Laura Hartrich 3/27/22 Laura Hartrich 3/27/22

Table Runners featuring my Grandma's Doilies

When my grandma passed in 2016 many of her sewing supplies, projects, and textiles came to live with me, including a pile of very finely constructed doilies. I had an idea to put them on quilts for my family members, but four years later those doily quilts hadn’t made it to the top of my to-do list. It finally occurred to me that table runners might be just as appreciated and a far more attainable goal for me. I spent a week working steadily on these (and one for myself that is almost done) and finished them just in time for gift giving. They were opened over video call in true 2020 style.

I felt a little uneasy about cutting these lacy things that had clearly taken a lot of time and care to make. But I finally decided to go for it... Doilies aren’t exactly popular as home decor these days, and I thought chopping them for these runners was a better fate for them than staying packed away in boxes or drawers. Hopefully these runners will get plenty of use. And I think they really highlight her work. I hope she would approve.

I quilted these (very densely!) on my Juki. I wanted all the sections to get tacked down to prevent any snags during use. Lots of imperfect, organic echo quilting. Took a lot of time and thread, but I love the effect.

Laura Hartrich 3/26/22 Laura Hartrich 3/26/22

2019 Radical Acceptance Quilt

After 5 years of making quilts that track my self-improvement-oriented goals and habits, I decided to switch gears and focus on self acceptance instead. I want to see how it feels to live each day as it comes, without tracking my progress or giving myself a grade. I wanted to see if some of these habits I’ve been trying to adopt can come from a place of intrinsic motivation instead of relying on an extrinsic motivator like a hash in a notebook or a block in a quilt.

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, 76” square

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, detail

It’s still a sticky idea for me... wanting to accept myself but also wanting to change (aka working toward goals). How to reconcile those? My friend Jenni helped me understand it more. Tara Brach’s book Radical Acceptance helped too. My 2019 year didn’t look that different from previous years. I still tried to practice all sorts of habits like exercising, meditating, watching less tv, and I still worked toward goals like finishing quilts, books, and classes. The difference was I didn’t quantify or keep track of any of it, and I have to admit that felt good. I’m not saying bullet journals or any kind of habit tracking or goal setting is bad. I needed a break, though. And focusing on acceptance gave that to me.

So this is the quilt I made for 2019, a continuation of the series but taken in a different direction. For each day in 2019 I added a strip to this log cabin. (The coral colors are randomly placed. The gold strips represent the 23rd of each month, a way of marking time across the quilt.) For each day I wrote a statement of acceptance on the batting (muslin, in this case) and lined it up with the pieced strips. I backed it in a pale pink shot cotton that allows you to see all the writing if you get up close. This quilt was a big undertaking and so many of you followed its progress and cheered me on. Thank you for that. Measures roughly 76”x76”. Final photos by Mitch Hopper.

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, label

Radical Acceptance Quilt for 2019, in progress

It’s always exciting when quilts get to be exhibited. I was pleased when this one was accepted as part of the MQG Retrospective show at the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky in summer 2021. We made a little weekend trip to see it.

It also hung in the QuiltCon 2022 exhibit in Phoenix, Arizona. It was so fun to show off the hidden handwriting on the batting to folks attending the show.

Hanging in the MQG Retrospective show at the National Quilt Museum, Paducah KY

Laura Hartrich 3/22/22 Laura Hartrich 3/22/22

Fiona's Baby Quilt

My friend Laura Hopper, aka Sonic Stitches, has brought so much to my life since I met her at guild 5 or 6 years ago. She is so smart and thoughtful, a great writer and guild leader, a talented curator, a good friend and human, and a brilliant quilter! In spring 2020 she embarked on the journey of birth and motherhood and I was so happy for her. I asked friends to make blocks with 9” circles in black and white. I had never organized a group quilt like this before and it was so fun to collect blocks through the mail. Everyone did a fantastic job. I added sashing in some of Laura’s favorite colors, some additional applique, quickly quilted it with my walking foot, and handed it off to a friend who volunteered to put on the binding. We were in a bit of a time crunch, trying to get it done before the baby arrived. Despite the pandemic, a few of us were able to carefully meet in their backyard and gift this quilt. It was wonderful to watch them open it in person at a time when nobody was doing much of anything in person. This quilt measures 60” square. Mitch Hopper, aka Fiona’s dad, took final photos.

Thank you so much to all of Laura’s friends who contributed to this quilt:

Ellen Pomes, Heather Kinion, Amy Struckmeyer, Julia Bryant, Deb Pentak, Natalie Holz, Melissa Bogusch, Jennifer Lowe, Bill Keller, Holly Harper, Sarah Evans, Jen Beatty, Emily Bruzzini, Sarah Shulman, Lyndsey Rankin, Jenni Grover, Emily Lang, and Katie Cooper

Fiona’s baby quilt, 2020. Measures 60”x60”

Laura Hartrich 3/21/22 Laura Hartrich 3/21/22

Secondhand Triangle Jitters

In the spring of 2020, shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I wanted to do some pure comfort sewing in the form of a quick project. It so happened that Suzy Quilts was having a sale to benefit, New Moms Chicago a great organization local to both of us. I also had a little stack of fabrics from The Economy Shop, an iconic resale shop nearby that exists to support even more local charities. It seemed like a perfect fit. I bought several patterns in the sale but reached first for Triangle Jitters. I had seen and loved Suzy’s neutral striped version and wanted to try stripes in mine too.

I ran out of the skinny blue and red striped fabric, and since it was secondhand there was no way to buy more. I thought about bringing in a third fabric but instead decided to make some of my own stripes. See if you can find them. :) These colors don’t feel like what I’d normally be drawn to but I love these for some reason. I love how soft and worn-in they look.

I quilted this with a simple grid, and then added ties. This was the first time I had ever tied a quit and it cured me of the notion that tying is an “easier” way to quilt. My fingers begged to differ. But I do love the look and feel of ties. So it was worth it. I made the throw size of this pattern, and it measures 54”x60”. Mitch Hopper took final photos for me.

Laura Hartrich 3/20/22 Laura Hartrich 3/20/22

Disappearing Nine Patch and Leftover Stars

This quilt was born from a pile of scraps and patchwork left over from another project. I often make more patchwork than ends up going into a particular piece, and that was the case for this mini quilt I made for a guild swap. Once that mini was finished, I had some blocks left, and I was still really loving the color palette. I decided to keep going. I made some standard nine patch blocks and some disappearing nine patch blocks, just having fun with the scraps and the colors. Finally I gave each block a partial border in varying widths. This quilt gets a lot of use on our couch. It’s a good lap size. Molly Kohler quilted it for me. Mitch Hopper took final pictures. It measures 55”x71”.