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Friday, July 24, 2015

Ode

I decided to join the "Our Neighborhood" challenge, hosted by Angela from The Green Apricot, on a whim.  The gist of the challenge was to make blocks (smaller than 8.5") that represented your neighborhood. Send them to Angela and she'd send you back the same amount of blocks made by others. Turn your blocks into something and post pictures. Easy, right?

Reading about the challenge immediately made me start considering different things, so I joined. I love the challenge of thinking in new directions and doing things I might not do if I were left to my own devices. I sent 2 cardinals, 1 oriole and 2 ears of corn. I received 3 houses, a dog, a cat and a bonus tree. I added a lot more of my own blocks and turned it into an ode to my Iowa neighborhood.


I am not a native Iowan, so there are many things about my new home that surprise and delight me.


 You can't go for a drive in the Iowa countryside without seeing many barns. What I dearly love are the quilts that adorn a lot of the barns. When I was planning out the quilt, I searched for pictures of barn quilts and found one with a Churn Dash that I really liked. The block in the center is an improvisational copy of my favorite. Above the Churn Dash block is an improv interpretation of a traditional block named Tulip Ladyfingers. I included this in honor of Pella, a Dutch town famous for their tulip festival. Beside that is my version of a daylily patch. Daylilies naturalize like crazy here and you see them growing in many ditch banks alongside the road.


 My mother enjoys growing flowers, and one that I remember her planting in front of a wagon wheel (at our house in Idaho) was a clematis. We babied it and it did grow, but kind of gave up around hip height. The clematis in Iowa explode with flowers. People plant them underneath their mailboxes and sometimes you can't even see the box! My favorite ones are purple varieties, but I felt that red worked better on the quilt so I took a little artistic license. Also included in this photo are two of the blocks that were sent to me. The Carolyn Friedlander house on the bottom and the house with the peekaboo window.


 I used log cabins to reference home and pineapples to reference hospitality. Iowa is a friendly place! The little kitty in this picture was one of the blocks I was sent. The corn isn't just a joke, either. I can see a couple of different cornfields from our neighborhood.


 While I was piecing this quilt, I listened to some quilting podcasts. I enjoy hearing thoughts about quilting from a variety of voices. I think it's fascinating to hear why others quilt and the purpose it serves. I had to laugh when the discussion on one podcast turned to expressive, statement (often political) quilts and I looked down at the tractor I was piecing. Despite its whimsical feel, this is an expressive quilt for me and reflects my perception of my surroundings. Even the tractor!


There are also personal details. These are my children. I also included some of my favorite Iowa birds. Some of you *may* have picked up that I have a thing for cardinals. I don't think I will ever be able to ignore a cardinal song no matter how long I live here. I don't see too many orioles, but we discovered a place they seem to congregate on one of our nightly walking routes. The Carolyn Friedlander 'Grove' tree was a bee block.


I couldn't have a neighborhood quilt without including our house! Our house is not actually blue (more artistic license), but it is a 2-story. When we built our house, my husband and I had a hard time deciding what color siding to use. We had it narrowed down to an olive brown and a dusty blue. After a lot of considering, we ended up choosing olive brown. When construction began on the house across the street from us, we mentioned to the contractor (our neighbor) that the neighborhood sure could use a dose of dusty blue....and they did it!!! I love that the house I received from the swap (the one with curtains) matched the color of our house so closely! I also included the trees we've planted, including the two mismatched pines in our front yard.


I do love a good joke, so I put the Grant Wood American Gothic house on the Iowa quilt. I free pieced the cathedral window and used needle turn applique to attach it to the house. I put some snarky caption on a picture of the block when I uploaded it to Instagram with #bringyourownpitchforks. I think people thought it was a church. #ohdear #thejokewasonme

Also pictured is a puppy bee block and another Tulip Ladyfingers.


I almost never buy wide quilt backs, but I was totally going to for this. I cut the timing really, really close. The finished quilt was due on Friday and I hadn't even finished piecing the top when I went to the quilt store on Tuesday. I was tired from too many late night/early morning combinations. To be honest? I was done with piecing. (#theheresy!) Then I saw the Happy Home line from Art Gallery Fabrics and happily pieced a back to include my two favorite prints.


I quilted this using Aurifil #2600 (Dove) and the scallop stitch (112 on a Janome). This is my new favorite texture.




One of my favorite quotes is, "In all of living, have much fun and laughter. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." --Gordon B. Hinckley

Life is good here in Iowa.


