

Tagged Art, full moon, moon, pieced, piecing, Quilt, Quilting, Storm Moon