Home from a retreat

Having just returned from a wonderful four-night stay at an artist retreat at the lovely Bishop’s Ranch west of Healdsburg CA, my brain is slow to jump back into the fast-paced world of blogging, but I will make the effort.  It was wonderful to spend an extended period of time in the company of all the talented and fascinating writers and quilters who made the trek to Sonoma County.

Here’s what the inspiring view through our workroom doors looked like in the morning, with the fog all down the valley just beginning to burn off:

On to quilt talk . . .

While I was away, my husband slept under this quilt, which is another in the “seemed to make itself ” category.  I wanted to make a quilt for Paul using his favorite color blue, and had been experimenting with triangle paper.  (I guess that’s about the fewest possible criteria for the beginning of a quilt.)  I found this pattern, the Double X, and used it for this quilt only because I could make exactly three blocks from the triangles generated from one sheet of triangle paper.

Double X, 2001                       78″ x 89″                 Photography by Sibila Savage

I made piles of all my blue and yellow fabrics, started pairing them up, and  made the triangles in record time.  Then I got to  play with all the great fabrics I could use for the centers of the blocks.

The real challenge for this quilt was the choice of fabric/color for the posts in the sashing.  I auditioned dozens of swatches, and nothing worked until this dark gold was tried, which made the whole quilt come together.

I have many quilts that  hang on my walls, but this one is a “utility quilt”, the appellation reserved for the ones we actually use.  I love these ones just as much.  Now a dozen years old, it has served us well.

A comment on the name:

Often I can understand the name given to  a quilt block pattern that has been handed down for generations.  I don’t understand this one.  I don’t see an X.  If anyone else has ideas, please let me know.

And

wish I was still here for sunset

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