The Eternity Quilt: From Go To Whoa

Around August last year, the service I attend at my church decided to do a creative project, where creative people in the congregation put together an artwork based around a line from the Apostle's Creed:

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen

I chose the line "the life everlasting". Which is a bit of an odd duck choice for a quilter - how do you design a quilt that embodies the concept of everlasting life?

While pondering my choices (infinity, a fibonacci sequence, some kind of spiral quilt) I also considered the synonyms for 'everlasting' and one of the options that came up was the term 'eternity'.

'Eternity' had a lot more Google results than 'everlasting'. In particular, it had the Arthur Stace Eternity graffiti tag, which is well-known to Sydney Christians. Arthur Stace, returned from WWII, turned to a life of crime, only to find God in the late fifties. He then started chalking the word 'eternity' in copperplate all over the sidewalks and walls of 1960s Sydney - a reminder that our life on this earth is short and that we'll face judgement and eternity after.

Another result - and more immediately relevant to the quilter in me - was the Eternity puzzle - a mathematical/computer puzzle of 209 pieces.

Yes, it looks complicated, but it can be broken down into equilateral triangles and half-equilateral triangles by rows.

So I had a design - all well and good! Now how to put it into practice?

What I needed was a large collection of fabric in a large variety of colours. Oh, so conveniently, the Kona solids series had 213 colours (at the time) - with an extra 28 colours coming out in late 2012. Perfect! All I had to do was buy the Kona Lights and Kona Darks boxes - each with 100 solid colours.

My credit card nearly had a hernia.

1. Kona colours, 2. Kona colour matching!, 3. Kona darks, 4. EternitySolution, 5. Selvages! Getting there!, 6. Eternity quilt: pieces, 7. Eternity quilt: I really don't want to think about how many pieces there are..., 8. Kona lights, 9. Eternity quilt:organised piles.to be sewn next week!, 10. Greens and browns and creams., 11. Eternity quilt rows 1&2, 12. Eternity-ArthurStace, 13. Eternity quilt: pieces laid out

Organising the colours, arranging the colours, and then labelling each colour was a herculanean task. I needed at least eight equilatriangles of every colour to make each puzzle shape - one or two of them needed nine, due to the half equilatriangles.

And then there was the piecing. Oh boy. The piecing.

1. Material Obsession's Swap Day: the Eternity Quilt, finished and hung., 2. Eternity quilt: closeup, 3. Half triangles to eternity, 4. Eternity quilt: as at Friday, 5. Rows laid out, ready to sew. I could probably get these done tonight., 6. Pieces of eternity: taking longer than expected. *sigh*, 7. Eternity quilt: ready for basting, 8. Eternity quilt: the signature doesn't seem quite big enough..., 9. Quilting like a crazy quilting thing!, 10. Eternity quilt: Saturday, 11. Eternity quilt: Saturday, 12. Trimming, 13. Eternity quilt: sewing together

The plan was always to quilt 'Eternity' on it - in honour and memory of Arthur Stace and the bible verse:

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.
He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11, New Living Translation

I quilted it myself, using the Avanti HQ longarm at Hobbysew Top Ryde.

The main pattern is my trademark 'fiery curls' - fairly large, getting smaller as they go further in, with a fine stipple all around the quilted 'Eternity' signature.

I would have preferred to do some trapunto to plump up the word "Eternity", but didn't really have the time or the know-how then. It seems visible enough.

The ladies of the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild helped me sew the binding on at one of our sew-ins - just in time for Swap Day at Material Obsession!

Since then, it's been photographed for the booklet my church is putting together on the Apostle's Creed (with photography/prints of many other artworks), and has just accepted into the Sydney Quilt Show 2013 where it's going into the "Art Quilt (Open)" category for judging!

Giveaway Day - 6th May [FINISHED]

May Giveaway Day!

May is not one of my favourite months. By May, summer is definitely over down here in Australia, we've finished up Daylight Saving Time, which means it's dark by 6pm, and we're firmly heading for winter. I'm not much of a fan of winter - too cold for my liking, I leave and arrive home in darkness, and it rains a lot - although at least it doesn't snow! So, I'm dreaming of beaches and sunny days and temperatures that are at least 25C - preferably 30C!

