Artquiltmaker Blog – Page 162 – Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity

Walker Bag

You never know when skills/patterns from Sew Days will come in handy. Remember a few months ago when we made walker bags for the folks at a local nursing home? Peggy worked out the pattern for that day. I remembered it and when I found out my friend was getting her hip replaced, I contacted Peggy about a few measurements and made one.

The fabric line is called Alien Invasion. I pulled the purple bins out of my closet and found it. My friend will have to try it out and see if it is practical. I told her I would make another, if it didn’t work.

Creative Spark #20: Mission Statement

This feels just like a vision board. Bloomston says “your mission statement is one way to water your grass” (pg.85). I’ll have to believe her and try.

“In this chapter we’ll write a so-called non-business ‘business’ plan — a creative mission statement” (pg.85). In the course of this exercise, she asks us to toss out the “Photoshopped perfectionism” (pg.85) of our creative life. We all know what that is, sometimes called Instagram. 😉 Creative life is not “all tied up in a pretty bow and stylized like a cool magazine lifestyle shot” (pg.85). We “have to start with” our “feet on the earth, even as” we “reach for the stars” (pg.85).

Carrie has a worksheet that will help us envision a creative life. She suggestions that we “look back in our family history” for a “passionate person,” a grandma who loved “to can peaches,” an “uncle who tinkered away in the garage making wooden benches” (pg.86) for inspiration. She wants us to “close your eyes and picture yourself in your creative life. See as many details as you can. Be specific” (pg.86). The worksheet has good and specific directions for filling it out. Photocopy it so you can use it over and over.

You can see the last post on this topic from last week.

Nota bene: we are working through Carrie Bloomston’s book, The Little Spark. Buy it. Support the artist. Play along. There is much more to each spark than what I am writing. The original chapters will help you. Go buy Carrie Bloomston’s book, so you get the full benefit of her fabulousness! You can see my book review, which is what started this flight of fancy.

Chocolate Box Pillowcase

I bought this fabric awhile ago in order to make a pillowcase for the YM’s new housemate. It has been languishing until BAM lit a fire under me to make some pillowcases. I bought more fabric at PIQF and from the Fabric Depot. I got inspired.

The first thing I did, after finding the fabric again, was find some coordinating fabric to go with it. Red with an interesting texture. Hope she likes it. I know nothing about this woman as she has never been around when I have visited the YM.

Donation Pillowcase with ChChocolate Box Cuff

I had enough extra to use some of this fabric as a cuff, so I made another red pillowcase and will use that to donate to the Sonoma and Santa Rosa fire victims.

More Doing Good

As I have said a few times, I have a stack of donation blocks slated to make at least one donation quilt, but probably more. As a result, I should work on that project rather that making new blocks. I don’t listen to myself. I have tons of 2.5″ squares handy. And I need leaders and enders periodically, so there you have it. And endless supply of blocks.

Lately, things have been no different. I have made a few as I have sewn En Provence. I need to cut some pieces for the Triple Star, which is why I haven’t been using those quilt blocks as leaders and enders.

I feel like I should just randomly select foreground colors and be done with it. That doesn’t work for me. I seem to have to carefully select all one color or similar colors to make a block. Not sure what is driving that (OCD on some level?). Still, I want to make pretty quilts to donate and this is part of how I do it.

I recently came across some beige Cotton & Steele 2.5″ squares and decided to make a block with them as the background.

I happened to place the dots so they were all moving in the same direction. On some level, it looks to me like the dots are flowing behind the foreground. The beige won’t go very well with the bright whites the guild usually uses, so I might have to pull some beige out of my bins and make several more blocks with a beige background. It would be nice clear out my beige, but not so nice to work with. Perhaps I won’t notice?

Finally, I had one under the needle. It was finished, but placeholding so I could start up again with no needle issues. There is a little violet, but most of this block is pinks and oranges. I am really liking that color combination at the moment.

Yes, I have another donation block on the wall even though I have a lot of other projects to use as leaders and enders. A good habit, I guess.

