Jennifer Haston Quilts

The Party is Over

I love sharing our home with friends. The day after one of our biggest parties ever, my husband I were outside getting motivated to clean. The cooler had a few ice cold seed beers left in it. We cracked a couple open and sat down. Willie Nelson’s song “The Party’s Over” was playing. We replayed the great time we had with our friends. It was a perfect summer’s day, the perfect moment. I knew I had to make this quilt.

Previous to the party, I purchased a new vintage quilting book. It had a page with pieced letters that I wanted to use. I loved this message because it would always have a good memory, and it’s the perfect end of night message that anyone could relate to. Some quilts I make for myself. Some quilts I make thinking I might try to sell. My intention was to sell this one. I did not. It’s too nostalgic.

When I finished this quilt our country had elected a new president. Putting pictures of this quilt on social media made me realize that others could read a different meaning behind these words. Timing is everything.

Cumberland Plateau

The Cumberland Plateau is one of my favorite places in Tennessee. My husband’s ancestors were original settlers in Fall Creek Falls area. Before I met my husband, I had recurring dreams that I was in a place similar to Spencer. When he took me there for the first time, it felt like I had been there before. I’m not sure how I feel about past lives, but I’m am pretty sure there is a connection. When thinking about past lives we often wonder if we were a priestess, or priest, rich or poor, good or bad. I prefer to think about the land that might have held us.

When I am in walking among the trees, or driving through the plateau landscape, it’s about the color green. From a distance, off towards the horizon, everything is blue.

Cry, Cry, Cry

There are two kinds of tears that I cry. Crying can be sad, but better are the tears of joy. I made “Cry,Cry,Cry” for the needs of both. No matter what is happening in our country, there is no denying the beauty of our landscape. Nature is very important to me. This quilt sees, smells, and eats up all the beauty. Sometimes life can be difficult. Sad crying is best done under a nurturing quilt. This quilt is a crying quilt.

Babes in the Woods

I was visiting Mount Saint Helens, Wa. On the drive to the visitor center, we past tall evergreens planted by Warehouser. Because they were planted, they made a repeated pattern that made me dizzy. It was almost artificial. The majestic evergreens looked like giant, powerful soldiers marching in waves of green.

Back in Tennessee, I was driving through McMinnville. McMinnville is the nursery capital of the world. Tennessee’s beauty is softer than Washington’s. The rolling hills of McMinnville are covered with quiet rows of nursery trees. McMinnville, TN

There is an old song called Babes in the Woods. The song is about babies getting lost in the Woods. The song changed my vision off this quilt as I was working on it.

Finding Myself Within Patterns

My parents stressed the importance of taking care of yourself. This included skills like sewing, cooking, and growing things. My father grew up on a farm in Arkansas. At night the family came together and helped making quilts. It was survival. My mother grew up making her doll clothes and baby doll blankets. She emphasized perfection as she walked me through seam allowance.

In middle school classes were offered in wood shop and home economics. Middle School was inline with what my family valued. My mother and I bonded over many hours in fabric shops. My first skirt I made in school was a blue and white calico ruffled skirt. Wearing my skirt to school for the first time was a proud moment. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn the complexity of making at such a young age.

My sister-in-law introduced me to quilting. I am grateful for my mom’s perfection, but quilting allows me freedom that sewing clothes did not allow me. Traditional Quilting has patterns to follow as clothes do, but I have found away around the rules. It’s a balance between historical designs, and playing with contemporary approaches.

Black and White Cat Quilt

My favorite! Half way through I thought that maybe I should have bought black and white striped fabric, but As I start to play with varying the stripe size, I like the irregular lines.

The Circus Trip

The Circus Trip is technically a collaboration between my husband and I, but I have a hard time think about it like that. So much of myself goes into making a quilt. He had a sketch that I worked from. I altered it, and the amount of work it takes to sew a quilt top, that does not follow a grid, far out ways his effort. I give Brady Haston 5-10% of the collaboration credit.

I learn from every quilt I make. The Elephant gallery had a call for a clown show. Due to a deadline, I learned pretty quick I would not be able to hand appliqué all the extra parts. I inherited a sewing machine from my mother that had a stitch that resembled my appliqué stitches. I used a combination of hand appliqué, and machine appliqué to get the quilt finished in time for the show. I still prefer working by hand, but excited about what the machine can do.

It’s fun for me to work on a quilt that focus on patterns, and then switch to one that has content. I feel the same way about making a quilt to fit someone’s personality, or vision, versus making a quilt that comes solely from my own aesthetic, conceptual. I don’t feel confined.

Rex Burned His Fancy Pants

I learn from every quilt I make. I think of this quilt as my breakthrough quilt. This started out as a star of Bethlehem quilt. It looked boring. I wasn’t happy with how it was going. I cut up the parts I had finished, sewed on new portions, and scraps. Diamonds came alive. I feel like this is the quilt that opened my world. Some people find this to hard to look at. I see is energy, and fearless freedom.

Rex was wearing his fancy pants he bought while traveling in Asia. We were sitting around the fire when a cinder caught his pants on fire. Beers, friends, fancy pants, and a backyard fire made for many laughs. I thought his pants were black and white striped. In the dark of the night I could not tell that they were navy blue.

Meow Meow

I had a vivid dream I was sewing a portrait of one of my cats. When I woke, I went to the sewing machine, and sewed a picture of Daisy Mae. I originally thought wall hanging, but soon figured out how to put her in a quilt.Daisy Mae and her brother Jasper.My first time using a mixed fabric binding. I was on a budget, and decided to use my fabric stash I already had. I was pleased how it turned out.