My favorite thing to do in quilting is to make something specifically for someone I care about. Recently I have been fortunate to work on a few of these sort of projects. The idea of adaptive re-use is one shared with a number of artists I know, notably my dear friends David Carrow and Michelle Post. Both are incredibly talented, accomplished makers in their own rights, and their combined forces have resulted in an evolving collaborative process which is an inspiration to all who know them. Tuesday evenings are a time for friends to work on creative projects together at my house- often we have a jigsaw puzzle going, and once completed they go to Post for incorporation in her work. We decided to barter- she’ll do over a(n) Hoosier cabinet I have which needs her wild and wonderful treatment, and I’d make a quilt for her & DC. The process was great fun- I have a lot of fabric with fish patterns, and Post is a Pisces. Carrow is a Sadge, (like me) a fire sign. He served in the Navy and shares a love for sailing with Post, so we chose a number of nautical themes to work into the design. I always encourage participation in fabric selection for custom pieces- Post was clever in hunting down some good stuff from her local Millville fabric store, including the backing and border fabrics. This is the quilt in progress:
The finished piece is shown under “Custom” in my website.