On-Demand Quilter

18 months I purchased a large 2 headed dragon print cloth at our local World Beat Festival.

My youngest daughter just HAD to have it.
The price was reasonable and she was next on the quilt list.
I thought at the time this would be an easy piece to try a Whole Cloth Quilt with.


I don't fancy myself a
REAL quilter.
I don't seek out quilt shops.
I don't stop at every small town quilt store.
I don't have several quilt projects on a shelf or in the closet in various stages.

I consider myself an ON-DEMAND quilter.
I make quilts as they are demanded of me by my family and friends.

I've lost track of how many quilts I have made.
Counting my 8 kids, 2 grand kids, large extended family, and a few friends, I can remember a couple dozen plus quilts designed and completed.


I say designed because I have never bought a quilt pattern.
Nor have I ever belonged to a Quilt of the Month class or program.
My quilts are ... on-demand.
I say on-demand because I don't know what else to call it.

I make quilts for a specific person, purpose, or cause.
The quilts take on a life of their own, a meaning all to themselves, and are quite personal.
They each present challenges in various ways and always kick my ass when I have to do the math calculations.

This latest quilt was no different.
What at first thought was a quick and easy Whole Cloth Quilt has turned out to be an 18 month,
thought provoking,
fabric hunting,
design search,
process of finding the answers to my daughters on-demand quilt.

To understand my dilemma I should let you know it began with my daughter's love of all things Japanese.
Where this love and passion of hers has come from, I have no idea.
I was born and raised in Kansas.
She was born and raised in Nebraska, (at least until the last few years.)
We think of ourselves as small town, meat and potato, kind of folks.
We haven't traveled the world.
Heck, outside of driving I-80 to and from the plain states to Oregon,
we haven't traveled much at all.
I didn't even own a passport until 6 months ago, and I have yet to use my passport.
None the less, her love and passion is strong and I want to design a quilt that will please her.

After explaining what a whole cloth quilt was, she was less than thrilled with my idea.
She wanted to pick out fabrics, have me cut them up, and sew them back together again.
At age 11, she had an idea of what she wanted for the 'other' side of the dragon piece.
So we went to Fabric Depot.
I tried to steer her to fabrics I imagined would compliment the piece.
I tried to encourage,
guide,
persuade,
and strongly suggest particular fabrics.
Clearly, I have raised headstrong, determined, no nonsense young women.
We walked out of the store with the most puzzling, challenging pieces of fabric I have yet to work with.
As anxious as #8 was for me to get started, I was uncertain of even how to begin.
So I sat on the project for a while.
A very long while in the life of a young girl.
I think she had just about given up on me when I told her I was ready to start her quilt.

2010 was a difficult year and is behind me.
My youngest daughter is now 13. 
With 2011, I have a renewed determination and energy.
One of the first things on my list was to make time to be creative.

Being creative is easier for me when I step outside of my routine and comfort zone.
So I went north to my sister's house where we could both get serious about being creative.

In the past 26 hours at her house,
I came up with a design,
tried to figure the math,
had a couple glasses of Merlot,
slept on it overnight,
reworked my design,
recalculated the math,
cut fabric,
and finally took to the machine.

I arrived back home with a nearly completed quilt top seeking my daughter's approval.

I think she is delighted with it.

Now the real work Hand quilting an odd size 68X104 Asian/Dragon quilt begins.

The hand quilting is what I enjoy most.

It is also where I add the love that goes into each On-Demand quilt I design.