Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
I worked hard last week on the Aqua-Red Sampler and got the top and back finished. WHEW! I didn’t fight with it as much as I had over the past month, but it wasn’t all peaches and roses either.
I probably would have made the white border thinner, if I had it to do other again, but I am not ripping it out. I think it works.
I ended up choosing the solid border, mostly because I didn’t have enough of the daisy fabric and I didn’t want to fiddle and fight to make it fit. I am pleased with it.
I really like the Philip Jacobs fabric in the Tool Tote and decided to do a ColorPlay using one of the photos from the post.
Again, the default is not all neutral. There are quite a number of violets.
This palette provides another group of violets with some neutrals included. It is kind of dark palette, but the Honeysuckle makes it slightly more cheerful.
I am not sure how different n.2 is from the two above. I like the Lupine in the palette above.
I couldn’t go without a neutral palette. I still got a lavender.
I really tried to make this one green. I think the greens look uglier in the palette than they do in the fabric. Granted there isn’t much green in the fabric.
Different grouping of colors, but the same colors as the first couple of palettes.
Surprisingly, this group of fabric offered up fewer opportunities for interesting palettes than I would have expected.
The other day, at Sew Day, I saw Mary’s GREAT quilt and it made me think of some of the tea towels and such that I have that are nicely embroidered.
Yes, we had the Boxy Bag class, but there was plenty of time to work on other projects. I started cutting out the All Rolled Up Tote, as mentioned.
Mary C, a great member of the group, brought a quilt she had made with embroidered tea towels. I have tea towels, pillowcases and a few other things from the matriarchal side of the family. I talked about the parakeet dresser scarf (or similar) in a previous post.
Mary said that she used a jelly roll of 1930s fabrics. I really like the fabrics she chose and think they are a little different than the Aunt Grace style of 1930s fabrics.
This is the first quilt that I have really liked that uses tea towels. She backed the embroideries with ShapeFlex after trimming them. We advised her to just quilt around the embroidery designs and not over them.
I worked hard on the Aqua-Red Sampler quilt over the weekend. It was great to have a nice long weekend. I made a lot of progress and will be glad to get this quilt out of my hair.
You will notice that I rearranged the blocks since my last layout. I also did not include the Cathedral Window block. It was just too thick. I have another test block from this quilt and I think I will make a pillow from the two of them.
I made a new block and needed to rearrange the blocks because of the colors. I didn’t want all the big red dots and daisy fabrics lumped together in one area. This quilt has been one problem after another and I hope that the borders will cut me some slack.
I found a bright white (Pure Elements Snow, which is different from Kona Snow) that picked up and highlighted the other bright whites in the blocks. I tried not to include too much cream where possible. I’m not sure about the width of that white border (2.5 inches). I may rip it off and make it smaller. That is not my first choice.
I thought the daisy fabric would be exciting, but I would have to struggle with making sure I used every scrap if I can’t find the rest of the stash of it that I know I have somewhere. The solid turquoise would be a solid choice. By that I mean that it would work, it would probably hold in all that is going on in the quilt.
I started cutting for the All Rolled Up Tote Saturday at Sew Day in between the Boxy Bag class. This one of the projects will not necessarily match my other Crafty Gemini projects even though that was the original intention. I wanted to use some text fabrics, so I veered away from my original idea.
This is sort of the like the Sew Together Bags. I haven’t, however, seen one in person, so I can’t really tell the differences. I do know that it is much bigger than the Sew Together Bag. One website says that the finished size is 15″L x 9″W x 6″T. 6 inches, which is as tall as my square ruler. This will be a large bag. Between this and the Tool Tote, I am not sure how my Go/travel bag is going to change.
There are about 2,000 pieces in this pattern and I only got about 653 cut out. I am happy that I got most of the fabric pieces cut out. What I have left to cut is batting, fusible interfacing and vinyl. Vanessa at Crafty Gemini loves her clear vinyl!
I didn’t print out all of the directions – just the cutting instructions, because I didn’t want to waste ink. I don’t know when I will sew on it, but since I have more cutting to do, it might be some time.
I took a class on Saturday at Sew Day. We don’t usually have classes during Sew Day, but we had this one. People were still allowed to come to Sew Day if they weren’t taking the class. They could listen in, but I didn’t see any of them trying to horn in on the class. We just aren’t that kind of group.
I did some of the home work during the week. I pulled the two fabrics off my ironing board and the pattern called for pieces almost the size of the fat quarters. This means I won’t have slivers of them in my FOTY 2018 quilt. 🙁 C’est la vie!
