Big Love Quilt

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. In honor of the day, here is Big Love:

I completed this quilt on 29 May 2003. I pieced it during my monochrome red phase, back when I made Crazy Love too. (ooh, and the houses quilt that I teased you with last post, which I will show you soon). I learned a lot about contrast from making these quilts, but unfortunately not while I was making them. I can just see it now. Not enough contrast in any of them. They all needed far more lights and white.

Anyway, I made this quilt by piecing a bunch of piano key rows. I then used those to make letters, the same way I always free-piece letters. I think I did the E first to know what approximate height to make the other letters. It's quilted in free-hand fans with red perle cotton size 8.


Here's baby Pokey to give you an idea of the scale of the quilt, which I forgot to measure when I had it out.

I'm so thrilled to see that there are already gifts for Bonnie's Housewarming Party (see previous post). Here are Paula's and Lynda's. Thank you! By the way, did you notice that I'm throwing the party for Bonnie and yet she's going to end up doing all the work of putting the blocks together. hee hee hee. Typical. And of course I still haven't even pieced the block I'm going to send, having too much fun scarpering off to the Louvre.

Some wonderful blogs for you to visit. I'm really enjoying Meg's new blog Quilt Words. In particular, take a look at the lovely soft log cabin quilt made out of khakis.

Check out the method Brenda's Strip Piecers group used to make a donation quilt. It's got all the joy and liveliness that I love in string quilts.

You know how I'm partial to orphan quilts? Well go take a look at Quilting Twin Keryn's spectacular Orphans & Siblings quilt top. It is incredible and amazing and I love every bit of it. She did such a great job of putting it together and I love how it's set on the diagonal.

I hope you got some great ideas for what you can do with UFO blocks you're tired of, class samples etc. You really can put them together into an amazing quilt. I know you can do it too. There's more inspiration over at Finn's Riding the Orphan Train. Need help getting them together? Just ask. Take a photo with all your bits and bobs and I bet you can get all sorts of recommendations for what to do next. You can do it too.

On a completely different subject, but refering to Big Love, can I just say that I named that quilt before the show about polygamists came out on HBO. I do enjoy the show though, I'm in the middle of the second season right now. It's a fascinating look at people who have very strong values that conflict with society's and the actions they take, like lieing, that rather go against that whole values thing. The acting is simply amazing.

Another show I'm loving is The Riches, about a family of Travellers (Irish gypsies essentially) that settles down into someone else's lives in order to steal the American Dream. I love Eddie Izzard anyway and he and Minnie Driver are excellent in this. Again, another family show with a lifestyle that you probably disapprove of, ala The Sopranos and Big Love, that just does a great job of portraying relationships.

I've been fascinated by the Travellers ever since going to dinner at a restaurant in Georgia and wondering if a little girl beauty pageant was being held in the area. All the girls were heavily made up and bejeweled. Even the babies had pierced ears. That's how the women dress every time they go out. The men were all casually dressed, doesn't that just figure.