at home in new zealand

My sister Janet lives in Wellington NZ. I’ve never visited yet she continually stops by my Northwest home.

This March she acquired African Night and Day, a lap quilt that’s now draped over a pumpkin arm chair in her living room. It looks great in her comfortable home.

my first commission

Royal Roots, 2010, 46" x 59"
COLLECTION OF BEVERLY ANDERSON

Last night I delivered my first quilt commission. Cindy Anderson, who bought a quilt from me in September, requested one for her mother-in-law’s birthday.

Cindy choose the fabrics out of my stash. The next time she saw the fabrics, they were in a finished quilt. (She mentioned to my sister that the quilt design wasn’t what she expected. That’s to be expected!)

The vintage plum and black fabric, given to me by Maurine Noble, is from South Africa. The central square is a highly detailed Indonesian batik. The gold and red batiks were bought at Lunn Fabrics in Lancaster, Ohio last summer.

The quilt is assembled using the quilt-as-you-go method with the red strips connecting the parts. The center is heavily hand-stitched while the background fabric is free motion machine-stitched.

mother/daughter quilt: delivered

Maple Stars, 2010, 53" x 43"
COLLECTION OF JANE BELYEA

Today my mother turned 83 and I turned up in Victoria with our finished mother/daughter quilt. During production, Mom admitted she wasn't too sure about the composition. Now she is very pleased with the results—so much so that the lap quilt’s new home is her living room.

mother/daughter quilt: day four

With three days in Victoria after Christmas, Mom and I moved our lap quilt project forward. But the top was not complete by my departure time.

I bundled everything up and kept working on the piecing in Seattle over the holiday week. One whole section was jettisoned and I added some new fabric to brighten the composition.

Mom’s 83rd birthday is in February. I will return to Victoria then with a finished quilt filled with our shared energies.

quilt for no. 1

A School For My Mermaid, 2009, 45" x 69"
COLLECTION OF ELIZABETH STONE

For Christmas, Liz received an oversized lap quilt from me. The fish fabric is vintage, probably from Scandanavia. The modern polka dots are from Maurine Noble. Connecting the two is a wavy strip of hand-dyed fabric, made with three 70" pattern pieces—one for the red stripe and ones for either sides.

Hand stitching encircles each fish while the side border is machine stiched-in-the-ditch. Cozy navy flannel backs the quilt.

mother/daughter quilt: day one

In Victoria last weekend, Mom and I began work on a lap quilt together—making it “my way.” We chose some fabrics and made our first “building blocks” although there was no plan for the overall design.

Nothing was measured. The fabric was sliced up randomly with a rotary cutter. I cut. Mom sewed. I ironed.

After a few hours in the sewing room, Mom begged me to stop. “You have exhausted me, Young Lady, with your counter-intuitive approach. Let’s tidy up and go out to lunch.” That sounded good to me.

I’ll be back to Victoria a few more times this winter to continue on our quilt.

lap quilt series: no. 8

Rubino, 2009, 44" x 66"
COLLECTION OF HEIDI OB’BAYI

Bold in color, this red and yellow quilt is made with scissor-cut designs that are then precision-cut into 11" squares. The fabrics are an assortment of handprinted, hand-dyed, global and recycled cottons.

lap quilt series: no. 7

Calico Comfort, 2009, 43" x 63"
COLLECTION OF SARAH FAIGIN

Almost all the fabrics in this lap quilt are vintage calicos. Two exceptions are the pink stripes and the botanical print—both on white. These fabrics create contrast in the expanse of small prints.

Although the geometric design looks precise, the pieces are scissor-cut and unmeasured. Extra strips of fabric have been inserted into the design to make the rows of framed squares the same length.

lap quilt series: no. 4, entry 2

River of Life, 2009, 42" x 62"
PURCHASED BY MARY GOLDERSON FOR HER NIECE

After many months of hand quilting, this project is complete. There is hand stitching around the fish and throughout the broad bands of solid color. There is machine stitching-in-the-ditch around the Chinese Coins and between the fabric bands. The pieces are all scissor cut with no measuring to create a more naive look. The finishing details include an organic beige cotton for the backing and a 1" binding.

