Anne O'Donnell's Alphabet Quilt on the Set of Luna Gale

Apart from my habit of sewing backstage, and on breaks, my two worlds of acting and quilting rarely overlap. But here, on the set of Luna Gale, overlap they do!

Some of the most poignant scenes in this play take place in a visiting room at the Department of Human Services. It's a playroom, where parents and children in complicated and difficult situations can spend time together in a safe environment.

Our truly brilliant set designer Todd Rosenthal filled this room with colorful toys, kids books, and teddybears, and painted the walls with great big colorful murals. This room is like a ray of sunshine.

Todd Rosenthal's set for Luna Gale - DHS visitation room

And on the wall..
is this lovely alphabet quilt, by Anne O'Donnell!

Alphabet Quilt by Anne O'Donnell on the set of Luna Gale at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

Anyone who knows anything about quilting knows that making a quilt is not a quick project, and seldom is it an easy one. Having this wonderful piece of craftsmanship present on the set is one of the many details that help tell the story with precision, clarity, and truth. Such attention to detail!

And speaking of details....

Through the miracles of social media, I got in touch with Ms. O'Donnell, and she graciously agreed to answer a few questions - my first interview for this blog! :)

So here goes!


Rd: First of all, how did this lovely alphabet quilt find it's way onto our set?

Anne: The alphabet quilt was purchased by the Goodman Theatre's properties department from my Etsy shop about a year ago. It's as simple as that. I kind of had a clue from the address that it wasn't a typical buyer, but when I asked what its intended use was I didn't get a reply. My friend Melissa has season tickets to the Goodman, so she was my go-to source for info on the quilt's fate. We looked at the upcoming plays and figured Luna Gale was the most likely one to need a baby quilt. Melissa saw the play early in its run and said "your quilt is prominently displayed in Act 2! It looks beautiful. Oh, and the play's really good, too!" At some point I contacted someone in the Goodman's publicity department about getting official set photos, and she graciously sent me a link so I could see how the quilt looked on stage. I was thrilled!

Rd: Well, I'm certainly thrilled to have a little quilt action mixed in to this project!
I understand that this is not your first alphabet quilt - what is it about alphabet quilts that you find fascinating?

AO: I am very fond of alphabet quilts. I'm a librarian, so there's that. Also I like word quilts. Not quilts with words written on them, but word blocks. The book Word Play Quilts by Tanya Ricucci is a big inspiration. I like the idea of a quilt being used to teach literacy skills to a child or anyone. My other alphabet quilt is called Abstract Alphabet and it's my personal favorite. The letters are pieced, using a lot of half-square-triangles.

Rd: I know that book! I've been meaning to try it out. I'm all about techniques that involve no precise measuring! Can you tell me a little about the Chicago School of Fusing?

AO: The Chicago School of Fusing is a fun project by Laura Wasilowski, an art quilter who makes amazing fused fabric creations. She owns Artfabrik in Elgin IL, where she sells her hand-dyed fabric and thread. She also teaches workshops. I took a fusing class from her - my one and only quilting class so far - and she's a very fun instructor. (She sings.) Anyone who completes one of her classes is admitted to the Chicago School of Fusing, and you get a little badge in the shape of an iron. It was in her class that I learned the fusing technique I used in the Luna Gale quilt. And I used Laura's fabric, too.

Rd: Using hand-dyed fabric really gives a project an extra layer of magic!
You belong to a Librarian Quilter's Group - that's a very specific group! Can you tell me a little about it?

AO: The Library Quilter's Show is a group of about 7 former and current library staffers who send our quilts on a several-months-long traveling show that goes on display at several Chicago-area public and university libraries. It is currently at the Downer's Grove Public Library. I have two quilts in the show this time. My good quilting buddies Iva and Roleeta are also in it. The coordinator of the group is Jo Mortland. btw, Jo's daughter recently moved to NYC to pursue her acting career.

Rd: Best of luck to Jo's Daughter! (I'm sure I'll run into you in some casting office waiting room!) How long have you been quilting, and how did you get started?

AO: I've been quilting for about 20 years. I started when I was pregnant with my older son who is now a sophomore in college. I had not had any exposure to quilts at that point. No one in my family quilted, and we didn't have any around the house (horrors!) except one odd, heavy little quilt made of pink satin squares; I never knew where it came from. My sister-in-law Liz gave me an adorable baby quilt as a gift, and I fell in love with it. The fabrics were so appealing, it was all cotton, and the techniques looked like something I could handle, so I jumped right in and made a really ugly bedspread. I learned a lot from that project! and the rest is history. I have Liz and my mother (who was a dressmaker and always encouraged me to sew) to thank for my discovery and love of quilting.

