Linda, Laura and Catherine are back with issue 2 of Thr3fold Journal. They have also updated their website to include a wonderful video of the three of them talking about themselves and the journal. Take a look.
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Issue 3 is due in May or June.
One Night Stand
I don’t know what got into me last night, but I had a one night stand. Not the kind you are thinking of, but an art encounter where I finished a small book. I am calling it the Be Brave book.
What happened was that I had a few spare minutes while Darling Boy took a shower and my Artgirlz order was still on the floor where I had left it after I photographed it last week for you to see. I picked it up, opened up the Artgirlz creativity packet and looked at all the stuff. I was surprised to find a little bound book. I thought it was a bunch of paper. All the pages are different colors, which is fun and cheerful.
I sewed the felt to the front and did a bit of handwork on the flowers. Then I got out my rubber stamping ink and tried out many of the stamps in the Artgirlz rubber stamping pack. Then I just kept stamping and sewing and suddenly I was done.
I don’t know how long it took, but not very long, perhaps a half an hour. I could do more, but it is not a project that is sitting half done on my worktable. I can still do more later if I want. 
Close up.
Finished product. I also used some of the Stampin’ Up letters on the little marker/tag.
New Way of Drawing?
I saw Sketchcast on one of the blogs that look at occasionally. I thought it was an interesting concept and have been exploring it a little bit this evening. The intriguing part is that they provide the code so you can embed the drawing in your blog. I was surprised that they didn’t have a tagging feature. It seems to have some elements of social networking just not tagging. I didn’t find any sketches on quiltmaking.
Check it out.
Check it out.
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Fabric of the Year Project etc.
I decided to do the fabric project that I discussed in two previous posts here and here. This project uses fabrics I have recently purchased in some project right away.
This is the fabric I recently washed (a light load). They are arranged in no particular order. I cut the pieces and slapped them up on the wall.
Above are the fabrics after I rearranged them a bit and sewed them together. You can see the test block in there as well.
I did run across a few situations I had to decide about as I pressed the fabric, so here are the complete new rules:
- 2.5″x4.5″ pieces of each fabric purchased.
- Fabrics that have been washed, but not pressed are ok to add to the mix, even if they were purchased last year.
- Fabrics purchased twice in the same year should be included twice.
- OK to rearrange fabrics as desired.
- Press to the dark.
I did find it to be fun, as TFQ said it was. I did find one fabric that I really didn’t like and will put in the Freecycle pile.
Needing some retail therapy this week and still having Friend Julie’s post on my mind drove me to the Artgirlz site. I was amazed to find that the creativity pack and the rubber stamps came within a few days, even though it was sen from Rhode Island. Nice service! The thing I have to figure out is how to mount the rubber stamps. I know how to mount them, but don’t have the mounting thingies. Perhaps there is a rubber stamp store somewhere where I can buy some. Artgirlz have some, but they have a variety of sizes in one pack and not enough of the little ones.
A few months ago when I was really trying to get inspired to do some visual journaling, I bought a few writing/drawing instruments to inspire me. I finally tried these NeoColors last week. They are like crayons, but more waxy. I wasn’t that impressed as I was looking for something softer. I probably won’t be buying more of them.
Finally, there is good news and bad news on the Cross Blocks (Flowering Snowball). The good news is that I finished another block. I have been working on this one for several weeks, which means that it was mostly languishing in my handwork bag. It is displayed above with some new fun fabrics.
The bad news is that I seem to have lost the templates. In a frenzy of tidying, the stack where the templates lived for months was swept away and no longer exists. The templates are gone now, too, and I can’t think of where I might have put them. Darn! I wanted to cut some more pieces. I can reprint them and start over, but I don’t want to get into a problem with piecing (I have had enough of that!), so I will look for them some more. Cross your fingers that they show up.
Coalescing Ideas Continued…
If you don’t go back and read the comments to some of my posts, I encourage you to do it every once in a while. I don’t get a lot of comments, so it shouldn’t really be a hardship. You can also subscribe to them on the comments page and then they will come to your e-mail! WOW! Isn’t technology great!?!
