Parallel Universe

June 4, 2025June 3, 20252 Comments

In January 2021 we were hopeful about COVID-19 vaccines and excitedly awaiting for our appointments. At that time I joined a mystery quilt along called Parallel Universe, created and led by GEL Design. GEL is Gyleen Fitzgerald, Ebony Love and Latifah Saafir.

Several members of the Central Virginia Modern Quilt Guild joined and we agreed to meet via Zoom each Sunday to make the blocks. We didn’t know until the end of the series what the quilt would look like. It was built in sections with great names: Section Six was Outer Space; section five— Milky Way; section four— Star Cluster; section three— Magnetism; section two— dark matter; section one was Big Bang.

The quilt called for 10 different colors. I chose a spring color palette.

I enjoyed creating with Maria, Phyllis, Ann, Kathy, Cheryl, and Candy (sometimes). We learned new techniques and complained a lot. It was a parallel universe because today it feels like it didn’t happen or happened in some other time and place.

I finished the quilt this year and gave it to my brother and his wife.

It is hand quilted and measures 60” x 72”.

I wish Phyllis was here to celebrate with me.

In her memory,

love Wanda

A Cabin in the Sticks

December 8, 2023December 7, 20231 Comment

I made this quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild’s Super Scrappy Challenge, sponsored by American Patchwork and Quilting.

Improvisational work with scraps touches me in a way a planned design does not, but the work also makes me question my intuition. I’m not sure why some things work and others annoy me. In the beginning, I wanted to make lots of small log cabin blocks, but after making about a dozen I stopped because it felt like something I had seen many times before.

I moved onto strips of scraps. I chose them randomly from a large box of solid scraps. I tried not to cut any of the length of the scraps. When I pieced the long strips together, I loved the movement and the color combination.

I used almost exclusively thread from my mother’s sewing cabinet and I felt a connection to the past while creating this piece. I grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, and I’ve often said I grew up “in the sticks.” The wonky sides make it real for me and create that organic feel I wanted.

It was not selected for QuiltCon so I’ll have to find another exhibit.

Dear Orcas

November 2, 2023November 1, 2023Leave a comment

I made this quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild’s fabric challenge for QuiltCon 2024. The fabric is Windham Artisan Cotton. I used Turquoise-Copper, White-Aqua, Apple Green-Chartreuse, and Grape-Dark Pink.

I used artisan cotton previously, and I liked the feel of it. It does fray and it’s hard to fix mistakes because it thins almost to the point where you lose your seam allowance. Making curves felt easier though. This type of quarter circle requires precision and I didn’t fix some of them because of the fraying (or at least that’s what I’m telling myself).

I used Latifah Saafir’s Clammy 10” template. It took some guidance from her and quilty friends to understand how to cut the pieces correctly.

I used variegated thread (4655 color), 12 weight, from Aurifil because I wanted it to have the feeling of water. I also quilted one large quarter circle. Do you see it?

At one point of making the quarter circles, I saw a ship, followed by a whalelike creature. I called it Dear Orcas because they were in the news for attacking boats. We do not know why they are doing this, so I wrote them this letter.