Hang up

My lovely husband helped me hang up a curtain wire last weekend over the closet where no curtains are needed.  Why?  Because I wanted a design wall.  I bought a portable design wall at PIQF a few years ago, but it’s not big enough for the usual size quilts I make, it’s wobblier than I’d like, and takes up a lot of floor space.  I don’t have a clear wall space that could be used for a design wall because I’m lucky enough to have an office/sewing/crafting space with a lot of windows and the rest of the wall space is devoted to bookshelves and cabinets.

But!  One wall is taken up by sliding closet doors.  Could the doors be used to house a design wall?  I looked and thought about a few options including covering the doors with flannel or something design wall-ish, but ultimately came to the idea of hanging a sheet of flannel like a curtain over the closet doors so I could still access the closet easily by pushing the fabric aside.

Hung upIkea provided a great solution – The Dignitet cable curtain system.  It comes with stainless steel cable, and clips and hooks are sold separately.  All told I think I spent under $22 for everything.  The system does NOT come with screws to screw into the wall, but that’s easily remedied by either a trip to the garage (in my case) or the hardware store.  Get wood screws with a flat head.  6 of them.  About 1-1/2″ long should do it.   Ikea sells kits of screws and plastic wall expander things too, but there’s way more in the kit that you could possibly use for a thing like this.

Now I need to go get some flannel and sew it up to go on the clips, but meanwhile, I hung a recent quilt on some of the clips.  I think quilts belong on bodies and beds, but I’m enjoying this one on my wall today.  It sure makes the room bright.

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Loved to pieces

I’m not big on making quilts that are too precious to touch, fold, or wad up.   Maybe I’ll get into that later in life.  I have great respect for art quilts. I’m stunned by the intricacy, care, color placement and craftsmanship in them.  But for now, that’s not what I like to make.

The best quilts I think I’ve made are machine washable and dryable.   I’m happiest when I hear that a quilt I’ve made is so loved that it’s taken everywhere.  If that involves dragging around, so be it. My quilts should be able to withstand a bit of dragging and wadding. Not dragged over hot coals mind you, but my quilts are meant to be used.

With these things in mind, I like to machine quilt.  On quilts that I know will have a rougher go, I machine stitch bindings too. These are quilts to be judged by kids not certified judges that care about handstitched bindings.   Quilts that are made for adults get handstitching.  But I think I like making quilts for kids or kids at heart best.  

These quilts should be wrapped around things – sometimes people, sometimes dogs and cats (Maybe not together).  I like quilts spread on beds, made into tents, used for picnics. Used and loved.

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Still Life


Painting a thing makes me see a thing in a very different way. I look at an object and it gets abbreviated, tagged and categorized. Memorable or not?  Familiar or not? Unusual?  Gross? Funny?

Painting and drawing realistically forces a more thorough examination.  Where are the highlights?  What shape is that really?  How is that thing textured?

So far, I’ve painted a vase, an orange, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a glass of milk, and a Totoro.

(The picture above has very different lighting than what I had when I actually painted)

I’ve learned that painting is hard;  Squinting is good for painting but hard on your eyes; And keep the paint brushes clean.

I’m sure I’ll be learning more.

 

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