This May Giveaway Day, I'm giving away 2 FQs of Heather Ross' Mendocino Mermaids line - Mermaids in Gold, and Seahorses in Gold and Aqua.

Nice, eh? Pretty and sunshiney and cheerful! (Wait, why am I giving away bright and cheerful...?)

At any rate, to enter this giveaway just tell me what you're looking forward to this summer (if you're in the Northern Hemisphere) or relate me a story from the summer just past (for my fellow antipodeans). I'll choose a winner via random number generator once the deadline's done (10am Saturday AEST).

Good luck!

CLOSED!

We have a winner - alli b - who hasn't left an email address! She has a week to get back to me (in comments), or else the giveaway will be redrawn.

News! Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair - accepted!

Two of my quilts have been accepted for the Sydney Craft and Quilt Fair Exhibition!

You're allowed to submit up to two quilts, but they usually only accept one (so far as I know). So I'm kind of boggled. Also: because the show tends towards the more traditional and 'art' quilts.

You probably all know the Eternity Quilt, of course:

And those of you who've been reading my blog for a while (two years) may remember Santorini Sun And Sky:

It was produced during Don't Call Me Betsy's Kaleidoscope QAL back in 2011. However, since I was out of work at the time, I didn't have the money to get it quilted, and my little home machine was distinctly inadequate to the process, I felt. So it's been folded up on the shelf for a while.

I've booked time with the longarm again in order to finish it up. I think I'll try my hand at a swirly, watery design - kind of snails, but more rippley.

This will mean I'll have three quilts in the show in which I've had a hand making: my own two, and the SydMQG guild quilt. That's a lot of quilts for someone who's never exhibited before.

*breathes into a paper bag*

WIP Wednesday: the one with selvage strings!

PSA: It is generally inadvisable to sew through one's finger:

That baby went through the nail and out the pad of my thumb. Owwwww!

Finished

I finished backings for Santorini Sun And Sky, and HST Harvest. Folded them up and packaged them in recycled packaging that was originally addressed to me. I stuck a label on it with the address of my quilter and posted it off at the post office.

And received the parcel back at my house on Monday when the label fell off.

*facepalm*

This time, I've written the address on the package. No labels to fall off this time!

WIPs

Baby Quilts

One of the babies has been born! A boy, still nameless last we heard. He's going to get the less colourful one (his parents are little more conservative).

And I've decided to back the quilts in flannel. It'll be nice and soft, as well as using up the fabric.

Scrap Attack {String Fever}

I tipped out my box of selvage strings:

It's a large pile. The ruler is in the back to provide perspective! I've been collecting strings for quite a while now!

Then I started sorting them:

The pile in the middle is mostly the whites and low-volumes. I'm still deciding how those are going to work. In the meantime...colours!

I put a couple of blocks together last night. I'm not sure if this is the "proper" way to do it, but this is how I'm doing them!

I have a layout plan, too!

We'll see how it all comes out in the coming weeks. :)

To Do

Diamonds Dancing In Rainbows

I'm going to sew these together. I'M GOING TO SEW THESE TOGETHER.

Maybe on Friday night? I have the Sydney Southern Cross Quilters meeting on Saturday, so having something new for that would be good!

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How about you? What have you been doing this week? Have you linked to WIP Wednesday?

WIP Wednesday: the one with lots of stuff

I swear my titles are getting worse!

Finished

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild - The Rainbow Connection!

Based off Tacha Bruecher's 'Over The Rainbow' quilt in her 2012 book 'Hexa-Go-Go', this was collectively made by a dedicated dozen or so members of the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild, put together by Guild President Penny Poppleton, and quilted by me!

It's big. Very, very big. And beautiful!

It's due to go into the Quilt Show at the Sydney Quilt And Craft Fair later this year, and afterwards will be sold and the money donated to a women's shelter organisation, for women escaping untenable domestic situations.

I have a more detailed post here. The Sydney Modern Quilt Guild has an update post about it here.

Harvest Windows

(I finally thought of a name for this!)

For my aunt and uncle on my father's side who've been very good to my sisters and I over the years. Very traditional, richer, darker colours, and I really hope they like it. :/

And the back:

Ready to be sent off for quilting!

Fuller post here.

WIPs

Baby Quilts

I've been a bit busy to get on with these. And I'm deciding whether to do backs in the cotton I usually use, or some flannel which I have, which is wonderfully soft.

