Quilts in the Time of Covid

I’m way behind in blogging about my recent Quilts of Quarantine finishes – having time to write blog posts is not the issue – being in the right mind set is. But at least there is light at the end of the tunnel – a new year is here, and new beginnings are less than two weeks away. And my turn to get the Covid vaccine will come. Really all I want from this blog is to show pictures and tell stories about quilts – I use quilting and making things with my hands to divert my mind and clear my head, but also as a way to add a little beauty and peace into the world – and after the insanity in our capital this past week, I most definitely need to clear my head and send some beauty out there!

This first quilt is called Gravity, from a pattern by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts. Depending on your definition of scrap quilt, my version of Gravity could fall in that category – I did buy the backing fabric and some of the gray from my local quilt shop, but the rest is all from my stash. Yes, I do have quite an extensive hoard of fabric in my closet… but this put a dent in the neutral fabric cache!

I sometimes look at the thesaurus on my Mac when I’m writing, and I have to admit I looked up synonyms for “fun” intending to say I had “fun” digging through my fabric – and the best substitute was “jollification”! Truly just saying that word in my head brings me a smile – when I was a kid a favorite phrase with my crowd was such and such a thing “got my jollies off” so I guess jollification is a grown up version of that. I will now be on the lookout for an occasion to use jollification!

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Back to the matter at hand… (get it? Gravity…matter… ok surely that was a little bit funny!) this quilt is queen sized, and I’m very happy to have it on our bed. For the last decade we’ve had a muted civil war reproduction quilt that was depressing and dreary and awful. Well, it wasn’t awful, I made it myself, but the colors were not my favorite, and my tastes have changed over the years – so in terms of jollification, replacing drab with all this color is very much getting my jollies off.

For the quilting, I did some simple all over paisleys. Seemed like there was plenty going on with the colors and the piecing that the quilting didn’t need to add to the riot. And as with all scrap quilts, I notice different snipets of fabric from previous projects, and that causes high level jollification. I would certainly recommend Julie’s pattern – don’t be put off by the angles. She gives clear directions and avoids Y seams.

This one is called Scrappy Quarter Cabin from my first quilting online webinar. The designer is Christina Cameli of A Few Scraps (what a great website name, I wish I had thought of it first). I have followed her blog for years, so it was fun to get to work with her “in person”. And yep, you guessed it, another scrap quilt from only my stash. Well, except for the white. I bought that.

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This is an improv block, which I have grown more comfortable doing – I’m all about thwarting the quilt police, but I do still tend to measure and plan to some degree. The white squares are all the same size and the overall block size is the same, but the improv part comes in with all those blue and yellow strings – they are different lengths and widths. This is a lap or wall hanging size piece and it’s in my studio bringing jollification to all who enter! Especially me, since I love these colors together – very striking – and if all that color doesn’t get your jollies off, I don’t know what will. More simple quilting again – figure eights. Same reason – didn’t want to add to the confusion.

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And finally, two more wall hangings I finished last fall. The first from a pattern by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. My kids once gave me a subscription a monthly fabric box called Quilty Box and this was one of the kits in the box. I love the pattern, and the unique way Edyta makes it all come together – but I would love the quilt more in a different colorway. One without off-white.

Second wall hanging is a fall or Halloween one, that I just forgot about sharing. I like it because it can work in both September and October – doesn’t have to just be a Halloween quilt. I got this kit from a quilt shop in Deer Lodge, MT, called Quilter’s Corner, back when we could travel, on a drive to Missoula to see our son. I used to sort of turn my nose up regarding kits, not sure why, but I’m over that attitude. Main down side to kits is that I can’t use my stash and thereby get some much need jollification… but I digress.

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I did say “finally” up there, but now I really mean finally – a new logo for Blue Beagle Quilts. It’s up there at the top of the blog (actually, I hope it is, once in a while I mess things up when I change something on the site). I like it because it’s so vivid and bright. Very jollifying!

A friend of mine, who is a graphics whiz, told me about Lunapic.com and I’ll admit to spending an excessive amount of time playing around. I took the first photo, cropped it, uploaded to the site, and tired out different looks until I ended up with the second photo.

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When I started writing this post, I was in a cloudy mood – but after saying some form of “jollification” quite a number of times (maybe too many, sorry), I’m feeling a little better. So thanks for putting up with that, and thanks for reading!

Stay safe and well. Happy Stitching!