Tie Kawandi-Inspired Quilt

For those of you who know me, you know I lost my husband (Nate) in June of 2019. Last September, I started a quilt made with his silk ties and some of his shirts using a method I have dubbed "kawandi-inspired." It is sort of like appliqué and quilt as you go combined. The size is decided up front; this kawandi measures approximately 60" X 70".

In my kawandi, the ties and shirts serve as a metaphor for my husband's life, each piece representing a different chapter in his story. By bringing them together in this way, I am creating a new narrative that honors his legacy and the impact he had on my life. As I worked on this kawandi, I found comfort in the rhythmic process of stitching. It was a way for me to reflect on Nate's life and our time together while also creating something beautiful and meaningful.

In this first picture, I have circled in yellow the center of the quilt I have yet to finish. Can you find the five full ties I used? They are distributed all around the kawandi.

Here, I have a closeup of what I decided to use in the center to complete the kawandi. I just have it pinned on at this point. (I don't usually pin anything when I'm working on a kawandi, but the silk pieces slip and don't stay in place without the pins.)

The next pictures are closeups of different sections of the tie kawandi.

In this first picture, you can see that I have used some of the labels from the shirts and ties. I have also included pieces from the shirt sleeves (the navy section with the button in the center). I stitched around the button portion to highlight this piece. The light purple piece on the right-hand side includes the pinkish loop that was on the inside of one of the ties. You can also see some buttons on that purple piece.

In this picture, you can see that I used the triangular portion from the bottom of some of the ties. The navy piece with the buttons is from the cuff. I wouldn't recommend using that piece--I had to sew through thick interfacing to attach it--not fun!

You can see the J. Garcia label here. The navy piece includes a tikli (a decorative piece on top of a larger piece of fabric).

Here is another piece of a cuff from one of Nate's shirts along with a shirt label.

This is one of my favorite pieces. It is from the back of a shirt and includes a pleat, label, and size.

I included some shirt pockets, too. You can see how I stitched it differently to call attention to this special piece.

Making this kawandi was a deeply personal and emotional journey for me. Each tie and shirt has a unique story and history, and incorporating them into this piece allowed me to preserve and honor those memories. Ultimately, this kawandi-inspired quilt is a tribute to my husband's life and the love we shared. It is a testament to the power of art to heal and transform.
 

Myriad Interpretations of Language Project

Awhile ago, Sam Hunter put out a call for some blocks for a quilt she wanted to make. I thought it was doable for me at that time, so I decided to make a block. This is the idea she shared with us—“I invite you to stitch a block, following some very simple instructions. The project is to interpret the instructions the way YOU think fit; there is no right or wrong. Once I put the collective collaboration together into one piece of art, my hope is that it will illustrate the concept: that there are a myriad of ways to interpret the same language.” She told us that she planned to assemble the blocks into a quilt and submit it to various quilt and fiber art shows, starting with QuiltCon 2023. 

We were instructed to cut a solid-colored cotton fabric measuring 6 inches square. (She didn’t tell us what color the block needed to be. She let us decide.) We were told to embroider a line on the fabric using a contrasting thread. Then, we were to choose another color of thread and embroider a second line that crosses the first. We were left to interpret the instructions however we wanted.

Sam shared with us that the quilt WAS juried into QuiltCon into the Group Quilts category. We saw the first image of the finished quilt this week. This is the first block (upper left corner of the quilt).

The picture below is a picture of the whole quilt. The instructions said nothing about the color of the fabrics to use, and look at how she stitched them into a glorious color wash. I love how it turned out. (My block is on the bottom row to the left of the butterfly block.)

This is a closeup of the block I made.

What a fun experience! (If you are attending QuiltCon and you see the quilt, let me know what you think.)

It Has Been a Minute!

During the pandemic, I took a kawandi-making class and made this piece. It is called "The Days Run Hot and Cold." That is how I was feeling at the time. I made lots of "mistakes" with this first kawandi. I didn't know how to judge where to add my pieces, so some of the seams were not secured as they needed to be. That "mistake" led me to adding some embroidery onto the surface. I ended up thinking it wasn't a mistake but a learning opportunity. I learned that I liked embroidery on my pieces.

My next piece is called "166 Days" representing the time I didn't get to see my grandchildren. I was feeling pretty black/white/gray! The spots of color (made with sari silk ribbon remnants) represent the times I DID get to "see" them via FaceTime. Some closeups are below. You can see the marking of time--the embroidered hashmarks on the surface. There are 166 hashmarks. All of the stitching is by hand.

I was so excited about making these little pieces (ranging in size from 18" square to 22" square) that I thought I'd start experimenting to see what stripes looked like. I thought this one was a "happy" looking piece. It made me smile, and I needed that.

Then, I thought, "How would it change the piece if I incorporated solids with the stripes." I still liked it, but it didn't change the looks as much as I thought it would.

Then, I decided I wanted to do a piece using ironed silk sari ribbon--all VERY narrow pieces. BIG MISTAKE! I love the look of the piece, but it was a real pain (literally) to do. The silk was SO hard to sew through that I injured my wrist. (It even dulled several needles!) My wrist was so wrecked that I couldn't hand stitch for a month and a half.

As many of you know, my husband died in 2019. I thought I'd do some "memory quilts" using his polyester ties from the 70s and 80s. (He had been a coach and had quite a few "wild" ties.) This is the first. I called it "Close Ties."

 This next one is one of my favorites. It is called "The Man Loved Brown." He did! I really like the unplanned partial spiral I got from the improv piecing.

I have some more Siddi/kawandi/inspired pieces to share with you. I'll save those for another day. I have to see if I can even remember how to publish a new post and figure out how to get it to you. Let me know if you still even read blog posts.

