Miles'o'binding

I made all this single fold binding from one shirt!  It's more than enough for the queen sized memory quilt... maybe 40ft?  As soon as I saw this shirt in the bag, I knew it would make awesome binding.  It's cotton plaid pieced in all different directions in a really unique design from the original shirt of Aaron's.

every which way plaid scrap binding

I cut the strips 2.25" inches wide instead of my usual 2" because the fabrics in the quilt top are all so much thicker than quilting cotton.  We've already decided this quilt will be hand quilted.  I followed the binding tutorial HERE to piece it all end to end on the diagonal.  It's awesome and all ready to go! : )

I'm linking to WIP Wednesday at TN&TN and Lee's at Freshly Pieced.

Memory Quilt in Progress

I'm so happy I finally got my late cousin's clothing all interfaced and cut into 140+ eight inch squares.  They are trimmed perfectly.  What a lot of work that was.  Yesterday, I printed Aaron's photos onto special fabric.  I bought a pack of 6 pre-treated inkjet fabric sheets made by The Electric Quilt Company for this project.  I followed the instructions, and gosh-darn-it if it didn't work out just simply amazing!!  First, you print it.  Let it dry for a bit.  Then soak it in distilled water.  EASY.

Aaron's photo on fabric, soaking ten minutes.

None of the ink ran with the exception of the blackest parts.  All you do is swish it around in the water a bit more though.  SIMPLE.  Then you let them dry.  (Wasn't he a cutie!?)

Wrinkle lines appeared when it dried flat.  ???

The color is PERFECT, but once it dried there were curious lines or creases through the fabric.  That particular one above bothered me of course because it goes right through his face.  I was going to reprint, but I thought I would try pressing it first.  Good results!!

The crease is gone, the ink is fine.

Whew!  I'm happy about that.  I got all the photos printed out.  They are all dry and pressed and JUST like the original photos.  Some are colored differently just because they are from photos that are decades old.  They have an orangy look to them.

Fabric all dry and pressed.  That Superman is just the best!  : )

I am positive that his mother Steffi will be thrilled with the results of this!  I cannot get over how clear and perfect these fabric prints are!  I'm so impressed.

Made by his mother - a photo on fabric that will be part of the quilt.

I never met Aaron.  I learned about him the day I met some relatives for the first time at a family funeral.  It's been such a good experience to spend time with his photos and his clothing.  I feel like I get a chance to spend time with him in some ways.  Thank you Steffi.  ; )

Summer Ain't for Sissies

It's HOT.  Like - HOT to the point that the kids come back in at 9 am after five minutes outside because it is unbearable.  It's nearly 40C with the humidex for a week or more, and not a cloud in the sky.  If you can't find shade, you will fry.  I went for a drive to get slurpees, and there was no one on the sidewalks.  The parks and front yards were empty.  Only the super-tough would run or bike in this weather.  So... I'm enjoying the afternoon full-on shade trees and the sprinkler in the back yard... and the air conditioner of course.  But enough about the weather.  I have managed to get some work done over the weekend.  Here, I've added cream & purple seed stitches with a hand dyed silk.  I love the texture it gives!

stitch, stitch, stitch... lots of seed stitches done by hand

I like the variety of cotton, silk, and rayon. I can't tell you how liberating it is to have any color I need at my fingertips.   (Again... thanks to Margot & Jane!).

detail of "On Floral Road"

I've also been putting in hours and hours on my cousin's memory quilt.  It's made completely out of shirts and pants.  Nearly everything had to be interfaced with an iron (again - yay for air conditioning!).  And then nearly 150 blocks for this big queen sized quilt are being trimmed perfectly to size before we decide on a layout & I can piece it.

Arron's clothing on the way to becoming a quilt for his mother.

It's a much bigger and more time consuming project than I had anticipated.  I am used to pre-cut squares and speed-piecing.  This is different.  It took me three hours to trim half the squares.  I can't image 'the olden days' when this was done with a pair of scissors.  Then again... there didn't seem to be many perfectly intersecting seams back then.  Half of the squares for this memory quilt are black or charcoal.  I think this would look fabulous with big-stitch hand quilting... maybe that royal blue?  That will really pull it all together I think.

