Itchin' to Stitch

Wow. It's been 15 months since I have posted on this blog. I have been really thinking about how to reconnect with it again. I have had some profound experiences since I was last on here and spent some moments reflecting on what the quilting community is to me and my place in it. I cannot slice up my life and isolate my quilting, at least for this post. So if you would please indulge me and allow me to share some of my last 15 months before I get back to my sewing room.

Shortly after my last post, a super typhoon hit my mother's homeland of the Philippines. There was a need for midwives just like myself who were trained in assisting childbirth without technology in an out of hospital environment. I did two one-month trips, the first being only three weeks after the typhoon and I spent Christmas and New Years away from my children. The second was during the month of March. I spent my time there helping deliver babies, averaging 3 births a day including breeches and twins! After my trips to the Philippines, I came home exhausted and emotionally vulnerable and then and our family (of six) moved into a new home and it took a few months to get settled. 

One Sunday in early June, we received a call for my daughter's best friend. She was told that morning that her older  brother had been shot and killed by the local police department because they mistakenly believed he was armed. I am broken-hearted over what is happening to our youth. His name was Victor Villalpondo and he was 16 years old. 

Only a week later, a dear friend who was like a mother to my husband ended up in the long-term ICU. She just passed away last Tuesday. She was a 67 year old woman who had lived 48 of them as a quadriplegic, and the last 7 months intubated with a tracheotomy tube and on a ventilator. For the last seven months I participated closely in supporting her family and caring for her in the hospital and at home. She passed on last week and I've been sewing ever since. Its keeping me company while I get used to not having Linda's physical comfort so on my mind. We will be burying her this morning. Her name was Linda Pedro.

Making quilts has been such a comfort to get back to. I have been making quilts since my daughter was born in 2001. Then my kids got bigger and so my quilts got bigger! 

I finally got my sewing room up and running again after a family move back to our old home after three years in town. I started sewing again during the kids school break and haven't stopped since. I put together our Pizza Box Challenge blocks, made some drawstring bags this time quilted and Pendelton.

I also set out to finally mend our oldest son's bed quilt. This was the first bed size quilt I made in 2004 when our oldest was 10. He's been missing it since I took it from him last year to repair some worn areas and replace the frayed binding. He finally got to take it home with him when he left after Christmas along with  his new peace crane pillow.

I had to sort through so many unfinished projects and reconstruct some of the cut fabric and pieces to make sense of what I was up to in my old sewing room. I ended up with a table of things to finish and got to work mostly finishing up the quickest stuff first. Pillows and pillowcases, bags, etc. Now I am finally back to piecing, quilting, and designing. I am working on Mateo's No Nukes quilt and I started a foundation paper piecing flow that I am getting a little addicted to. Plus once you get your scraps color-sorted and accessible it's hard not to start a new one right away!

Thanks for letting me tell my story. I am so grateful for life today and happy to be back on this blog.

A Few Finished Quilts

Wednesday again! And I missed a few Wednesdays cause I was too busy sewing and kid-caring.

I finally finished the not-so-beautiful beauty called  Bear Grease! 

These Bear's Claw blocks came together when I was practicing half-square triangles and the fabric store didn't have anymore of the green chambray that I used. So I set them in a black and white chambray and I didn't really love it. So I pressed the top and put it away. Fast forward several months when I am ready to rent the long arm and I needed to quilt a top that I wasn't too attached to. The Bear's Paws were perfect. I could go to town FMQ on the long arm for the first time and I wasn't going to cry if it wasn't "perfect". 

It also happened that many things were happening in the weeks that I was finishing this quilt and my husband, who is the Bear medicine in our family, is always telling me to slap on some bear grease. In other words, stay protected and don't let it get to you. I sure needed bear grease this last month and so the cozy quilt Bear Grease was born.

It was long armed on a Gammill that I rented at a LQS a couple hours from home. My husband wanted leaves and berries on the quilting because that is what bears eat. I was pretty surprised at how good the quilting looks for being my first time. And it is a sweet family quilt that now lives on the couch.

Bear Grease back

I also finished a sweet baby star quilt for close friends that had their baby boy last week.

Vincent's Star Quilt

I finally launched my Etsy store Chona Homegrown . I sold my first quilt last week and already have one commissioned for December. It's nice to feel my quilting is appreciated by others!

I finished up the scrap baby quilt I have been working on. I sample FMQ the whole thing and tried some new things like feathers in the border. Yes it was difficult at first. It was eventually possible. I just hope I keep getting better with practice.

And for the WIP that I am working on today...

I decided to jump in and do a Swoon quilt. I have four of the nine blocks done and I am still deciding if I will piece it as the full 85" square bed quilt or only five blocks on a bed quilt so that I can use four of them for big Swoon couch pillows cause they would look so good in the living room and the couch is in a sad state.

I got a couple more Heather Ross baby hexie quilts in the works for SF Art Market and my Etsy store.

