Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Days 5-10

My quilt-a-day pandemic porch quilt show, in my little town of South Pasadena, CA, continues! (Quilts 1-5 are here). I love it when people come up the front walk for a closer look. My office faces out over the front yard, so I can keep an eye on things. I do have a sign requesting that request that visitors wear masks if they come close, and that they not touch the quilt. 

DAY 6: Invocation

This quilt, made in the mid-90s, is a Tree of Life, with the letters of the word "chai" spelled out in the branches 72 times. "Chai" means "life" in Hebrew, and it, along with number 72, is said to bring good luck. I intended it as a wedding canopy, but no one's gotten married under it yet. 

It's made entirely of batiks. 

DAY 7: Blue Cross, Blue Shield

This quilt emerged one day during my denim period, in 2016, after the phrase, "Blue Cross, Blue Shield" lodged in my head. The plus signs were fun to improv cut and piece from old jeans; but then I got stuck on how to make shields. I was about to peruse my 2-ton encyclopedia of quilt blocks, when it struck me that jeans pockets are shield-shaped! A blog post with more photos and details are here. 

Below, sans sunlight. It's heavily quilted.

Day 8: Cosmic Map

This is an English Paper Pieced quilt, and was selected to hang in Houston's IQA show in 2019. It's also a projects in my book, "Hexagon Star Quilts, 113 English Paper Pieced Star Patterns to Piece and Applique." (More about the book here.) While designing it, I thought about subway maps in cities I've been lucky enough to live in, including Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. So this map has a pink line, a red line, a lavender line, and more! 

It's heavily quilted, with more stars. Closer: 

Day 9: Fireflower 600

This is the first in my series of improvisational log cabin triangle quilts. It's made from 600 3 3/4" equilateral triangle blocks, improv pieced in different patterns, on top of scrap paper. My technique and a booklet that includes instructions for this quilt are in my Etsy shop, here. 

Detail: 

Day 10: "Eyeshadows" 

This quilt is one in a series made in 2017, by playing solitaire with stacks of solid or batik squares. Such fun! It was simpler than in the photo below, but it didn't impress anyone else as much as it impressed me. So, empowered by the last quilt show just before the pandemic, I fancied it up with floating stuffed circles and lots more quilting. The whole story is here. 

Days 11-15 are coming soon! You can also keep up with this show daily, at my Instagram feed, at https://www.instagram.com/cathy.perlmutter/.