DOROTHY CURTIS

Dorothy Curtis made these wonderful placemats using a combination of Fred and woven cotton fabric. She used the pattern 'Calendar Placemats #139', by Little Country Quilts in Brookfield, WI. (phone: 262-782-2210).

Dorothy and I sew together in a small group named 'Miniatures'. We are proud of the fact that none of us have ever made a 'miniature' anything; sometimes I think we just keep the name to scare off people. (Mary's dining room is full to overflowing on the days we meet.) Some time ago, when the group was formed, we had the intention of learning to make miniature quilts. We gave that idea up almost immediately. What I like about this group, in addition to a very mellow blending of personalities, is the comfort factor. Ages ago we had a discussion about all the places we have lived in our lifetimes, and the cultural differences, and especially the differences in food. The next month, Joanne Gruver brought for lunch a pan full of pork and sauerkraut she recalled from her Pennsylvania days (I had never cooked pork). This evolved into us each taking a month and treating everyone else to comfort food. It also led to "Jake's: Where Your Fantasy Is Our Reality", but that's another story.

Dorothy is the one who keeps us laughing through the month. When I declared that I was not buying another stitch of clothing until I lost some weight, I guess she got tired of seeing me in the same old things, because she handed me a stack of things to wear! Yikes. I have lots to thank her for.

IT'S GOOD TO BE GREEN

The name of this piece is "World Gone Wrong". It is a calendar of sorts. The upper section is a piece of Fred that has been rusted, then free-motion stitched to the dark green back layer. The lower section is a catalog of many of my concerns and fears. It seems that as soon as I start to figure things out (no matter what the subject is) and make myself a better person, my world a better place, I realize that anything I can do is just a quick fix, a patch job. As I was hand -stitching all these little bits and pieces to the fabric, I wondered how Mother Nature feels as she tries to hold together a much larger, much more complicated puzzle than I will ever have to work with.

This wall-hanging was included in "It's Good to be Green", a show that Larkin Van Horn put together for the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook, Oregon. There is an exhibit catalog on cd-rom, that includes more than 200 photographs. It is available at www.larkinart.com/exhibits/latimer/. Thanks for inviting me to participate, Larkin.

LOLA IN LIPSTICK or THE END OF PART I

I spent the summer of 2007 giving the fabric away. Through this project I have met some people doing some amazing things, and not just with fabric, either. I'll introduce them to you as they send me photos of their work. In the mean time, I'm including this photo of our favorite camping area in the Little Belt Mountains for your viewing pleasure. I actually live here! Excuse me while I pinch myself.

Part I of the fabric giveaway was officially declared ended during the Rocky Mountain Sewing Festival, held each fall in Billings, Montana. I was there to learn a little about indigo dyeing, and ended up giving away several boxes of Fred. Fred, if you remember, is shorthand for 'fabric-giveaway fabric'.

One of the people I met there was Cynthia Coe of Dun a Si Farm (http://www.montanasheep.com/). She raises sheep and hand dyes the fleece, and was at the Sewing Festival as a vendor. We chatted while I filled my shopping basket with amazing colored wool roving. She remembered seeing the article in the paper about Fred, and said she would love to have some to make clothes for her sheep. (Actually, a blanket-type wrap that protects the fleece before it is shorn from the sheep. But I didn't know that then; I stood absolutely still for a moment, imagining...all sort of possibilities.)

I went to my car and filled a box with colors I thought would be functional out in a field, not show the dirt too much, then threw in a hot pink, just because I had a lot of it. Cynthia looked through the box, and said, yes, these are good. Then she saw the pink and got excited! "And THIS is for LOLA!!!" she exclaimed.

Now remember, each piece of this fabric has its own color name--and this particular shade of hot pink is called 'lipstick'. That's right; Lola in Lipstick.

Well, this seemed like an auspicious time to declare that Part I is over--the part where I give large quantities to groups and individuals. Eighty of the boxes have been sent out into the world to be turned in to wonderful things.

AND NOW WE ARE ONE...

The Fabric Giveaway turned a year old on Earth Day--April 22, 2008. I celebrated by putting off updating this blog for a little longer. Actually, I had been thinking about what monumental amounts of my time and effort this little project has ended up taking, and how it seems pointless in a lot of ways, and had pretty much decided to just end it all, and get on with my life. The top picture, one we took near our favorite camping place, sums it up: Mother Nature and I were both feeling burned out.

But then the most amazing things started happening. Everyone seemed to come out of their winter caves, nests, where ever you hole up, bit by bit. I started getting emails, phone calls, pictures, and requests for more fabric.

The second picture is of a wall hanging I made over the winter. I had made some vests and kimono jackets as thank you's for people who are helping me with the giveaway. My idea was for them to wear them to the quilt festival in Houston to advertise what we are doing. (Never having been to that show myself, I had no idea how warm it is in Houston during the show! So the vests and kimonos jackets were variously displayed in a booth, worn for 10 minutes one evening, or carried around and shown, or left at home. But everyone did distribute the little pins I also had made to introduce the giveaway to anyone interested.) I had told everyone they could either keep the garment as it was, or give it back to me and I'd turn it into a wallhanging for them. So that is what is pictured. It's official title is "World Gone Wrong II", but more often I call it "Scary Quilt"; my husband calls it part of my Soapbox Series. It was made using part of one kimono jacket as the base; this was sliced apart and stitched to a woven cotton fabric backing. The sun is made from a rusted coffee filter. It sums up how I was feeling over the winter: uncertain and very burned out.