Hawk Studios: Back at It - with Some Finishes

October 20, 2017

Here I am, trying to get motivated again. Maybe motivated isn’t totally the correct word I’m looking for. Perhaps trying to still adjust to a different world now that my pup is gone. I’m still trying to cope…still trying to figure out what life is supposed to be now. I clearly haven’t figured it out yet. Meanwhile, I have figured out that I almost always work better when I have a deadline looming. The local quilt guild, of which I am a member, is having their annual quilt show this weekend. I managed to finish a quilt which I’d made in a class earlier this year and had it sitting on my “to-quilt” list for months. I finally decided it was time to get it completed and call it done. So, with the looming deadline for entering it into the quilt show, I managed to get it quilted and learned how to put on an art binding – that’s what I call it, anyway. You know, that kind of binding that makes it look like there is no binding – the finish you see on art quilts, quite often. So, here is my “Boulder Bear”. The quilt wall hanging got its name during the class which I took – a class at the local quilt store – learning how to do fusible applique in an art quilt. The pattern is a Laura Heine pattern – but could be about anything you want it to be. I even have ideas of my own using the technique. It was really fun and I had a good time doing something different.

I do think that’s important in our quilting – or at least mine. I prefer not to keep doing the same quilt over and over again. I want to challenge myself to try a different pattern, a different quilt motif, even a different colorway. I can’t wait to see the quilts in this year’s quilt show as I’m sure I’ll see something that’ll spark my thoughts and I’ll just have to try it or figure out how to incorporate it into a quilt of my own. The Boulder Bear used heavily saturated fabrics – many Kaffe Fassett fabrics – which I normally wouldn’t really use, and they just were so happy that they just blended themselves together.

Also recently completed is my quilt that started out as one pattern and ended up being another. I so enjoy this quilt and am happy it isn’t relegated to the “forever a UFO” pile.

I find great pleasure in finding a solution to my quilting fiascos – well intended ideas that just kind of go south. If we think about things in different ways, and realize all is not lost because we’ve let a pattern, fabric, or design fall out of our favor, our minds open up and find solutions to what we thought were unsolvable problems. That’s what this quilt is for me – the “Yellow Brick Road became Falling Stars”. Find courage in your quilting and you’ll discover something extraordinary that you’re capable of.

One last item I decided to donate to the quilt guild for its "Small Quilt Auction" - this is a quilt I made to learn how to piece curves with Ruth B. McDowell's piecing method. I thought this would be a good time to donate so someone could enjoy it.