Quilt backings

Needed for:

1. California Girl
2. Santorini Sun and Sky
3. Honey Honey
4. HST Harvest

Some new photography of these in early morning light:

California Girl:

Honey Honey:

If I get at least a couple done I can send them off to Jo for quilting.

Diamonds Dancing In Rainbows

I haven't touched this since I put it up on the design board. Really need to get a move on with it!

To Do

Scrap Attack {String Fever}

This is going to happen. IT IS GOING TO HAPPEN.

It is Going To Happen because the other night I pulled out my big box of string scraps...and my little box of string scraps...and my small cloth baskets of string scraps...and my plastic trays of string scraps...

And realised just how many I'd collected over the last four years of quilting.

My plan so far:

1. sort strings into selvedges/non-selvedges
2. sort selvedges into neutrals/colours
3. sort colours into warms/cools
4. sort warms/cools into specific colour groups
5. ...

After that I'm not 100% on exactly how this is going to work!

BUT IT WILL!

Gift Quilts
Alli: red, white/neutrals/low-vol, blue - American patriot theme - possibly Sisters Ten BOM? Alt: "low volume" quilt?
Jo & Amy: Valley of the Kings - design not yet certain. It's a hard fabric line to design for!

Ideas for future

• 1:3:2 in A:B:A fabrics
• broken dishes (in Cuzco or Terrain?)
• "low volume" quilt

Anyway, that's me! How about you? What have you been doing this week?

My Aunty's Quilt

And from the brightly modern, we relapse into some more traditional colours and patterns.

It was a little crazy around here at the end of last week. Just a little.

Apart from preparing to quilt the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild's group quilt, I was also trying to get my aunt's quilt together - ostensibly, I was going to quilt it on Saturday after I'd done the SMQG quilt.

Yeah, after six hours of FMQ on "The Rainbow Connection", I decided I wasn't up for any more quilting!

So I think I'll just send this one on to Jo @ Thirroul Custom Quilting for computerised quilting. She has some lovely patterns and I haven't sent any work her way for a while. Nice as it is to do it myself every now and then (and also when specific designs are required), it's also nice to send it off and just get back lovely quilted quilts!

Anyway, the development process of my aunt's quilt started with a large piece of fabric that my aunt wanted me to "just sew off the edges and I'll spread it on my bed".

I couldn't. I just couldn't.

I thought I'd at least give it a border:

And then I discovered I couldn't do 'just' that either.

So it got cut up into large pieces with sashes and posts, using up some stash while I was at it:

A thin green border, and another harvest fabric as a larger border:

There were issues along the way.

1. the discovery that several of the panels were shorter than expected!

It turned out I'd used two panels that were nearly-but-not-quite the right size as compared to the two that were the right size. Time to bring out Mistah Seam Ripper!

2. And then there was the discovery that my math was ALL BAD.

Three unfinished HSTs (at 4.5") should not equal the width of the finished panel (13.5")! *facepalm*

Which is why, instead of having the HSTs on the front of the quilt, they ended up decorating the back:

Yes, the back is a mess. I pretty much just patched everything leftover from the front into the back, and added some blocks that matched the fabric but which have been laying around for too long without anywhere to go.

During the piecing process, there was trimming while watching early episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender (Nickelodeon show from a few years back that depicts Asiatic/Native American cultures as bog-standard normal: highly recommended in cartoon version - avoid the film like the black plague!)

And having sewn together these broken dish blocks (which got used on the back), I think I have an idea for a quilt design!

The problem of making quilts: one quilt begets another quilt, begets another quilt, begets a dozen other quilts...

Anyway, it's done! I'll package it up and mail it off to Jo with some pattern suggestions on Friday.

In the meantime, I have three other finished quilt tops that need backings put together so I can send them off with Aunty's Harvest Quilt. (I really have to think of nicer names for these things.)

Sydney Modern Quilt Guild: QUILTED OMG

So, those hexagons I was sewing through December, January, and February?

Well, they were for a group quilt being put together by the Sydney Modern Quilt Guild, according to Tacha Bruecher's book Hexa-Go-Go, which was published last year.

