Homespun

Lately I have been feeling nostalgic for my early quilting days. In the 1980's we had solid cottons and calicos and my first quilts were Log Cabin, Ohio Star and Double Irish Chain. Nowadays quilt shops are filled with batiks, novelty prints and all manner of geometrics and designs have expanded in complexity and refinement - all of which I love. The changing landscape is the reason quiltmaking has held my attention all these years.

But I have been looking back and find myself longing for the simplicity of those early efforts. I ran across this piece of black and white homespun - a piece from my mother's stash - and I was transported. I hand-quilted two rows with buttonhole thread and beefy stitches and topstitched the outside border by hand with a sewing-weight thread. The tiny, white buttons are from some long-forgotten project. I purchased the knitted roses at Britex a week ago thinking I would sew them on a sweater, but find they work perfectly here.







This piece reminds me of the basement at J.C. Penny's in Sunnyvale in the 1960s. My mother and I shopped in the fabric department that, at the time, inlcuded sewing pattterns, notions, yarn and fabric as well as sewing machines. The fabric and buttons connect me to my sewing roots and the roses reflect the present and my latest obsession with all things ruffled and flowered.

I enjoyed participating in this final challenge.

Susan H. in San Francisco

HOME

What means home to me? A person, family, a room, a house, feelings, a scent, memories, a scenery or an area?
Well, for me it is a combination of a person, a house, an area and a scenery.
At home with my husband, looking out of the kitchen window to the colorful and changing scenery of a sunset. The roofs of the houses and the clocktower of our church dark in the opposite light.
I see with my inner eyes the land, which lays between the sunset and our home - villages and a few towns - roads and railroad tracks - forests and rich farmland, on which vegetables, salads and corn grows - small ways for bycicles and hikers - three lakes with fish and other animals and shores for swimming and camping.

I worked with fototransfer (a map of our area and 3 pictures), watercolor, felting and quilting.

This is our last challenge. These two years helped me to stay tuned, work with a theme and finish in a certain time. Thank you to all!

Heidi