Rd: (Hurray for ugly first projects <3) What is the quilting scene in Chicago like? Are there places you would recommend for a visiting quilter to check out?

AO: The quilting scene in Chicago is lively, and I don't pretend to know everything about it since I live in the burbs. There are three guilds that I know of: IQI (Illinois Quilters Inc.), Chicago Modern Quilt Guild, and the Northwest Suburban Quilters Guild. Faith Jones of freshlemonsquilts is in the suburbs. I've mentioned Laura Wasilowski. There are several big quilt shows every year (besides the Library Quilters :-): the International Quilt Festival in Rosemont in the spring, the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Schaumburg, also in the spring. And IQI's Fine Art of Fiber at the Chicago Botanic Garden in November. There are local quilt shops: Quilter's Destination in Arlington Heights, Quilter's Heaven in Northbrook, Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop in Fox River Grove, and a Touch of Amish in Barrington. As far as places to go, I can tell you from personal experience that quilters have a nose for quilts, and wherever quilters go, quilts will be there. I have never gone anywhere and not encountered a quilt or a quilt shop right in my path. It's pretty funny, actually.

Rd: Yes, anytime I travel anywhere, first thing I do is find all the quilt shops. It is ridiculous. :)

Thank you so much for the interview, Anne!!

You can see the alphabet quilt live on stage in Luna Gale through Dec 21st, and be sure to check out her Etsy shop!

Thanks for reading!
All the best,
Reyna

Kirk Douglas Theatre by night

Los Angeles Adventures

I'm extremely pleased to announce that the play I worked on at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago last winter, 'Luna Gale' is going up at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles! If you happen to be in town, tix are on sale, and previews start tonight!

It's an absolutely amazing script by Rebecca Gilman, directed by the totally tubular Bob Falls, and I'm thrilled to be reunited with the entire original Chicago cast.

People ask me what it's about, and I'm terrible at summaries, but this video they put together really gets at the heart of it:

I'm going to be walking out the door to go do our first preview in less than an hour - what a strange feeling! We did the play for over a month when it was at the Goodman last winter, and we've had three weeks (2 in Chicago, and 1 here in LA) to get it back on it's feet, so I think it is definitely ready for this first preview audience. I'm so proud of the play, and I'm so proud to be working with all these brilliant people, I really am having a wonderful time, but it's a demanding and complicated play - these last few hours before curtain are like looking down at whitewater rapids just before pushing your raft into the water.

But, backing up a little....

FIRST, before I left NY, I had to pack up a bunch of blocks for me to sew while I'm away! I brought my entire thread collection... I'm picky about colors. :)

packing blocks for LA

I won't be back in NYC (where all my supplies and stash is) until the beginning of January - I designed, cut, and packed up 18 blocks - all ready for piecing - I think that will be plenty! So many sandwich bags!

THEN, I got on a plane and flew away from NYC...

TTFN NYC!

Next stop was Chicago, where we rehearsed for 2 weeks.

OMW to rehearsal, back at the Good ol' Goodman

So great to be reunited with the team - these people are amazing! (Yes, I do get paid every time I use the word 'amazing'.)

Lunch with the cast (counter-clockwise from L): Jordan Baker, Colin Sphar, Richard Theiriot, Melissa DuPrey (picture-taker front and center), Erik Hellman, me, and Mary Beth Fisher

THEN, we got on a plane, and flew to ridiculous Southern California

ridiculous LA - Marina del Rey

While everyone I know is freezing their fingers off in NY and Chicago, we're parading around in shorts. (Actually, I failed to pack shorts because the idea of shorts in November... I just didn't believe.)

obligatory selfie at the beach

We're staying at these apartments that are literally 5 minutes (walking) to the beach... and this is what the walk looks like...

going to catch sunset at the pier

Our venue, the Kirk Douglas Theatre, used to be an old movie theatre! Check out how cool it looks!

Kirk Douglas Theatre

Check out the adorable box office out front!

Kirk Douglas old school box office

And it lights up like some sort of magical ice palace at night... I'll get more pictures of it's nighttime look soon.

Kirk Douglas by night - our amazing director, Bob Falls took this picture.

