Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
Wouldn’t you love a vacation this long? I would.
The CPP is still on vacation. Did you do any responses to the previous prompts? See previous words and information on the Creative Prompts Inspiration Page. Do you have an opinion about how I should proceed with the CPP? Are there enough prompt projects out there already? I have listed a few resources on the CPP Inspiration page.
Did you Talkback? I was glad to hear from Angela and Kim and SherriD. I want to hear from you.
These are the first bits of fabric that I have bought for the Young Man’s food quilt. He is getting a food quilt from my mom, but I am making him one as well. I am only going to use this kind of fabric for the quilt. Mom used a variety of different food fabrics. I saw a few others on Quiltshops.com, but haven’t decided how many I need, so will wait to purchase. I do want to get the raspberries and I have some cherries.
After seeing Robin’s version of the Disappearing Nine Patch at the Retreat, I decided I wanted to try that pattern as well. I am going to put a red square in the middle and then black on white or a white on black print in the outside middle positions. I am going to do a test to see what looks best or if I need to rethink my color scheme completely. Make visual decisions visually.
I went on a mini book buying binge last Monday (not yesterday). It was part of therapy after the crazy family weekend. The Practical Guide to Patchwork was not in the purchase. I had that before, but hadn’t shown it and wanted to make the picture nice and even and not show you too much of the life sucking beige carpet that in on my workroom floor. Look for reviews.
Saturday a week ago was the CQFA and BAMQG Saturday extravaganza.
Every other month, the meetings fall on the same day, which can be awesome and can be exhausting. I love being immersed in the quilting. I adore both groups, too.
CQFA was really small this time. It is a small group to start with and May always begins the end of school/graduation/nice weather demands on people’s time. Still, it was a great meeting with awesome show and tell. We rehashed the Primal Green outing and panel discussion. I got a lot of kudos for my contribution, which was really nice and made me feel good. Nancy had set up demo, which Sue gave after a brief break.
Sue makes fabric paper. She found the recipe in the book Stitch Alchemy and has been making gorgeous cards and gifts ever since. Sue’s piece for Primal Green was made from the fabric paper (above). She also sent me some gifts made from her paper. I especially liked the cards.
Don’t you love the stitching and how it highlights and adds interest to the flower?
If I ever send you one of these cards, you had better not throw it out! I’ll have to think who will really appreciate one of them. I may frame one as well.
The thing about Sue is that she is fearless and will try anything. She really does great work and I always look forward to her show and tell.
In the photo above Sue is applying tissue paper to the fabric she has cut. I don’t remember what kind of fabric it is, but something fairly benign and not very expensive, I think.She used a water and glue mixture to apply the paper to the fabric.
Sue is a really good teacher. She was well prepared and as she talked us through the different steps, she also talked about supplies she liked (Starbuck’s tissue and colored tissue paper are the best).
After the paper is dry (this was a second piece, because we didn’t have time to let the one she worked on dry), then you paint and embellish it. That stamp in the front is made from bunion foam. Great idea, huh? Again, Sue talked about things she liked and things that didn’t work out as planned for embellishing.
We talked about doing this all together in August and then following up with a workshop to embellish it at A Work of Heart. We’ll see how it goes.
BAMQG is always a fun time, too. This time I brought my camera. I still didn’t take any photos except of the blocks I was cutting. DUH! I took the fabric for the Teacher Pillows and used the time I wasn’t chatting to cut pieces. I was able to cut two blocks out during the sewing time, which was great.
The meeting was good, too. It is fun to see what people are making. I had a lot to show – the FOTY 2010 (sans sleeve, so you’ll get to see when it is completely finished), the Frosted Stars Leftovers and the Purple Quilt. People really liked them and it is gratifying to get positive feedback. I was able to show the quilts at both groups and get double the amount of strokes. Thanks, everyone.
A few people finished their Robert Kaufman challenges. I brought mine, which does not have a border. Look out for a post on that coming soon to a blog near you. It was interesting to hear what challenged people about the project.