The inspiration for the quilt came from the fish fabric that Maurine Noble brought back from South Africa two decades ago. I just couldn’t cut up the gorgeous pattern, so I used it in very large pieces.

jane’s modern quilt

Lap Quilt by Jane Belyea, 2009

When I visited my 82-year old mom in Victoria in May, we treasured hunted at local thrift stores for quilting fabrics. We used the “crease test” to check the cotton content—if we pinch pressed a fabric and it held a crisp crease, it was cotton.

For $4.00 CDN Mum picked up some boldly printed cotton with pink, teal, yellow and blue throughout. Here is the mid-sized quilt that she made with her bargain fabric. My dad likes the quilt so much that he made her agree to not give it away (which she does with all her wonderful quilts!).

lap quilt series: no. 6

Elusive Wisdom, 2009, 43" x 62"
COLLECTION OF SHUNA & GEORGE CERRATO

Here is my hand-dyed fabric in action. Creating the mottled fabric, curved piecing, stenciled oil stick artwork and overly wavy edges were all new for me. There is a sense of risk in trying different techniques. No peril of course, but it is engaging and exciting.

The lap quilt debuted at this month’s Art Chix gathering. Presented for the theme, Dirty Laundry, the imperfectly dyed fabric reminds me of soiled and stained cloth.

lap quilt series: no. 5

African Night & Day, 2009, 42" x 60"
COLLECTION OF JANET LANE

High contrast: black top on white back. The front is made with Dutch wax-resist fabrics from Vlisco and Woodin. The back is a silk-screened tablecloth from South Africa. The hand of all the fabrics is crisp and cool.

Although I scissor-cut the pieces, the final look is quite precise. This is because I could cut along the graphic patterns of the fabrics with the black backgrounds. The quilting includes mostly stitch-in-the-ditch with some hand stitching.

The fabrics were brought back from Africa by Maurine Noble when she taught quilting classes there.

lap quilt series: no. 4

River of Life, 2009, in process

The theme for this month’s Art Chix was “Women’s Work.” I chose to show a lap quilt that I hadn’t quite completed to demonstrate that “a woman’s work is never done.”

African fish swim across the main fabric, with coordinating solids on either side. Because I chose to hand-stitch around each fish, I do not see an end in sight anytime soon. There is additional wavy hand stitching in the wide fabrics on either end.

lap quilt series: no. 3

A Blanket for Babar, 2008, 44" x 59"
PURCHASED BY ANNA RHODES FOR HER GRAND NIECE

“An elephant in the room” is a problem that everyone knows well but no one talks about because it is taboo or embarrassing. That is the theme of this month’s Art Chix challenge.

What does a quilter do with such a project directive? My idea was to make a cover-up for the elephant so the difficult subject could be ignored a little longer.

This quilt is made with Indian batiks that I bought at Winmill Fabrics in Boston last spring. I scissor-cut the fabric without measuring so the design lines are softly irregular.

The center square of fabric is hand stitched around the flower pattern while the surrounding bands of fabric are machine stitched in-the-ditch. The binding is made up of leftover bits of fabric from the quilt top.

lap quilt series: no. 2

Italian Rainbow, 2008, 45" x 53"
COLLECTION OF CHRISTINE CARLSON

The luscious multi-colored sateen fabric from Italy shouted to be noticed. "Use me, use me."

This quilt is loosely styled after a Gee’s Bend one, with scissor-cut top pieces and uneven sides.

lap quilt series: no. 1

Dreaming in Russet, 2008, 60" x 42"
COLLECTION OF CINDY ANDERSON

I have just finished no. 1 of 10 in a series of lap quilts. My intent is to try different piecing and color combinations, essentially to sketch with fabric.

This quilt has wedge-shaped blocks in long strips with machine quilting in-the-ditch along each seam line. The printed fabrics are global, from Maurine Noble’s stash and scraps.

In the spring I plan to have an Open House to sell the collection, with the proceeds going to a worthy cause. If you read this blog and would like an invitation to the event, just let me know.

sans studio

I don't have a quilting studio or special room for my obsession. Instead the borrowed Pfaff sewing machine sits at one end of my dining room table and my cutting surface at the other.

Being in the middle of everything suits me. My family is usually up to something in the adjacent living room and I am only steps away from the kitchen — which is handy for making tea or a meal.

Right now I am working for on a lap quilt with lots of browns and rusts. The whole composition looked lifeless until I added a bright color — a little accent of turquoise.

The pieces of fabric are lying across the floor between the dining and living rooms so I can get a sense of the color combinations. At times like this a studio with a design wall would be a lot more convenient!