Did You Make a Lot of Quilts in the Pandemic?

A student asked me if I made a lot of quilts in the pandemic.  Here’s the weird thing.  I didn’t really know.  The way time has felt, during the pandemic, in the “pre-mature re-opening times,” and in the “after times” has been different than in the before times.  A lot of people felt like time moved at a different rate during the pandemic.  One of my kids said that this year flew by, and feels like the first year that went at regular speed.

I know I made some quilts in 2019. I made this one out of found blocks by two different makers:

Collaboration with Unknown Quilters, by Elaine Luther, 2019

That one is still a quilt top, not yet finished. In part because I hadn’t get decided how to do the top quilting. Now I have an idea for some free-motion quilting on that piece, but don’t have the skill for it. So I need to build that skill or send this one out. The size on that one is slightly smaller than a twin.  I wrote about my personal rules for working with found quilt blogs in this post.

And I made this one, in May 2020:

Wool Improv Quilt by Elaine Luther

That one is also still unfinished. It doesn’t need a backing, but I think it would be nice with a flannel backing. There are some technical issues with that one – how to attach the backing and not interfere with the top stitching that’s already there. The size on this is couch throw size.  There’s a post on the making of this quilt, here.

I made these quilt banners in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd:

Small Protest Flag, Copyright Elaine Luther 2020. Cotton fabric, batting and thread.

Blood and Fire – a Response to the Deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Copyright Elaine Luther 2020.
Approximately 29″ square. Quilting cotton fabric, batting, thread.

If I wasn’t Quilting in the Pandemic, What was I Doing?

For me, the pandemic was a time when I had more time for art, not less. I know a lot of folks didn’t have that experience. In the pandemic, when I had silly/fun/crazy ideas, I had fewer reasons not to try them. And friends and family encouraged me to go for it.

That’s when I started the micro gallery, in February of 2021. And when I started the time cards project, Clocking in for Unpaid Labor.

I posted about the call for participation in the time cards project in some membership groups I’m in and the response was so positive, and strong, that I went ahead and posted the call publicly, here on the blog, and on a few sites where you can post calls for art, such as the Chicago Artists Coalition, and maybe Curator Space.

That really took off and by January of 2023, there was a large group show of the time cards at the Orland Park Public Library. The initial display of the time cards was part of my solo show in May 2022 at the Compassion Factory in Brookfield, IL.

Clocking in for Unpaid Labor Show at Orland Park Public Library. Front lobby display cases at the library in Orland Park, IL.

Here’s that initial display at the Compassion Factory:

“Your Turn” wall of time cards sent in by women artists. Part of the Clocking in for Unpaid Labor Project by Elaine Luther, as installed at the Compassion Factory in Brookfield, IL, May 2022.

The time cards had started in 2021, when I made the first ones while at the Grand Marais Art Colony, at an independent residency there. I made one for each day of the week, on a different theme, plus possibly an 8th one, just because it worked out that way.

“Cooking,” “Entertaining” and “Sewing/Lessons” timecards for mothers, by Elaine Luther, 2021.

“Childcare,” “Mending” and “Escape,” three collages on time cards for mothers, by Elaine Luther, 2021.

I continued with the theme:

Six days of the week timecard-matchbox works by Elaine Luther. Copyright Elaine Luther 2021.

I love these little matchboxes from 2021, with some bits of time cards. The little one with the mother and baby that says “Total” inspired this piece:

“Total (the All Sacrificing Mother)” Medal by Elaine Luther, Copyright 2021.

That piece is in the Medals that You Wouldn’t Want to Earn series and has sold. (That’s the only one in the series to be sold, one was given as a gift, and also a duplicate made, with the okay of the recipient. I’m keeping the group together to show them as a group, and at least one is too personal to sell.)

In 2022, for my solo show at the Backspace Gallery at NIU, I tried time cards on canvas:

Side wall at NIU’s Backspace Gallery, show by Elaine Luther. Timecards plus three more circles. Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL, 2022.

Each one is collaged with one of my lists of things “accomplished today” or to do lists. These are real lists from my phone.

When did the pandemic end? I just googled that, and it says that May 5, 2023, is when the WHO declared and ened to the global Public Health Emergency.

By that standard, some of my quilting and labor related artworks (that do not contain timecards) were done after the pandemic.

Quilts I’ve made since the end of the pandemic include this little couch throw, made with my daughter:

The finished quilt, in its new home, on the couch! It’s 48″ x 53″.

Plus another quilt top that’s done and ready to be sent out to the long armer, for personal use, and the entire Love & Money Series, that I started in late 2023 and finished this year. You can read about those in this recent blog post.

What about you?

What did you make during the pandemic? Did you take up new crafts? Rekindle your work on old ones?