Mini for Miki

April 29, 2023 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

Last year my guild Chicago MQG held a mini-quilt swap with the Mexico MQG The prompt was to put our partner’s first initial somewhere in the quilt. My partner Miky Zapata mentioned she loves the work of Carolina Oneto so I decided to channel her style for this project. I took Carolina’s on-demand course “Curves and Transparencies” (available on her website) and used the techniques from her class to create this composition (it’s a lowercase cursive m). It was my first time working with transparencies and it was super challenging but fun!

Sadly this mini quilt got lost in the mail somewhere between here and its destination in Mexico. A tiny part of me still hopes it magically resurfaces and makes its way to Miky. But it probably won’t. Still, I enjoyed making it and learning something new. I definitely recommend Carolina’s class!

sensory toy project for summer fieldwork

April 25, 2023 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

Last summer I spent four weeks of fieldwork at Freedom Woods Equestrian Center where they give lessons, they compete in shows, and they’re also home to the clinic of a wonderful OT, Paula Lundell. Paula uses horses as her therapeutic tools in her OT practice, which is called hippotherapy. She asked us to come up with a project for her. I immediately thought of using my quilting skills to make something for Paula’s clinic.

My initial idea was to make a field of prairie points that the kids could put clips on. Paula likes these clips in her clinic for all kinds of activities because they promote fine motor, motor planning, and bilateral coordination, which is just a fancy way of saying, both sides are working together. Clients can stabilize a point with one hand and put the clip on with the other. It can also be used to practice color identification, which integrates the visual system and communication as well.

Another student was on this fieldwork with me, my friend Hamilton. He said the prairie points were cool but weren’t very horsey considering the setting we were in. I thought he had a fair point so I decided to make a second side and make it horse themed.

Horse side of toy, displayed on stand made by Hamilton

detail. Named the horse Lamilton, a combination of Laura and Hamilton :)

It features prize ribbons that provide sensory stimulation. The velcro itself gives great sensory input, plus the ribbon’s tails are all different textures. I affectionately refer to them as Crinkly, Fluffy, Lumpy, and Bumpy. Again, they can be used to practice color recognition and they’ll promote bilateral coordination as kids use both hands to take them off and put them back.

The final detail is the horse’s mane, which is 3D so the kids can put clips on there as well. This is something that Paula will often do in the arena on the real horse. One day we watched a kiddo get upset, worried that he was hurting the horse by pulling off the clips. Horses don’t have nerve endings in their manes, which is something I learned this summer, so it doesn’t hurt them at all. So this can be a great practice activity in the clinic before introducing it on the actual horses and clients can learn that it won’t hurt them. I constructed this project like a pillowcase, with one side open, and Hamilton made a beautiful wood stand for it to slide over. We wanted to be in the vertical plane instead of lying down on the table because working on a vertical surface has its own benefits, like engaging the muscles of the shoulder girdle and core, promoting visual tracking, and spatial awareness. Placing the wrist in extension encourages better control of the fingers, and working against gravity is a great strengthening activity.

I made the prairie points with the help of a tutorial by Hayley Grzych on the Bernina blog. I enlarged a paper pieced pattern by Made by Marney to make the horse side.

It was really fun to get to see it put to use in the clinic during our last week there. This month made me a true believer in the magic of horses and hippotherapy. I feel so lucky that I got to spend time there, and honestly, it felt more like summer camp than work and I loved every minute.

spending time in the garden at Freedom Woods

I also made a little gift for Paula to show my appreciation for everything she shared with us during our time at her clinic. I tried to model the horses after the four horses she uses for therapy, Marshmallow, Nelly, Pumpkin, and Flash.

new prayers: may i, may you

October 27, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

This quilt is about motherhood, growth, change, acceptance, pain, love, compassion, and hope. It was inspired by finding this tiny preemie outfit in storage, and the work of artist Russell Barratt who uses whole clothes and dots in his work.

My son recently went through a very hard couple of years. I tried to support but also give him space to live his life, and I did both very imperfectly. It was really difficult not to be consumed by worry, and not to feel like everything was somehow my fault. I made this quilt, using clothes that were worn by my boy 19 years apart, not for him but for myself, to work through what I was feeling during this sad and stressful time.

The prayers of my upbringing are foreign to me now. I let them go a long time ago. Instead, I borrow the words from the Buddhist tradition metta, or lovingkindness meditation. I meditate on these phrases and wish them for myself as a young mother, for my present-day self, and for my son at all of his ages and stages. I do my best to hold all versions of us in tenderness and compassion. As I write this now, my son is doing much better. Here’s to even better days ahead.