In the post I wrote about Jane Blair’s quilt, Things Change, and my friend TFQ’s project to use a piece of all the fabric she bought last year, Jeanne commented:
“I like the 2.5″ x 4.5” block; the pieces are a better proportion to the block overall.
I’ve been really happy with this project over the past year. I liked the way it got me to cut into my fabrics right away, not just for my swatches, but to actually use them. Nothing seems too precious to use once I’ve cut into it and made something with it. I actually did go out and buy more of some fabrics that I fell in love with as soon as I used them, and I actually gave away some fabrics that made me want to tear my hair out trying to use them. Well, I made napkins with pieces of it and gave the rest away.
Warning, though: do not engage in this project unless you are prepared to be confronted by the number of blocks you end up with at the end of the year. I just finished the blocks for 2007 and counted them: 685 blocks.”
first, I think Jeanne is right about the 2.5″x4.5″ block being the right size. In looking at the two hanging on my design wall, I realized that the larger one will not really go together very easily, but the 2.5″x4.5″ would go together like Jane Blair’s quilt’s setting.
And, as I said in the post, I really like the idea of knowing whether I will like to use a fabric or not. TFQ made Sawtooth Star blocks, I believe (I am going up there in a few weeks and will take photos of everything she has been working on), so the blocks were more complicated than I am proposing. That doesn’t alleviate the fact that I may end up with over 600 blocks. How many quilts would that make and could I stand to put them all together. I do love to make blocks, so it might make a difference.
I just washed a bunch of fabric, so we will see if I start this. Right now the fabric is laying on the back of my sewing chair. Stay tuned!
PPP is Over
The Pineapple Pity Party is over. It was good for me to write that post yesterday, because it was like a kick in the pants. As I was finishing the post, I started to think that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal to see what I was facing and possibly make a few more blocks. So, I went upstairs (the DSL still isn’t working up there, so I am racing up and down the stairs all day) and laid out all the blocks on the floor. This exercise coincided with some furniture moving, so it wasn’t an ideal situation.
The piece isn’t as big as I thought it was going to be. Certainly, it covers the floor, but that is it. I wasn’t able to get a picture of the whole thing, which means you can’t get the whole effect, but I think you can get the idea.
I looked at all the blocks and compared them to their neighbors and came up with a catalog of problems.
Top right block too big – way too big.
Top block way too big.
Too big again.
I have a plan of action, however, and I am happy about that.
- Make two new blocks: one center and one border and see how they compare to others.
- Try to figure out what exactly the problem is.
- Compare blocks to each other and sew as many together as possible.
- Remake blocks as necessary.
- Make pillows out of unusable blocks 😉
Pineapple at TIGQF
This is an antique Pineapple that Moving Hands shows. How did the maker get all those tiny strips to fit together?
There wasn’t a picture that I could see of the entire quilt in Moving Hands group.
Tokyo International Great Quilt Festival 2008
If you want to see some TIGQF photos, this is the place. Moving Hands has uploaded a bunch of photos, which provide some much needed relief from the world at large.
I really like the big swirl in the middle of this quilt.
Enjoy.
Tsukineko Inks
I am at loose ends right at the moment…bored actually. This is a new feeling for me as I usually have a zillion things to do and am running around doing them. It is not that I don’t have a zillion things to do, it is that I don’t feel like doing them. Part of the problem is 1) the child woke me up at the crack of dawn for some stupid, trivial (to me, not to him, of course) request and I have been out of sorts all day; 2) I have been working 5+ days a week lately with no time just to veg and that is what I am doing now; and, finally [most significantly?], 3) the Pineapple Problem is growing [probably] out of proportion. I want to sew, but seeing the Pineapples laying on my cutting table paralyzes me. I am thinking of abandoning the whole project, but I had such high hopes. I have so many dots. It seems like a big failure. If I could see the lesson in the failure, then I might do it and start over, but I can’t see the lesson and suspect that there isn’t one.
