We Begin

Welcome to my new blog, Fiber Vibe.  The purpose of this blog, initially, is to document the process and progress of my latest quilting adventure.  If you read my profile, you learned that one of my favorite activities is to sit and stare.  I’m hoping that you, my audience, will provide me with the incentive to sew more and stare into space less.  You want results and I don’t like to disappoint.

The plan is to design and assemble a pictorial quilt featuring the Mt. Whitney Fish Hatchery in Independence, California (www.mtwhitneyfishhatchery.org).  My mother-in-law, Barbara, who volunteers at the hatchery, asked me to make a quilt as a fundraiser.  I am thrilled to use my skills to benefit such a beautiful and historical place.  This will be Barbara’s and my second fundraiser.  The first was a small wall hanging called "Concert In the Rocks" for the Lone Pine Film Festival, an event that also enjoys Barbara’s dedicated volunteerism (www.lonepinefilmfestival.org).  

The picture you see here will be the basis for my design.  The photographer, Keith Krejci, has given me permission to use his photograph to guide my composition.  “Thanks, Keith!”  Keith and his wife, Brenda, also are bloggers.  They write about their travels as full-time RV’ers and Brenda reviews casinos along the way.  They do a wonderful job of getting to know the places they visit and of conveying information to their readers.  Please visit them at http://dnpc.blogspot.com.  You may get some ideas for your next vacation.

Now, you may be asking yourself how I plan to make such a complex quilt.  I asked myself the very same thing!  My first thought, always, is to look through my extensive, twenty-five-years-in-the-making quilting book collection.  It turns out I have three books on pictorial quilts.  I chose Picture Piecing: Creating Dramatic Pictorial Quilts by Cynthia England, published in 2002.  I know that I have looked through this book many times thinking how much I would like to try the technique, and its time has finally come.  If you want to see some of Ms. England’s amazing work, you can visit her website at www.englanddesign.com.

I thought you might like to see my most recently finished quilt.  It was made for my sister-in-law, Cindy, using a pattern called Celestial Garden by Dereck C. Lockwood of Chico, California (www.lockwood.quilts.com).

Until next time…