Bringing it all back to quilting..

I've been so busy with all the traveling and rehearsal and whatnot, I've so far only completed 1 of the 18 blocks that I've packed.

New block: Appropriately sunshiny colors for my first week in California!

So, now it's getting to be about time for me to walk out the door and go do this crazy show!

(I always like to be way early.)

Wish me broken legs!

And thanks for reading!

All the best,

Reyna

Astronomical Quilt at the Houston Festival

For those of you who are just tuning in,

during her time on the International Space Station,
Astronaut Karen Nyberg hand-peiced a very cool star block...

... and then invited all of us quilters everywhere to contribute our own star-themed blocks to be combined with hers into a big global community space quilt to be displayed at the International Quilt Festival in Houston! (<3 <3 <3 <3 <3) If you haven't yet, you must watch the video invite.

In the end
the project received 2,260 blocks! 
They had to make 28 panels to fit them all!
How fabulous is THAT!

To my extreme delight, they chose to put my block in the main panel (of the 28)
just a few blocks over from Karen Nyberg's! (When I found this out, I pretty much squealed and ran around my apartment like a little kid.)

Here's Astronaut Nyberg at the festival with the finished piece!

Astronaut Karen Nyberg with the completed Astronomical Quilt!

This picture makes me grin so big, I can't even deal with it! :) 

Astronaut Nyberg's block is the red white and blue one in the center, and mine is just to the right..
well, mine looks like this:

more deets/pictures here

I really wish I could've gone to visit the festival, and seen all 28 panels, but sadly that just wasn't in the cards for me. 

Luckily, my friends Emily Klainberg and Deborah Bingham were in attendance, and were kind enough to send me some pictures! (Thanks so much you guys!!!)

There's my block! And there's Astronaut Nyberg's!!!

all-over star quilting in the mix

Furthermore

the festival posted a gallery on the website of 48 of the Astronomical Blocks along with the correspondence that accompanied them. There are some really amazing letters and stories - you gotta check it out! I can't recommend enough!

Here are a few of my favorites:

This one is by Ilana Spanier. 

The seven points commemorate the 7 astronauts of the Columbia Space Shuttle.

Astronomical Block by Ilana Spanier

This one is by Dana Saxon, PhD, it's the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram! So cool!

Astronomical Block by Dana Saxon, PhD

This next one is by Marianne LaFarge. I love the view of Spain!

Astronomical Block by Marianne LaFarge

And this last one is by Jan Meredith in honour of her father who worked on instrumentation on Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.

Astronomical Block by Jan Meredith

There are really a lot more. You've just gotta check out the gallery and read the letters. Very cool. 

Once again, I'm so glad that I got to contribute to this project. 

Space exploration and the amazing explorers who do the exploring are a great source of inspiration to me. When I made my block, I felt like I was writing a thank-you letter for that, and I'm sure that's true for most, if not all, of the 2,260 quilters who participated. 

Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Reyna

Astronaut-Quilter Karen Nyberg sewing aboard the ISS <3

6 Completed Blocks: Eggs, Moths, Owls etc

Well, the last 2 months have been so busy, I have several post that I've been meaning to make, but just haven't had any spare time. Now that I've got a minute, I can't decide where to start, so I'm going to keep it simple for now and share the 6 blocks that I've completed since my last post - all in the new palette I talked about last time.

I'm especially proud of this first block.

'String of Pearls' - 61 pieces, edges finishing at 3.75",
designed specifically for this egg print with the Reverse Window Shopping technique 

I've been calling it 'String of Pearls' and I think of Marge Simpson every time.

The block design was inspired by this egg print - I used the Reverse Window Shopping technique to single out individual eggs.

Martha Negley Westwood Egg Linen

Ended up being 61 pieces. Yikes! It took forever, but I enjoyed the process!

'String of Pearls' with Eggs, detail

And then after that I needed a break so I went with something nice and simple.

This next one makes me think of the windows at my friend Jim's historic farm house in New Hampshire.

Jim's Windows - setting the table

So I'm nicknaming it 'Jim's Windows'.

'Jim's Windows' in lavender and grey

(I'm currently working on designing a block in honour of his diningroom table - more on that soon.)

This next one I made as part of my 2nd round of the Hexatopia class at the City Quilter (more on THAT soon! so behind on my posts!)

And then this one I made with the Reverse Window Shopping Technique, isolating these Tim Holtz moths.

