I have been having problems with my machine recently. As I may have mentioned, I have a Janome 9000, which is a workhorse. It has a touch screen and the left half of the touch screen has not been working. This is a problem on a number of levels (needle down on the left, menu button on the left, etc), but the BIGGEST problem was that I wasn’t able to modify the width and density of the zigzag stitch. This is a problem because the Tarts require a zigzag to keep the cups and cakes on the background. I had it repaired last year for the same problem and it was okay for a while, but the problem has come back with a vengeance. I finally decided I couldn’t live with it anymore and took it in to another Janome dealeron Friday.
Those people ROCK! I talked with Patty at the Lafayette Sewing Center in Lafayette, Calif. First of all, she was not condescending. Second, she believed me even when the machine behaved perfectly (the machine and I will be talking about that later!). It did eventually start messing up and she knew afer a short time that I wasn’t lying. She thought that the machine may need a simple recalibration of the screen.
Simple = Not expensive, hopefully!
They are also going to do a regular service, which the machine surely needs. I use it all the time and don’t do much more than dust and clean the lint out of the bobbin area.
While I was there I asked about the tablecloth plastic I tried to sew a few months ago. She had worked with that material and recommended the roller foot. I bought one for only $7. One of the things I love about my Janome is the inexpensive price of the feet. And I have never broken one. My quarter inch foot got bent once and I had to buy a new one. I think I stepped on it, which doesn’t count as breaking. 😉
I am excited to try it and, frankly, I feel like I am about to begin a 3 week sewing vacation where I can sew tote bags and take a break from some of my ongoing projects. I will miss the fact that I may not be able to work on my projects – will have to see what kind of adjustments I can make to the zigzag – but it might give me some perspective.
Today may be a Various and Sundry with a lot of Clipmarks, because I don’t know if I am up for writing and editing and cropping a big blog post.
I am really enjoying Weeks Ringle’s blog, Craft Nectar. I am pretty sure I pointed it out before. This week she talks about the craftiness of planning her daughter’s first sleepover party. She also includes a pillowcase pattern for the party favor. A few days ago, they posted a PDF pattern for a sight word game for early readers. So fun!
Once in a while a person comes along who is really able to explain parts of making (or craftmaking) that I like. I listened to the CraftSanity episode #28 with Debbie Stoller and felt that way.
In the first part of the episode, they talked about Debbie being a feminist. Immediately my defenses went up, because I have found a number of feminists to be quite angry, which I don’t think achieves anything. I found Ms. Stoller to be quite different. Her personal definition of feminism has to do with valuing men and women the same. Simple and easy to understand!
She also talked a lot about work, including housekeeping or homemaking and crafts, in the home and their value in society, which I always think is an interesting discussion. She really talked about craftmaking in an intelligent way.
I think that there is more to quiltmaking (and other crafts, of course) than just buying and meeting to make. Those are great parts of any hobby, bu I find tha I also enjoy the study of the quiltmaking: studying the technical parts, learning about the history, researching old blocks. I feel like it gives me more depth when I go to work on a piece.
Ms. Stoller validated that in the way she talked about women’s work and its value.
This is an older podcast and I think it is still interesting.
CraftSanity Episode 28
Stitch ‘N Bitch with Debbie Stoller
Tune in this week
for a chat with Debbie Stoller, the co-creator
of
magazine and author of the
“Stitch ‘N Bitch” books that have inspired
thousands to pick up their needles and start
knitting and crocheting. Many of you are probably
familiar with her wildly popular knitting book
“Stitch ‘N Bitch Nation” that was joined recently
in bookstores by her latest crafty publication,
“Stitch ‘N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker.”
Debbie has some
impressive credentials. She earned Ph.D. in the
psychology of women from Yale in the late 1980s, but
decided not to lock herself in an academic ivory
tower. Instead she set out to do something about one
of the things she thought was jacked about the world:
the media. Since her research was on women and media,
she’s dedicated her career to doing what she can to
make it better for women.
This isn’t the kind of book that I would normally be drawn to purchase. I am pleased that I got a little exposure to it. It reminded me that it might be time to share some of my good fortune. Also, it occured to me that my Grama may appreciate some patterns since, at 87, many of her friends might be able to use a walker bag or a lap quilt. Her birthday is coming and I might buy it for her as a gift.
What do you see when you look into someone’s eyes?
See the Creative Prompt page if you have questions about this project.
Post the direct URL where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted (e.g. your blog, Flickr) in the comments area of this post. It will keep all the artwork together.
I was determined to get at least one of the blocks done this weekend.
I took the easy way out and worked on the smaller block. No block is easy, regardless of how small.
Every block requires a background which I must choose while considering the surrounding blocks. I was determined to use that purple/blue dotty swirl (see bottom middle next to the frothy drink). I love that fabric and think the quilt needs another piece of it somewhere. I cut it, confidently put it up on the design wall and stood back to look.
Blech.
