Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Days 36-39: Airplanes, Civil War, Play Castle, Flower Power

Day 36: Airplane Blanket This family favorite was made for my kids, in the late 90s, from a delightful print of animals flying airplanes.

The border features consecutive yellow triangles, called "flying geese," made into giant arrows with the help of a multi-colored stripe serving as each arrow's shaft.  

Day 37: A Very Civil War

Our country survived the Civil War, and I hung this war-era quilt on November 3, just before the election, as a reminder to vote!

I found these blocks in a rural antique shop in upstate NY in the early 90s - there was a big stack, priced at $5 per block. To save money, I only bought 8, which of course, I later regretted - I should have bought the entire stack! I sewed them into this 26" x 50" wall hanging and quilted it.

These are the most traditional of what quilters call "log cabin" blocks, each with a red square in the center, representing hearth and home. In today's pandemic, I feel a little bit too stuck in my hearth and home - but with full knowledge that home is safer than the alternative, and grateful to the essential workers who are putting their lives on the line by leaving home every day.

The prints are fascinating. Even though it's a small quilt, you can look at the different fabrics for a long time.

Day 38: Interactive Castle Quilt I made this one for my kids also in the late 90s.

The animals dressed as royalty were fairly large, so I stuffed them as dolls, and made a pockets for each, with the same figure appliqued to the top of the pocket.

There's a castle on the back, plus one more pocket (red, on bottom) for the jester. The gold-trimmed piece on the very bottom can be buttoned off when the rest of the quilt needs laundering!

Day 39: "Flower Power." My newest large finished quilt. Yes, it's flower shaped!

A little closer: 

A lot closer: 

All of the blocks are equilateral triangles, most containing an upright "v". I learned from quilter Barbara Cline that when "v" triangles are organized by value, they can create the illusion of floating, gift-wrapped cubes. You can see the cubes flashing in and out of view in the center of the quilt, and also in the side hexagons, if you sit back and squint! My methods (but not this pattern) are in my book Modern Paper Pieced Log Cabin Triangle Quilts, in my etsy shop, CathyPStudio.  

The show will continue soon!

Pandemic Porch Quilt Show Days 25-28 : Over Japan

 Day #25: Tokyo Life

I made this quilt in 1999, a cathartic project working through memories of living in Japan for a year and a half, in the early 1980s.

Tokyo was indescribably dense, and everything seemed tinier than in the US - cars, furniture, cups, plates, clothes, and especially the people. Most of the women and many of the men were smaller than me - I felt like a massive Barney the Dinosaur, especially when perched on ludicrously petite chairs. Each day, I lumbered through a fascinating shopping street, decorated with strings of artificial flowers. The novelty fabric in the center of this quilt reminded me of those places, and launched me on this quilt.

I added Elvis, plus a couple of more traditional figures. I think the flowers are there to advertise the noisy pachinko (gambling machine) parlors. 

Sometimes, Tokyo's density was intoxicating; but over many months, it became exhausting. I couldn't even begin to wrap my mind around where structures and alleys began and ended. 

There was also an abundance of plastic food in glass cases in front of  tiny restaurants....

And there was as much going on underground as above - not just the subways, but more restaurants, more shops, more vendors, more pedestrian hallways. 

Tokyo's infinite above-ground and below-ground worlds were connected by endless stairs and escalators.

Every scrap of space in Tokyo was occupied. Not one inch  was wasted - and it was also extremely clean. 

Overall, I loved Tokyo. It made NYC feel like a wide-open prairie. So much to learn, see and taste, and above all, endlessly kind, thoughtful and interesting people who did their best to make me feel at home.  

Porch Quilt Show, Day #27.

In the early 90s, I returned to Japan, after an absence of ten years, because my husband had a conference there. In Kyoto, we stopped in a little shop called Aizenkobo.

We found a group of men sitting around; they asked us if we'd like to see a demonstration (or at least I thought that was what they asked), and of course, we said yes. They got busy, dunking and dipping and twisting fabric in massive indigo dye pots. It was just wonderful, right up until the moment that they selected seven pieces of fabric for us, folded them into a little bag, and handed it to us with a bill for I think about $100 US.

I was mortified, but figured I must have agreed to it, so we paid. Those indigo pieces sat in the bag, in my cabinet, for 30 years, until I became an empty nester and had gathered the time and courage to use them. I tried to cut off as little as possible - I may have taken an inch off each piece with this design. Find closeup photos of the Aizenkobo indigos, and other interesting and upcycled details in this quilt, in my blog post here. Below, when I took apart a red polyester kimono in my collection - that's the long rectangle on the far right - I found softer, aged cotton fabric with a gorgeous crane (with purple wing tips), hiding inside (that's the fabric in the middle panel). The blue-and-white panel on the far left is from a light Japanese yukata robe.

