Find Your Own Voice Challenge

I just finished my quilt for the MQG challenge ~ YAY!!!!  My fingers are sore because I whipped out the binding this afternoon.  Usually I like to take my time with those, but I wanted to be done on time.

So here is what I entered... plus a few more pictures :)

The challenge to "find your own voice" was difficult to start.  I began by making all sorts of block patterns... but stopped realizing that the first thing about me is that I'm not so rigid.  Then I started looking through my stash and found everything was too new, too clean or too crisp to truly represent me.   I was stumped for a while... but eventually I decided to just start sewing.

I cut into an old skirt I was saving (you know... for the fabric) to test a sewn in circle technique I've recently learned from friends at the PMQG.  I liked it so much I decided  to use it in the quilt.  Then I started going through more old clothes that I've been saving just for the fabric... and the idea hit me to use them in the quilt.   I divided them by the years I wore them to make into 8 blocks.  Each group of fabric represents a span of 5 years and the clothing I wore at that time.  Most fabrics are repurposed clothing, and the rest are newer scraps that emulate the age.  I'm not quite 45 yet, so the ninth block is mostly white... awaiting it's own color.

I had no plan when I made the first block ~ I just put fabric together till I liked it, then I tried to recreate the block.  I chose to use a solid bone color as my "background"  to highlight all the different fabrics.  My first re-creation was a mess because I didn't write it all down the first time... but I plugged through and figured it out and the rest of the blocks went more smoothly.  Once I had all my blocks put together I pretty much knew it was definitely going to be MY quilt ~ who else would like something so random?  My first thought went to my favorite childhood character, Pippi Longstocking, who lived in a house in which this quilt would fit right in... Villa Villa Kula.  So that is the name of my new quilt!

With Pippi in mind, I free-motion quilted my quilt.  It's a bit random like the quilt top... and definitely not perfect (just like me).  I had fun using different patterns in the quilting.  Some stitches radiate from the circle centers to denote growth, some are blocky to denote a good foundation, and some just arrows directing the flow through the years.  I added daisies around the edges for fun... and now I love it.

Last, but not least... I added some text into each block:

born a Earth Monkey
wanted to be Holly Hobby
sweet sixteen
street schooled
punk rock mama
coastal caravan gypsy
name change for love
living life creatively
forward to the future

This last bit really made it sing to me, and that's the voice I want to hear.

Villa Villa Kula Quilt
Finished September 29, 2011
63"x84"

 

GAPS

Today is Sunday... and I plan on finishing the quilting on my "Villa Villa Kula Quilt" today!  Then it's off to the binding ~ YAY!  I'm so close!  I can't wait to share, but I'm waiting for the MQG contest to be over first.

In the meantime, I received some exciting news from my Naturopathic Doctor.  She did some research for me (I've been having issues for a long time) and found some work by a colleague:  Dr. Allison Siebecker who has been studying the small intestines and something called SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth)... and my doctor thinks this could be the cause of my symptoms.  I'm taking the test for it next week ~ and if that is the case... I can get better!!!!

I've been resigning myself to the idea I have fibromyalgia, and have been a bit down about it.  But it may not be that!  It may just be a bacteria deep in my intestines (gross, I know ~ sorry).  And if that's the case, a dose of special antibiotics and a very strict diet WILL make me better.  The diet prescribed is the GAPS diet.

GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome.  It seems when you have chronic digestive issues, your body cannot take up all the nutrients it should, so our brains do not get fed and we start having mental issues.  Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride has been researching this since 2004 and I just got her book, and I'm blown away at all the things being malnourished can affect.  I also got a GAPS cookbook called Internal Bliss ~ and I already LOVE it!  I don't have to "adapt" anything... everything is Gail-Friendly, it's awesome.

So I just wanted to share a bit of good news (hopefully) and now I'll get back to my sewing!

Quilting... finally!

I am working on a quilt for the "Find Your Voice" MQG quilt challenge.  I finished the top and back... and it's all basted and ready to quilt!  FINALLY!   I got some stitches in last night (teaser pic).

This quilt has been a blast to work on.  Since it's "my voice" I can be as crazy and unperfect with my sewing as I want to be ~ and that is making it really fun!  I know it's going to be my quilt when I'm done... I don't know that anyone else would find it as appealing as me.  Just hope to be able to get it all done and photographed by next week!

I'm so excited to get to more quilting later today... however, I'm a little stuck as to HOW I'm actually going to quilt the rest of it.   Oh well, doesn't really matter ~ there is no pressure... and boy, does that feel good!

Jay McCarroll quilt block

Jay McCarroll quilt block, originally uploaded by RamonaX.

I was finally feeling good enough to sew, so I was able to work on my Jay McCarroll block! I wanted to come up with something fresh and new... for me this was it. I've been wanting to try a technique for sewing triangles for a while now, and it worked great. Basically you just sew two square pieces of fabric together around all 4 edges, then cut the diagonals and voila!   

Looking forward to the PMQG tomorrow night to see friends and have a little social time.  I think I'm up for it ~ the cooler weather is helping to make me feel better and I'm so happy about that.