Another Triple Star

I really feel it keenly when I can’t sew, so I think I am posting every little bit of progress so I don’t seem like a slacker in my own mind.

This is the most recent star that I have made.

Due to some cutting errors I repurposed some of the pieces to other uses in the Triple Star. This means I have to cut more before I can make much more progress on the rest of the stars. I have one in progress and am sewing as much of it as I can, but I have to cut.

As much as the flippy corners method is a pain, I do like the look of the Friendship Star in the center.

Four and a half more blocks to go.

En Provence – Tiny Progress

En Provence - late October 2017 — En Provence – late October 2017

I made an effort to make some progress before I went off on my 5 days away from my sewing machine. I was able to get an En Provence column done. In case you can’t tell by comparing my last update photo with this one, it is the column on the right.

I have decided that adding rows and columns isn’t going to work, so now, while I still have the quilt on the design wall, I am laying out a row and sewing it together, but I won’t sew it to the whole piece. I will use it as the first row of the upper quarter. Once the whole quarter is made, then I will sew it to the piece shown above. This will prevent me from having to sew too many long seams.

After the top left quarter is sewn, I will work on the two right quarters and do the same. At the most, I should have 3 long seams.

Stars Return

You might remember me talking about the first star donation top. I don’t always get to see the finished product, but last week at the BAM meeting, I got to see it finished.

Erin quilted it. She doesn’t make a lot of her own quilts, so she quilts a massive number of charity quilts.

The setting looks pretty boring compared to Stars #2 and Stars #3, but I had to make it in order to get to those two. Erin’s quilting makes it look a lot better!

I was thrilled to collaborate with Erin and look forward to seeing what she does next.

Pincushions

I was sort of in the mood to make something small and wanted to give a small gift to the Retreat Committee, because I had a great time at the Retreat. And because making stuff is fun. Pincushions are fun and I enjoy making them.

I was completely thrilled, because I made these in between work and life. I got them finished after working on them a little bit in the evenings. I was also thrilled, because each entire piece is made from scraps. I did not dig into any yardage.

2 of 4 pincushions - back — 2 of 4 pincushions – back

They are from Love Patchwork and Quilting, issue 39. It is available digitally in the Apple and Google Play stores.

I told myself I wasn’t going to use selvedges again, but I did anyway. I had some sewing failures and had to remake two of the pincushions, because it was too much of a hassle under the deadline to rip them out. My attempt to repair with ShapeFlex didn’t work. Still, the selvedges are very popular, though I don’t think they work very well with pincushions. Whatever. Looks are everything, right? 😉 I’ll get to the repair later and have some pincushions available for gifts.

The pattern says to center the flaps for the Wonderclips and I haven’t done that thinking it would be too hard to sew. I tried it on one of the pincushions and I think it worked pretty well. I eyeballed the placement and might actually measure next time, but I think it came out well and it looks good.

Tim's pincushion in the wild — Tim’s pincushion in the wild

I sent the finished and fabulous pincushions to Gerre, so she could put them with her gift. She reminded me that I had missed one. It is a good thing they are easy to make and I have lot of scraps, because I made up two more quickly. One I gave as a gift – just because and it is already in use.

I enjoy making these I need to buy more wool roving so I can make more – and find some friends who need pincushions.

Pillowcases

I am on a binge of pillowcase making. I bought a number of pieces of fabric in the past few weeks to make pillowcases and I started right before I didn’t have time to sew.

First, I washed all the new fabric, then ironed it while I was on the phone (great activity for talking on the phone). After searching out my file of directions, I made a couple for the YM with the Bento Box fabric I bought for that purpose.

I wanted to highlight the green in the print. Since there is a lot of pink in the print (raw fish, after all), I didn’t want that to be the focus. Not very manly in this day and age, thus the green. YM isn’t particularly fond of green, but he doesn’t dislike it either. My pillowcases have a reputation of being awesome among his friends, so I know he will use them. I think they like the high thread count.

I don’t put trim on, though my pillowcase guide says to do so, because it adds an extra crease to the cheeks.