Day #26: The Wave

The front of this next quilt was supposed to be the back of the previous quilt. (That's why I put #27 before #26). But I liked it so much that I made it a separate quilt! Along the bottom and toward the top, I created log cabin block reflections of the iconic "Great Wave of Kanagawa" woodblock print by Hokusai, printed on the central banner. Find more photos and information about this quilt in my blog post here.

Day #28: More Japanese Culture

This quilt measures 96" x 75" It features more commercial banners and door curtains. I pieced the vertical side borders from scraps - I especially like the quarter-hexagon design on the left.

Of all the banners on this quilt, the one illustrating sumo positions is my favorite. 

See much more of the vivid Japanese graphics in this quilt in my blog post here. 

More from my pandemic porch quilt show is coming soon!

Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Days 14 - 19: Altered Cowboys and Beyond

My show is going strong! Here's the third batch. 

Pandemic Porch Quilt Show, Day #14: Cowboy Quilt

This quilt was made circa 1998, when my adorable little boy wanted to be a cowboy.

At the time, I was not only enchanted with my growing baby humans, but also my growing baby fabric stash, especially this brown border print:

As a new quilter, I did some reckless things. In this case, I cut the outer edges, on the sides and bottom, into hanging diamonds. What's worse, I chose a relatively thick red denim bandana print to bind them. (On the far left).

Binding and mitering up and down those sharp angles, with heavy fabric, took approximately 7000% more time than binding a straight edge. By the second diamond, I regretted it, but didn't want to rip, so I plodded onward.

The quilt has randomly strewn fussy-cut rodeo scenes, to break up some of the squares - broderie perse with a satin stitch.

I also stitched buttons, in assorted tans, browns and greys, on many squares.

Hot peppers count as cowboy fabric, right?

On the back, I placed all the bandanas I could find in my house, including this very unusual orange-and-turquoise one that my husband's had since high school, at least.

Today, my little boy no longer wants to be a cowboy. He's happy as a 26-year-old scientist in a big city - no horse, no car - but he does have a bike and a dog.

Day 15: Altered Squares

This quilt hung at Quiltcon 2018 in Pasadena, CA - the town next to mine - on my friggen' birthday! Friends overcame many obstacles to attend the show, and line up obediently in front of it when I forced them to. (I'm in the middle back). That may have been the best birthday of my life.

Day 16: She Exclaimed!

This is my exclamation-point shaped quilt, made this year. It's improv paper pieced. Instructions are in my new pattern booklet, "Modern Paper Pieced Log Cabin Triangles," here. Below, it's photographed against a grey background.

Detail:

To my happy shock, this quilt was awarded a second place prize in the Midcentury Modern category, in Mancuso's online Visuals #1 international show. (Find all the winners here.)

Day 17: Counterclockwise

This 32" x 44" quilt, made in 2015, started with an improv circles game in Diane Hires' fabulous book, "Vivacious Curvy Quilts." For the arrows in two borders, I made up my own game - my tutorial is in a couple of blog posts that begin here.

Detail:

At some intersection, I tucked dimensional folded points, to make a whirligig:

Day 18: Dresden Variation

This quilt is an oldie, maybe from the early 2000s, when I was entranced by even older, 1930s-era quilts, particularly one with this unusual color scheme - a hard teal, plus lots of soft pastels. My pastels are reproduction 1930s fabrics. The motif is called a Dresden Plate. The quilt's gently ridged outer edge wasn't nearly as challenging to bind as on my earlier, sharp-angled cowboy quilt.

I do kinda regret the salmon colored fabric between the fans. (I happened to have a lot of that fabric, which, all too often, isn't the best reason to use a color!)

Day #19: That's a Lot of Yellow

I made this quilt in 2012, by playing a game in one of Karla Alexander's "Stack the Deck" books. The basic idea: Stack squares; use a rotary cutter to cut all layers, creating multiple stacks; shuffle each stack; stitch the pieces into multi-fabric blocks. It's perfect for when you don’t want to think much, and just want to sew.

The game that produced this particular quilt is "Razzle Dazzle," from Karla's book New Cuts for New Quilts, More Ways to Stack the Deck. I took my fabric choices not from book's sample (unfortunately), but from the fireworks print in the borders. But I amplified their intensity to a degree that might have been un peu trop.

When finished, I had a fascinating mound of scraps - so I glued them to a felt circle, attached those to extra-large pipe cleaners, smacked orange buttons in the middle, and,- voila! - hyper-daisies!