First & Last with Jenny Lyon on Off the Wall Friday

Jenny

Because me making half square triangles for my Homeward Bound quilt is not very interesting, this week we will continue on with the First & Last Quilt series featuring Jenny Lyon.  Let me preface this with I love Jenny so what follows is absolutely biased.  Still, it's my blog, so I guess that's okay. 

I have been reading Jenny's blog for years and love how she'll detail the true ins and outs of getting a piece done.  With Jenny, she's always happy to give you a peek behind the curtain so you can really see how the sausage is made!  It's been a true pleasure to watch her develop into a nationally known teacher and author.  

First

This is what Jenny calls her "Re-Entry" quilt.  Re-entry since this was her second start at quilting when she finally settled in California.  

She writes, " I saw this at a local quilt shop, signed up for the class, and made the quilt. I didn’t really know how to free-motion quilt. My stitches are uneven; the holes are huge because I used some gigantic needle; there are tucks and uneven distribution of quilting density. The kicker is the tension – horrible! But I still love that quilt."

Last

Morning Breeze, Jenny Lyon

Morning Breeze, Detail, Jenny Lyon

"Morning Breeze is most representative of my style of whole cloth. It represents the drought-tolerant plantings in my yard. This quilt has wool batting and black 50 wt on the top with 100 wt light gray silk thread on the back. The wool gives bad tension no place to hide. My tension had to be dead. on. perfect. And it is."

What I love about this series, is that you can see how the artist develops her voice and what she finds passionate in quilting.  If you want to learn how to free-motion quilt, I highly you suggest you track down one of Jenny's classes. (She's got a full schedule!)   Or buy her book.  Also, she is teaching a week-long fmq class at Marc Adams School of Woodworking.  Spending the week with Jenny sounds like heaven!

Thanks, Jenny for sharing your work.  As always, you're an inspiration.

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