little men

(From top left, clock-wise) Hippy Man in a tie-dye shirt, Metronatural Man in a graphic shirt, Enviro Man all in green and Messy Man in work clothes.

I made Little Men for the baby boy quilt I am completing. The quilt is a design-as-I-go project and I wanted something simple for the four corners as the rest of the quilt is visually busy.

Each Little Man is made with 22 pieces! I had to count them to believe it.

The design is modified from a magazine photo of a folksy quilt. The historic-style quilt top was laden with little men, little women, a barn, some roosters and sheaths of wheat.

I like the idea of the baby boy one day realizing that his quilt has little men on it. And when that happens, he will be a little man himself!

chinese coins

Batik Baby, 2007, 42" x 26"
GIFTED TO MIA AGUILAR

This is Quilt No. 3 for me. A sampler really, as it isn’t very big. The fabrics are from Maurine Noble’s bags of scraps. The inspiration was a set of pre-made squares I found in the collection of castaways—mauve triangles with coral heart-design batik triangles. I added some sashings of hand-dyed fabrics and a wrap-around border of random-width Chinese Coins to finish the quilt top.

I can’t find the origin of the name, Chinese Coins, anywhere. Instead I have found that there are other quilt patterns with similar names, such as Roman Coins and African Coins.

The quilt was machine-stitched “in the ditch” to make the triangles and Chinese Coins puff up. It was the first time I used Dorrit’s Pfaff with a running foot to stitch a quilt together with the batting.

Baby Aquilar is the recipient of this stroller-sized quilt. Her mother, Laura, worked at Belyea before getting pregnant, selling her condo and moving to Arizona. With only two week’s notice before her departure, the baby-to-be received an existing quilt instead of a new one made specially for her.

the careless quilter

The idea of careless quilting is to “design as you go.” No pattern, no plan. It turns out that it is not as easy as it sounds.

In my piles, I had some Kaffe Fassett fabrics that intrigued me. Then I found some colorful bits that looked good with them and starting stitching pieces together. Pretty soon, everything was out of control.

I realized that I wasn’t going to be happy if I kept proceeding helter skelter. So I ripped my seams apart, gave some thought to what I wanted to accomplish and proceeded again.

You can see in the picture above that I made some notes to myself with a sketch. So far I have pieced together a 16-inch square. It will be the jewel-like center of a baby boy quilt.

I intend to make four more 16-inch squares that will become the corners. Then I will fill in the rest of the quilt top with Chinese Coins—strips of different fabrics in a random pattern.

Although I now have a concept, there are many decisions left—such as working out the fabric and color combination of the final parts. It is this type of challenge that confirms to me that quilt making is truly a creative activity.

baby ob’bayi’s quilt

Indigo Baby, 2008, 42" square
GIFTED TO CHLOE OB’BAYI

In Africa, clothes dyed with indigo are a symbol of wealth. In Japan, indigo is the color of summer and is used to dye cotton cloth for lightweight kimonos known as yukatas.

In making a baby quilt for Heidi Ob’bayi, I chose a selection of indigo fabrics from around the world. The Japanese fabric honors the two years Heidi spent in Japan with the JET Program while the elephant fabric represents Kevin’s Kenyan heritage.

Today I gave Heidi her quilt at a lovely baby shower. Almost 50 guests attended the catered event at the PEMCO Home Office where the pile of presents was remarkable!

The quilt is hand-stitched vertically “in the ditch” with a little extra stitching around the elephants. The indigo blue and white fabrics are framed with a mustard and navy batik used for the binding.

marbled fabrics

At The Beach, 2008, 37" x 13"

Through Piece Makers I took home a thick stack of marbled fabrics. Most of the pieces are a foot square and while many have matching dye colors, no two are alike.

Maurine Noble is the person who marbled the fabrics. When I asked her how many months it took her to dye them all, she said “One afternoon.”

The fabrics are truly inspirational. I used some of them in a table topper for an Art Chix project entitled “At the Beach.” I liked how the swirls in the marbled patterns reminded me of waves in the ocean. I made the edge of the runner wavy and cut the binding on the bias so it would stretch around the curved edges.

art chix

Visionary Landscape, 2008, 40" x 14"

“Visionary Landscape” was the theme for last night’s Art Chix meeting. From our group of eight women, projects ranged from a 3-D photo with homemade 3-D glasses to monoprints to paintings to color photos to an unfinished quilted table topper by me.

Presenting a fabric piece was a bit of a stretch for the theme. I was working hard to complete the table topper and ran out of time to do something different. The whole-cloth runner is hand-stitched with a metallic thread and skinny hand-dyed silk ribbon.

One of my early ideas was to color and collage on top of a landscape blueprint. When I called my inside connection at an architectural/ environmental firm, I couldn’t get a drawing. That squashed that concept instantly.

