I am doing the En Provence Mystery Quilt. I have just finished step 1. I am very pleased with the four patches I have made. I have part of step 2 finished, and have some Spikes to cut. I am dreadfully behind, but I don’t care. I saw the reveal on January 1 and am pleased to say that I like the quilt design. It is always kind of a crapshoot when you don’t know what the quilt will look like. Not that there is any shortage of fabric. Some people have already finished theirs and have shown their versions, which is great for me, so I can compare different color schemes. I am happy to pick out colors as I start each step. So far, I have sort of stuck to Bonnie’s suggestions, but I am not going with the purple she includes. Just not my thing. I don’t hate purple, but I think this quilt will stay here so I want something that will work in my house.
This project is part of the reason why I feel like I am treading quilt water. Many steps forward and no finishes.
The other thing I did at Sew Day on Saturday was work on the Circles donation quilt. Gerre finished quilting it, so she brought it and I made the binding while she met with the other Executive Board members.
She has a lot of the plaids so I used one that had enough left to make an entire straight of grain binding out of one motif. It is similar in colors to the large blue and white striped circle in the lower right hand corner of the photo above.
I have a lot going on so she took it to sew the binding on. I won’t be able to add very much fabric to my spreadsheet as most of it was Gerre’s, but I supplied the background, so some.
I am going to miss a lot of BAMQG in the next couple of months, which makes me sad. Perhaps I’ll have something to show by the time I make it to the March meeting?
Mary, once again, did a great job setting up and organizing the room for us. Thanks, Mary!
We all dodged the rain and there was a good turnout.
Haley’s t-shirt quilt
Tim was there with his niece Haley and they put a t-shirt quilt together for her. She just graduated from college and the quilt is made from all of her college t-shirts. It looks great!
I worked on cutting. I started cutting for the second step of the En Provence mystery quilt. People have started posting the blocks and I am glad I am making it. I can choose some colors better now that I know what the piece will look like.
I know I am not quite finished with step one, but cutting is a good thing to do at Sew Day and it doesn’t go bad. I didn’t feel like bringing my machine to the event.
Rhonda’s Handwork Project
Rhonda worked on her Carolyn Friedlander handwork quilt. She started to put the segments together. Another great project!
I took this photo on one of my walks. It was late in the afternoon so the sun was going down. One of the beautiful things about this time of year is the way the sun tinges the clouds with pink at about 4:45 or 5pm. I love it. Of course, the clouds help and they have been dumping rain on us. We don’t complain about the rain, but I will complain about the cold. It has been bitter for a place that doesn’t get snow regularly. I have been wearing so many layers!
ColorPlay Jan 7-n.1
My first iteration of a color palette has all of the circles clustered around the upper left hand corner. I am not sure why. However, this is almost a monochromatic palette with a serious number of blues. I see more colors, including a tinge of yellow in this picture, but I do think that the tool has got it mostly right.
ColorPlay Jan 7 n.2
For the second palette, I wanted to try and keep the monochromatic look, but add some contrast. I wanted the contrast to be light so I tried to find areas that might be in the white-cream-light grey realm. The Kona cream and ivory chosen by the tool both have a tinge of pink, which I think is a good choice.
ColorPlay Jan7 n.3
I moved the circles around a little again for the third palette. I wanted to try and capture the yellow. I wasn’t really able to find that yellow in the photograph. I guess that is one reason we should take care of our eyes: they can see things our camera can’t. Still, the palette is pleasing and would make a very calming quilt.
In addition to the general sewing tasks I also list, January requires some additional work to get the year started:
Decide on FOTY shape and size
Make cutting chart for the year
Update Fabric Usage spreadsheet for 2017
Update Fabric purchase spreadsheet for 2017
The sewing tasks remain:
Wash fabric AKA The Great Unwashed-This will perpetually be on the list. As usual, I made some progress around Thanksgiving. When this is no longer on the list, I will host a party
Cut out 3 notepad covers for gifts
Finish cutting out Day in the Park backpack variation
It has been hard to get going again on the Peacock. I don’t know why. I think it required contemplation and I really have just had snatches of time here and there over the past few weeks. Some projects require concentration and no progress is made without the time and mindspace for concentration.
The problem is that this piece is taking up space on my design wall and until I finish, I can’t make any other progress. Yes, I could take this piece off the design wall, but that would be a huge mess and I am pretty sure I would never get back to it. Not worth the trouble.