I dug up some pillowcase fabric I bought some time ago and will work on that one plus others over the weekend.

Creative Spark #19: Vision Board

Go and get your Little Spark book. We are back to fostering “a beginning, a seed, a whisper” (pg.6). Today is all about vision boards and this is not my thing. Perhaps I don’t believe they will work, so they don’t work, though everyone who has used one says they do work. Perhaps I am just scared of making one and getting what I think I want?

Bloomstad says “A vision board is simply a collage of images you pull from magazines and other places and paste to a board. This exercise puts you directly in touch with your desires. It leaves you with a visual inventory of all the stuff that bubles up from your unconscious mind and hear to illuminate your path and remind you of what you want” (pg.81).

This is the spark that I wish I had a direct line to the author. I think it is my fear talking, but I have questions. Do I really want what I think I want?

The directions for making a vision board are pretty clear. “To make a vision board, tune into your heart and soul. Sidestep your mind by banishing your inner critic, judge, and editor. Those parts of yourself are not welcome for this exercise. Ask them to leave the building. Why? because you are only going to be listening to your desire. Not your desire for your partner, your children, your friends, or your family. Just your desire, for you” (pg.81).

Carrie gives a list of materials to the reader (pg.83) and directions:

“…don’t ‘should’ on yourself — no ‘I should pick this image’ or ‘I should want this one” (pg.83)
“When you see something you like rip it out” (pg.83)
“…for an hour, rip or cut out images. Then for the next hour paste them down” (pg.83)
” Remove your notions of how pretty your board will look, how perfect, and let it just be…” (pg.83)
“Put your board in a spot where you can see it every day. After you look at your board and assimilate its wisdom, you may notice some themes” (pg.83)

She also gives some explanations, such as “sometimes we aren’t always aware of our own greatness or even what awaits us. Using pleasure and desire as a guide keeps you in your heart and soul and out of your editor and judge” (pg.83)

Finally, Bloomston says something that doesn’t scare me. “New Year’s is a great time to make a new board for setting your intentions for the new year” (pg.83). I watch everyone else set intentions, pick a word, make New Years resolutions and I do nothing. Not because I don’t want to, but because I want to do something meaningful and sustainable. I can probably spend two hours making a vision board for my year. We’ll see.

You can find the last spark on the blog from a few weeks ago.

Finished: Carpenter’s Wheel

Carpenter's Wheel Finished — Carpenter’s Wheel Finished

Yep. The monster is done.

I spent most of the past two weeknight evenings sewing on the binding and the sleeve. I showed it at BAMaQG on Saturday and now I am waiting to enter it into a show.

I had help holding it up. Two members stood up on a table so someone could take a photo with my phone. I thought this might be my only chance.

Did I mention that the thing is a monster? I know what possessed me, but I am still wondering what possesses me to make such huge quilts.

Book Arts Jam

Last weekend was exhibition weekend. I barely spent any time actually sewing. In addition to PIQF, the Book Arts Jam put on and exhibit and vendor hall with book artists vending. I have gone before and wrote about my visit in 2015.

The event is put on by the Bay Area Book Artists (BABA) organization and was held at the Palo Alto Elks Lodge. I went because I have, as I have said, a sincere but underdeveloped interest in book making. I always went to support Maureen who has sold postcards at the event during the last few exhibits.

Lilly's by Marilyn Howard — Lilly’s by Marilyn Howard

The exhibition has a gallery in one room and the vendor hall in the other. The exhibition made me realize that I am much more interested in the container than in the content of the books.

I know that creating content is important (ahem, see my blog), but for me in the context of this event, I felt myself drawn to the containers.

There were all types of book-like objects, some barely a book and some made from books rather than being books themselves. There were some accessories and a Barbie book.

One of the things that has been stumbling block for the next book in my series is the closure. At the Book Arts Jam, I saw one, Backwards Cover Book by Jamila Rufaro, artist use a magnet as a closure.

Why didn’t I think of that?

I have a whole bunch of sew in magnet closures I use for bags and they would be perfect! I don’t know how strong the magnet will be in the context of a book, but I can experiment now that I have an idea.

