72 blocks :: little lizard + camo pants :: seven & eight

I cut this little outgrown shirt and a small pair of camouflage pants into fabric early March. I stitched them into two more blocks for the 72 blocks quilts I started talking about in October, but never got around to posting them. Then as is typical of me I started something new but actually closely related. Most of the other recent things were born of these blocks. Connections and the leaves. But then also a lot of it has just always been there just tangled up in different ways. Holding tight to my 12" block size on most things I make these days so that if all else fails all blocks fit together - different projects but really all part of the puzzle.

I haven't stitched on any blocks for this since March, but Mother's Day and all the leaf talk and a bit of tidying has me thinking about them again. They have resurfaced.

Wondering if I can really pull off one day putting all of these together. Do they even belong together?

Thinking I just need to emphasize their similarities while honoring their differences. More contrast and more red, definitely. I get excited all over again about the ways this shows the lovely tangle of all the things - everything all together - the things drifting in and out of my path as I go along. It's all in there. I really want to finish 2 big quilts for my boys. I am lining up my portable work for a fast approaching summer break.

only 64 more blocks to go for 2 quilts...

72 blocks :: five & six + thankful

There's a new element to these blocks I am working on. Some bits on the edges that will connect with others along the way. This #six with the little bur oak leaf and the tangle running off the edge is the first one of many to come.

I am thankful to be spending the next five days on happy holiday with my boys and so thankful for dear family and friends we will see along the way. Highlights will surely be: good company, good food and good times. I wish the same for you and yours.

72 blocks :: # four

This is block number four, with a few of the other walnut dipped fabric blocks placed underneath, just for the photo.

Fall colors are fading and we had our first snow on Tuesday. I always want to remember the yellow of the sugar maples. All season long they have something to give.

This one block at a time process is very portable, manageable and satisfying. I am seeing them each as puzzle pieces with their own imagery that will eventually become a part of a whole. But what I would really like is to stop over-thinking the whole at this point in the process and really be with each block as I am making it.

72 blocks started not so long ago... here.

72 blocks :: Three

I think I would have been happier with this one without the addition of the leaf, but hey - I still have 69 blocks to go - I will just try this block again. I am enjoying getting each wisp and glimmer of an idea out of my head and into stitch. I can fill a book full of sketches but it's hard to know what things will really look like in stitch unless you just make it.

72 blocks :: One & Two

These both have the same base fabric - a beige cotton flat sheet. I spent a few summer days (maybe six years ago!?) sun printing large positive and negative circles onto it to make a whole cloth quilt that never happened. I worked on it in the sunny front yard of our house. In the back yard of that same house was a big beautiful cottonwood tree whose leaves would cast the most beautiful flickering shade. My oldest says he still remembers that other house.

I recently dipped a lot of this painted beige fabric into a pot of walnuts and I like the way it softened the blue and green paint.

I stitched the single line leaf first and thought the next one would be better with an additional dark line but I much prefer the first one. Simple.

These blocks are part of "72 blocks" and began here.

72 blocks :: reorganizing ideas

I have a new plan for stitching that is really a reorganization of old and recent ideas. I think I thrive on a few limitations - like size and basic design elements. So from here on out I am working on 12" square blocks - whole cloth or pieced, then backed with flannel. One diagonal half of each block will be shaded with diagonal stitching by hand or machine.

I need 72 blocks to make two bed quilts for my boys and it has become very clear to me recently that if I accomplish anything in my making it would be these two quilts that are most important to me - for them. If I think it will take a year it will likely take 2 or maybe even 3. For many reasons this just seems like a great way to progress - resulting in many different blocks that are all still related and fit together in a variety of ways.

Fabric and thread color and other stitching will be whatever is happening at the moment - a reflection of lots of things for the boys to hang onto. Similar to what has happened with the mostly white panel for me, and in the block by block experience influenced method of the color journal blocks (more updates on this soon!?).

I feel like I was on a little vacation from the stitching and now I am really excited to get back to it. My path seems very clear now, which I guess I needed.