Terrorsaurus Dax

You say "just hoarding" as though collecting sewing supplies were not a separate and totally valid hobby. 😆

It's lovely. The design is simple and impactful. I'm amazed that you hand-quilted the whole thing.

White fabric with gold lines sewn in

I also tried cutting up a big piece of fabric and inserting gold lines before cutting it into smaller shapes. But it got messy and ugly. I didn't like it. I also discovered that I prefer the gold lines very thin.

Blue floral fabric with gold lines painted onto it

I tried painting the gold onto the fabric, but I hate it. It melts into the iron and looks bad.

Scraps of blue, white, and gold fabric pieced into larger chunks and pinned onto a design wall

I've been experimenting with some piecing techniques and ideas on and off for the last 6 months. I thought this was going to be a series of small 12 inch "sketches," but it had other ideas. It's growing into a big piece.

Technical notes for the quilters: usable fabrics were salvaged from stinky and worn out clothes, dip-dyed with fiber-reactive dye over the stovetop.
Pieced on machine.
Hand-quilted w big running stitches.
Reused cotton duvet cover as batting.
Bias bound w remnant of backing.

I think this is my favorite piece so far because it successfully navigates the boundaries of abstraction and a sense of place with respect for the identity of the materials: deconstructed shirts from Goodwill outlet, remnants, and old bedding.

Large abstract landscape quilt made from scrap and repurposed linen fabrics that were dyed, stitched, and hand-quilted.

Abstract landscape quilt inspired by the coast of southern Washington and the work of Richard Diebenkorn.

~80"x80"
100% scrap and upcycled linen
Overdyed and hand-stitched

#artquilt #landscape #modernquilt #upcycled

Nine-patch quilt overdyed with purple and quilted with allover orange peel pattern

Close up view of quilting and variegation in surface

Finished the over-dyed nine patch. It's a complete functional object, but seems to want to be something else. I will have to put it away and think about it for a while.

#modernquilting #upcycled

White supremacy is woven into the foundations of our nation. The Declaration of Independence promised rights only to free white property-owning men.

Until we truly see every person as a human worthy of the same protections and freedoms granted to anyone else, America will never be great.

Protest quilt: American flag with oversized white stripes. White thread quilted into the surface reads: "white supremacy is the single most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland"

To honor the birthday of my country, I made a #protestquilt.

#modernquilt #artquilt

Protest sign: quilted United States flag pieced with uneven stripes. Words stitched into the quilt with white thread say "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"

Oligarchy kills democracy. The top 1% owns or controls 16 times more wealth than half the collective population. They buy power to entrench their privilege.
In such a case, equality is nothing more than an Orwellian fairy story.
Happy Independence Day.

#protestart #protestquilt #artquilt

That's heartwarming. Knowing that someone genuinely likes something you made for them is a special kind of glow.

Child wrapped in cityscape quilt. Smiling under the emoji sticker.

Child wrapped in embroidered rainbow nine patch quilt.

The boys reportedly love their new quilts and lit up when they saw them. I expected mild indifference, but their mom said they like blankets very much and love that their quilts were designed specially for them. I hope they use them for forts and naps and adventure until they fall apart.

Notes on making: this one also misses the mark slightly for me because it tipped into a "literal" and cartoon aesthetic. I really liked the process of making it. It is not quite what I was going for, but was perfect for its recipient

Scrap quilt depicting an urban skyline. Quilted with a Hilbert curve.

Minky backing and trim on skylight quilt

The cityscape crumb quilt is finished and delivered.

I used an Hilbert curve to quilt it.

The minky fabric backing is scrap repurposed from a garment sewing project.

#modernquilting

Haunted house embroidery

Cat wearing a gold star

Captain Underpants!

These are my favorite blocks

Rainbow nine patch quilt top alternating with child's embroidery squares

You can see the embroidery better before quilting, washing, and crinkling.

Cheerful rainbow nine patch quilt with alternating embroidered squares.

This quilt is a collab. My nephew embroidered some squares in kindergarten.

I turned them into a quilt. We have the same initials, so I hand-quilted our initials and the year into one block.

I'm sad to see this go. I really enjoyed making and looking at this.

Then my quilted quilts languish in a pile until I get around to making yards of bias binding and binding the quilts.

It's a batch process: I like having a dozen or so projects at a time to cut and piece because I get bored with one thing or inspired by another.

I wait until I have three or four quilt tops completed before I set up a quilting station and quilt them.

I wonder whether other people work on one project until they finish it or whether they start and stop a dozen different projects like I do.

This may be why it takes so long for me to finish anything, but why so many projects get finished at the same time.

I finished three quilts last night.

It's a fun #pride quilt.

But I find the overall effect is less interesting and creative than I hoped.

I think the gradient is more interesting in limited color bands.

Next time, I'll stick to a 2-3 hue range.

Fabrics are mostly from the thrift store. I lucked out with a stack of Kaffe Fassett precuts. Batting is a lofty poly for fluff. Backing is half of an IKEA duvet cover.

A finished quilt made with rainbow fabrics in a wonky four-patch pattern, trimmed with blue and white stripe bias tape

The quilt top (before quilting)

Finally finished this one. The lighting isn't great, but I couldn't wait until morning to take pictures. The photo on the right shows off the colors better.

(Details in comments)

#modernquilting #quilt

Do it. There are many more of us queer craftivist quilters than you may expect! It's a very friendly and encouraging community. Also, quilting is a really good outlet when you're raging against the system and want to productively stab something a million times.

The last bits of scraps left over from the landscape scrap quilt

This is all that's left of the scraps. The larger bits will get incorporated into a different project. My quilting queue is like a never-ending pot stew.

#scrapquilt #crumbquilt

Initial layout showing the forms of sleeves and pockets cut from second-hand clothing and scraps

This was the work in progress. You can see the forms of deconstructed sleeves and pockets here.

I got the shirts from the Goodwill outlet bins. Some of the scraps are remnants from my other sewing projects.

#modernquilting

Quilt top made of scrap linen. Some of the pieces have been overdyed with blue dye.

Finished this abstract landscape-inspired quilt top yesterday.

100% linen from recycled/reused garments and scraps.

I overdyed some pieces blue for a cohesive palette.

I used a powdered packet of Jacquard iDye. I dyed it in my dye pot on the stove. I mostly followed the instructions on the package. I didn't steep it for 30 minutes, but pulled it out early. Afterwards, I rinsed and washed with synthrapol.