Chris won the blocks from the February block strip challenge. She made a table runner and she also made some gifts to give away. I won a folder that she made using a manila folder as a pattern and Timtex as the base. Very clever.
The outside of the folder is made from blocks. Can you see parts of one of my blocks? The inside has two pockets. Where the green meets the multi-colored print is where the pocket is.
I am kind of stuck in my ways when it comes to daily writing journals. TFQ introduced to me to the Miquelrius journals and I have never looked back.
I received these journals on the right from DH for Mother’s Day. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking at when I opened the beautifully wrapped gift. The spiral with the old book covers did not compute in my mind.
I admire the Art Deco (Nouveau??) design on the cover of the brown book, but really appreciated both when I opened them. The pages of the books have been replaced with blank, recycled paper.
There are a few pages from a book in the journal, but mostly the pages are blank.
DH works for a large educational institution and they are constantly having different events. They recently had a Green Fair and that was where he found these. I thought it was very sweet of him to pick journals for me. I guess he noticed that I write in my journal a lot. 😉
Now I have to decide whether or not to make a cover for these when I use them.
This post is kind of a roundup of the good and the bad. No ugly today, as I use GREAT fabric. 😉
This Sawtooth Star block is one I use to teach Flying Geese. I love the Dutchman’s Puzzle block, but think starting students out with 4 Flying Geese as opposed to 8+ is much kinder.
The larger blocks are weird for me to make, because I like to make 6″ or 8″ blocks mostly. The good thing about making these giant blocks is that there is a lot of potential for fussy cutting and the Big Plain Jane print worked really well in this block. I tried to position the flower a little off center to add a bit of interest while not showcasing the white flower that is near the red flower on the print. I am really pleased with how cheerful this blocks looks. I am glad I am working in a turquoise/aqua and red palette.
The Card Trick block is a great block for practicing triangles. It includes both half and quarter square triangles. If you haven’t tried the Card Trick, it is a great block as long as you pick the right fabrics. I, as you can see, did not build in enough contrast between the background and the light fabrics. There are a lot of seams and triangles in this block and you have to lay it out and piece carefully, because it is easy to get mixed up.
As I work on this project I see these blocks set on point with red cornerstones. We’ll see as the time gets closer.
The CPP is still on vacation. Did you do any responses to the previous prompts? See previous words and information on the Creative Prompts Inspiration Page. Do you have an opinion about how I should proceed with the CPP? Are there enough prompt projects out there already? I have listed a few resources on the CPP Inspiration page.
Talkback. I want to hear from you.
Thanks to everyone who offered advice and sympathy based on my post of May 11, 2011. I really appreciate your comments and support!
The director of the offending site contacted me and I hope we have resolved our differences.
On my side, I am working on some legalese to post prominently in my sidebar. Bleah. Just what I don’t want to do, but whatever.
My weekend was completely embroiled with quilt meetings and family events. I had a few minutes here and there, but never seemed to be able to settle down to write. That meant that none of the posts I usually prep on the weekends got done. I didn’t get any sewing done and didn’t write any book reports, so I really didn’t have much to write about any way.
I stayed home from work on Monday and sewed all day except for going to they gym in the morning and taking the Young Man to an appointment.
I cut this block out at the BAMQG meeting on Saturday and then sewed it together on Monday. I have made a lot of baskets in my day and found this one to be a bit on the tricky side. Exhaustion could have played a factor. 😉
I chose the colors to go with the pillow I made for this same teacher last year. You can see the 2010 pillows and compare.
I was also held up by the labels. I have the Young Man draw on a piece of paper to make the label. I have to mark the seam allowances, so his art does not get cut off and it took me awhile to site down and do it. Now it is done and I can progress.
I am really irritated.
Someone stole photos of pillows I donated to a raffle and put them up on their own blog. Now I have to send that person/blog/organization a cease & desist letter. I don’t have to, but I am going to. From a REAL lawyer who charges a lot of money per hour.
Here is the deal: If you want to use my photos, the policies and procedures are clearly labeled under ABOUT on the navigation bar under my header. I will also provide you with a convenient link, so you don’t have to look around. If, for some reason, you don’t want to download Clipmarks, then just ask me. Leave a comment somewhere and we can have a conversation about it.