I made the applique dots by printing photos onto pink vellum, cutting them into circles, adding some handwriting, layering them onto fabric, scanning them and sending them to Spoonflower to print onto fabric. The applique and quilting were all done by (my) hand. Mitch Hopper took photos.

There are many versions of Metta but this longer version is the one I use most frequently:

(first you say it for yourself)

May I be filled with lovingkindness.

May I be safe from inner and outer dangers.

May I be well in body and mind.

May I be happy and at ease.

(then you say it for someone else, an individual, a group, or the world)

May you be filled with lovingkindness.

May you be safe from inner and outer dangers.

May you be well in body and mind.

May you be happy and at ease.

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes

October 25, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

This is another in my series of yearly quilts, where since 2014 I have tracked goals, habits, and personal practices, representing them through patchwork, stitching, and handwriting.

For 2021 I decided to simply “track” the days in my patchwork, nothing more. So each of these log cabins documents three months, moving through the year clockwise around the quilt. Again, I used a strip of goldenrod yellow on the 23rd day of each month, a way of marking time. I pick the 23rd day because of my birthday, September 23, which I love!

I was thinking about counting things in my life, perhaps because I had a goal that year to put on my roller skates 365 times. This got me considering other things I could count in my life that year… number of times I finished a quilt, number of times I yelled at the kids, number of lectures I gave. And things I did during the year countless times… walks, covid calculations, study hours, naps…

I wrote some words about things counted and not counted throughout 2021. Notable events from the year, big and small. I copied a few entries from my daily line-a-day journal. I embroidered all these words around the border of my quilt. That took a long time! The result is a new sort of a record of my year, similar to other quilts in this series but different too.

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes, detail

Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes, back

Label, Daily Practice Quilt for 2021: Taking Each Day As It Comes

The text on this quilt is intentionally hard to read. I wanted it to fade into the border of the quilt, and for the viewer to have to come in close to read it. That said, I may have taken this concept a bit too far as it’s actually pretty hard to read, even in person (and harder through a screen). I will document the text here, for anyone who wants to know what it says. Big thanks to my photographer Mitch Hopper for taking all these extra photos for me so I could have images of all the words I stitched.

L-R:
I shaved my head for the first time
2021: Take each day as it comes
February 21 Journal: Spent another day watching QC lectures and sewing. Getting stuff done in the studio is good. Did a little studying. We are worried about our roof and gutters with all the ice and snow. S is always at Krys’ and P always on calls.

L-R:
March 1 Journal: Everyday feels the same. Study a lot, sew a little.
And then it is another day and another day and another, but I will not go on about this because no doubt you too have experienced time. (quote by Jenny Offill)
being alive matters quite a bit even when you feel like shit being alive (lyric by Frankie Cosmos)
I fretted about the kids’ grades a lot.

L-R:
I practiced my roller skating 365 times.
I skated in the house, in the garage, on the tennis courts, at the skate park, at Lombard Roller Rink (Monday night lessons). I skated with the kids sometimes, by myself usually.
I relished having a new patio and yard furniture.
I got vaccinated and boosted (all four of us did).

L-R (starting two in):
I started OT school and I have never worked so hard. I felt inadequate, I wanted to quit, I cried, I procrastinated, and stressed. Then I finished the semester with all A’s and felt so relieved and proud. I love my cohort. They helped me through. I hosted them 3 times this semester (Weenie roast, soup night, Friendsgiving).
I finished 8 quilts.
June 1 Journal: Meant to fast all day but ate a bunch of cookies instead. Nothing changes lol
I had a period that lasted 10 long days so my doctor sent me to the ER. I have a small fibroid. Apparently they are pretty common.