Peacock – 1/1/2017
As you may remember, I gathered some solids and they have been laying around waiting for my attention. Sunday, after #politicalwifery was the day. I cut and placed some strips of solids as background onto the design wall and I am pretty pleased with the results so far. I have some very light blues, but I don’t know that I will get to them as at some point in the not to distant sewing, the very darks I am using on the left will meet the lights on the right and I have to figure out that transition. There will be an angle involved for sure. Perhaps the lavender as well?
We celebrate Christmas, in case you hadn’t noticed. I received a few quilt related gifts, which was very nice.
I am excited about the Make It, Take It book, because I want to make that tote on the front. It reminds me of a tote that Angela made, which I also like.
The Hack that Tote book will also come in handy, because I can’t seem to stop changing bag patterns I made.
Chatelaine Scissors from Rhonda
I am particularly pleased with the scissors and lanyard Rhonda gave me. I needed an extra pair of scissors for my Craft Night kit and these are perfect.
Chatelaine Scissors with Sheath from Rhonda
The best part is that my Scissor Sheath pattern fits perfectly on these scissors. I need the Sheath so I don’t stab myself when wearing the lanyard. I plan to add other things to the carabiner as I come across useful items.
Permission is an odd thing. Sometimes you need it to move forward. My husband has only once complained about the quilts we have at home. He helps me with quilt math and did all the figuring for the Triangle Technique chart. In these way he has given me permission to create.
He wasn’t, however, the first. We did a lot of creative things at home when I was a kid. My dad tied fly fishing flies and had us work along with him. My mom sewed and painted those plaster decorative pieces with us. My grandmothers all cooked and did needlework. We often received kits to make things as gifts. It was normal to be making at our houses.
I also remember various teachers who encouraged creativity and making. Mrs. Cole and Mrs. Kay created a entire play based on Fiddler on the Roof called Piddler on the Loose that included costumes, music and a completely rewritten script. There was also an art aspect to our learning in Mrs. Gellman’s class: kites when we studied Japan, a mission built by the entire class when we studied California history and something to color or glue in general.
Bloomston talks about her various teachers and how they inspired her. About one she writes “she gave her students nothing but space, time, materials and permission. She offered an open door to her wild studio filled with crazy, sophisticated materials and tools” (pg.33).
I don’t think we need “assignments, lectures or instructions” (pg.33). I think we need a sense of possibility and permission. Permission can be tricky, however. I don’t need someone to say “it is okay for you to go and sew today”. It is more that I need the space to be able to go and sew. My family giving me the mind space to make the decision to sew is a kind of permission.
Part of permission is the mindspace, but Bloomston points out that the “blessings and resources in our lives that allows us freedom – open doors, yesses, possibility” all have a hand in getting us to create. The good thing is that no matter how much money a person has, anyone can take a pen and draw lines on the least expensive piece of paper and make art.
Bloomston says “Seek out people who say yes. Seek out people who give you permission, whether teachers or friends” (pg.34). One of the most important things that helps me to create are the people in my guilds. The fact that they show up and show their work inspires me so much! It makes me want to make that or this other project as well.
Bloomston has some worksheets in this chapter, which will help you focus on the things discussed in this chapter. Take a look at the book.
Nota bene: we are still working through Carrie Bloomston’s book, The Little Spark. Buy it. There is a lot more to it than what I am writing and it will help you. Go buy Carrie Bloomston’s book, so you get the full benefit of the fabulousness!
After my post of this morning, I have received help in numerous ways. I am really gratified, because I thought I would get bombarded with messages about how I wasn’t in compliance with the sharing spirit of the quilting world. I really have received nothing but support.
Image used for group stolen from my FB page
One person contacted the admin of an FB group using my image for me when she did not reply to my FB Messenger message. It appears that the original image was taken from my FB page and annotated with the words. Because FB has a limit to the size of cover page images, the copyright notice was cut off. That was my fault. I have added the copyright notice front and center and replaced the non-compliant image. Of course, it means there is a &^%$# copyright notice right in the middle of the image. C’est la vie. I suppose I will get lazy again in a few years and trust people again.
FB Stealing Apology
The admin of the FB group wanted to continue to use my image, but I said no. While I could get some publicity, I don’t want it. I don’t want people thinking they can use my image and I will be ok with it. My standard response is “please remove the image; you do not have permission to use it.” She posted an apology in the group, which was nice. One commenter pointed out that she should change the project, which I appreciated. I have a spy in the group, so I hope will know if the image is used again.
