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Lenten twelves under construction

The Lenten twelve quilts for the last couple of weeks are in progress. I’ve been amazing myself at how the first four weeks of designs came together, but #5 has been a challenge.  I’ve been reflecting on how growing into a healthy sense of self and purpose takes constant work, and maybe this quilt reflects this back at me. A little messy. A little busy. Slowly emerging towards what it can be.

 

Lenten twelves #6 is also on the design board. The thread colors are going to be fun and I can’t wait to put the quilt sandwich together and get going on it!

Lenten Twelves: My daughter Kelsey and I challenged each other to create 12″ quilts each week in Lent to feast into creativity (and fast from those voices of doubt). My first four quilts are posted as lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, and lenten twelves 3, and lenten twelves 4.You can see Kelsey’s lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, lenten twelves 3, lenten twelves 4, and lenten twelves 5 on her blog at Lovely & Enough or on Instagram with #lententwelves.

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. 
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lenten twelves #4

The challenge of having a vision in your head and trying to make it visible can sometimes be rough! I had this image in my head of a quilt with subtle colors, but then using thread in the composition to add pops of color to the tree bark…the idea of dormancy, but life always at the surface waiting to burst out.

lenten twelves 4

Subtle quilt, check. Thread with pops of color – yikes! I started with the black, great! Add green, ok. Add light teal, boring but almost impossible to seam rip out. Add pink, coral, turquoise, purple, all nice, but not quite where I was headed in my minds eye. Note to self – START with brighter colors.

thread play

plus hand quilting for fun!

I added some hand quilting to add texture and a bit of color. In the end, I’m enjoying lenten twelves 4, but I would fix the composition and thread colors for a more dynamic quilt. The snow is almost gone in Michigan, but it is still cold, and only a few winter aconite and snow drops are peeking out.

lenten twelves 1-4

Above are my first four lenten quilt reflections. My lenten twelves one, lenten twelves 2, and lenten twelves 3 posts show the first three quilts in more detail. And lenten five is on my design board!

My daughter Kelsey and I are quilting 12″ quilts each week in Lent to feast into creativity (and fasting from those voices of doubt). You can see Kelsey’s lenten twelves 1, lenten twelves 2, lenten twelves 3, and lenten twelves 4 on her blog at Lovely & Enough or on Instagram with #lententwelves.

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lenten twelves #3

Emerging as I sew Lenten twelves is the concept of thread playing with dye design. Turns out the seam ripper is my best friend! Sometimes the stitching takes several tries, and I’ve just decided to seam rip out what I don’t like and try again. And, if it doesn’t feel done, simply keep sewing.

This week I enjoyed drawing out seed imagery from the fabric composition. Lent for me is a time of identifying habits that are less than healthy, and fasting from those habits and into life, abundant Spirit-filled life that affirms who I am.

Growing into good habits takes nurturing, nurturing the obvious and the obscured.

Lenten twelves #3
auditioning thread

lenten twelves 1, 3, & 2

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lenten twelves #2

Any time you try to build a habit you find out things about yourself. This week I realized that I take a long time to decide on free motion quilting. For me, this part of the practice needs practice. So, I’m going to leave myself extra space for making decisions about free motion quilting.

Here is lenten twelves #2, part of feasting into creativity weekly as a habit and reflection for Lent. A simple composition of my hand dyed and printed fabrics, with quite a bit of free motion quilting. (truly, I’m still not sure I was done, but just needed to stop!) I was imagining hibernation, bare branches, snow, yet with snippets of life peeking out.

We had freezing rain today. This meant after the rain had finally stopped I slid around trying to find enough light for photos. Yeah Michigan!

ice covered snow and branches!

free motion quilting

journey into creativity

This quilt is part of a challenge for Lent. My daughter and I are feasting into a habit of creativity (without those negative voices). Its great to have a partner keeping me going when I can’t decide how to quilt something. She’s been great and even my mom weighed in via text on their long trek home from Florida. You can find Kelsey’s lenten twelves: 2 at her blog Lovely and Enough. Also, Kelsey has dragged me into instagram for the first time. Find our lenten twelves using #lententwelves.

Looking forward to seeing what might emerge – and simply enjoying the process.

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another finish

 For some reason I’m on a finish-it kick. Here’s the latest, a baby sized quilt that is gender-neutral. The top has been sitting in my studio for months and months after Kelsey and I decided to imitate a similar quilt from Hopewell Workshop with the stripes and diagonal. We made up a quilt in stripes and then cut it on the diagonal and each took half. First dilemma, somehow my half didn’t quite work with the gray I had – it didn’t balance, so I changed up the stripes to add the citron you see. Then, I had a lovely gold Lotta fabric for the back, but it didn’t quite match the front so I couldn’t make myself finish it. Finally my mom was over and bought some of this lovely plus Cotton and Steel fabric for herself and we realized it was a great match. One quick trip to Pink Castle (I love having them in Ann Arbor) and it was ready to go. Still can’t quite decide if I love it, but its done and heading for the washing machine to soften it up. Yeah!