I saw some paper art that I would consider more like origami or papercraft (perhaps Scherenschnitte??) than bookmaking, but what do I know?

The colors make this look like a Thanksgiving decoration. I would love to enter this into the San Mateo County Fair. I found a site with instructions and some templates that can be printed. I didn’t see fruit, but didn’t look very hard. Looking at various shapes and site discussing sliceform, I can see that I could easily get sucked into that craft.

Vendors

There were probably 15-20 vendors. Some were selling items, a number of them were selling cards and others were selling supplies. I saw one vendor selling documents like deeds and other types of contracts.

Maureen was right next to the booth shown above. Her booth looks really professional. Simple and elegant, but visitors can also play with rearranging her postcards. That is an attraction for me. I guess the kid comes out. I am upset with myself for not getting a shot of her booth or the postcards I bought from her! ERGH!

I bought some little tiny journals that I will use as party favors from Kristi Conley-Brockie. I bought 5 and she will make me 10 more before January. I liked the items she had in her booth. I liked her work because the pieces looked like books, but imagery was also important to them. The octopus in the center of the book in the middle photo is particularly interesting to me.

I found the perfect card for my aunt. It is Halloween-esque, but doesn’t scream Halloween and nods to her love of black cats. I wrote her a letter that very afternoon and sent it off. I hope she likes it.

Sadly the card was not marked with the Artist’s name and she did not include a business card. 🙁

The weekend was busy and I was tempted not to go to the Book Arts Jam. I go to exhibits to expand my mind and I wanted to support Maureen’s hard work as she has always been helpful to me and does fabulous work. As you can see I went searching for sliceform and got an idea from one of the art pieces I might be able to utilize in my own work.

Book Review: Threads of Resistance

Threads of Resistance: a juried exhibition of fiber art created to protest the {45}* administration’s actions and policies by The Artist Circle Alliance

This is a catalog of works created for the Threads of Resistance exhibit that opened at the NEQM earlier this year. I was first made aware of the show when I saw Sarah Ann Smith’s piece. As you know, Sarah’s piece sent me on a continuation of the resistance/politcal art quilt journey which had laid dormant since 2001. That journey included the purchase of this catalog.

This catalog is filled with recognizable names such as Mel Beach, Judy Coates Perez, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Lyric Montgomery Kinard, Melanie Testa, Kathy York and, of course Sarah Ann Smith. There are many names I don’t recognize and was glad to see their work. The book includes an index (Hooray for indices!) of the names of all of the artists along with their websites at the end (pg.130-131).

The cover acts as the title page as well, at least the librarian in me presumes that is the case. There is a title page verso, but no identifiable title page. This affects you, perhaps because there is nowhere to sign the book if you meet one of the artists.

The introduction (pg.3) starts out discussing the goal of addressing current issues with the words “The Artist Circle presents ‘Threads of Resistance,’ a juried exhibition of fiber art created to protest the {45}* administration’s action and policies” (pg.3). It continues by briefly discussing quilts used in historical protests. The introduction sums up by offering an invitation to share readers’ viewpoint in an effort to “gain a better understanding of one another’s perspectives….(pg.3).

After the, relatively brief, introduction, the images and descriptions of the quilts start. As with a lot of art, not all of these pieces are easy to look at. The full frontal nudity and f**k off gesture of Neroli Henderson’s Dear Mr. T***p (pg.50-51) is hard for me to look at. Why, after millennia, should a woman’s body still have the power to shock me/our society? For me, it is clearly a learned reaction, especially since I have one of those bodies with similar features and functionality.

