Finishing Details for the H Quilt

Thank you all so much for your sweet and kind comments about that lettering....so glad you like it! I like it, too.
And the pies were good!!!

The last major detail before I finish this quilt is to outline the double inner border of ribbon trim with some chain stitching. This was always in the plan, but had to go last, as I wasn't sure which colors I would want to use.

The red trim has a variageted Valdani #8 cotton perle...it was the inner, brown trim that was hard to choose for. This nice collection of hand-dyed cotton perle threads, also size #8, is from a lovely family-owned company called Weeks Dye Works. I got these from them in Houston at Quilt Market.

I thought two colors would be a bit more interesting than one here.
One corner down, three to go....finishing this up is making me kind of sad!

But both boys are home to take my mind off it!
What a study in contrasts brothers always are...Max the computer whiz (who has just been offered a real job with Amazon upon graduation this spring), and Chad the jock. What a pair to draw to....
They're out cruising electronics stores at the moment in celebration of Black Friday.

No one ever tells us when we are new moms how strange the transition period is between when they are boys and when they are men....it is a poignant time for me!

Waste Canvas Lettering Complete

Blogging on Thanksgiving morning! I am about to step into 4 hours of joyful work in the kitchen, but my goal was to get the letters finished on the H quilt and pictures up for you to see before I start my cooking marathon.
I am really happy with how these came out. They enhance the vintage quality of this quilt for sure, and properly honor my Uncle Hal.

You can see the quilt needs some serious blocking, but I am sure it will straighten up.

It is highly unlikely that anyone in his entire life called H "Harold"!

The youngest of the 4 Bryant brothers, H was named for his father.

From the time he was 18, H was a Marine first and last. He was with Charlie Company, 1st Battalian/21st Marines/3rd Marine Division, a humble American hero of the battle of Iwo Jima.

Here is an overall view...the writing totally changes the affect of this quilt, does it not?

O.K., it is on to the pies.......Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Why We Quilt

This is the bottom line, to me, of why we all do what we do with our fabric....seeing a loved one so cozy under our quilts! My niece Naomi was here for the week-end, bringing huge rays of sunshine with her. She still needed to snuggle under a quilt, though...winter's coming closer!
Love you, Bomie!

Removing the Waste Canvas

After my lettering was stitched through the waste canvas and directly onto my quilt (includingover seams and some previous stitching), I clip the canvas close to my lettering and then pull out the threads of the mesh with tweazers.

There is something innately satisfying about this!

Adding Lettering to the "H" Quilt

I have been anticipating this step toward finishing up the "H" quilt with great pleasure! I'm at the point where I get to cross-stitch the inscription onto this memorial quilt to my Uncle Hal.
I am using 14 count waste canvas with the letters drawn onto it with gel pen...this after spending a day doing a paper mock-up (I made b&w copies of the canvas to use as my graph paper). I had to make sure all the words would fit in their alloted spaces.

I chose my font from this wonderful book that Sharon Boggin pointed us to awhile back on her blog. (Sorry I can't find the exact post, but if you Google Linn Skinner I know you can track down this book.) My font's design is attributed to a German named Schonsperger, possibly from the early 1500's.

Here is the paper mock-up of the first corner's phrase. If you click on the picture you should be able to see it better. It says, "IN MEMORY".

Glad I did the mock-up first, so that I could adjust for little spacing issues before permanently marking the waste canvas with my gel pen. Here is the canvas, basted into place and ready for stitching.

I decided to use yellow thread so it would be very easy to read the lettering against the black background. (Remember, the canvas will be gone.) The yellow stitching also picks up some of the yellow/orange in the main section of quilt quite well.

Rather than using a double strand of silk floss, I am going with a single cotton perle, very fine, sold under the name "Flower Thread", by DMC. I'm using a nice fine milliner's needle, too, as it has no bulge at the "eye" end, thus enabling me to pull the needle through those itty bitty squares in the mesh quite easily.
So the next week or so will have me spelling out my love to my Uncle Hal. This is really bringing him close...it is wonderful!

The Art of Turkish Needlelace: OYA!

A few commentators on my last post asked about oya...as is in, what is it? (And why would I spend the entire proceeds of the sale of a nice sewing machine on a stash of it?)

For a great introduction, read Barbara Blankenship's article about oya in CQMagOnline here. There is contact information at the end of the article for purchasing oya from our lovely friend Rengin in Istanbul, too.

Here are some pictures of this wonderful and ancient needleart from the villages of Turkey. I love using it, particularly on my floral crazy quilts, because it adds such wonderful dimension and interest.

This is a picture Rengin sent me of some of her stock. Each flower is about an 1" or so in diameter, handmade using simply a needle and thread (rayon, I believe).

Another picture from Rengin. Oya are traditionally worn as borders on scarves. These are for sale.

This is one of several necklace/earring sets that Rengin has for sale...she has found a wonderful artist who makes these. The necklace flower looks to be about 3" wide.

This is all that remains of my personal oya stash. You will notice there is some lovely needlelace trim in the upper left of this picture. Often seed beads are incorporated into the trim as it is made.
Rengin says that this is a dying art, so you can see why I want to stock up!
I also love the idea of monetarily supporting the women in the villages still creating the oya.

If you are interested in purchasing some oya, I encourage you to link to Barbara's article above, read more about oya, and contact Rengin.