Linking up to Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

32 comments:

  1. Brilliant - i love this! the tractors and the puppy in particular but its all spectacular!

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    1. Thank you, Ruth! I wasn't sure about the puppy at first because our neighbors have a dog that drives me out of my mind. A butterfly! (bark, bark, bark) A wind current! (bark, bark, bark) A person?!? (BARK!!! BARK!!! BARK!!!!) Finally I decided that this puppy could stay if he played quietly by the daylilies. :-)

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    1. Thanks so much, Diana! I'm just happy I got it done!!!

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  3. How awesome that part of the quilt are blocks made by others and yet they all come together to create such a cohesive and beautiful quilt! There is a lot of great thought and sentiment behind this one; is it already in use?

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    1. Thanks, Yvonne! I thought about snuggling with it last night, but I was tired enough that I stumbled off to bed and left it hung unceremoniously on the back of a kitchen chair. I am planning on sending this one to the Iowa State Fair in a couple of weeks. Then I will probably hang it up in our house.

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  4. Gooorgeous!!!! I'd know this was one of your quilts just from the picture alone. :D Lovely, lovely quilt! Good luck with it at the State Fair!!!!

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    1. Thank you, Sarah! One of my goals this year was to send a quilt off somewhere. The State Fair seemed like an easy way to try! I think my $5 got me five entries!

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  5. With every quilt you make, I think "That's the best one yet!"
    Well, once again, that's the best one yet!

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    1. Thanks, Gayle! I'm still deciding which idea to turn into a quilt next...maybe one with the Lizzy House Natural History line...? I hope you'll like that one, too!

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  6. Thank you for sharing the inspiration and sentiments behind the blocks in your lovely quilt. I'm glad you are so happy in your adoptive community.

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    1. Thanks Allison! Most times the story DOES make the quilt better.

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  7. Your quilt makes me want to visit Iowa! Wonderful story, wonderful quilt.

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    1. Thank you! Should I start whispering, "If you build it, they will come...?" Ha ha. There are lots of pluses in Iowa......and definitely some negatives--namely the soul-sucking humidity in the summer.

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  8. Oh it's lovely to see so many stories tucked away in such a beautiful quilt! I love the flowers and the tractors!

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    1. Thank you, Care! Those were my favorite things, too--probably because I had to think so hard how to do them! Isn't it funny how that works?

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  9. Such a wonderful quilt. I really enjoyed your thoughts and pictures. Great job.

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    1. Thank you! I felt like the blog post was a dissection, but I really, really wanted to Paul Harvey the quilt and tell you "the rest of the story." :-)

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  10. That is such a fantastic quilt!! And all the memories and the thoughts!!! Incredible!!!

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    1. Thanks Alycia! I had a great time trying to summarize 14 happy years in Iowa into a visual. I'll have to do a sequel someday because I know I didn't get everything out!

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  11. This is a great quilt, what a fun idea!

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    1. Thanks Kelly! If I hadn't gotten the Carolyn Freelander tree, the quilt would have had a Pinkadot Quilts tree! ;-)

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  12. another winner from the talented Pie Lady! I
    also saw it in Flickr and knew in a flash that it was one of yours!
    A fabulous cohesive and sentimental piece!!!
    big luv!!!!

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    1. Thank you! You are absolutely right about it being a sentimental quilt for me.

      I am thinking extra hard so my next quilt will surprise all of you! ;-)

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  13. Wow! This is a wonderful, fun, beautiful quilt. You did an awesome job with the bee blocks to make a quilt that is distinctly yours. I love it!

    Good luck at the state fair!

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    1. Thanks Sharon! This quilt might be too whimsical for the modern quilt world, but I think it will be just right for the Iowa State Fair. I totally should have put in a butter cow! BTW, your Pinterest board is fantastic.

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  14. Your Iowa quilt is fabulous! I love all the personal touches

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    1. Thank you, Barb. There's definitely a lot of back story with this quilt and I LOVED sharing it and making it because of it.

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  15. Hi!. I found your quilt by Googling "pineapple blocks house quilt" and I'm so glad I did. This type of piecing - free, liberated, wonky, deconstructed - it goes by a lot of names - is one of my favorite styles. I love this quilt and how it represents your life/where you live. Nice job!

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    1. Thank you, Laney. I couldn't sew a perfectly consistent 1/4" seam if I tried...and I have. Instead I've chosen to see the beauty in imperfection. It's not just a piecing method, either. Coming to grips with things not always being "just right" is a huge part of the human experience.

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