As 45 has made sex and womens’ bodies a major part of the presidency, a lot of seemingly sex-related symbols fill this catalog. I mentioned Henderson’s piece, which is probably the most graphic. The assault on a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own body is represented by “My Body My Rules” (pg.14-15) by Sue Bleiweiss. “Not So Safe” by Amy Dame (pg.38-39) evokes coat hangers, an innocent, useful household item, like the safety pin, which holds much meaning that has nothing to do with clothing. “Political Power Grab” by Sara Mika (pg.70-71) displays a uterus and many vaginas, symbols/images that invite comment when (if?) shown in the popular media. “Hands Off” (pg.74-75) is a graphic image representing how many women go about their daily lives in protection mode. The statement that goes with this quilt,”The message I received growing up was that I was less because I was female and that misogynist acts against me were my fault” (pg.75), is true for many of us even if it was never said explicitly.

The imagery in “Work in Progress” (pg.76-77) is also disturbing to me. The style of the images is hard for me to look at. This is another quilt explicitly showing genitalia. Though it is a difficult piece for me, I celebrate this quilt’s inclusion in the catalog. It forces me to look at things that I wouldn’t normally look at and, thus, explore my discomfort.

Finally, “Roe v. Wade Must Stand” (pg.106-107) makes me equal parts sad and angry. Why are we still discussing this issue? Aren’t there more important issues to discuss? Fundamentally, it has very little to do with politics and should not be decided in the halls of Congress. Women’s issues should be decided by women.

I know my politics are coming out in this review. It is not my intention to alienate anyone, but this catalog offers up a good summary and review of the assault on women’s rights. Whether your politics veer right or left we should all be able to agree that women need to be able to and have the right to decide issues that have to do with her own body without the interference of politicians. I don’t want to live a country where The Handmaid’s Tale is true.

Unlike women’s bodies, which are still, seemingly, taboo, phrases from the past year such as “Nevertheless, She Persisted” (pg.4-5) have made it into our culture and are part of this catalog. This catalog not only documents a phase (I hope it is just a phase) in US history, but evokes past history through the imagery of some of the quilts, such as Dawn Patrol (pg.6-7). Julia M. Arden’s pieces makes me think of a disturbing visit to Dachau, the shadow of which is burned into my memory.

Jessica Levitt’s piece, Equal Means Equal (pg.66-67) reminds me of the constant struggles in which women engage to gain some semblance of equality in pay, gender roles and so many other things.

A lot of issues, education, violence, choice, the right to protest, are represented by quilts in this book. Protest is represented by all of the quilts, but well represented by a couple of individual quilts including “Speak Up, Speak Out” (pg.110-111), Women’s Rally (pg.116-117) and “A Day to Remember (pg.104-105) all show imagery of women peacefully protesting. Most of the images show many, many participants. “Capitol Guns” (pg.80-81) reminds me of the struggle to find the balance between the right to keep and bear arms and the mass shootings such as the most recent terror in Las Vegas not to mention the various president who have been shot.

If you have not seen this show, try to go somewhere and see it. The imagery is hard to look at, but very powerful. The quilt format evokes the softness often attributed to women while the imagery denotes strength, fierceness and hardness. If you can’t make it to an exhibit, buy the catalog. Not only with you be supporting the artists, but you will add something to your library that will inspire you.

Art is meant to challenge the viewer. This art definitely challenges me.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: Regardless of your politics or opinions, contract your federal, state and local representatives and make your voice heard.

*I refuse to include the name of the current President on my blog or in any location associated with me, so I have substituted 45 for the name.

View all my reviews

Various & Sundry 2017 #14

Check out the sale page, but don’t just check it out: Contact me to buy something! 😉

Patterns, Tutorials and Projects

QuiltnSew (Pitcher’s Boutique) on Instagram is selling a new foundation piecing of the Disney Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and the old version of the Disneyland sign. I am not a foundation piecing fan, but I love these designs and bought them immediately.

Kevin the Quilter just posted the conclusion of his summer mystery series called Sapphire Stars. I don’t know whether he will keep the steps up on his blog. Go and check his blog and get the steps if you like and want to make the quilt. He will also being doing a lecture and trunk show in Missouri, if you are in the area.

Other Artists

Thanks to Stashed for letting me know about Nancy Zieman. They wrote “Nancy Zieman, beloved doyenne of sewists and quilters around the world, has retired, following the diagnosis of terminal cancer.” She has posted some final words in a blog post. The post includes heartfelt words and pictures of the studio. She is very open about her illness.