Failure. It bled into the background of the frothy drink and just didn’t stand up to the blocks around it.
Sigh. Back to the drawing board for a new background. After consulting with myself, I decided that the area could stand a purple backround, yet it would have to be a different purple.
Tarts, July 12, 2009 #2
I looked at the background of the grey teapot and decided that I should bring that color down to the bottom of the quilt. I found a piece of a similar violetty-purple. It isn’t the exact same fabric and it is more subtle. I was pretty happy that my second choice seemed to be a good one.
It does add a seventh instance of purple to the quilt. I think that I am ok in terms of the “Odd Rule,” which I understand to be a design element or principle, which says that an odd number of related elements make the piece more interesting. My mother, an artist, reminds me of this all the time. I have to balance design principles for art with design principles for quilts. I believe, that there is, at least, a slight difference.
Tarts, 2005
Here is what the Tarts looked like at the start of the design process. This is really a Here to There type moment.
It has really come a long way and TOTALLY changed direction. Notice I took out all the coffee-themed fabric. I bought that fabric all for this quilt. I have tons of it and now ask myself what I am going to do with it. Backs and tote bags, I guess. I also had a melon shape thing going at the time. There are a lot more classic quilt elements – more Flying Geese, Square in a Square, lots of sashing. The blue and pink Flying Geese that have survived the design process this long are really a remnant of the original idea I had. Time to move on!
Dowtown Santa Barbara has a building that is sort of Spanish style, but has a twist. It has many different, useful tile structures outside. This is part of the wall surrounding that building.
Quick Note: City Arts and Lectures, a program here in the City had an interview with Maya Lin yesterday. The show is replayed Tuesday nights at 8pm on KQED FM in San Francisco. KQED has a media stream so you can listen on your computer to the interview even if you don’t get KQED.
The reason I am telling you this is because I think you should listen to it. I sat there riveted the whole time thinking that I wanted to be Maya Lin’s new best friend.
I didn’t know how well spoken and thoughtful Maya Lin was. She is also a thinking artist. She thinks about her art and what it means and how she is going to make it. She does research. Listening to her made me think that I had found a kindred spirit.
I also listened to a CraftSanity podcast with Brenda Dayne. Brenda is a podcaster who created Cast On!, a knitting podcast. The podcast is number 22 and I would recommend listening to this episode of CraftSanity. The show was from 2006 (still making my way through the archive of over a 100 podcasts), so I am glad to see see that Ms. Dayne is still podcasting. During the show she said that she wasn’t sure how long she would continue. Ms. Dayne has a great voice! Very smooth and a voice to which it is easy to listen. I don’t even knit much and am thinking of listening to a few of the Cast On! podcasts just to listen to Dayne’s voice.
A couple of things I liked about this podcast follow.
First, Jennifer always asks what advice her guest has for listeners wanting to start creative businesses. Ms. Dayne’s advice was spot on! She said to look at creating a number of different, but smaller income streams, such as writing, making things, teaching, producing posters and cards of your work. Her idea was to suggest that a creative business person not expect to make their entire salary from one thing. If you make stuff and expect to make all of your money from that work, you will burn out and be out of business.
Second, she talked about the landscape around you informing your work. Ithought this was wonderful to think about. Ms. Dayne lives somewhere in Wales (apologies to my Welsh readers: I know nothing about Wales) and moved there approximately 9 years ago from Portland, Oregon. At the the time of the podcast, she had lived there for 6 years, so I am extrapolating out and assuming she still lives there. Ms. Dayne said that she had knitted wonderful classic sweaters in Portland that were perfectly suitable for Wales and she wasn’t wearing them. She didn’t have a good reason why. After thinking about it, she said that her new work was very different in color from her old work and the old work wasn’t suitable. She said it much more eloquently than I just did! Ms. Dayne also said that she had no doubt that she would wear the sweaters again when/if she moved back to Portland. She followed that with saying that she thought the landscape was informing her work.
This comment made me think of the way you see different colors of fabric in different areas and thought it might be part of the same idea.
The first thing I thought of with this prompt was an hour glass. It took me a bit of time to think of a way to incorporate it into the series of drawings on which I have been working.
I have been excited about using the different PITT pens that I bought recently. The tips are different widths. So far my favorite is the Fine. I see, as someone mentioned, how the XS can be great for defining things or adding depth. This is wonderful. I didn’t find it to be great for drawing the whole piece.
One thing I need to improve in my drawing is working with perspective. I didn’t add the right side of the hour glass, but may later after I do a bit of research.
This is the second to last Flowering Snowball center block. I brought my handwork bag with me to the meeting yesterday and put this together while we worked on the business of the organization. It is something I can do while I listen and participate. I feel productive on my fabric projects, which is a good thing.
I also started work on the last block, but didn’t get very far before the ATC swap started.
This morning I was facing the reality of this project. I get to start the border VERY shortly. I think I opened the project in EQ6 in recent memory, however I don’t remember looking at the templates or doing any work on them. I need to get on that.
