April Block & Spring Break 2010

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Many of my friends and coworkers are rambling around in warmer climates; some are even wandering Parisian streets in search of the perfect macaroon.

But let’s face it,

I’ll wager not a ONE of them have completed their April Block yet.

Stop the Bleed

First, second and Third line of Defense

Have you tried a product called Color Catchers by Johnson and Johnson? I was given material from France. I washed it once with Vinegar, then again with Retayne and it still bled a little. When the quilt was completed with white borders no less, I threw caution to the wind and put it on warm /cold with a sheet of Color Catchers. The quilt came out beautifully, the Color Catcher sheet turned red, but the quilt was fine. Hope that helps someone.

Schooled by the batik police

In a previous post I provided personal information about a certain failure to pre-wash said batik.  Everything now is copacetic, all 60 swatches have been washed, ironed and sorted by color.  

My March block is complete.... 

 

Our Illinois sun isn’t brilliant enough to do the colors justice

I have always loved the colors and patterns in the fabrics from the south of France, but I never really owned any until a dear French friend came to my home this fall with a gift, an incredible bundle of almost 100 remnant pieces of Provencal fabric, and a history lesson.

Merci mille fois Françoise for this beautiful thoughtful gift, I hope I did it justice.

I didn't know that "le tissu Indienne" as it was called started coming into Europe from the Port of Marseille around the 1600’s. It became so popular with the ladies that it threatened the local industries causing the usage of such fabrics to be forbidden in 1696. The black market flourished until the French took it upon themselves to copy its production. This particular fabric came from the Valdrôme Factory

This may have been one of my hardest quilts to design, I ripped and put it back together three times. I love doing the actual work; it’s the designing that’s a killer for me. Luckily I was prodded in the right direction by both an American and French quilter. I was told not to cut the fabric in too small of pieces so that the beautiful patterns themselves would not be lost. Merci! I love it.

What to Do When

What to do when you know you’ll be stuck stitching in the French and Oriental ditch for a long long time, and your batik challenge is up to date?

Iron and plastic bag all your snivel scraps and start a 4th quilt.
 While you’re at it, as long as you are complètement fou (or is it folle?)
make it a Dear Jane.

Every Time I Try to get out They Pull Me Back In

The typical comment whenever someone enters our house for the first time is….

“Oh, I bet your house is FESTIVE during the holidays!”

Translation, “ You really like RED!”

I had the best intentions of steering my color choice in a new direction, 

and finding just the right blue for the border, 

BUT when the fabric shop employee said, 

“you know RED will really make that quilt pop”, 

what could I do, and she had never even set foot in my house.

Now on to my least favorite thing – stretching.

I’ll be on border patrol for awhile

but luckily life just got a whole lot easier. After 50 years I’ve given up using my sister’s toy draw a cartoon from the 1960’s and purchased a real light box. With my trusty Morgan Soapstone and washable graphite markers and a good fabric eraser transferring sunflowers to the provincial quilt was a snap. Now on to the King Oriental…..