As you may have seen on my latest Design Wall Monday post, Judy at the Patchwork Times is no longer hosting this ‘community event’. It is now being hosted by another Judy at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

I think I first saw Kathy York’s quilts at PIQF. As I recall, the piece had many little squares made from brightly colored fabric, mostly solids or tone-on-tones. I recently had the opportunity to go to her blog and saw her piece, Floating in a Sea of Symbols. I love the layers shown in the water.

I was pleased to see that my friend, Pamela Allen, had a piece in Quilt National 2017.

Wanda of Exuberant Color has some great propeller (??) blocks posted.

Tools, Notions & Supplies

I needed a new Acufeed foot, because I couldn’t see what I needed to see when trying to quilt my tablemat. I was unsuccessful locating one locally, so Gerre recommended SewVac Direct. I was really happy with their service. They were quick and answered my questions quickly and efficiently. I would recommend them.

Media

I noticed that Quilt National no longer has catalogs on Amazon. You can buy the 2015 catalog bundle and the 2017 catalog bundle through the Dairy Barn.

I know many of you do not subscribe to American Quilter. Through a series of magazine closures, I got a long, long subscription that will end soon, but has been going on for 10 years or more. I haven’t decided whether I will renew once my subscription ends next year, but I was nudged towards yes when I received (AND actually read!) this month’s issue.Much of what I like has to do with quilt world news. Most magazines just have projects, but I like to know what shows are coming, what new products are out and who is doing what as well as articles on *techniques* rather than just projects. AQ has made a lot of changes. They now include newer designers and the colors they use in the mag are brighter. AQ still has too many projects (I have enough on my ‘want to do list’ already), but one of their projects shows how to use a 45 degree wedge triangle ruler and gives instructions on testing what you already have at home to see if it will work. I was pleased that they didn’t automatically ask the maker to buy something new. The article on Pam Holland is interesting as well. Her style is contemporary and the description of her creative process is interesting. I was also interested to see the article on the Row by Row Experience. I didn’t know how that started and was glad to read about it. Kimberly Einmo’s column talks about reviewing and getting UFOs finished. The November 2017 issue is well worth looking at.

Doing Good

Sadly, there are lots of opportunities to provide some comfort to those in distress. Take a look at the post from the Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild, calling for blocks and quilts. Also, Quilts of Compassion is collecting quilts for Houston. Take a look at the quilt Valerie made for Las Vegas.

I saw the Palmateer Point Linky Party and immediately liked the pattern. I think this design could be great in modern fabrics. It would work very well with the 2.5″ squares our guild uses for donation blocks, though a smaller version would look great as well.

Kathy talks about the 70273 project in her Brainworm post. She writes in a very moving manner about the lists and her reaction to seeing her name on the list of blockmakers. Dachau really affected me when I went there. I look at what is going on in the world around me and wonder if there is a Holocaust going on now that we won’t know about for years. There is another moving post on Quilt 219 on the 70273 Project site.

Articles & Information

SewVac Direct has article on sewing room safety.

Starting a Shirt

I started another shirt. The last one I made was the California shirt I entered into the San Mateo County Fair.

Like many of my quilts, I think these shirts are part of a series. The California shirt from last year is the best yet. The judges weren’t 100% happy with my entry and they were correct. I needed to finish the seams. This failure has been on my mind. A series of events made me decide to make DH a Cal shirt. He says he has enough button down casual type shirts, but he is getting this one anyway.

I had some Cal fabric that I used for various things, but I bought some more at PIQF. It turned out that when I cut out the shirt on Monday, I had enough from my previous purchase to cut the pieces.

I also decided that I would use some dark blue solid on the shirt so that motifs would stand out. I didn’t want the overall effect to be too chaotic.

The cutting went really well. I modified the pattern last time and that took a lot of time. I didn’t have to do that this time, so I was able to cut out the shirt and fuse interfacing to the front of the shirt all during Craft Night. I still need to fuse some ShapeFlex to the pocket to keep it from being floopy.