One more thing... If you would like to stop by The Needle & Thread Network, another fine Canadian Blogger has been featured.  Why not go have a read and leave her a hello!? : )  I'm linking to WIP wednesday there...

Have a great day!

Commissions Progressing

I'm diligently working away on two commissions in anticipation of creating some exciting new threadpaintings!!  Enough diversions.  It's time to get these completed.  Our weekend of solid rain proved good for something!  So... here is Denmark, the commission from Australia.  I've been a bit stumped by the picnic table in the photo.  Finally I figured that I would trace it onto fusible and then press it to fabric & cut it out.

I used my new Mighty Bright light under my extension table for a quick makeshift light box.

Tracing was hard!  I don't trace things.  I'm surprised how tough that was.  I did it though.

Actually, I did it twice.  The first time I chose a fabric that I later realized was way too dark.  haha  Dark as in pure black. So I redid it in the darkest brown I have.  Now I'm working on stitching some life into it and embellishing some of the foreground.  Then Megan - I'll be done!!

I'm also excited to announce that I've fused interfacing onto the backs of enough roughly cut blocks (from my late cousin's clothing) for at least half of the quilt top.  My bad.  I've had this fabric from his mother for about a year without being able to muster up the courage to start this project.  I was totally overcome with fear of messing this up.  So far, so good!

Tonight it our quilt guild's year and potluck.  I can't wait.  It will be a big gathering with fund, games, and lots of exciting announcements for the next biennial show!  ; )  I tried to convince a member to tell me what the theme will be, but she laughed and would not budge.  hehe  Good for her!

See you tomorrow (or tonight)!

Heartbreaker

This weekend I was visited by a relative I had only met once before, at a recent family funeral.  Her name is Steffi.  The odd thing is that she lives in Calgary - where I was for ten years.  I had no idea I had relatives in Calgary.  I moved back to Saskatoon 4 years ago, only to find I have relatives five houses up the street from us.  That relative is her sister.  So Steffi and I met up at the funeral of their father (my great uncle Fritz, an artist from Germany) for the first time.  It was strange going to the funeral that day, knowing that I would meet many 'strangers' that I could call family.  When I saw Steffi, it was weird!  I don't know if it was her eyes, or the shape of her face... but something about her was so familiar to what I see in the mirror every day.  She said the same thing.  How amazing for family members to immigrate to a new country, spread out, and generations later find that we live on the same street!? 

a mother's memorial in the sand (from their website)

Steffi came to my city again this weekend with a bag of clothing that she wants made into a memory quilt.  It is the clothing of her son who was beaten to death eight years ago.  His name is Aaron, and he is my cousin.  I never met him - I didn't even know I had all these cousins!  I never knew the story until recently.  He intervened in a fight outside of a night club, was kicked nearly to death, and died days later from hi injuries.  The people who murdered him were never brought to justice.  No witnesses will talk.  Isn't that horribly tragic!?  Steffi now organizes "Walk for Justice" with many other mother's who have lost their children to violent murders that remain 'unsolved'.  (link below)

Aaron, Superman.  Photo from his memorial site.

Here am I now, with a bag of his clothing.  His mother grieves so deeply still.  This will be a very special keepsake for her - something to hold, something to hug.  She's knows I won't get to this project for a while... but it's one I am honored to do.  It's a heartbreaker.  I'll be putting his baby pictures on it, poems from his mother, and it will be made entirely from his clothing. She said I could share all this in my blog, so this post is the beginning.

You can read about his story here:  Walk For Justice

And for such a heavy topic, I don't even know how to end this post.  So for now I'll just say, 'to be continued'...  I know this quilt is something she really wants and needs, so I truly look forward to the day I can hand the completed project back to her.  You can bet it will bring out lots of tears.

~Monika