I’ve been playing in my indigo vat for the past few days. The pile you see here includes some of the results. I’ve dipped pieces large and small of old vintage sheets, old hankies and napkins, doilies, placemats, purchased commercial fabric, bits of lace, and a cotton Matelasse bedspread.
Fabrics are cotton, linen, silk, and combinations of those. Some have been dipped once, some several times. I love to watch the magic as the oxidation process occurs.
When first removed from the vat, the cloth appears green. As the dye oxidizes, the blue appears. If a resist is applied to block the dye absorption, interesting patterns can be created.
The only resists I’ve tried are some tying of the fabric and a bit of folding. Already I can see how addictive this process can be. And though I’ve already peered into the rabbit hole of staining with tea and blackberries, and then explored the browns, this lover of all things BLUE is tumbling headfirst into the indigo dye.
This third photo shows that I’ve started some projects using this most delightful fabric. I’m loving the work I’ve recently been doing with vintage linen; it’s so deliciously soft to stitch by hand. The photo shows a vintage baby dress appliquéd on linen now ready to embroider and quilt and some squares prepared for piecing. Both pieces use techniques I’ve learned from that amazing artist, Jude Hill. Her invisible basting stitch and paperless piecing technique have changed my stitching forever!
I haven’t limited myself to playing with yardage. If I took a selfie right now, you would see a cotton knit shirt and a silk scarf which have both spent some time in the indigo vat.
I can hear joyous voices raised in song when I see an old church. A well-proportioned steeple reaching to the heavens is pleasing. Stained glass windows are nice. But even without those finer details, old churches thrill my soul. I know there are stories within those walls. Stories of peace and solace received there, of friendship and loving support in hard times, of comfort in grief. There are stories of gossip and scandal and intrigue, too.
We often stop the car on our backroad jaunts to photograph an old church. But on a recent Saturday, we went on an expedition with a local camera club to photograph a select group of historic churches in a rural county nearby. My husband has recently joined this group; thus the title of my latest quilt, Old Churches, New Friends.
Jim’s photos are of the highest resolution, with crisp details. I often print his photos on silk fabric which conveys this sharpness. But I wanted these photos to reflect the historic quality of the adventure, so I printed them on pieces of a vintage linen tablecloth, most of them in black and white. I loved the result – the coarseness of the fabric conveyed a grainy effect on the photos. Perfect.
I continued the primitive look by hand stitching the photos to another old piece of linen. The rough weave of this background fabric did not allow me to write on it successfully, so I printed the names of the churches on commercially prepared cotton fabric, and stitched memorable words using free motion stitching on the sewing machine.
Providence Baptist in Shady Dale was founded in 1810 and included some Revolutionary War soldiers as some of the first members. As I walked through the cemetery, I found a very old section and one grave with a magnificent cedar tree growing at its head. My thought was, “when this soldier died, he became a tree.” So, that photo grew into a tree on my quilt.
Hopewell Baptist Church was covered with a tarp as it is awaiting a new roof. But the architecture of it was amazing; not because of towers and turrets, but because of its simple beauty. The windows and shutters spoke volumes to me and to the other Sandy along on the trip. She and I photographed them from every angle and I drew sketches of them as we stood there sharing our love of their structure. Then we noticed the shape of the vent in the front of the church. Not the square, rectangle, or rhombus that is often the case, but a kite. So, a geometry discussion was included in the day as well.
The block on the outside of the quilt is an appliquéd version of one of the windows of that church. I made another one of these replicas for that week’s block in my journal quilt for 2106, Fifty-Two Wednesdays. That image seems to symbolize the day to me.
Since beginning work on Fifty-Two Tuesdays, I’ve wanted to make other journal quilts, some which chronicled a single trip, or a single day. This example will just say to others, “nice. They photographed some old churches.” But to me and to Jim, when we see it, we will remember the friends, the back roads, Queen Anne’s Lace blooming all along the roadsides, and fried chicken.
Details of quilt: Finished measurements are 17” x 38”. Vintage linen, commercial quilting cotton fabrics. Label is made from a vintage woman’s handkerchief. Hand stitching, machine stitching, free-motion quilting.
Another note: There is a website with beautiful photos and stories related to this adventure, Historic Rural Churches of Georgia. I’ve found details about some of the ones we’ve visited, and added to our list of “want to visit”, too.
I was just looking at some of my favorite quilts on Pinterest and once again noting how appealing some of the simplest designs are. A little charm pack sewn together with wide sashing and quilted. Divine.
But, I’m afraid I don’t often make those quilts. I love designing and tend to add my “what if” philosophy to the process – adding and complicating things. I like doing that.