FB Stealing -2016 Time Capsule
The admin said she had seen the time capsule post in a 2016 version. My watermark is still there (see that arrow?), but I can’t imagine why someone would assume they could use it for a 2017 project. I haven’t been able to track down the originator of the above post, so let me know if you know who it is.
I am part of some secret groups and I have posted the link to my post there. One person said I should report any transgressions to FB and IG, that they are pretty militant about taking posts, profiles and groups down when something is reported. I will do that as a last resort.
Pinterest Sharing of FOTY
KR mentioned a couple of shares and a Pinterest pin to me. I found out that you can tell how many times an image has been shared and where it has been shared. The share shown above is actually FOTY 2012 and has been shared 1500 times. It is from Flickr, so I went and posted a link to the FOTY Page on all of the FOTY images on Flickr.
IG Stealing 2
IG Stealing
KO sent me a new IG post where the person blatantly admitted to ‘swiping’ the photo from another feed. Was her comment meant to be funny? Am I the only one who doesn’t think this is funny?
I am taking screenshots of all the posts, so I can post here and have evidence, if I need it. I have also talked to a friend who is looking into an IP lawyer who will work pro bono.
In some ways, I feel like I should feel flattered at the attention and should support these projects. On the other hand, my deepest heart of hearts thinks I should do what I am doing and continue on. I am not sure there is a right answer.
While I may feel *itchy and cranky about this, I am gratified that people have taken my side and are helping me to track down these images. I am also happy that the transgressors have removed my image with little to no fuss. I know this morning’s post was not as well written as it could have been, though it has done its job. The word is out; the *itch is back and looking out for her image.
Stealing is a distasteful subject. I suppose we all do it to some degree or another. Pens and Post-it notes which are accidentally tossed in bags at the office and left at home, for example. I am shocked by the premise often espoused in the quilt world that every quiltmaker is nice. Quiltmakers are people who are part of the world just like sanitation engineers, app developers, salespeople and receptionists. We all like to think that our little subculture is different. I have found out recently that quiltmakers can be just as mean and just as likely to appropriate what is not theirs as shoplifters.
Fortunately, there was no meanness or malice intended as far as I can tell.
FB Stealing
You might think stealing is a harsh word, but that is immediately what I thought when I saw the image above. Someone took my image of FOTY 2015 and created this project on FB. I only saw it because TFQ pointed it out to me from a post she saw on Instagram.
I have a small brand, but the goodwill and brand identity I have built I would like to keep.
When I contacted the person via Instagram, she apologized profusely and immediately removed the post. I would have loved that to be the end, but she said she was just sharing it from a post she saw on Facebook. Sigh. She kindly sent me the link and I tracked down the image above. [Nota bene: I have removed the name and image so the person can remain anonymous.]
This all took place on Christmas Day. I didn’t have to deal with it then, of course. However, with the ease of sharing on social media, I felt that I needed to get to the heart of it as soon as possible. I contacted the second person, knowing that she did not want to hear from me on Christmas. I received an answer yesterday. She, though I don’t know why she thought she had the right, gave me three options: attribute, add the copyright or remove the post. I suppose she wanted to keep the project in play. Mean as I felt, I chose remove. It is my image and while I might like the attention, I didn’t like the tone of the email. She removed it and sent the following response to my comment about removing the copyright “I added the text to the top of the image. Not sure where I found the image, but I don’t remove watermarks or links unless they go to a scraper site, so I assume it was a direct upload to Pinterest or Facebook by someone.” While not out of the realm of possibility I find this hard to believe. As far as I know I only posted the piece once without a copyright and that image is angled differently than the one above. What I don’t find hard to believe is that someone else took the image and this is just a digital reprint of part of the quilt.
I found it shocking that someone would take a random image and create a project like this out of it. I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked and should blame how easy it is to do without thinking.
Awhile ago someone posted my image on Instagram as “time capsule” quilt. I am looking for that image and will tell them to remove it, if I haven’t already. I haven’t been able to find it thus far, so I hope I already did. I have started to search Pinterest to find the origin, if the origin is there. I have searched Google Images to see if it posted anywhere I didn’t authorize and I have done some searching on FB. It is a genie out of the bottle situation, however, and I don’t expect to be able to contain it. I am not sure how I would feel if the image had had the copyright attached and my name had been mentioned. I suppose if I had been contacted in advance, I might have collaborated with the person. To discover that my image was being used out of the blue, however, was a shock. I was in no way inclined to allow the project to continue. Of course, again, the genie is out of the bottle (see Instagram photo), so there isn’t much more I can do other than pointing people to my link to the FOTY quilts.
