Quilt Think I--A Quilt Inspired by Dr. Chroma

Yes, I've been missing from the blog for a long time, but life has rushed on.
Most days I've come home from work too fatigued to do much of anything; although since I convinced the doctor I was on waaaay too much blood pressure medicine, I'm doing better.
So, I've been imagining and dreaming lots of quilts that haven't gotten made.
However, I imagine most people would say it's getting the inspiration that's essential,
So, here is inspiration number one.

A year or so ago I purchased these musical fabrics, planning to make a quilt for my dear friend Gwen Carlton.

Gwen spent her long career playing double reed instruments and teaching band to young people in Illinois in Peoria Public Schools.  Well, there were those years in the 1970's when the district decided to seriously curtail art and music classes except for minimal band and forced all those teachers into general education classrooms.  Because her mother had been teaching kindergarten, the powers that were decided Gwen should teach kindergarten too.  Although she has always been enchanting to young children, it was not a good fit; she did her best, continued playing in community orchestras and ensembles, and after several years was reassigned to be a band teacher--although she had to cover five or more schools.  Last winter Gwen suffered a stroke, went into surgery that was declared a success, suffered another far more devastating stroke in the hours after surgery, and passed away a few weeks later never having regained consciousness.

Therefore, this fabric has been lingering for even more months.

In October, Busy Bee, the shop a couple of miles north of I-40 in Edgewood, held some special days for quilters.  I carried the musical fabrics to the store, and came away with some new companions for them.


These are Michael Miller Fairy Frost fabrics in not quite pure colors.  They spoke to me because our sixth graders were reading The Phantom Tollbooth, and one of my favorite parts is the chapter about Dr. Chroma--probably because my brain just can't separate music and color.


So I came home with these, thinking the yardage would be perfect for the background/skies.
(Yes, that's the presser foot of my vintage Necchi BU on the right.  It's one of my favorite sewing machines; I removed the motor and treadle it--feels much healthier than sitting with my foot on an electric control.)

However, they sat in the bag for weeks because I didn't have time to even consider using them; furthermore, although I'd thought I had quite a few leftovers of Fairy Frost from other quilts,  it turned out I had much, much less than I remembered.

Recently, I found a lovely sale on Michael Miller 10" squares at Over the Rainbow, one of my favorite on-line shops.

These were in the Crayon Box collection--just what Dr. Chroma needs.

Of course, I'm not sure when I'll get these to the designing/piecing stage.

I've spent the last several months trying to find moments when I've had enough energy to add quilting to a quilt for a friend's daughter--and at this point, I'm hoping she can have it by Christmas--but I'm not sure that will be possible either.--Her mom pieced it (we designed it together), but it will be up to me to put on the binding, etc.

In the meantime, my brain is working on possibilities for Dr. Chroma's world of color and symphony.

Happy quiltmaking,