Moths - designed with the Reverse Window Shopping technique

Last, but not least is one that my sister Tahli nicknamed for me,
it's called 'Ancient Alien Technology'

'Ancient Alien Technology'

It's one that I'm really looking forward to trying with different prints.

That's all for now, but hopefully in the near future I'll be posting with follow-up about Karen Nyberg's Astronomical Quilt, as well as news of my current out-of-town adventures in Chicago and Los Angeles, and a loonnnng overdue post about my 2nd round teaching Hexatopia at the CQ.

Thanks for reading!
All the best,
Reyna

New Project, New Palette, New Scale, New Blocks

Like so many of us, I suffer from a bit of project ADD.

The blocks I've been posting so far are all for a quilt I'm calling "Experiment Year 2014" (more on that quilt later), but I've pretty much completed all the fun parts (designing and piecing the blocks), and now it's a matter of putting it all together so...
naturally I just had to go ahead and start a whole new quilt. :)

Picking out the palette is definitely one of my favorite parts.
I'd been mulling over this idea for some time, so it was really great to finally pull out my stash and put it together.

Basically, the idea I wanted to play with is to take two distinctly different palettes and jam them together into one quilt.

So for the first palette, I wanted to go with something soft, and reserved...

1st Palette: Emphasis Lavender

I dug out all my lavenders, greys and a handful of select creams.
I'm really hoping to emphasize the lavender, but I don't have too many in my stash, and I'm feeling very picky on the hue: on the grey/blue side rather than the pink/plum side.

For my second palette, what I wanted to do was something inspired by the some of the brighter fabrics from Ghana, but then I was also spending a lot of time looking at Guatemalan fabrics...
I'm slightly disappointed that what I came up with looks more like the Skittles palette ... but that's a bit harsh, and actually I really like it.

2nd Palette: Brights

There's bright reds, burgundies, tangerines, pumpkins, marigolds, limes, kelly greens, dark royal blues, and then I couldn't help but throw in some chartreuse to muck it up a little.

And then I JAMMED them together!

Palette for my new project: jamming together disparate palettes

Another new development: up until now I've been making blocks with sides finishing at 3", but I've decided that one third of the blocks in this quilt will be larger, with sides finishing at 3.75"

So far I've made 4 blocks in this new palette, 3 are in the new size. Bigger = more room for more detail.

Four new blocks!

All sliced up! I kept this design simple, because I want to frame this angel

She's reading '100 Years of Solitude' out loud to a murmuration of starlings as they rest on a telephone wire

I've been calling this block Spinning Bricks

Spinning Bricks with ravens

All sliced up! I've been calling this one Birds Nest

Birds Nest

Swamp Angel, Hexagon Variation (Yep, that's you Melody Miller! Love these Mustangs!)

That's all for now!

Thanks for reading!

All the best,

Reyna

Class Announcement: 'Hexatopia' returning to the CQ in September

I'm happy to announce that I will once again be teaching

the 'Hexatopia' class at The City Quilter in NYC!
We'll be English Paper Piecing Unusual Hexagonal Blocks

The class will be 3 sessions this time: 

Thursday nights, 5pm - 8pm, 

September 4th, 11th, and 25th.

As I say in my official blurb, the class is designed to liberate and empower your English Paper Piecing adventures! We will be leaving basic store-bought shapes in the dust, and instead draw from an infinite vocabulary of polygons to create intricate hexagonal blocks!

Although we will spend time exploring traditional-style hexagonal blocks, the emphasis of the class will be on tweaking those traditional blocks to make them unique to the individual quilter, and most of all, improvising entirely new ones unlike the quiltiverse has ever seen!


Notes on experience level:

Interested students should be already confident with basic English Paper Piecing. 

Luckily, it's a super-simple technique that anyone can pick up quickly. 

Check out this video, and you'll see what I mean. 

Students should also be comfortable working with small pieces, small stitches, and understand that (as with all hand-sewing), best results come with plenty of time and care. 

The good news is that

THERE WILL BE NO MATH INVOLVED. 

You won't even need to use the numbers on your ruler unless you really want to. (I don't.)

Some more specifics about what we will be doing:

On the 1st day we will warm up by drafting simple, traditional-style blocks, get comfortable with this system of working (all the things I learned the hard way), and play with fabric selection and fussycutting.

The 2nd day will be tweaking the shapes and lines of those traditional blocks to make them more unique, and most importantly, improvising entirely new ones!