Lynette taught the class and she is a great teacher. Here handouts were stellar. Her teaching was really clear. The project wasn’t complicated, but a little tricky in places. She did a great job explaining the tricky parts even when two sets of students diverged when a group went and had lunch while the other group kept working.
I like the way this project came out. It is fully lined and very nicely finished. I immediately wanted to make a bunch of them. I think I’ll finish the aprons first.
I am making progress. It’s frustratingly slow. At least I am making some kind of progress.
Finished 2018 Quilt Projects
I am still at five quilts in 8 months. I know that Colleen has three, but I would still really like to have more off my UFO list. They don’t magically get done. I know the key is not to add anymore to my UFO list.
Finished 2018 Non-Quilt Projects
Doing Good
In Process
The ‘In Process’ is used to denote projects on which I am actively working or pretending to stitch. I try not to put away projects, because that will ensure I never work on them
Still WIPs
I still have WIPs. Who doesn’t, after all? A project in the ‘UFO’ category means I am stalled. A nicer way of saying UFO is a WIP. The list is a lot shorter and the projects are newer, for the most part.
Small Projects in Process
Most of my progress involves thinking or just cutting.
Ready for Quilting
In Quilting Process
Binding
Hunting and Gathering
Other
I bought some fabric at Sisters and the Tula Pink dots and stripes after Sisters, so I am down significantly on net usage. Still gross usage is just over 130 yards. My net 40 yards. I would still be ecstatic if I could make it to 100 yards NET used by the end of the year, but I don’t think that is possible. I do have three quilts out at the quilter that could make my net number jump up, but 100 yards is a lot. It is good to have goals!
What’s on your list?
More donation blocks. I keep making them.
Not as many as last month, but each one counts.
I was really happy to find this photo. I was looking for it for some reason a little while ago. I saw this sign in a coffee shop years ago and the motif sticks in my mind as some interesting and different. The colors are interesting, too.
The default colors this time tend towards purple, which I like. This palette would make a good outfit.
In my first palette, I went for brights and the image did not disappoint. The palette itself doesn’t hang together very well, but the colors are bright and that is something.
I wanted to refine my first palette and try to get it to hang together better. This is, mostly, softer and tends towards warm colors, except for the Kona Royal, which doesn’t really fit.
I tweaked the colors from above a little and this palette is much more cohesive. That bright pink and the Kona Magenta (which looks more like purple/violet to me) really dominate, but not in an awful way.
I decided to focus even more on the pink and purple. Except for the Cheddar, which I must have forgotten about, the pink and purple are the stars. Many of the colors showed up in n.3 and show up in n.6.
The default palette wasn’t a neutral palette so, in the spirit of the Palette Builder, I created one.
I had to try a monochromatic palette and this time I went for pink. I had a hard time finding different pinks as the Bright Pink dominated.
Yellow doesn’t show up much in the images I choose, so I wanted to take advantage of the yellow in this image and try to create another monochromatic palette using yellow.
In another attempt to make a monochromatic palette, I chose the orange area. It is small, between the pink and the yellow, but I thought I might be able to get a range of peachy-oranges. I did sort-of.
I entered three quilts into PIQF. Yes, I entered a political quilt. I am scared about that, but what’s done is done. Hopefully, it won’t get damaged. Aside from the guild, this will be the first public viewing of the show. I am really glad I worked hard at doing a good job on it.
After the show, I’ll send or take the Triple Star up to the YM.
Someday I’d like to have a show of all the Fabric of the Year quilts. I should get on that.
I finished the top over the weekend. I mentioned finding the squares before.
I didn’t assume or hurry and it really went together quickly. It has a light and fluffy sort of look to it.
The squares are about 5.25×5.25, which is a very strange size and really makes me wonder why I cut them. On the other hand, it is a good idea and I could cut 5″ squares and do the same sort of design.
Creativity & Inspiration
I have to read a lot at work to gather information for a market intelligence report I am supposed to write at the end of the year. The other week I came across a Fast Company article that addresses quiltmaking: creativity blocks. I wrote about this in 2013, using a term “Creative Desert” which I still think is apt. Patience is the big one in the article, which I agree with. The author pointed out that allowing anxiety to infiltrate your process interferes with your subconscious working on the problem. One of my big tools is leaders and enders. I, either, sew squares together until I am so sick of it I can’t help but go back to working on a real project or I use scraps to make new fabric, like for my journal covers.
I saw an article about corrupt files, which morphed into an article about creative process and the stuff creatives collect. The article made me think about whether I am throwing enough work away to be truly making great works.
Patterns and Projects
I forgot about the Kansas City Star quilt blog. I went there after looking for quilt museums in Kansas for a friend who was bored visiting family. The post I read talks about a block of the month based on a diary. I love women’s diaries, so I took a look. The blocks are really nice. Calicos, but they could be put into modern fabrics – or batiks or anything more contemporary – and look really great as well.