The other issue I am facing is squaring up the center blocks. I discussed this here before and think that I will have to trim the blocks after machine sewing around before I trim. Otherwise I think that they may come apart.
The problem is that if I trim them before I make the border, the border won’t fit. Glad I thought of it before I made the border!
While you were sipping your cappucinos this morning, I was finishing the edges of my very first ATCs – Artist Trading Cards – and dashing off to meet with my fellow CQFAers.
Maureen had suggested that we do a swap of ATCs. In the spirit of the Creative Prompt project, I decided that making them would be good for my creativity. And it was! I did them when I came home from work on Tuesday after one of the most grueling work days I think I have ever had. Immersing myself in some fiber took my mind off of the lunatics downtown. I didn’t have much brainpower and, thus, didn’t overthink the design. All of the fabrics came out of my scrap basket. I wasn’t sure what to use for the center so I used two layers of Pellon Stitch and Tear, which I use for stabilizing machine applique’. The ATCs felt right in terms of stiffness and I didn’t have any problems with sewing through the 4 layers. It all seemed to work just fine.
ATC backs
The ATCs are 2.5×3.5″ inches and I know that there are a zillion sources for instructions all over the web. Typical of me, I didn’t look at any of them. 😉
Sometimes I just need to do the work. I figured they were small enough and I could toss them if I didn’t like them.
I grabbed more fabric out of my scrap basket for the backs. The red dots and the Denyse Schmidt flowers are my favorites. One of my criteria was that I had to be able to write on the back, so my favorites weren’t ideal. The other plainer fabrics were better. I tried to use the stitch lettering that I used to use for labels on these ATCs, but my machine is starting to act up 🙁 and I couldn’t get it to work.
MPL's ATCs
Maureen’s ATCs include the car in the group. Maureen is a quiltmaker I really admire, because she is constantly trying new things.
Her ATCs were a revelation, because they were all different! Mine are sort of different, but really the same. Maureen created different designs on each card. WOW! Not sure why I didn’t think of that, but perhaps I will do something similar next time.
Terri let me know that Diane and Nancy’s ATCs were mixed in with Maureen’s. I didn’t pay close enough attention to know whose are whose. Sorry ladies!
I thought I would make more of the same for next time, but after doing the swap, I think people will be looking for something new and exciting.
Terri's work
Terri is a mystery writer who incorporates quilts and quiltmaking into her stories. If you haven’t read Ocean Waves, Old Maid’s Puzzle, or Wild Goose Chase, get yourself to the Library or bookstore! Her ATCs had a mystery theme and were business card size. Terri used the business card sized advertisements as the backing! Clever!
In addition to paper and fabric, Terri also added 3D ribbon and rubber stamping to her cards. I have rubber stamps! Perhaps I will drag them out for the next round.
LC's Work
Linda‘s ATCs look marbled to me. She is a talented machine quilter. She produces lots of small works frequently by participating in such challenges as the Fast Friday Challenge. She has recently been doing succulents, which she says are too dark for her tastes. Most of her work is very bright – lime green, fuschia, bright blue, etc as Linda uses lots of hand dyes.
Linda talks about her ATCs on a blog post from a few days ago. It looks like she made a big piece and then cut it up. Another great idea!
Bron's ATCs
I haven’t seen very much of Bron’s work and was really excited when she laid out her ATCs. Bron’s raven piece and her stamp piece both caught my eye. I couldn’t stop staring at them during the entire swap. I am not sure why. I guess Amy over at the Creative Mom podcast is on my mind both because of the ATCs and because of the birds.
Bron also chose to make different designs. Her media varied quite a lot as well. She used fabric, paint, paper, beads and different ephemera such as stamps. I picked up the stamp card from Bron’s offerings.
Bron's Stamp ATC
The colors drew me to this piece. They were really vibrant and attractive. I am like a bee in spring, I guess. 😉 I really liked the textures on this card as well as the airmail stamps.
VS works
Virginia is a quiltmaker I really admire. She has a quiet presence that smolders. When she finishes a quilt or a set of placemats or something, they set the room on fire: excellent stitching, perfect corners, wonderful fabrics and a great design. I really wish she lived closer as I would try to spend more time learning with her.
Virginia did photo transfer with fabric, paper and stitching. I wasn’t as excited about them because of the black and white. I did love the stitching around the edge.
Diane brought some as well and somehow I missed photographing them. Perhaps next time.
While I am not particularly interested in ATCs, I found this to be a good exercise. Not so much in what I made, but in seeing what everyone else made and getting inspired by their work. I may have a chance to try out some of these ideas as Maureen suggested that he group make this activity a regular part of the meeting. Hhmm…
See the Creative Prompt page if you want to know how to participate in this project.
Post the specific URL or deep link where your drawing, doodle, artwork is posted, such as (but not limited to, on Flickr or your blog, in the comments area of this post. It is an easy and good way to keep all the artwork together.
