Hand-piecing

Mom - star block (hand-pieced!), originally uploaded by Mellicious.

My mother did hand-applique all the time, but never hand-piecing - except for this one block. And I can't remember for sure why she did this one. Maybe it was a bee block, I'm just not sure. And if not, I wonder what happened to it. Anyway, it's really beautiful, isn't it?

Slightly-more-than-five-dollar quilt

Mom - Civil War block-of-the-month #2, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

This was a "five-dollar quilt" at one of the local quilt shops a couple of years ago. There were two different variants and my mother made both of them. I think they ended up costing quite a lot more than $5, because as I recall the bluework patterns were extra, and the fabric kit for the other colorway may have been extra too - I'm not sure about that. I brought both of them home with me yesterday, because while she had them both professionally quilted, they still don't have bindings on them. This one was meant for my sister, and I'm sure she has forgotten about its existence, so maybe I will give it to her next Christmas or something. (That sounds like enough time for me to finish it, at the rate I've been working lately!)

Darlene Christopherson quilt
Originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Several years ago, Darlene Christopherson was working on a sequel to her book A Perfect Union of Patchwork & Applique and my mom was going to a bee that was fairly near where Darlene lives, and she got roped into making a sample quilt for the new book. I don't think I've ever put a picture of this quilt up before because of that; I was intending to wait until the book came out. But I think if it hasn't by now, it probably isn't going to. In any case, it's a lovely quilt.

Therese May

May - Creative Heart, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

One of the artists that Yvonne Porcella talked about a good bit was Therese May, and I do have pictures of a couple of Therese's quilts. (She does very heavily embellished quilts, which - as we have discussed lately - is one of my particular interests.) I found this one from last year's IQF, and there is also this one from 2004, which I just adore. (Look at the detail!)

Quilt above made by Therese May; from the Faculty Showcase at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Wow, a guild report

I haven't been to quilt guild in ages, but I went last night. I wanted to see the speaker, and I also thought it might be easier to go now and get it over with, if you know what I mean. I thought if I avoided it now I might tend more to avoid it later, somehow. But it was alright. Not everybody knows me well enough to immediately make the connection, and I'd already seen a lot of the ones who did at the funeral. I have had this fear - I had it before the funeral, too - that I would burst into tears every time somebody told me about how much they loved my mother and how special she was and stuff, but it mostly turns out that I don't, so that makes it somewhat easier. Thinking about it beforehand made me cry, but when it happens (and it's happened quite a lot - people did really love my mother and she was special) I finally realized that all I have to do is just smile and say "thank you."

So anyway, the speaker was Yvonne Porcella. (I love a lot of her quilts, but oddly, I don't seem to have any pictures of them at all. There's a gallery at the link above, though.) She was an interesting speaker, if maybe not the greatest one I've ever seen. However, she has been quilting forever - 1962! she doesn't look old enough to have been quilting in 1962, even assuming she was pretty young then - and she has some good stories, like how she made a Julia Child tribute quilt, and got to meet her. Also, I think she is the only professional quilter I've ever heard talk who admits to working the way I do! - that is, without a plan or a pattern, although it sounds like she takes it much further than I do, really. I'm glad I went.

Mom's shop hop quilt #1

Mom - IQF shop hop quilt, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I got a lovely e-mail the other day from the person who owns this quilt, talking about how much she loves having it. It was incredibly sweet.

For several years, now, the International Quilt Festival has been doing an internal "shop hop" where you go around and get blocks from various merchants. (I'm pretty sure they're still doing it - seems like I remember seeing it this past year.) It must've been 5 years or so ago that my mom did hers - I think she mostly did it because she liked the fabric, which is from Robyn Pandolph's Folk Art Christmas line. I remember running all over the place with her, to get the blocks and then some templates that were required for it. It was a lot of trouble to get it all, but it is a really pretty quilt.

I said "shop hop quilt #1" because she also did another sampler quilt from a different shop hop, which I'm not sure I even have a good picture of. If not, I'll try to get one soon.

30s fabric

Mom - 30s flower quilt, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

My mother got on a huge thing for 30s fabric for a while. I have never been that much of a fan of it myself, but I have to admit she did make some really nice things out of it. The border on this quilt is particularly nice.

Mom's rag quilt

Mom's rag quilt, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I really meant for there to be more heart quilts in here that weren't made by my mother, but apparently she made a lot of them. (She made a lot of quilts, period - did I mention the dozen bed-sized quilts we dragged out of the downstairs closet last weekend?) This one was made for my sister a few years ago - she was very into the Shabby Chic thing for a while there, so I think that's where the color scheme came from.

Small Elly-inspired piece

Mom's mantel, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

I'm trying to remember the story behind this little quilt. Mom took an Elly Sienciewicz class (am I spelling that right?) a number of years ago - maybe 8 or 9 years ago. She started this in the class, but what I'm not sure about is which part of this they did in class. It may be the little dimensional flowers in the corners.

(She's also been collecting green glass for several years, you can see a couple of pieces there.)

Mom - watercolor heart #2

Mom - watercolor heart #2, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Mom's heart

Mom - watercolor heart #1, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Maybe the broken heart I posted a couple of days ago was prophetic - my mother died yesterday. She had had a long battle with brain cancer, though, for those of you who didn't know about that already, and I think she had had enough.

This is a watercolor heart that she made a number of years ago - I believe it was from a kit. (I know it came from Quilts By the Bay and it looks like they still have a couple of watercolor heart kits - although neither of them are the same as that one.) She did another one later; I'll put up a picture of that one too.

I'm going to miss her terribly.

Hey, a heart!

Journal quilts - Pamela Neiwirth, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

(OK, so it's a broken one.... it's not Valentine's Day yet anyway.)

Journal quilts by Pamela Neiwirth - from the exhibit "Journal Quilt Project 2006: A Page From My Book" at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.

Orange Gates & Saffron Buttons

Orange Gates & Saffron Buttons, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Piece above made by Frances Holliday Allford; from the exhibit "Small Wonders VIII" at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.

I love this piece - it's got all that embellishment that I like so much and it's in my beloved orange, too. (How did I ever dislike orange?)

Mining Kimberlite

Mining Kimberlite, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Piece above made by Karen G. Fisher; from the exhibit "Small Wonders VIII" at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.

I seem to have an affinity for the very highly embellished pieces, and the Small Wonders exhibit is always loaded with them. Maybe I will put up some more pictures of these in the next few days.

Rainbow Garden

Rainbow Garden, originally uploaded by Mellicious.

Quilt above made by Susan Friedman; from the exhibit "Small Wonders VIII" at the 2006 Houston International Quilt Festival.