Back in Business

One of the latest and longest lasting projects is my log cabin crazy quilt.  It's inspired by the amazing quilts by the women of Gee's Bend.  I was really taken with their corduroy quilts.  Here are some close ups of my attempt. 

It has pockets!  Everything except for the red and gold came from pants.  That really caused some issues because the pants have been worn and have a lot of bias to them.  I really had to embrace the chaos.

I'm not thrilled with how I hand quilted them together but I just really couldn't wait to finish.  I worked on it in the spring until it was too hot and then put it away.  It's been waiting for me for a long time.  I didn't use any batting so the distance between the sewn bits 'should' be OK.  If it moves around I guess I can always add more.

The itch keeps you warm, you know.

The backing is a wool remnant that I bought at Gayfeather Fabrics.  It's very warm but pretty itchy.  So I decided to edge it with velvet to off set the itch factor, at least around the edges.  I'm hoping that one pair of velvet pants will do the job.

Here are the pants cut up and waiting.  This is the only part of this quilt left to do.  I'll sew them into a large strip and then edge the quilt.  I can sew one side with the machine (I hope) and the other will be hand stitched.

But, not today.  We are having a group of pre-teen girls over to make duct tape crafts with us today.  They won't want me around though I'll need to stay close so I'll be sitting in the kitchen, burning cookies and working with this:

Keep your eye on this space to see what I plan to do with all this vintage bark cloth.