paperandglue.net

I’ve been MIA on this blog for a few weeks. This absence was due to some very difficult news I received at the beginning of the month — I hate to be oblique on this, but I’m not quite ready to go into details about it in this space. Perhaps at some point I will.

Anyhow, it’s been a rough month. When times get tough, I turn to endeavours like you see pictured above, embroidering aimlessly with bright colours. Random doodles on fabric. Very comforting in the execution.

At the start of the month I spent some time at my parents’ home outside the city (this sojourn directly related to the obscurely aforementioned difficult news) and when I returned to my apartment I brought with me an object from there. It turns out that times of emotional and physical distress cause some sort of reversion to childhood impulses, like attachment to soft objects of comfort.

Check out this pillow. You may be thinking, “Hell, that is an ugly pillow.” And you would be right. But let me explain. You see how this pillow kind of looks like a chenille bedspread? Well, that’s because this technique is what one calls “handmade chenille.” Meaning, all those lines were machine sewn by my mother and then all the cuts in between them were done by her as well! The technique is basically to layer several pieces of fabric, sew the lines on very carefully, and then carefully snip the fabric through all but the bottom layer between the seams. Sounds tedious? According to Mom, it is! And she says she’ll never do it again. Of course, the technique itself is not the issue here, but the rather horrid dusty rose and moss green chintz fabric you see on the top layer, the effect of which, I will say, is significantly muted by the chenille technique. It actually kind of gives it a cool watercolour effect. Which makes me kind of want to try this technique with fabric that I actually like!

Anyhow, this pillow was just chilling out on the couch in my mom’s basement, and I grew fond of it in its texturey, under-stuffed, old-lady glory. So I took it home with me to cuddle when I feel sad. The end.

In other quilting news, last month I finished the batik quilt top I started at the Pinawa quilting retreat.

I used the pattern Splashes of Color (free on allpeoplequilt.com), though mine isn’t quite as… harmonious as the one by the designer due to a) my use of a bargain bin’s-worth of discordant fabrics from pale blue to dark green to bright orange and b) my flipping of the squares’ orientation.

This is my first quilt bigger than a baby quilt and it was onerous at times, due largely to a cutting error that required me to resquare all the blocks (though of course the serious quilter will tell you you should always square up your blocks even if you’re super accurate).

At any rate, I plan to quilt the thing according to the pattern. I just need to find a fabric for binding and backing.

I’m still not sure to what extent I want to keep producing one-of-a-kind patchwork & embroidery pillows for selling purposes, but they remain a project I turn to for personal use again and again. This pillow I recently made and gave as a wedding gift; I really enjoy that these pillows allow me to let my imagination go with regard to colour and shapes, in addition to providing a venue to practice certain quilting techniques.