I had a few other ideas but none of them inspired me much. Just maybe my desire to spend my free time quilting overcame all other creative urges. And can’t an intriguing runner transform the landscape of a mere table?

piece makers

The Plymouth Piece Makers met at my home tonight. The ministry team, founded by Maurine Noble, is nine years old. Our small group makes quilts for babies being born into the church, youth who are graduating from high school and companions for Plymouth Healing Communities. This evening seven of us gathered to chat about our favorite activity and show our recent projects.

scrap quilting

Homey Squares, 2008, 48" x 72"
COLLECTION OF MICHAEL STONE

It’s a symbiotic relationship—a veteran quilter with lots of scraps and a neophyte with a need of fabrics.

Maurine Noble, my generous mentor, had tons of scrap that she gave to me. (Okay—about forty pounds.)

I picked up the two bags on a Friday night. That evening I began sorting them out, trying to make decide how to organize the little pieces of fabrics. By colors or patterns? It took me all weekend to get through the project, including ironing the most wrinkled ones. My collection looked almost impressive, filed by color hues in big ziplock bags, inside black plastic milk crates from Fred Meyer.

Not only is Maurine an expert quilter, author and teacher, she has great taste in fabrics. No calicoes, novelty fabrics or chintzes. Maurine loves global fabrics that are hand printed or hand dyed. So my stash is a wonderful and inspiring collection of great materials.

My fourth quilt is a green and gold scrap quilt. The square within square pattern took longer that I had expected. Each outer square is made up of four pieces. Once I made all the double squares (77 total), I trimmed them so they would line up well (308 cuts!). Then I hand stitched the quilt together.

I love scrap quilting—as the final effect has an appealing organic quality. And, as 100% cotton fabric is not cheap, it is a great way to access quilting fabrics.

big jane

Many people call me Little Jane. That is because my mom, Jane Belyea, and I are quite alike. That is a compliment as I have the greatest respect for my mother’s ways and accomplishments.

In recent years Big Jane splits her creative time between knitting mittens for the Red Cross and making quilts for young ones. All her quilts are bright, happy and fun!

quiltfest!

Two things overwhelmed me today at Quiltfest in Seattle. First, there were so many quilts to examine. Second, the winning quilts were the work of maniacal artists.

My hope of ever creating a quilt worthy of a ribbon is lost. The level of detail, design and craftsmanship incorporated into the winners’ quilts was remarkable. All the same, I took lots of pictures so I can continue to be inspired by the show—especially the quilts from South Africa.

Sharing the display area were row after row of vendors with quilt-related goods and sewing machines. Two of the sellers got some of my dough.

Elin Noble, the daughter of my quilting mentor Maurine Noble, sold me a beautiful piece of hand-dyed fabric (see Elin and Maurine above). Elin also dyes threads.

At Lorraine Torrence’s booth, a collection of pieced jackets caught my eye. One jacket in particular, with polka dot and jaguar fabric, came home with me. Coincidentally the seamstress for my jacket is Diane Roubal. Diane is a leader of Plymouth Piece Makers, my quilting group at church.

Quiltfest happens every two years. I wonder what my level of quilt making will be like in 2010?

baby color philosophy

Baby Bluebell, 2007, 42" x 36"
GIFTED TO TOSHIKO MEALY

Blue is for boys and pink is for girls. Sex not known? Yellow or green. To break this protocol, my very first quilt was for a baby girl with pretty all-blue fabrics.

Not only did I succeed in my goals, I got hooked on quilting. Now just one year later, I have completed five baby quilts, two twin-sized quilts and one lap quilt. And a quilted pillow and two table runners. I am a rank beginner who is experimenting with patterns, fabrics, and whether or not I like machine stitching or hand stitching the final quilt.

This morning I met with Liz Holland to show her some very unlikely fabrics for her proposed baby quilt. Russet red, hydrangea blue, chartreuse, bright seafoam and a hot coral dominate the bold "global" patterns. The plan is minimal piecing and extensive hand stitching with a lime green thread.

So tonight I will wash the exciting fabrics, tomorrow press them, and this weekend begin (and hopefully finish) the piecing. Oh Baby.

charlotte’s pillow

Pretty in Pink, 16 x 16 inches
COLLECTION OF CHARLOTTE STONE

This pillow project, made with cotton scraps, is an experiment in very thin piecing. With 1/8 inch strips of fabric, the pressing direction of the 1/4 inch seams became important.

Machine pieced, hand quilted.

quilting neophyte

Patricia Belyea with Nicki

I’m a graphic design professional who has rediscovered my love of fabrics and sewing.

As a teenager, I spent all my free time at the helm of a Pfaff machine. At 13, I used a Vogue pattern and made a fully lined, cashmere coat with bound buttonholes. Through high school, I sewed my own clothes, including prom dresses.

When I turned 18, I attended a women’s college in Guelph, Canada to study Clothing Design. The professor, a high-strung fashion designer from Toronto, made all the students’ lives miserable. After five weeks I dropped the class and transferred to the hard sciences.

It was such a traumatic experience that I didn’t sew for 20 years. And then, I only made a few flannel nightgowns for my little daughters and curtains for their room.

In Spring 2007 my youngest bought fabric and a pattern for her Junior Prom dress. As she’d never made a dress before, I offered to help. That got me sewing again. Two months later I made my first quilt—for an Art Chix project. I was pricked by the passionate needle and I haven’t stopped quilting since.