May Day: “May your days be beautiful like the blooms of May”

Over the weekend, June 17-20, 2020, I attended the Breath & the Clay virtual arts conference which explores the intersection of creativity and spirituality.   “The question is not what we see, but how we see”, the founder of the event, Stephen Roach writes. “This year’s theme will explore perception, in all of its many facets; how we view God, one another, ourselves and our art. The way we see impacts the art we make, the lives we live and the worlds we build. We were created to see with eyes of wonder and creative astonishment at the infinite beauty within all things. How then does art awaken us to wonder and enable us to see with new eyes?”

May Day (22” x 22”) table topper. Inspired by a Victorian brass doorknob. May be made by hand or machine reverse applique.

I share this with you by way of introducing our new pattern May Day (22” x 22”), designed for Island Batik in the Buttercup collection by Kathy Engle, spring 2020. (Look for these fabrics in your local shops in August/ September.) It was my eyes of wonder that found and created this piece of beauty.

May Day Is a little gem for reverse applique that can be done by hand or machine using our easier methods. It comes alive in classic blue and yellow.  The block itself is 16” x 16”, but once bordered it becomes a 22” table topper. The pattern, available in print or digital pdf, has complete step by step directions and a full size pattern piece. The design had one inspiration source which lead me to the pattern’s name.

Exterior of Hubbard Hall, an 1878 opera house, Cambridge, NY

The design was inspired by an architectural detail, a little tidbit, that I noticed in the 1878 vaudevillian opera house Hubbard Hall in Cambridge, NY. I then began the process of creating and transcribing it into fabric to make this quilted piece and pattern for you to enjoy.  As an aside, Hubbard Hall was the home theatre space for my contemporary dance company Margaret Wagner & Dancers, Ltd. in the 1980’s, complete with raked stage and magician’s trap door.

To find the detail that inspired May Day I had to look. It was one of those tidbit details you could easily miss for its common everyday use.  It came from a doorknob; a tiny, little object you would use every day made out of brass. You could easily just put your hand right on it, turn it, and pass through the door on your way in or out, and never see it. Practical and functional. But if you stop and notice, imminently unique and beautiful.

The floral motifs on the doorknob lead me to the name: May Day, “May your days be beautiful like the blooms of May”. I was reminded of making May baskets of flowers to hang on doorknobs to celebrate May 1st, or May Day. Sometimes I put together May baskets by picking real flowers, but mostly I remember making kleenex or construction paper flowers and May baskets to secretly hang on neighbors doorknobs. I love the connection of the flowers being actually embossed on the doorknob, where you would hang a May basket, so it’s a perpetual May Day reminder.

The intricate detail on a 3” brass doorknob. Found in the 1878 opera house Hubbard Hall, Cambridge, NY. It’s a marvel.

May Day, close up, executed by machine reverse applique.

May Day brass doorknob transcribed into fabric, executed by machine reverse applique and machine quilted.

The Victorians, for all the gaudiness associated with their era, understood the value of beauty.  They decorated their walls with stencils, their ceilings with embossed plaster decoration, and formed iron into scrolled gates and lacy heat grates. They built parks and gardens full of flowers that they imbued with meanings. Beauty was all around them.  It’s why I often turn to the architecture of the Victorian era for inspiration for many of my quilt pattern designs. And nature is another great source of inspiration from God himself.

May Day machine quilted from the front. When quilting reverse applique quilt in the yellow interior background (negative) spaces to pull them into the batting to augment the depth created by the stitching.

May Day machine quilted from the back. You can see the quilting of the yellow interior negative space and the quilting in the blue positive space to decoratively secure the layers.

Can you imagine living in a world with that kind of architectural beauty decorating your world? When I lived in the east I was surrounded by more of this because of the history of the architecture. The youngest home I lived in was 150 years old, and I loved it. Our modern architectural world is so stark in comparison. I know that’s part of why I quilt. I quilt to create my own beauty. I also love antiques, pretty things and being in nature.

