Friday, November 20, 2015

Gertrude

I've named this quilt Gertrude. After a painting by Ferdinand Hodler (Swiss!).
Gertrude the quilt.
Gertrud Müller the painting.
I've Americanized the spelling of Gertrud for my own purposes. Is titling or naming quilts hopelessly pretentious? I am inclined to think so, but after enough quilts you've got to have some way to differentiate them, yeah? But also, apt! Look at that dress she's got on, those marvelous pinks! And bits of orange and purple! I kinda think it's a perfect name/reference for that quilt. Anyway.

I started this quilt, when did I start this quilt? It was back in September (?) of 2014. I originally started it with the idea of doing a tutorial (of sorts). As suggested by Melody A. I thought I'd sort of remake this quilt*, taking snapshots along the way and then write it up in a how-to sort of thing. But that was about the time that my camera seemed to stop focusing properly. So I took pics with my phone, but they looked like crap so I could never get myself to really execute the whole thing. But I did finish the quilt eventually, so there's that.

In truth, there isn't that much to convey in terms of how-to. It's sort of a matter of: 1) Gather a bunch of similarly colored fabric scraps together. 2) Sew like-sized pieces together, trimming as you go, until you get a bunch of blocks. 3) Sew all those blocks together and voila! A quilt. Okay, here are some crappy in progress photos for anyone interested:

 







I love the fabric for the back for this quilt. Kaffe Fasset, bought on super sale from Hancock's of Paducah. Is there anything sweeter than the finding the perfect fabric at 40% off? NO. 

*That quilt has been eyeballed 9,392 times according to flickr, "favorited" 104 times. It enjoys a healthy pin-life on Pinterest, too. I have no idea why. I've come to think of it as the hot blonde cheerleader of my quilts.

9 comments:

  1. It is candy-liscious! What is not to love!?!
    Yeah, naming quilts. I do it, but mostly for my own benefit, as something to call this thing I have been so very intimate with for so long & a way to differentiate it from those others (so many others) that I have been intimate with in the past. (sounds a little sleezy)

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    1. You make a good point, B. It is such a long and intimate process to make a quilt, it does become a sort of relationship, doesn't it?

      Also, this made me LOL, just so you know.

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  2. Oh, how you go about this method is very helpful even if it did not turn out as you had hoped picture wise. I really appreciate it and I love the quilt, it does look like the painting, they would certainly look beautiful in the same room and so it deserves a place of distinction with a wonderful name! Thank you .

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  3. Well clicking on the pics makes them bigger and I can see the phases in their glory. I wonder what makes some quilts more magnetic than others too, but this? It is happy, über happy. (Hey, a German word, nein?) Gertrude also displays what I see as your special skill of combining colors and fabrics in the best editorial sort of way. They always feel unedited, and yet there is containment and harmony.

    I named a quilt Gertrude also, after Jekyll, because it was mostly florals. If that isn't pretentious! But don't you think our quilts are like our children ... named, among other things.

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    1. Gertrude Jeckyll! How excellent. I was once going to name a cat Vita Sackville West but was shamed out of it by a friend. This friend takes it as a special duty to keep my pretentious impulses in check.

      And deep thanks for your kind words, Ruth! I love how you describe things!

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    2. Ha! That is funny. But surely you could create a red, green and gold quilt and name it after her ... a la Strang's painting?

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  4. Lovely. Fun to watch you arrange and rearrange blocks.

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