I love doing embroidery. It can be restful and contemplative, just making stitch after stitch and feeling a picture grow under my fingers. But sometimes I wonder if I have bitten off more than I can chew.
My French map quilt needs the city names, and these pieces of paper aren’t going to do the trick. The names need to be stitched. All 27 of them!
So I practiced a bit, and then wrote, in pencil, each name on the map. You need to squint a bit to see them, I’m afraid.
Then came the stitching.
I used the embroidery hoop because the fabric felt floppy and it gave me more control, and it worked pretty well.
Once the name was embroidered, I used a small blanket stitch to make sure the city “dots” stayed in place.
I’m still working on this, but making progress. Moving Paris and some other cities slowed me down a bit.
I ask your patience, and my own, as well. Breathe and stitch, Judy. Breathe and stitch.
I was feeling pretty good about the shape of my highlands, mountains and shorelines on my French map quilt. Auntie Bridgett admired the lay out, then asked, “Are you going to put anything else on it? Like cities?”
Oh. Yeah. Knowing that most cities in Europe are on rivers, I decided to put in the rivers first.
So, using Googlemaps and blue yarn, I began to lay out my rivers. I’m only putting in the main rivers for now, so you can see (from upper right, going clockwise) the Meuse, the Rhine, the Rhône, the Garonne, the Dordogne, the Charante, the Loire, and the Seine.
Once the rivers were laid down, I felt more confident about the placement of the cities. Paris, Vernon, Rouen and Honfleur along the Seine,
Orléans, Tours, Angers and Nantes along the Loire,
and Lyon, Avignon, Aix and Marseilles along the Rhône.
So now, everything is laid down. But NOTHING is attached yet. If I lift the green hexagon, it all falls off. That’s the next step, and it may take a few days. Be patient with me.
You know I love maps, and I love quilts. So, over the years, I’ve made a few quilted maps. When you were little, I made this map of our old neighborhood in Salinas. There are a lot of people and places I love on that map!
And now, being slightly obsessed with France, I am planning a hexagonal shaped quilt. It’s an interesting idea, since the shape of that country is sort of hexagonal, and even is nicknamed “L’Hexagone” because of its six-sided outline.
A few years back I made a folding paper map of France, and it was hexagonal. I really liked it, but didn’t know what to do next. Now I’ve figured it out.
But first, I had to make a good sized hexagonal pattern from newspaper. I don’t want this quilt to be bed sized, but maybe lap-sized. It’s mostly an art project.
I got the length ratios from your Daddy David and the proper angles from Auntie Bridgett, and cut my newspaper pattern 92 cm across, about three feet.
Screenshot
I have chosen my color palette from a website called color palettes.net. This photograph was taken by Svitlana. They aren’t typical map colors, and I like that. Now I need to hunt for these colors in suitable fabrics so I can get started.
I had so much fun with my first Kawandi style quilt, I wanted to make another one! I had noticed that many Kawandi are made with shiny fabrics, so I pulled out the shiniest fabrics I have: Robert Talbot tie silk given to me by Ruth Andresen five years ago.
I have put off using these treasures because I have never worked with silk before and everything about it scares me. What if I made horrible mistakes and wasted it? But I realized that the biggest waste would be leaving it in the box for another five years. So I jumped in.
I discovered that cutting the silk is the first challenge. It slips and slides under the scissors as though it were alive and trying to escape! I pulled out my dangerously sharp rotary cutter and, with lots of patience, got some pieces cut.
Pressing the edges was the next challenge. How hot is too hot? How hot is not hot enough? This took another hour. But without the pressing, the next part would be impossible.
Because the silk is slippery, every step was harder. Pinning every edge of every piece was necessary to get anything sewn accurately. My fingers got sore from pinching while sewing. Once I got the first ‘frame’ done, I took a break. Since this piece is only about a foot square and doesn’t need to keep anybody warm, I decided not to lay in a filler layer.
I kept laying down pieces and trying to keep my stitches even while sewing close enough to the edges to sew everything down. It was starting to feel like work.
. I was frustrated by the slippery fabric and the easily fraying edges. I wasn’t sure I liked it, but I WAS going to finish it!
In the middle of the day, Grandpa Nelson took me out for hot dogs and ping pong at Zach’s. When we came back, I had a fresh perspective on the piece. I liked it. A lot.
I kept pinning and sewing until it was done. I did a few tiny stitches to hold some lose corners down, and called it good. Because the silk frays so easily, I did not put the little triangles called ‘phula’ on the corners. I guess this Kiwandi will have to remain unfinished.
I am really happy I made a Kiwandi out of Ruth’s silks, and that I stuck with it to the end.
Dear Liza 