To combat this unfamiliar and unwelcome feeling, first I checked eBay for my SIL’s discontinued crystal pattern, then I tried to buy fabric on eQuilter. Got an error message and didn’t succeed. I am a master at finding web and software bugs and I don’t even try. This was not the moment to have this particular ‘skill’ rear it’s ugly head. Finally, I went to Melody Johnson’s blog, because I noticed the last time I was there the amazingly large blogroll she has. One of the blogs I found there was Frieda Anderson’s blog. She took a class in Tsukineko inks the other day. (I bet you were wondering when I would get to the point!)
I have been thinking about the T.I. inks sitting abandoned in one of my drawers lately. Thus, I was pleased to see this article about using them. It gives me a more realistic view of how they might work. Clipmarks has a publishing limit, so go to Frieda’s blog and read all about it. Perhaps I can convince Friend Julie to hold my hand while I try this medium sometime.
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Heart Idea
I like the shape of the hearts in this quilt. Not so fond of the colors, but they aren’t terrible either. I can imagine it in turquoise, sunshine yellow, lime and papaya. Sounds like summer, huh?
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Mom’s Pineapple
Last December Mom and I decided to take a Pineapple class on the spur of the moment. I paid for everything as part of her Christmas gift and we took the class together in January. You all know the progress I am making, but my mom has finished hers and it is above. She did a wonderful job and I am so impressed with the finished product. She normally does pieces like Mary Lou Weideman.
Here is a detail.
Fun Uses for Big Prints
I have discussed using big prints with TFQ on and for awhile, which has made my eye sensitive to them when they appear in my radar. I thought Jane Sassaman’s use of her fabrics for Pillowcases was FANTASTIC. Why didn’t I think of that?
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How to Be Creative
I don’t think anyone can tell YOU how to be creative, but Melody Johnson talks about what she does to be creative, which is a great start at figuring how you can be creative. It is good to hear what other people have to say. One way to be creative is, as Friend Julie said, just to show up. Deirdre is encouraging us to make one thing a day for every day in February, which goes far towards encouraging creativity. I am tempted to sign up, but I am sure it would be another recipe for feeling guilty.
Coalescing Ideas
Last year, my good friend, The Fabric Queen, embarked on a project to use a little piece of each fabric she bought all during the year. The goal was to see how the fabric worked in a block, so she could buy more if it worked very well or not worry about acquiring more if it wasn’t optimal for actual quiltmaking. I thought this was a great idea. If I did something similar it would alleviate the problems that I had last year with trying to find old fabrics. It is on my mind, but I haven’t yet done anything similar.
Earlier this week, after reorganizing the reading material next to my bed, I came across a Summer 2005 issue of American Quilter magazine and the cover quilt drew me in and got me to thinking, on various levels about TFQ’s ongoing project with her new fabrics.
Jane Blair‘s quilt, Things Change, first of all is a really amazing piece of work. The way the layers peel away to reveal another layer is masterful in construction. However, it was one piece of the quilt on the cover that particularly fascinated me. In the upper left hand corner, the artist has placed some simple blocks made up of two rectangular pieces. I am not fond of the colors, but in this quilt, they make perfect sense and Ms. Blair achieves (what I perceive to be) her goal of showing how quiltmaking has evolved.
The thought began to rumble around in my mind that this block might be quick enough to piece for me to actually make blocks using the fabric I buy throughout the year. Then thoughts evolved to the size of the block and the size of the pieces. I haven’t looked it up in EQ6, but it isn’t really such a difficult block that I couldn’t just cut a couple of rectangles and sew them together, however I do think that the ratio of the patches to each and the whole block would be important. It would also be important to determine the right size of the block, so as to showcase the fabric without taking too much fabric or making too much of a commitment to this exercise as a project. I don’t want to make really difficult blocks with 30 pieces. If I do such an exercise, I want it to be simple and effective.
I think that making this rectangle block in a 12×12″ size would be crazy. I wonder if it would work in a 4×4″ size? The patches would be 2.5″ each, so the block would be a finished size of 4″. I suppose I need to fall back on my mantra, made popular in my circle by Lorraine Torrence, “Make Visual decisions visually. I guess this means I need to wash some fabrics!