The deal is that I want credit and I want a link back to my blog and I don’t want to have to come after you.
Do not just download the photos and put them up on your site. Be nice!
Yes, more from my sad shoe shopping experience. At least I found something for you. 😉
I think that the flower could easily be reproduced in fabric – ‘easily’ meaning not quick, but the picture makes it look relatively painless and straightforward, if a bit fiddly.
I do feel like I haven’t had much time to sew, which, further, means I have nothing to show. Perhaps tomorrow.
Have a Happy Mother’s Day!
The CPP is still on vacation. Did you do any responses to the previous prompts? See previous words and information on the Creative Prompts Inspiration Page. Do you have an opinion about how I should proceed with the CPP? Are there enough prompt projects out there?
Talkback. I want to hear from you.
On Sunday May 1, I posted some information about what was on my design wall.
Sandy commented “You have a lot more going on with your design wall than I do with mine. I get too distracted by a lot going on visually so I can only have one project at a time up on the wall. My other projects are in bags or bins that periodically get pulled out, pawed through, then put away again. Sort of a low-commitment-refresher on what I’ve got going on at any given time. But I tend to be a One Project girl–one at a time, at least until the top is pieced. Then I might move on to something else while waiting for inspiration on the quilting.”
She made an excellent point, which leads me to more discussion about my process.
Shortly after I started quiltmaking, I moved quickly from one quilt project to another. I would most often not return to a project once I had moved on and rarely finished projects. This was how I mostly had crafted in the past and I perceived it as a quiltmaking trend at the time. One day I looked in the fabric closet and found boatloads of UFOs. I rarely finished anything. I realized that the time had come to start finishing those projects before I moved on to new projects. I still haven’t finished all of my UFOs, but I am farther along and keep strict track of my progress and of the UFOs I finish. Many of the older projects are finished and the ones that aren’t are moving towards the top of the list.
As described a bit in the presentation I made recently, I have thought a lot about my process and how I work. One of the things I realized is that I do a lot of prep work before I focus on a project. The cutting and beginning stitching may seem like part of the project, but for me it is prep work. I only cut to have some patches to stitch. I sew the little pieces into bigger pieces so I can really focus on the piece. Sewing small patches together is a great use of the leaders and enders philosophy. Using this philosophy, I can make a lot of progress without focusing on the project exclusively. Then suddenly I am ready to put blocks and a quilt top together.
Also, test pieces are not real projects for me. They are just that: tests; techniques and things I am trying out for one reason or another before I commit to a full quilt. I don’t count them as projects.
I am really trying hard to work on one large project at a time and see it through to the end. I am trying to finish everything I start, which means a lot more testing goes on before I commit. It doesn’t always work like it should because I can’t work on the project if it is at the quilter and I can’t watch TV while sitting at my machine.
I still have a number of projects going at once, but they are all organized and moving forward, even if they are not at the front of the line.
I explained the whole deal about these pillows a few days ago.
Last Friday I needed to clear off my sewing table (do you see a theme of Spring Cleaning here again?) before I did anything else.
The pillow tops were already pinned to the backs, so I really just had to sew around the edges and do a little trimming. Since it was easy, I did it and now they are done and I can cross this task off my to do list. I can’t tell you how good this makes me feel. I am not sewing like a demon at the last minute! Hooray!
Here is the first group of triangles that will end up as Fabric of the Year 2011. I am doing something this year in that I am including many fabrics that I am using this year, but aren’t new. The large triangles are the new fabrics for this year and the small triangles are the fabrics that were already in my fabric closet, but were used in a quilt.
I have already realized that I am not going to be able to cut ALL fabrics that I use. I just am not organized enough. I haven’t developed the habit, but I am getting better.
I have the idea in my mind that I will make this more of a scrap quilt rather than arranging the fabrics carefully in a colorwash kind of order. I may not, though.
The other idea I have is to arrange it like Fons & Porter did in their Kalamkari Strippy.
We’ll see how I feel at the end of the year.