This is a Hawaiian quilt that I finished back in 2006 but it took me four years to make it just because there were so many stops and starts and other projects getting done. I couldn't find the perfect fabric, I didn't really like doing applique, I got very carried away with the quilting. The completed quilt I just love and it gives the room a summery feel.
Just a few weeks ago I started a friend on her own Hawaiian applique block and I realized I'd forgotten that this is fairly advanced needlework (my friend hasn't had too much experience yet.) She may hate me by the time she's finished or the block may get laid away for years like mine did, but it does turn out nicely when all finished and displayed. I hope she sticks with it. (GO KAORU-SAN!)
Some of the visitors to my house make comments about the quilts up on my wall but as with last week, I'm not sure if I should take their comments as compliments or not."Wow, your house is just like an exhibition hall. You could hold a quilt show."
I wonder if this means that my house doesn't have a warm-lived in feel, if to outsiders it looks like I'm just showing off the quilts I make and maybe they feel sorry for my husband who has to live with all the blankets on the walls. I have to admit, I have a lot of quilts displayed. Let's see... There are two on the entryway walls. One on the living room wall (the Hawaiian). One on the piano. One hiding the dust on the bookshelf. One on the door. Ah, another one hiding more junk in another bookshelf. Yep, and there's a quilt rack holding a good six quilts. There's one quilt on Choco's cage and one on Chip's cage trying to hide the fact that they are cages. There's another on the footstool hiding cat scratches. If you go upstairs there are more along the stairway wall and more in the bedrooms. And of course more in the drawers... I have a lot of quilts and it does seem a shame to just put them away somewhere to be forgotten so they get rotated now and then. Quilting is part of my decor and I'd rather have them around than blank walls and overflowing bookshelves... but for some people it may be a little too much.
How about you? Do you display your quilts in your home and if so how many are out and about for people to enjoy right now?I guess you could call my interior decorating style "Cats and Quilts (with a dog for accent)".
16 comments:
This quilt is just wonderful. It would be a shame not to display it. I don't display quilts on the walls but I do have them for use on the couch and chairs. Most of my quilts are in a closet. Kina of sad when you think about all the work that goes into them.
The Hawaiian quilt is beautiful and the quilting is so nice. I'm sure that anyone would love to visit your house and view your quilts, a huge art work of labor that is inspiring. BTW, having your little cats to come sit in a lap would be a bonus. :0) Maybe we can see Kaoru-San's Hawaiian quilt as it is being made. Sounds exciting!
Our homes are suppose to be the places where we like to be - that comfort and sustain us - where we come when the world gets too busy and is always wanting more of us. You have made your home just perfect for you. A home of cats and quilts with an accent of dog would be perfect for me too. Isn't it wonderful that other people can made their homes the places that are just what they need, whatever that includes or excludes?
I can do without the cats (allergies) but I'm all for quilts being displayed. How fortunate you are to have your work all around you! They are yours after all and you can do whatever you want with them! :-)
The quilt looks beautiful hanging there. I'm lucky that Chesty doesn't shed so I just put him upstairs in his crate if we have company that doesn't like overly friendly dogs.
Tanya, I just love the Hawaiian quilt. That's my favorite of all of your work that I've seen on your blog. It's so pretty! I agree that it's wonderful to have your quilts all around you in your home. I love the idea, unfortunately I have a bad habit of starting things, and then not getting them finished so that I can hang them up. You showed us close up pics of five of the Hawaiian blocks. Could you post close ups of the other four blocks as well. I would love to look at them in detail as well. Ever since I first saw your Hawaiian quilt, when you posted it last year, I have been inspired to make one myself. I have several pattern books, and I hand dye my own fabric. So, I just need to get started. Thanks for all the quilting inspiration that you provide to all of us. Blessings to you and yours. Jay
...and she does exquisite applique. Renaissance woman. Jealous, jealous --- OK, I'm over it!
My house is filled with quilts, because I make and love them, and restored antique radios, because my husband does that. It's our home, and it reflects our interests - thank goodness. We want to surround ourselves with what we like. Actually, his shelves of restored radios get more comments than my quilts! I get the impression some people think that's REALLY odd.
I'm happy to show off my and my mother's quilts and tell visitors all about them. We've put our time, energy (and depending on the pin pricks, blood!) into them and I love them.
I don't think any of my work holds a candle to yours, which is just wonderful. You should be proud, and of course put them out for display.
As for the lap sitting cats - they know who's already a cat person and who needs to be converted!
First let me say how beautiful I think your Hawaiian quilt it. I tried a couple of blocks a while back and it takes real patience and perfection.
I have my quilts all over. They are the "art" in my house for the most part. My family likes them and seems proud to have them displayed. I change them with the seasons.
I have a Hawaiian pattern, and there it sits, I'm afraid to start it! (I know it's silly, lol!)
I LOVE this quilt of yours, and you go ahead and display your quilts, you do beautiful work.
I wondered yesterday as I placed a rug I just finished if dh would not like all MY art laying around, hanging around, etc. Then out of the blue he piped, "I'd love a quilt above the fireplace!" HUH? COOL! (I'm still learning about this guy, we'll have our 4th anny. soon!)
My quilts are around my house, several are on couches since it gets cold here and I hate cold! Many of them have cat hair on them so I go around with my various tools (none of them that effective) to remove cat hair. Some are on walls, and some are stacked away because they might be sold. Some are not done!
When people come to our house they have to take their shoes off and that generally freaks them out more than anything, but we try to warn them in advance. But it's a farm, so they can chalk it up to a farm custom--not to track in dirt--and they expect to see animals!
I have about 15 on display at all times. The comment I get most often is "Do you sell them?" and when I say no the response is usually, "Why don't you try?" I don't know why people want me to sell my quilts. I think they see it as a useless pursuit if I am not making money from them.
I have many quilts hung through out my house. I love how yours are displayed. Perhaps you are starting a new trend in your town! Check my blog for recent additions to the walls. My plan is to rotate them 3-4 times a year, as I have more finished.
Tanya,
You are very wise to display your quilts. I have done quite a few and they are in a cabinet or on a little quilt rack. My mom and friends keep telling me that I should display them, but I'm not quite sure how to do so.
I would hope that your friends would enjoy all your quilts (I would!) and be more interested in visiting with you and your family than critiquing your decor.
Tanya, I would definitely take that as a compliment. In fact, because that is the look I am going for, I already have a quilt in the bathroom, and am planning one for the kitchen.
Interesting that you ask that question. Right now I only have a summer table topper on display. But, just the other day I pulled out all my quilts (now piled over a chair) and thought, they really must be displayed and not packed away. So, off I go to display some quilts!
I'm thinking this may be a common problem - we love to make these beautiful quilts, and so sad that probably many of them spend so much time folded up or hung out of sight. I only have two hanging on walls right now as I took my quilt racks down to paint walls, and never got them back up - plaster walls and all. I do have quilt racks in plain sight with 3 - 4 quilts on each one, and several over backs of couches, plus a table topper and door quilts that both get changed out with the seasons, and that is what I'm happy surrounding myself in my home, - oh, yes, one requisite cat complete with shedding cat hair. Julie - I also have heard the comment "You should sell them" - well - - that's not why I make them. (This from my brother, several different times - does he think I just have too many? I can so relate to many of these replies!
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