I sewed a couple of options and it looks like the larger one is better. It is great to be inspired by other quiltmakers. I also like talking about quiltmaking with others and being inspired by our conversations.
Quiltmaking By the Sea
Often, I work almost all the time at one of my two jobs or dealing with other non-paid work type tasks. This past weekend, I threw it all aside, took Friday-most of Sunday off and went to a quilt retreat! Hooray! It was great! I spent Friday night, Saturday and a few hours on Sunday sewing.
I couldn’t completely get away from work, so I worked on the bookkeeping while I watched Law & Order and waited for Friend Julie to arrive. I did go visit Cabrillo Sewing, which is right next to the hotel (how convenient!). Little did I know that downstairs, in the Begonia Room, the other ladies were setting up and warming up their sewing machines. I was pleased that I did this work, however, as I felt a lot better about taking the weekend off.
As you can see, I wasn’t able to follow the directions that I originally set out for myself. The display quilt from Quiltworks Northwest that I saw at APNQ can be seen on the 2007 UFO Report. I am really not sure what happened, but as I drove down to the hotel, it occurred to me that I would rather work with rectangles.
Julie got my act together by arriving. We went downstairs with all of our stuff and set up for sewing.
Here is my mess after cutting a bunch of strips and rectangles. We eventually went to dinner; we tried to go to a restaurant that serves only ostrich meat, but we couldn’t find it, so we ended up at a little Mexican place. It was storming quite hard and they had sandbags around the doors and cloths and things stuck in the windows to keep the water out. Quite the adventure digging for change for a parking meter in the dark in the driving rain where the meters give you 5 minutes for each quarter!.
I was amazed that we sewed as late as we did – 10:30 or so, then we went up and drank Sambuca and Limoncello while we watched more Law & Order and CSI. I am such a junkie for L&O- it is what I do in hotels.
The next day we sewed all day except for a quick dash to lunch and to a quilt store called Round Robin (Portola and 38th Ave). They had nice fabrics and the place was restful and organized. I bought only a few fabrics at the two shops.
I used up about 4 yards of fabric in the quilt and didn’t want to buy more than I used. A novelty, I know, but I really wasn’t in the mood to buy fabric and didn’t see anything I had to have. The dots are nice. I hadn’t seen the one with the white background before. I went back and forth on the one with the black background as I don’t have an idea for a project. The other black-on-whites will be used for the Cross Blocks/Flowering Snowballs.
Aside from a quick dinner at a local Thai Restaurant, I sewed until about 11pm. I really wanted to get a handle on how I was going to put the blocks together. By about 9pm the blocks were finished, but I hadn’t made them perfect squares, so some figuring needed to take place. Terri let me use her portable design wall, which was absolutely necessary and I was very grateful to her for it.
I fiddled with placement a little bit, but mostly worked out how I was going to get different sized blocks together. Once I had about four done, I went to bed and let the process percolate while I slept.
The next morning, I sewed the rest of the blocks together and now have the top you see at the top of the post. I think I’ll call it the Chocolate Box.
So, one thing about this project was that it was not at all precise. I was ok with having to fiddle with putting it together, because I could just mindlessly sew whatever I wanted wherever…basically. I did have a semblance of a plan. Second, I am glad I used the rectangles instead of the squares, because it makes this project mine while allowing me to be inspired by another quilt. Third, there was enough structure to keep me grounded with enough freedom to relieve the stress of the Pineapple Problems.
I don’t have any pictures of it, but Friend Julie is taking a mentoring program from Gabrielle Swain. One thing that she does is “show up”. That means that she gets into the studio every day and works. For her, that is four hours a day. WOW! I am so impressed, I can’t even tell you. I admire her for the commitment. She isn’t just sewing, however. She is noting down her ideas in a visual journal and it is the visual journal I want. My little drawings looks so sad compared to the exuberance of her work. I look forward to seeing more of it and getting to that point as well.
Everyone should really go on a quilt retreat once in a while. Boy! I would love to do that once a month. I can’t believe how much I got done in 17 or so hours of sewing. Amazing!