Top to bottom, starting 1 down:
I drove P to camp then had a solo retreat for 4 days. I sewed and wrote. I logged in to P’s summer school class so she could get the credit.
June 30 Journal: My first painful/traumatic experience at the dentist. They used a waterpik thing that really hurt. The whole thing was exhausting. Didn’t do much the rest of the day. Tomorrow marks my starting over/clean slate just like last year haha
I tried hypnosis for the first time, an effort to curb my junk food binges. It helped for a while.
525, 600 minutes, moments so dear, how do you measure a year? (lyric from Rent)

Top to bottom:
I swooned over fluffy clouds, sunrises, sunsets, and rainbows.
I worked, I laughed, I had sex, I took baths, I scrolled for too long, I worked hard. I was here, I was here. Still alive, still alive.
October 12 Journal: Nate and P went to breakfast with Jim and Deb, I stayed home to “study” aka eat a bunch of junk and watch tv. Went on IG live with Heidi P then gave the lecture for my guild. Practicing QuiltCon lecture went okay. Nap, popcorn and tv with Nate. Succession is back.
I gave four zoom lectures to quilt groups.
I lost weight, I gained weight, I ended up about the same.

R-L:
I relied on Nate to make dinner every night and help with laundry so I could focus on school. I was so grateful for all the ways he supported me and the kids all year.
I went back to therapy.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it as serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense. (quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson)

L-R:
I clashed with S at least 33 times that I mentioned in my journal, about school, Krys, money, vaping, ghosting, motivation, and who knows what else.
I butted heads with P at least 8 times (according to my journal), probably all about school (maybe some about screens but mostly about school).
I got a treadmill in my studio and I’m definitely more active, especially in the colder months.

L-R:
I found a basal cell carcinoma on my forearm and had it removed. The Dr was impressed that I spotted it.
I took countless walks and later in the year got a bit obsessed with hitting 10.000 steps a day (new Fitbit).

Top to bottom:
I decorated the yard with birdhouses and other trinkets and successfully grew sunflowers and wild flowers and not much else. I love our little yard for the first time.
I turned 40.
I joined RC Fitness again and love working hard at the gym.
I had two quilts hang in exhibits, one at the National Quilt Museum, one at Woman Made Gallery.

Top to bottom:
August 10 Journal: Worked hard on my to do list. Finished things up for school, quilting, felt productive though still so much to do. Big storm rolled through. Made a healthy dinner. I’m trying.
To everything, turn turn turn, there is a season. (Lyrics by The Byrds)

Top to bottom:
January 13 Journal: Went to the tennis courts right after sunrise and skated with music for 20 minutes and it was the best! I’m trying to work up my endurance. Tried to do schoolwork the rest of the day. Motivation is running low.
I did countless COVID calculations (with help from Nate and the internet) about where we should go or not go, who we should see or not see, where we should eat or not eat. Pandemic risk assessment is part of life now.
I took the kids’ phones during remote school days and gave them back after homework and chores. For a while I made them give me a hug when I handed it to them. It was nice but we didn’t keep it up.

Bee quilt: black&white&rainbow pineapples (and a bonus purple pineapple quilt)

October 21, 2022 by Laura Hartrich in quilts

During the early days of the pandemic, I signed up to participate in a bee with some of my guild members. This was my first time taking part in a bee like this, where each member requested a certain type of block or patchwork, and the other members of the group provided what they asked. I really enjoyed making the blocks for the other members and felt inspired by their prompts. When it came to my turn to request blocks from other bee members, I struggled to come up with a cool prompt. I blame covid brain for my lack of creativity in this instance (not that I actually had covid, just that the early period of the pandemic made my brain feel so weird and mushy).

I had a pad of pineapple block foundation papers in my studio, a freebie from QuiltCon many years ago. I have always loved this quilt by Tricia Royal, so I asked her if she would be okay with me using it as the template for my bee quilt. She said go for it, so I sent a couple foundation papers to my bee members. I decided I wanted to add a border that would contrast with the black & white. My first idea was to try purple blocks as a juxtaposition, since I had a lot of purple in my stash that wasn’t getting used much. I wasn’t feeling that combination, so those purple blocks turned into their own quilt (see below). Next I tried to yellow blocks for my border and I was happy with that outcome. It wasn’t my first time using yellow in this way; this quilt from 2016 definitely influenced my design choice here. I’m happy with this bee quilt even though I couldn’t come up with a super unique prompt for my bee members. I love having an homage to Tricia’s work of my own.

This quilt measures 71”x83” and was quilted for me by Sarah Evans.

And here is the quilt that came from the purple blocks I made. I paired purple with chambray and navy and tried to focus on contrast in my composition. Honestly I never thought I’d make or love a mostly purple quilt but here we are. It’s a nice nap size quilt and I absolutely adore the quilting done by Sarah Evans on it (a fun panto by Longarm League called Thread Garden). Measures 59”x70”. Photos are by Mitch Hopper (except the one of Tricia’s quilt).