Ricky Tims’ Legacy Quilt Club blocks will only be available through September. If you want to download them, go get them now. Don’t pay attention to the colors. Design your own palette. I would love to see a modern version!
You know I love to make books and never have enough time or the right tools on the machine to do it. I have to reset the machine and devote a chunk of time to book making. No leaders and enders always puts me off (what I really need is a bigger workroom with more machines set up for different projects!!). I found a video on making books and thought you might like to join me in book or journal making.
I made a charger case/cable container sometime ago and I use it all the time. It is really big, though. and I have been thinking I might like something smaller. Kathie of Katie’s Quilting Corner posted a link to a pattern that is really useful looking. Thanks, Katie!
Doing Good
Support Laura Kemshall in helping the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in raising £1.25m before June 2019. She is making an EPP star quilt. There is a button for a £10 donation on the site. There is a PayPal option to make it easy for US contributors. She was trying to raise £2500 and has already raised over £7600, which is fantastic and will help so many people. I know there are many people in need. One small act of kindness to this appeal or another will help make the world better.
The Covered in Love block drive is back on. Check the blog for needs and wants. It is a great way to use up scraps or try a new block.
How-to
Laura Kemshall teaches how to English Paper Piece in her free video on DMTV.
The Girls at Culcita have a series of videos on learning to quilt. The one I saw was about resizing a quilt pattern! I haven’t done a tutorial on that and now I don’t need to.
I found a great article on organizing your workspace. I was reading it for work, but think there are some ideas I can use in my workroom as well. My favorite tip so far is the binder clip tip. I know there are beautiful binder clips available and this might be just the solution we need at home for our charging cords.
Fabric, Tools & Supplies
By Annie has a post that includes a checklist of things to think about when you buy a new machine. She gives the reader her preferences for things she can’t live without.
According to the Edgestitch blog, Joann is getting a face lift.
History
Cabbage, Carbage, Garbage – the history of schnibbles. I saw a reference on Barbara Brackman’s blog, which referred me to a longer more detailed article on the Dreamstress’ blog.
Media
Francis is taking a break in August before she resumes publishing chapters of the Friendship Quilt 1933 podcast.
Definitely weigh in on the chocolate/no chocolate/occasionally chocolate debate!
NQR
I love office supplies and stationery and pens. My favorite pens are Zebra Sarasa (Sarasa Zebra?) in 0.7 and Pilot G-2 o7. I have lots of colors and use a different color every day at work and a different color each time I pick up my journal. Leuchtturm1917 are my favorite notebooks now, but I still like the Miquelrius as well. JetPens.com is my new favorite pen supplier, though I do enjoy a good Japanese stationery store as well. If you need people who like stationery and office supplies a tribe formed on Twitter the other day.
Then I found Notebook Therapy. Sigh. I love those Japanese calligraphy pens.
Perfection
I had a bad reaction to an email message earlier this month. It made me take a look at my reactions to things. The email came from out of the blue and I was one of the people criticized in the email, though not by name-just as a result of work I had done for the group. The meeting was the next day and I declined to attend, still licking my wounds. I get criticism on this and other posts – people who only post a comment when I have missed something or neglected to finish my thought. I know that people:
This is not a perfect blog. I go back and fix grammar or bad sentence structure, but I am often writing quickly on my way to another task, which is a less than perfect environment for my multi-draft style. I greatly appreciate it that you take the time to read my musings. I am responsible for my own reactions to emails, comments and actual face to face conversations. I would like to suggest that you think about your tone when you are thinking about sending off a ‘quick note’.
I saw this quilt-like pattern of tile on one of my daily walks.
The default is less neutral than normal. It actually looks somewhat beachy.
I went for my usual monochromatic palette and came up with a series of blues.
Sadly, the website was having a problem despite me switching browsers, so there are only two palettes today.
What will you make?
I use the Palette Builder Tool on the Play-Crafts site. Thanks to Anne Sullivan for making it available.
I can’t believe I forgot to show you the pillow I received in the BAM Pillow Swap.
Rhonda made this pillow for me and I know she chose the fabric be cause I adore Philip Jacobs prints.
Thanks, Rhonda!
I am determined to finish this piece soon. I want to enter it in the fair in the embellishment category. I also want it finished. It won’t give me much in the way of used up fabric on my spreadsheet, but it will be off the To Do list and that is good.
After working on it last week, I thought it was done. It wasn’t done. It needed some beads. So, I laid some out to see how they would look. I thought they looked nice so I worked on it again at Craft Night on Monday.