Still Making Masks--Mask Pattern for Men with Big Beards

 I never gave it a thought that men with large heads and huge beards might have trouble finding masks that fit them. Well, that problem DOES exist. My niece recently contacted me to ask if I could make a mask for her husband. She said that when he wears a "regular" mask he looks like he has a duck bill and his friends are giving him a hard time about it.

I began the search for a pattern I might be able to use for him. There are a few out there, but I found this one to be the one I liked the best. If you need to make a mask like this, this is the pattern link--PATTERN; PATTERN INSTRUCTIONS. (You get a message when you click this--something about redirecting to a page. Click on the link, and it will take you to the PDF pattern.) This is the instruction video--VIDEO. (Watching this video made it A LOT easier.)

Here is the pic of Adam with the new mask. (He said he didn't want to mess up his beautiful beard, so he didn't put it inside the "beard pocket.) LOL!

Problem solved!

(I am not making masks for the general public. Do not contact me about making masks. I'm all masked out!)

Exciting News for Me

I got some really exciting news recently--I will have a quilt in Quilt National '21! The email said, "Congratulations! Your quilt, Journey of the Painted Ladies, has been selected by our jury to participate in Quilt National '21. Acceptance into this show is a great honor, as the jurors have been very selective to ensure a compelling and diverse exhibition that highlights excellence in contemporary quilts." I have been driving to St. Charles, MO, (The Foundry) to see the traveling QN exhibit any time it was there. Every time I have seen it, I have been in awe of the talent I see in the work exhibited. When my husband would ask why QN is SO special, I always told him that QN is the "Super Bowl of Art Quilting." He was a "sports guy," so he understood that analogy. Needless to say, I am excited and humbled that my quilt will be in an exhibit with artists I admire SO much.

This is the quilt that was selected. (I hope, if you get a chance, you will come to see it in person.)

This is a closeup.

I have worked on this quilt for several years. I originally was shooting for QN '19. (The exhibit is an every-other-year affair.) That meant that the quilt would have had to be finished before the fall of 2018. As you know, 2018 was NOT a good year for me. (My Dad and step-Mom both died, and Nate was diagnosed with cancer.) Needless to say, the quilt did not get finished in time. 2019 was no better--Nate was still ill and died in June. I went into a creative funk, and the quilt did not get finished in 2019 either. Because of the issues occurring in 2020, I found myself at home, alone, with a lot of time on my hands. I decided to begin work on this quilt once again. FINALLY, it was finished in August or September (I can't remember which.), and I took it to have it photographed. 

I filled out the paperwork, sent off my QN entry, and forgot about it until October 1. I remembered (and had it written in my Quilter's Planner) that confirmation of acceptance or of rejection would be sent by October 9. I was at my son's house (in AR) when I got the confirmation email. Everyone there was happy for me, but I REALLY missed being able to share the moment with Nate. He knew how much I had wanted to have a piece in QN.

Today, I had a custom box made in which to ship the quilt. This is the biggest quilt I've sent off to an exhibit (approximately 62" X 62"), so I didn't have a box I could reuse. The box is really long, so it isn't easy to fit it in my car. I'll be glad when I get it shipped off.

Before that can happen, I have to do some cleanup on the quilt. Since the background is black, every bit of lint and thread shows up on the background. I will be going over it, with a lint brush (and maybe packing tape), to remove all the lint and threads. Then, I have to attach a label to the back. Thankfully, I had already sewn hanging sleeves to the top and bottom of the quilt, so I don't have to do that. I'm hoping to get it mailed off yet this week. Saying goodbye to a piece that has been with me SO long is hard, but I'm sure hoping I get to see it hanging at the Dairy Barn Arts Center--in person and not virtually!

An Exhibit by the Art Cloth Network--The Space Between

On Monday, I went to Krempp Gallery in Jasper, IN, to pick up a piece for a friend of mine from an exhibit that had just closed. While I was there, I got to see the new exhibit of pieces from the Art Cloth Network. The Art Cloth Network is "a diverse group of professional artists from the US and Canada who have come together with a common goal--to promote the medium of cloth as an art form and share it with others. Each of our members brings a personal vision and sensibility to his or her cloth. The group was formed to provide a support forum as well as exhibition opportunities for its members and to promote an appreciation of art cloth in the broader community." The exhibit is called "The Space Between" and will be on display through October 30, 2020.

I took pictures of my favorites and those that I found interesting. There seemed to be a lot of pieces with transparent layers.

This piece reminded me of walking through a stand of birch trees. It was a layered piece--very light and airy. I've included a closeup of the piece along with a full pic.

This was also a layered piece. It was one of the few "political" pieces in the exhibit.

This is the last layered piece I'll show you. The small picture on the right shows how the piece was hung to emphasize the distinct layers of the piece.

I love this piece. I like the sky and the lights in the buildings. It gives me a calming feeling. (I can REALLY use that these days.) It reminds me of the method Kathy Loomis uses to make her "postage stamp" quilts. It is made up of very small squares of fabric sewn in vertical and horizontal rows. If you look at the closeup, you can see how it is sewn together.

There is a lot I like about this piece too. I am really drawn to the colors, and I love a good 3-D piece. The artist has stacked different shapes and put them together into rows. Nice.

I was touched by this piece--probably because it is about dementia. Having lost two special people to Alzheimers, I found the piece quite interesting. 

The exhibit will be up during the month of October. There are lots of nice pieces I haven't shown you, so there is still plenty to see. If you get a chance to attend the show in person, do it. COVID safety protocols are in place. Check out days and times and more about the exhibit here.