I Want To Give You The World...

There is a reason that I haven't posted in 5 months....my daughter's wedding quilt. Not that it took this long to create, but it was a surprise that culminated in the presentation during the reception of our Cake Eater's Show at Two Twelve Art Center in Saline, MI.  I couldn't take the chance of her happening on a post before the surprise was ready.  Thank you for your patience!

My last post chronicled my newest passion of glue resist fabric painting which I had learned only a few weeks previous.  I fell in love with this fun and free technique that gives the look of batik.  I was so inspired that I decided to create a world quilt for my world traveling daughter and her new husband.

They live in Singapore.  In fact, that is where she met Enghui.  They have been saving their pennies for the last three years so they could travel the world for a year.  Quite the honeymoon don't you think?

How was I going to create the world?  After all, I'm not God!  So I sized it down a bit.  First, I printed out a map of the world, and after deciding on the size of the quilt, I drew the map into 10 inch grid sections.

Then I pre-washed a good quality white muslin fabric and cut it into 10.5"square sections.  I then started drawing in the continents using Elmer's blue gel school glue. This was a technique I had just learned the previous month in my fiber arts guild.  These prayer flags were my first attempts...

This was used in the finished quilt as the tag.  it is a reproduction of their wedding invitation.

After letting the glue dry, the hand painting began.  

When all the continents were painted and detailed using salt to create texture, I heat set each square using my hand iron then soaked them in warm water for several hours to loosen the glue.  Finally, I tossed them into the washing machine to wash the rest out and iron dried them.

 Now I had to decide how to create the oceans that had no land touching them.  I considered solid or patterned fabrics but they just seemed too static for the free form of hand painting.  So I chose another new technique I had learned at a friend's home with another group of fiber friends called the Dragon Ladies.  This technique was called "Ice Dying".  I used Procion powder dyes sprinkled over mounds of ice piled onto pre-treated and crumpled muslin.

After heat setting these, I began piecing my world puzzle together on the top of my bed.  I began to get quite excited by the results!

I was able to stitch them together, create a backing piece, and prepare the binding in advance and have the top and backing to the long arm quilter the day before Lauren and Enghui arrived home.  Then secretly, I bound, attached the label/wedding invitation, and a hanging sleeve without their notice.  Then the hardest part began.  I had to wait for the artist reception to present this gift!

Here is a preview in the Saline Post featuring my quilt!
http://thesalinepost.com/section/arts-entertainment/blog/arts/two-twelve-arts-show-i-want-give-you-world/1447196903

It was wonderful watching their reaction when they realized the quilt was for them!  Enghui was the first to notice.  "Why is our wedding invitation on this quilt" he asked.

Lauren examining the back of the quilt.

An Overconfident Quilt

After completing two lap quilts for my two daughters for Christmas, then returning home from England with a mere four days to finish a baby quilt for a cousin's shower, I admit I was confident that I could complete a queen sized bed quilt for the wedding gift for the daughter of a very close friend whose nuptials were a whole four months away.   After all, once you finished the top, the rest was a piece of cake, right?

Not only would this be an easy and gratifying endeavor, I was going to design this one myself based on a modern quilt that caught my eye.  I would incorporate a few design additions and the brides favorite color, purple.  I figured in a month or two I'd have it back from the long arm quilter and wrapped well before May.

Then I got a reality check.

My inspiration

How had I forgotten that I hated math?  How had I not noticed that this design required a lot of math?  Nevertheless, armed with my pad of graph paper and my organized, if OCD personality, I was guided by my mentor, Mary at Quilting Seasons. 

My plan on paper

I did manage to complete the top after a month.  But when I lay it over my queen size bed there was a definite problem.  For some reason, after all my calculations, the pattern did not lay correctly.   There was not enough fabric on the top and the design was lost on the sides.  So I set it aside...for awhile.

Eventually, I pulled it out, and after returning to the shop for more advice, I began taking the top apart.  I added additional white fabric at the top and shortened the areas re-figuring things by the seat of my pants.  Forget the math!  Then I made myself pull out all my leftover fabric because, Oh that's right!  It needs a back! 

The back actually was the fun part.  I used no design book, and simplified the process by using 12"x12" blocks alternating the white with blocks of the purple that was used on the front.  (I hate to admit it, but I love the back more!)

See!  Isn't it cool?

 By this time, it is fall.  Obviously the wedding was back in May... Well, as soon as I finished the back, in a day, mind you, I hustled that baby over to the quilt shop to send it off to be long arm quilted. 

When I got it back, I suddenly remembered that I had to attach binding.  All.  The.  Way.  Around.  It.

I set aside for awhile.

The next thing I know it's January, then February.  The joke had been, "As long as they get it by the winter."  Not funny. I wanted that thing done.  Finished.  Out of my house!  Plus I felt super guilty that these patient newlyweds were going to start believing that I was not a woman of my word.  That got me moving.

At that point a most fortunate thing occurred.  I got sick.  Really sick.  I almost didn't leave my house for 3 weeks.  When I was better, but still not up to normal life, I took advantage of my home boundness, pulled out my beginner quilting books and studied how to create, attach, and blind stitch the binding.  Once I got moving, it all came back quickly, and I remembered how relaxing the blind stitch was for me.  I love sewing that stitch!  So I hunkered down and had that binding finished in 3 days!  Whoo hoo!

 

 Then I remembered.  I had planned to embroider their names and the date of their wedding on the quilt.  Shoot!  Was I supposed to do that before it was sent off to the long arm quilter?  Should I add a tag?  What were my options?  I mean I just finished the binding!  And as much as I enjoy the blind stitch, I did not want to remove the stitches I had just so lovingly put in.  I wanted this thing out of my house!!!

Ok, deep breath...Off to the internet to research my options.  Much to my relief, there were a lot of options.  However, my friend was planning to visit her daughter and son-in-law the very next weekend.  I opted for a more personal, and YES, a faster solution.  I do have to state for the record that everyone who knows me, knows how much I treasure the writings, handwritten notes and recipes from family past.  So in the honor of heirloom treasures (and speed), I signed their names, the date of their wedding and my name in my handwriting... but in purple of course!

With a sigh, I handed this completed journey to my friend on a Sunday, relieved that it was still winter, when she informed me that she wouldn't be seeing them until Easter.   So much for in time for winter!  If I hadn't wanted it out of my house so badly, perhaps I should have presented it to them in May, on their first anniversary!

Ah well, live and learn.  So I'm starting to design the wedding quilts of my grandchildren.  No, I do not have grandchildren yet.  In fact, my children are not married, but I learned my lesson about procrastination!