I have been wanting to do a New York Beauty for many years so I finally started piecing the points with scraps. This one is going to be awhile.

And as always, there are a stack of Peace Cranes by the machine ready to be pieced into my first Peace Crane bed quilt. This one is a keeper for Mateo. Gotta be.

That's my quilt story today. Thanks for stopping by my sewing room!

What's Cooking Here?

Just as I was about to post this my husband stopped by the house and I was cleaning the living room and he asked me "what quilt are you basting?" because he knows that I usually only ever clean so that I can use the floor or space for quilting! We laughed a bunch about that just now. I figured you'd relate.

I free-motion quilted for the first time on the long arm and this is the result so far. I completely went into it without any attachment to the outcome and so far and I can't believe how nice it looks! Since its a bear's claw quilt, my husband suggested leaves and berries cause its what they eat. Really cool to learn to quilt on the long arm. I didn't finish which is a bummer to have to take it off the frame but I am going to do some walking foot quilting on the bear's claws themselves, then go back down and reload it upside own and go through the whole thing one more time to be done. How fun is quilting?!

 

 This is the result of the scrap busting I did last week. I ended up with 50 12 1/2 inch slabs and used most for this full size top. I used a cool green chambray for the sashing. (Thanks to a blog inspiration for this design, which I cannot now find- If you have an idea, pls lmk cause I'd love to credit) I think this one might get basted with wool batting and get given to my 20 year old who has chosen to rent out a basement for his room this winter!

 Another little top I made with some scrap slabs that I made last week.

And last but not least... I am having a Jackie Gering week! I took her hexie class a few weeks ago and this is the result of that class. A very cute hexie baby quilt with some Healther Ross prints which always melt me cause they're so cute.

 And a close up of the quilting that I did with the walking foot.

I also started doing Jackie's Craftsy class and ended up with this Love Knot top made with "stitch and flip" triangles. I guess now with these new tops I really need to get basting!

Arts in the Schools!

I just got home from my fourth full day in the last two weeks teaching lower and upper elementary kids! Something I have not done for a very long time. And this time I get to bring my sewing machine! I was invited by the Arts Director to be a teaching artist this year for Moving Arts Española and La Tierra Charter School. I have known many amazing folks to have this honor over the years and now it is my turn! How cool is that?

I can't really post pics of all the kids cause their folks might not like that without permission but here are some pics of some of us and our piles of fabric that we played with. Each child is making a personal flag with cotton fabric and thread to represent who they are. What an amazing experience this has been so far. Thank you La Tierra Charter School!

 I brought some quilts in to show the kids. I showed them diamonds, squares, rectangles, half-square triangles, 60 degree triangles, and hexagons!

Miss Josphine, Seemstress and fellow school mom sewing away

My neighbor and her flag

My guy is on the far right - they're choosing their background colors

I will most definitely update with some flag finishes cause these kids and their flags are beautiful!

What's going on in this sewing room?

Phew. Wednesday. First off I have to show off the finished Morning Star Quilt for the La Tierra Charter School Raffle. This is my second FMQ and for this one I did all over swirls. I am getting the hang of it. My stitches are finally looking regular! It feels SO liberating to FMQ at home.

I rented the long arm at a LQS a few weeks ago for the first time and this is my practice piece.

 I am going back down to use the long arm next week to do the Bear Grease Quilt that has been waiting to be quilted for many many months and it is most certainly time.

Lots of things going on here in my corner of the world. I LOVE both the Material Obsession books and have done several quilts from them. Here is a 60 degree triangle quilt from the second book getting ready for piecing. The top and back are done and ready to be basted. I put my favorite grasshopper print on the back. Yummy cute for snuggling. :)

 I have made almost 40 peace cranes this week and did my first crazy pieced scrap crane for Mateo who of course loves it. Doing all these cranes this month really made my think a lot about old friends, hard work, and relentless prayers. No Nukes.

Here's what the floor looks like. SO much fun to play with scraps of fabric.

87 peace cranes sewn so far. When I'm sewing cranes I am thinking of the Hibakusha (survivors and decedents of survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and I think of my dear friend and mentor, Corbin Harney.  I also think about my dear big hearted husband. <3

A complete scrap bust happened here this week because of some rearranging that happened. Here's what the floor looked like for a while.

I ended up building over 50 12 1/2 slabs that are ready to be pieced with some solid sashing etc. Feels so good to use up all those little precious and not cheap pieces of fabric!

Last but not least is a celebratory photo of the birth room that we built. As a midwife a birth center is something I always wish we had in our community here like they have in Taos. Anyway- we don't have money to build a birth center right now but we all rallied together and renovated a room in the clinic of a local midwifery practice. It turned out so beautiful and I put morning star quilts on the wall and on the bed. I am so excited for mamas to use the space and so proud!

K. Well. That was my 20 minutes on-line today. Nice to see all your beautiful work out there. Please keep the inspiration coming. Happy quilting!