Blame it on the QLF
I make quilts mainly because I'm interested in patterns, appreciate the handmade, and have a soft spot for traditional crafts. Also, I find it very satisfying to turn "waste" into something useful and/or beautiful. It would have been preferable if someone else had made quilts for me, but nobody I knew would or could. So I started to make them myself some time in the nineties, but it wasn't until I was in an all-male quilting group, the "Quilters Liberation Front," that I finally learned how to do it right. The quilts on this page are what I've produced since then.
In case you havn't noticed, I do not buy fabric for my quilts. They are made entirely of reusued materials, with the sole exception of thread. (I do buy thread; I'm not crazy.) It seems somehow antithetical to the spirit of quilt making to cut new fabric into pieces, and it's much more satisfying to incorporate an old shirt with its memories or to save something useful from the landfill.
Design-wise, I am quite dedicated to straight lines and right angles. Since I sew with a machine, unusual shapes are more complicated. After a particularly troublesome project early on, I cast aside (hopefully) forever any curves or angles other than 90 degrees.
Other Future Projects
something made from my old Harris Tweed blazers
a traditional "Crazy" quilt
monochromatic strip-work in denim from the street
|