Revisiting My Past in Quilting and How It Ties Into Lampworking

Last week my kids were on break from school, February school vacation week. My kids aren't babies but I still find they occupy my time and getting to my torch, in a creative frame of mind, isn't always easy for me when everyone is around. You know how it goes.....Mom, mom, MOM, Mom....and on and on it goes.

I was feeling a need to do something with my hands. For the past month I had been thinking about this gorgeous quilt top I created a number of years of ago. It has been sitting in my attic in a box of unfinished projects. I decided this week would be a good time to dig it out and see what I needed to do to finish it.

Quilting is great because it can travel easily, it doesn't require a lot of space or tools, and it can be picked up or put down at a moments notice. The perfect project to occupy my mind and my hands with a house of full of kids who may (or may not) require something from me at any moment.

I used to belong to a quilt group, the Tewksbury Piecemakers, and one year I was in charge of the block of the month. This is the quilt, each individual who participated in the monthly block, created. The pattern arrived with a picture of the finished quilt made of 1930's inspired fabric.

Although this fabric is beautiful, it is not my style. I chose to create my quilt using my absolute favorite fabrics, Bali batiks. Oh I can not tell you how much I love the batik fabrics. The colors inspire me so. In fact I often make beads based on the batik line of fabrics. So here is the quilt I am working on right now.

The flower petals are sewn as individual pieces, each one stitched by hand. A technique referred to as applique. The variety of solid colors with subtle variations I find to be pleasantly appealing.

By now you may be asking yourself and just how does all this tie in with lampworking? I am inspired by the batik fabrics and more often than not I translate a fabric I love into a glass beads.

Here is an example of some beads for sale in my Etsy shop:

A close up shot. I find it difficult to capture in a photograph the beautiful depth within these beads. And thus...quilting and lampworking combined.