The quilting/sewing mojo is coming back...let's not jinx it so I will say that in a whisper "the mojo is coming back"... There, I said it. The secret, I think, is to actually pick UP the projects that need some tending to.
This little quilt, after much thought (too much for it's small size) needed to be hand quilted. A good choice, as I needed a project to drag around with me for when the oil is getting changed, or there is a scrap of free time here or there. They are not going to get finished if you just leave them behind. The hands are very winter tired, but they have been having fun winding the thread around the owls and back again.
What made the magic really return was working with these great "Wizard of Oz" fabrics. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this movie as a kid. Back in the days BEFORE VCRs and DVDs, you had to actually wait for a movie to play on TV or in the theaters to see it. Every year, I can't quite remember the season, but we would have a fun movie night at our house when the "Wizard of Oz" was playing. My mom would pop a HUGE yellow Tupperware bowl FULL of popcorn and we all would gather around the 13" screen and be enthralled for at least 2 hours. This block is for my friend Ruthie (in the Traveling Threads bee...the blocks for her quilt are pretty darn cool.) Here is my version of the scene at the beginning of the movie when Glenda takes the ruby slippers off of the witch that got squished by the house... when the legs curl up under the house... well, that was THE scariest thing that I can remember from my childhood.
THE SCARIEST!
It led to many other frightening events such as:
--screaming at the witch that popped out of a door on the front of the video arcade at the mall, and then needing to find another entrance in to the mall
--screaming at Knott's Berry Farm, while walking by a "saloon" with a fake leg in a striped stocking knocking the woodwork in an upstairs window. (I, now, know that it was supposed to be the enticing leg of a "woman of the evening" and not the wicked witch... but it looked the same to me!)
So, when this fabric greeted me in my mailbox, I had to do something to commemorate my childhood horror. What fun grown-ups get to have! Thanks Ruthie, it brought back such great memories. (It really did, I haven't been afraid of witches and/or striped stockings for MONTHS now.)
JMB
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6 comments:
What a great story to go along with that block!
that is going to be a FUN quilt. wheeee. great rolled up legs. love the hints of your quilted owls too.
Great block! I too remember the movie showing once a year! One of my favorites...
Hi Friend,
I am back to check on you in blog land. Love the fabric and how festive that you have Dorothy motif!
Yaz
I love what you did with the W of Oz fabrics. I always look at that sort of thing and I'm interested, but can't figure out what to do with them. Yes, we always anticipated the W of Oz on tv. In our neck of the woods (New England) it was on at Thanksgiving, which was always around my birthday and I couldn't wait for that movie. Kids these days have no idea how that was.
What fun! I saw it at BJs and would love to make something of it. Your block has the right touch. Thanks for the inspiring idea.
And thank you for saying hi. I loved the time spent with Gwen and her followers! Sadly, she won't return next year so I will have to wait for two years to get to see her again. I'll be envious of others between now and then LOL.
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