Second Month of Maps

My map process to date - which has been very slow - is posted on AdHocImprovQuilts. I sketched and erased, thought about the yards, the streets, the neighborhoods that hold significance in my life and decided to start with my grandparents' house.

When we were small, the streets were lined with elm trees. Beautiful and mature, they arched over the street, cooling and shading us all. My brother and I whitewashed the trunks every summer. For a quarter. What riches!

Mapping all my memories of the times we spent there may take several quilts but I'm starting with a simple map of the neighborhood. I've redrawn it several times; the last attempts are more freehand. I want to emphasize the roads and their offsets more than maintaining an exact block ratio.

I wanted to be further along but decided the better choice was to take my time. Here are three colorways I pulled for possible blocks.

Fabric choices in t
hree colorways for the map quilt

Meanwhile, I have a bunch of tops to baste and quilt. I started with the largest one and am halfway through the quilting.

Quilting Color Study Chinese Coins

So far I'm stitching in the ditch with smoke nylon monofilament on top and cotton thread on bottom. Then I'll pause to determine the next step.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Old Map, New Map

I've been thinking about maps and quilts for years. As a geologist I created maps and cross sections, working to illuminate topography, reservoir limits and potential hazards. My dad loved them, too. We'd collect USGS quadrangle maps for every vacation to locate hiking trails and points of interest. {Our vacations were always in to wilderness.} Then we'd visit AAA for road maps. He had us navigate along the route. These are the kinds of maps that most interest me.

I do have an old quilt that could be considered a map quilt {or a pictorial quilt} recording the many visits we made to my sister. Summer, spring and winter but rarely in the fall with so many school activities.

Tucking the kids in the car in their pjs early in the morning meant a good four hours head start. Regular stops. Then turning off the highway up a one lane asphalt road that quickly turned to dirt. Over the bridge, around the curve, and there we were. At last.

The Road to my Sister's House

This was one of the first quilts posted on my blog. Part map, part story, part memory, all the love I feel for my family.

My newest idea is piecing those skinny strips. Will they look like roads? I made my first very small practice one but I've been thinking about them for a while.

Angled parkway cutting city streets

Rather than black, I'm choosing white for streets. They need strong contrast with the land/houses. I'm good at lining up 90 degree intersections but need some more practice with the angled streets.


LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color wrote a salute to John McCain that I wholeheartedly support. America is less with the loss of this great man.

Enjoy the day, Ann

This Old Map

A map project has been pinned in a corner of the design wall for over a year. Sigh. While ideas about my mother and family are swirling through my brain I also "need" to finish this project which started in a workshop with Valerie Goodwin at Empty Spools. Well, actually it started in a one-day workshop with her at my guild almost three years ago. Definitely past time to get it moving.

As an architect, Valerie uses multiple perspectives in her presentations which inspire her layered techniques in art. My map alternates between aerial and side views, expansive and close-up. At least, it does in my imagination. Getting it to fabric is the challenge.

Coit Tower map quilt in progress

I took her class with a friend. We were both excited beyond measure by the ideas spawned in Valerie’s class. I thought I was working on the lowest layer. Only as it neared completion did I realize the water layer is further “behind.” I’m unsure how to layer these overlapping regions without holes. That’s where it froze. No. That’s where I froze.

So I am determined to work on each layer individually and postpone the decision of how they mesh. This is not a bed quilt. It won’t matter how many layers I create nor how they are sewn. And the idea has been pushing at my psyche for a year. What’s the worst that could happen? It’s a flop. Well, I’ve experienced that before and survived.

Did you catch Maria Shell's recent post about the road to her summer home? Another map quilt.

I read this quote on Pamela’s blog recently:
“The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave it neither power or time.” Mary Oliver

Enjoy the day, Ann