We will spend most of the 3rd day exploring the Reverse Window Shopping technique that I used to design the Strawberry block from my first post, and the Montpelier Ducks block. We'll also take some time to talk about ideas for projects one might make from the finished blocks.

Deets:

Again, the class will be 3 sessions:

Thursday nights, 5pm - 8pm, 

September 4th, 11th, and 25th.

All sessions will be held at
The City Quilter
133 W 25th Street NYC
(btn 6th and 7th avenues)

To sign up, you can call the CQ at 212-807-0390
Or just stop by. (Hours and directions here.)

Supplies:

In the interest of including absolutely everything there is to know about the class, I thought I'd go ahead and publish the supply list here.

Most items are available at the store and can be picked up before class.
Items that the CQ does NOT carry are marked with an asterisk*

- Precut paper pieces: 3.75" Hexagons, Small Pack of 12 pieces
    (If you already have hexagons in your stash, any hexagons with sides between 3" and 4.5" are great.
- Colored pencils*
- Something to use as a straight-edge - at least 7" long, but try to avoid anything longer than 15"
    (The Creative Grid non-slip acrylic rulers are ideal)
- Regular ol' pencil with a good eraser*
- X-Acto knife*
- Pins
- Needles: applique sharps
- Fabric scissors (small ones are nice for this)
- Paper scissors*
- Non-fancy thread for basting (whatever you've got laying around)
- Cotton thread for piecing (we will discus thread color selection in class, but bring a selection from your stash if you've got 'em)

Fabric:
Quilting weight cotton (avoid batiks to start)

We will be using small pieces in this class, so if you've got a stash of fat quarters and scraps, go ahead and bring a whole bunch! (Look especially for blenders, tone-on-tones, solids, and small-scale prints that you'd be excited to fussy-cut.)

If you are shopping for the class, go ahead and get:
- 1/4 yrd or more of 1 or more interesting small-scale prints (for fussycutting!)
- 1/16 or more of 3 or more blenders or solids that look nice with the prints


And that's everything I can think of to tell you about the class!
Let me know if you have any questions!

As always, thanks for reading!!!
All the best,
Reyna

Portrait of the Astronaut as a Young Girl

I did it!
I finished it!
(If you don't know what I'm talking about..)

Just as I imagined, it was completed at the very last minute - specifically, 3am the night before it had to go in the mail. I was working on a film all day, so actually my ever-so-helpful sweetheart partner David had to overnight the block for me. (Thanks David! <3)

I call it 'Portrait of the Astronaut as a Young Girl'
(9" finished)

My block for Karen Nyberg's Astronomical Quilts Block Challenge

I call it 'Portrait of the Astronaut as a Young Girl'

(9" finished)

The title is meant to be open to interpretation: perhaps it's our quilter/astronaut/heroine Karen Nyberg as a young girl (hence the light-colored hair), or perhaps this is the young stargazer who is destined to one day be the first human to set foot on Mars, or maybe it's all of us together, looking up at the great frontier.

Some details:

This block was all English Paper Pieced, and if my count is correct, there are 101 pieces.

It involved 17 different prints (2 skin-tones although you can't really tell), and something like 13 different colors of thread.

I have no idea how many hours it took, but I made it through more than one season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer during the process - that is, when I wasn't sewing on the subway. :)

Here's some pics from the process:

drafting the young astronaut and her star...

lines are all in!

this is the neck piece - easily the tiniest piece I've ever dared

tiny pieces, big mess

I called this section the Girl Zone - yes, I needed a big loan

sewing and Buffy - pretty much a perfect evening
(Dear Mallory and Erin, I usually have your art up on the wall, but both pieces fell recently,
and I'm working on a better hanging system - they live on my desk until then)

I took this picture at 3am when all of the pieces finally came together!
but I fell asleep before I could get the basting out

all the pieces out! all 101 of them

I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to participate in this project, and that I got this complicated block done on time! So many of my projects go unfinished, or end up taking years and years to complete. It could be just the magic of having a deadline that made this possible, or the fact that this is a bit smaller than most of my projects, but mostly I think that I was driven to make this block because I LOVE space exploration sooo much, and this felt like a small way to participate. I realize that I also sort of think of it as a thank-you letter to all the space explorers out there for doing what they do. I believe in my heart that space exploration will help drive human evolution toward a brighter future, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

Thanks for reading!

Big love!

-Reyna