The Road to My Sister's House

So you weren't scared off by the wild braid in my last post? Here's what I made from those ugly fabrics. It's a personal story about my youngest sister.

The Road to my Sister's House quilt

The class designed with the smallest squares in the morning. After lunch we cut rectangular crosses, sashing and posts to build on our stories and layer texture into our quilts. How amazingly everyone's quilt improved, especially mine! Cutting the braid the length of the fabric kept consistency along each sashing. Limiting the width highlighted its inherent motion. To me it represents the tire tracks of all those long drives. Those incredibly loud oranges became the flower centers surrounded by orange and yellow petals. (Printed circles are very useful that way.)

I added borders the following week. The inner border used all my African fabric. (It spoke to me at first sight it but had never found a home.) Again, I just played around putting fabric near the quilt to see what looked right. The outer border x's and o's represent the letters we send and the love we share. Complete o's were too static; partial o's look better. However, I quilted the phantom parts in.

The back enlarged the pattern on the front to keep it interesting.

Fret not; enjoy the day.

Ann

Is Ugly Fabric Contagious?

Sue handed me some fabric one day stating, "We don't use this stuff in New England, but you're from Texas..." Backhanded compliment? Downright slam? I didn't care. The colorful pattern sang to me; I knew just what to do.

Three years later I returned to Texas with unused fabric in tow. Why hadn't I made the quilt dancing in my head? Then the Quilters Guild of Dallas offered a workshop with Sue Benner - the perfect time to get it done! In Sue's class we all used the same quilt layout but brought photos and fabrics to translate our personal vision. In the morning we took turns showing them. Everyone else previewed gorgeous batiks in sumptuous colors to a chorus of oohs and aahs. Silence fell when I showed the braid and these orange slices I picked up in a Ben Franklin sale bin.

Sue encouraged us to design a story with the small squares. At the time my youngest sister lived in a ski chalet on a dude ranch just south of Rocky Mountain National Park. (What a tough life!) Her balconies overflowed with flowers and vines. My small squares made a picture of the final mile of the road trips to her house.

New to the guild and engrossed in the process of transferring my feelings to a quilt it was lunchtime before I realized I was the only person with a table to myself. This is one way to get lots of room in a workshop.

Come see what I made with this next time.

Fret not; enjoy the day.

Ann