Screw you, Mercury in Retrograde! You will not defeat me.
Be kind. We need kindness in the world and you can be a part of that.
I decided I wanted to talk a little more about the details. The motifs lend themselves to fussy cutting and where I could I tried to use that technique to make the shirt more special.
It didn’t always work out. I cut out the collar with the state capital beautifully centered and realized that it would come out upside down. Oh well.
California Shirt n.3 detail
I did succeed on the pocket. I wanted to make the pocket larger since he has a larger cell phone now. Larger pockets can be floopy so I lined the pocket with ShapeFlex to give it some bulk and make it stronger. Pockets aren’t that large so I was able to find a scrap that worked really well. The flag will draw some attention from the Native Sons.
I have successfully made buttonholes I like at TFQ’s house on her Bernina. I have never figured out how to use the buttonhole foot on my Janome 9000. I did get a lesson on the DC5100 and I knew it wasn’t difficult. I hauled that little machine over to SIL’s (the YM came over and carried it home for me when we finished) and used it to make the buttonholes.
I took a prepared scrap over and did a couple of test runs. The test buttonholes came out beautifully, so I decided to go for it on the shirt.
California Shirt button closure
Failure. I got and error message, the start of a buttonhole, then a straight stitch going in the wrong direction. 🙁 SIL said that she needed to make a project with 100 buttonholes in order to feel confident. Very true, for many things, I think.
I eventually made the machine work by turning it off and on again between each buttonhole. It was a pain and I had to reset the settings each time, but I got all of the buttonholes done.
The buttons came out of a jar that TFQ bought for me at Road to California. I really like them and think they fit the look of the shirt very well.
The photo directly above has a great shot of one of the missions on the fabric design.
When I went into 2016, I had a list of gifts I wanted to make. As I have mentioned, there was a good portion of the year where I felt uninspired. Many gifts were not made.
As I took out the card holder I made for us a few years ago, I thought about what a great gift that was and how hard it is to make something that good again. The siblings and cousins are getting fudge, nothing sewn.
I wanted to make a couple of tote bags and pincushions as one-offs for people. I also had the idea to make a couple of Sew Together Bags. There is still a possibility, but not for Christmas 2016.
I need to be more organized next year, starting with finding a pattern that has a lot of bang for my buck, eg interesting and usable, but doesn’t take 40 hours to make. I have a week or two before I have to be serious about finding such a project.
PSA: If you aren’t already sewing for #BDSI, get to it. I am on my way to contribute my tweets and grams!
California Shirt
I am not sure why I do this to myself. Garment sewing is hard. Fortunately, my SIL lives around the corner and she held my hand throughout the process. I worked on this only at her house until Friday when I pressed it and wrapped it.
I know why I made this shirt, actually. It was all about the fabric. This was a particularly nice print of California fabrics and I just had to make DH a shirt.
The motifs really depict California rather than being some kind of idealized version of California. I was pleased with the fabric design, because of the missions, which are a big part of the state’s history. Yosemite is depicted and the food trucks are a hilarious addition.
He finds the tablecloth shirt I made too short, so I wanted to get it right. That is the kind of person I am. Have you seen how many Petrillo bags I have made?
California Shirt back
We made the whole shirt 3″ longer than the pattern said. yes, I learned to alter a pattern which involves actually dealing with the pattern, rather than just adding a few inches here and there.
I think that next time, if there is a next time, I will make the inside seams French seams. I know I shouldn’t worry about raw edges, but I do. I am not even sure if French seams on a shirt are possible. I am sure they are, but may be ill advised for some reason.
I started well in time to get it done timely, but really finished it last Thursday. I made the buttonholes using my little machine and sewed on the buttons. After that all I had to do was press and wrap.
We did something different this year. We used a quilt for a tree skirt. I think it looks nice with the gifts wrapped in gift bags.
I made a tree skirt out of felt soon after I got my first tree. It has been looking ratty for a few years, but it looked embarrassing last year. I didn’t make a tree skirt, though I have a pattern. Perhaps next year, now that the Thanksgiving tablerunners are done?