Indigo Pearadise is one of those quick, relatively unplanned projects that resulted in a pleasing outcome. Minimal preparation, some very pleasant zen time with my needle in hand, some dancing with my sewing machine, and I have a little wall quilt.
Last spring, I had been stitching pears in preparation for an upcoming class I was planning to teach at my favorite local quilt shop. I had drawn this pear as a design to use for the introductory class. With gentle curves and a few pieces, I could focus on the beginning steps in needleturn appliqué, making a template, marking the background, learning the stitch.
In doing my homework for the class, I made numerous samples varying fabrics and backgrounds. Pears are like chocolate (pears are good with chocolate, too); they can become addictive.
We were anticipating an upcoming trip, and is usually the case, I spend more time thinking about the sewing project I’m taking than the clothes I will wear. I wanted to continue my pear exploration with minimal preparation. I had a charm pack from Minick and Simpson’s Indigo Crossing fabric line from Moda and knew I would love whatever project I made. Anything blue is good. Anything these two sisters design is good.
So I reduced the size of the original pear pattern I had made for the class (from 6″ x 9″ to about 3″ x 5″), made a plastic template, and marked a linen background with guidelines for even placement of the pears.
I stitched all the pears in the evenings in our B & B in Blue Ridge and later at Amicalola State Park in Ga. No, the fact that one of our destinations was Blue Ridge did not enter into my fabric choices. It’s serendipity.
Now when I see this project, I see blue pears. But I also see rainy days in Blue Ridge, delightful walks about the town, nice meals with my husband, and fun with family at Amicalola.
The quilting is done with 60 weight silk thread using a continuous curve design. I mark a grid, in this case 1/2”, with a removable marker to guide the free motion quilting. Dream Wool batting. This project finished at 16″ x 21″.
I’m easily distracted. I love to start projects, but sometimes other obligations (or newer projects) call, and this gets put aside for that. Sometimes the “this” languishes.
Buttonwood Farm is a wool appliqué project (adapted from Maggie Bonanomi’s book by the same name) which I was anxious to have hanging in my dining room. To help ensure it was finished in a timely manner, I entered it into our local quilt show.
I finished the applique (some cotton and some felted wool on linen) weeks ago, knowing it “wouldn’t take much time” to quilt a project 43” square. As the show approached, I checked other things off the to-do list: help with layout of the show floor, format and type booklet for the show, add sleeves to several other projects entered in the show. Buttonwood Farm’s quilting kept getting postponed.
On Saturday, March 12, before the show was to be hung on Thursday, March 17, I pinbasted the quilt top to the batting and backing. A few hours home alone that day meant I got the interior section of the quilt outlined and some filler designs done immediately. In the next few days, sitting down to quilt gave me focus for a few hours, distracting me from the anxiety of the upcoming show. Stitching soothes me.
On Wednesday, March 16, I added a binding, sleeve, and label. Whew! But after a ribbon was attached, I saw stray threads hanging. One of our vendors loaned me some scissors to do a little pruning.
Oh, and I was “busted” during the awards ceremony. The project was so fresh that I had forgotten its name and thought they meant the ribbon was going to a friend’s project with a similar title. But now the quilt is finished and can hang in my dining room.
Details of quilt: Cotton and felted wool appliqué on linen. Quilted with Aurafil 50 wt cotton thread. Dream wool batting. The name “Buttonwood Farm” is Maggie’s. I stuck with it when I investigated and found that buttonwood and sycamore were both common names for Platens occidentals. My hometown of Sycamore was founded in 1891, so I changed the date on my rendition.
Saturday night finds me stitching through layers of delight:
I’ve been playing in my indigo vat for the past few days. The pile you see here includes some of the results. I’ve dipped pieces large and small of old vintage sheets, old hankies and napkins, doilies, placemats, purchased commercial fabric, bits of lace, and a cotton Matelasse bedspread.
When first removed from the vat, the cloth appears green. As the dye oxidizes, the blue appears. If a resist is applied to block the dye absorption, interesting patterns can be created.
This third photo shows that I’ve started some projects using this most delightful fabric. I’m loving the work I’ve recently been doing with vintage linen; it’s so deliciously soft to stitch by hand. The photo shows a vintage baby dress appliquéd on linen now ready to embroider and quilt and some squares prepared for piecing. Both pieces use techniques I’ve learned from that amazing artist, 
Buttonwood Farm is a wool appliqué project (adapted from Maggie Bonanomi’s book by the same name) which I was anxious to have hanging in my dining room. To help ensure it was finished in a timely manner, I entered it into our local quilt show.