May Day stitched by hand reverse applique and machine quilted in the yellow interior background (negative) space.

May Day stitched by hand reverse applique. Close up of machine quilting in the ditch and added texture in the yellow interior background (negative) space.

Another colorway. May Day in the Tickled Pink collection by Island Batik., available in shops November/ December 2020.

When we have beauty around us it keeps us looking with eyes of wonder.  The more we see, the more we notice. Color, shape, design. We are called out to see the expanse, and drawn in to see the minutiae of detail. Creative astonishment is cultivated inside of us to see the infinite beauty within all things. I know I am not alone in seeing potential quilts in my surroundings; in carpets and tile floors, or having my breath taken away by a sunset or the colors of a flower.  And that beauty breeds more creative astonishment, hope, possibilities and love.

Even with my own designs I’m looking for more possibilities and reimagining what they can become. Be it other colorways or design layouts. Use the block to make a pillow or a tote bag. Make more blocks and turn it into a table runner. Play with positive and negative space while your at it.

May Day (25” x 57”). Making 2 blocks with a blank square in the middle.

May Day (22” x 56”). making 3 blocks and adding sashing and corner posts.

May Day (22” x 56”) playing with positive- negative space and adding sashing and corner posts.

May Day (21” x 53”) making 3 blocks playing with positive-negative space without sashing

Or alternate the 16” May Day block with a pieced block of the same size and turn it into a larger quilt. Below are just some ideas to get you started brainstorming. Of course you could make your quilt even larger. If you wanted to stay within the Buttercup collection you could lighten it by using the lighter blues or make it a yellow quilt. Or change the color palette completely. The only limit is your imagination.

16” May Day alternated with 16” Kaleidescope block and sashed. (61” x 61”)

16” May Day block alternated with 16” 4-patch art square block (58” x 58”).

16” May Day block alternated with 16” Spider web-Maltese cross block and sashed (60” x 60”)

This quilting journey is all a creative wonder that for me is an act of hope and love.

I hope you will enjoy making your own May Day available in print or digital PDF.  Check with your local quilt shop and see if they carry these great batiks from Island Batik. Our patterns’ directions are supported by technique tutorials on this website (Reverse Needle- turn Applique and Machine Reverse Applique).

Check out our notions shop page for other helpful items to successfully complete our patterns.

May Day is the first of three quilt patterns to be created inspired by the doorknobs of Hubbard Hall.  The second, Honey Rose, will be released the fall of 2020.

May Day (22” x 22”) for hand or machine reverse applique.

10% of the sales of these doorknob patterns will be donated to support Hubbard Hall Center for the Arts and Education (Hubbard Hall Projects, Inc.), a non-profit rural community multi-arts center in Cambridge, NY. Hubbard Hall gathers people from all walks of life to create, learn, and grow together, while developing, producing, and presenting world-class art and artists. We do this in order to enrich people’s lives – and the life of our community. We are an arts incubator, a training ground for artists of all ages and backgrounds, a magnet for artistic activity, a safe haven for risk-taking, an economic driver for our region, and the beating heart of our community. We are dedicated to cultivating, sustaining, and promoting the cultural life of our rural community. We are also committed to restoring and preserving Hubbard Hall and all of the buildings on our campus as community cultural assets.

Since 1878 Hubbard Hall has developed, produced, and presented theater, music, opera, dance, and the visual arts and in recent years has become a world-class development center for new work. Since 1977, Hubbard Hall’s current nonprofit has engaged thousands of artists, students, and audience members. As a training ground for both young and seasoned artists, Hubbard Hall continues to develop a new generation of artists and audiences while providing opportunities for individuals to take new risks and stretch beyond their comfort zone. Through classes in dance, theater, music, movement, visual arts, puppetry, creative writing, martial arts, yoga, and even gardening, Hubbard Hall gives students of all ages an opportunity to train, collaborate, and thrive.