The quilt is titled "Over The Rainbow" in the book:

Guild President Penny Poppleton asked permission of Tacha to use the quilt design as one of our guild quilts for 2013 - not all participating members would have the book, although quite a few do - and Tacha gave her permission! (Thank you, Tacha!)

We made up kits using paper hexies donated by PaperPieces.com and sent them out to Guild members who were interested and willing. And Tacha herself offered to make a block for the quilt!

A bolt of Kona White was donated by the lovely people at Victorian Textiles (along with fabric for the backing) and once we had all the blocks back, two crazy days of 9-to-5 cutting and sewing ensued!

And here are the finished blocks (well, most of them) up on the design wall at Penny Poppleton's house:

Laying out:

The slightly dizzying perspective is because it was taken from the top of the stairs at Greta's Handcraft Centre (Lindfield).

And then sashing, posting, and adding the borders! (I don't have a picture of this because it was done by Penny Poppleton (Guild President).

Finally, the quilting! Which was my job. A long one. Six hours' worth of free-motion quilting from setting up on the frame on the Avanti at Hobbysew Top Ryde, to quilting and quilting and quilting and quliting until it was DONE LIKE A DINNER!

I took a few photos during the quilting process...

"Baby, I'm ready to go!"

"Oh, we're halfway there!"

And finishing it off...with a swirl! (Okay, a signature, but whatever!)

It's supposed to say "Sydney Modern Guild" in case you can't read it.

And finally, as much of the quilt as we could display in the shop, given that it's a MAMMOTH size - 112", in all it's colourful, beautiful glory!

So very pretty, even unbound and unhung! (Great design, Tacha!)

A look at the back detail - we ended up with 50 blocks (no idea how that happened) and tucked one on the back instead.

It will be (should be) displayed at the Sydney Craft And Quilt Fair in June 2013. If you happen to be in town, come by and take a look!

Afterwards, it will be sold (we're still working out how) and the proceeds are to go to a shelter for women escaping untenable domestic situations. All the fabric was donated, as were the paper pieces, and even the Aurifil thread that was used to piece and quilt it all together was donated, so the only cost incurring is that of the time spent on the quilting machine.

Whew! So glad that's done. :)

the "how many quilts do I have to make before..." post

1. Alli

I've known Alli for the better part of 12 years come September. I've stayed with her and her family multiple times, and while I've taken her (and her family) gifts each time, I really need to make her a quilt.

I asked Alli what colours she'd like in a quilt, and she said "blues, whites, and neutrals". She's big on American nationalism so a red, white, & blue quilt was high on my list of probables anyway.

I think a modern design would be good for her, too. I still have that Chain Reaction pattern from Lee of Freshly Pieced - that would work with reds, blues, and whites/neutrals...

2. Sue

Similarly to Alli, I've known Sue for over 10 years now. We've lost touch a little, but I stayed with her a bunch of times in the mid-00s, and I'd really like to gift her with a quilt.

She's older - maybe in her late 50s, and I think something traditional - both pattern and fabric - would be her thing. I'm pretty sure I have a Kansas Winter fat quarter/jelly roll/charm square pack lying around somewhere that would be perfect for her. Rich, old colours for a traditional-pattern quilt.

3. Jo & Amy

More recent friends, with whom I'm hoping to stay in early September this year.

Jo in particular has a great love for Ancient Egypt and ancient belief systems/mythologies. She's one of the most talented and subtle authors I enjoy reading - simple themes, but very deep. (Amazon | Wiki | Goodreads)

Robert Kaufman's Valley of the Kings line would be perfect for her. The only problem is the design - I don't want to cut the big designs up - they're nice in large-size...

She has a daughter who's about 11. I'm thinking an Aneela Hooey 'Little Apples' quilt. I have the fabric and it needs using.

4. Bec & Wes

More ten-plus years friends. I've stayed with them several times, and they're coming to Australia in April next year to go on a Pacific cruise that starts from Sydney. (So I guess I don't have to rush a quilt for them, although it would be nice.)

Bec rather liked the Plume collection when I was displaying it on FB earlier this year, so that might be an option - it would be a very vivid, very opulent quilt. Which might or might not work for them and their decor. I imagine them to be fairly traditional style with some modern twist.

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Basically, my plan is to go to the US with my luggage stuffed with quilts...and return with much fabric instead!