This is one of two identical (pretty much) lap quilts I made for my Aunt and Uncle's Birthdays. They are both visiting here now and I nearly killed myself getting them done so that I could present them to them at the same time. I will give them to them today. Both my Aunt and Uncle are cat fanatics and when I saw Timeless Treasure's Kitty Chronical fabric I knew that would be their quilts. I made up my own pattern - using a full "page" of the newspaper for the center medalion. I then cut out additional "articles" and "photos" from the scrap and fused them to the black fabric. I used a blanket stitch on the machine to edge each of the fused pieces. When I quilted them, I found clip art of a cat's pawprint, made a template of it, and traced it multiple times on the quilt and then freemotion quilted along my pawprint patterns so it looks like a cat has walked allover the quilt :). It nearly killed me doint two at a time but I'm pleased with the result.

Well, here it is, the final hand piecing project for the Quilt U. class. I'm pleased with it. It measures 25" square. I'm not going to do it right now but I think I'm going to use it as the center of a small medallion quilt.

Well, I went ahead and did the first assignment in the "Art for Quilters" class from Quilt University. I'll be honest, I really didn't want to do this assignment. It seemed overly simplistic and not much like quilting at all - plus I got the impression we were all supposed to do a vase with flowers as the first assignment. I emailed the instructor and asked if we were limited to that subject matter since I had a different idea but - for whatever reason - I still haven't heard back from her and it's nearly the end of the week - so I made the durn vase with flowers. It feels like collage rather than quilting - and that's OK - I enjoy doing collage and have done quite a bit of it in my other artistic endeavors. I just didn't want to make a vase with flowers. Oh well. Assignment 1 done. I hope Assignment 2 is more challenging and interesting.

I finished the curved hand piecing exercise yesterday. It will probably be made into a pillow to finish it.

I got it done tonight - it's not perfect but neither am I so I'm OK with it :) It was a good practice project.

This morning I was looking for pattern ideas for my next birthday gift project and picked up a favorite book I've got called Family Ties: Old Quilt Patterns from New Cloth by Nancilu Butler Burdic. Still another subtitle of the book is Patterns and Interpretations of the Work of Early Quiltmaker Talula Gilbert Bottoms. A very long title for a relatively thin book but it's got a lot of great old patterns in it and the stories behind them and Talula's story are very enjoyable and inspiring. Anyway, here is a quotation that I really like from the Introduction:

"Instead of giving her energies to bitterness and struggle against her hard circumstances, Talula turned increasingly to the creative outlet of quiltmaking. By losing herself in absorbing work, she became a creator and artist. ... it is in the doing of things that transformation becomes possible."

A quotation from a Ruth E Finley in 1931: "No artificial exercise can equal that ... of creating beauty with your own hands. Quiltmaking has ... deep roots of interest which strike back into the history of America as does on other craft." It is, she said, "an ideal prescription for nerves, or general lack of interest in life."

A quotation from a Dr. William Rush Dunton, Jr. in 1946: "It is the stimulus of color and the concentration required to form accurate patterns, as well as in making a quilt block [one] has no time to worry over fancied ill health...or wrongs and slights which may be real."

Kristen Langellier in 1990 made this point, "women's absorption in quiltmaking, conceiving the idea for a quilt and bringing it into form as a finished product, can be associated with images of birth: 'Giving birth to the quilt and giving birth to the true self.' Such self-realization transforms by making very tangible her creative capacities. Consequently, the ability to overcome feelings of grief and loss when tragedies strike is greatly enhanced."

This will give you an idea of what the fabrics look like for the hand-pieced table runner. The pattern will be Monkey Wrench.