Process – Page 4 – Artquiltmaker Blog

La Pass M7 Arrives

Month 7 of my La Passacaglia finally arrived. It seemed like it took forever. After months of being behind, I caught up with month 6 and month 3, which meant that I was completely caught up. During my La Pass break, I also finished two bindings and wrote a bunch of cards. I really missed the stitching of La Pass while I was waiting. What a change from a few months ago when I was feeling like it was overwhelming me!

I unpacked the bundle, washed the fabric and started in on basting. Bleah on basting!, but it is part of the process and I have to do it to get to the stitching.

Pink Door has done a masterful job using the ombre in this month. I am really glad I am doing the BOM.

APfE v.2 Nearing the Finish Line

After not working on this bag much on Saturday, I decided to do as much as I could on Sunday. I was quick to remind myself that there were too many steps and I couldn’t possibly finish.

A Place for Everything Bag almost finished

I was right, mostly.

I was not able to finish the bag, but I made really good progress and the bag is almost done. I have to finish the binding.

The product came out pretty well. ByAnnie patterns do come out pretty well, though I wouldn’t suggest this bag for someone who hasn’t made a lot of bags. There are videos, but Annie skips over some of the parts she considers to be basic or easy. Of course, those were the ones I had the most trouble navigating.

A Place for Everything Bag - detail — A Place for Everything Bag – detail

I know the picture above looks weird because of the binding, but I am really pleased with how the bag looks, e.g. the fabrics that I chose. I am also pretty happy with the webbing, though I did have to make up some parts of using it as I went along.

I love this hardware, especially, as I said, the triangle piece. I don’t think I really need the carry strap, but I wanted to make it. I can always use it for a different bag.

I am tempted to make a Take a Stand Bag that matches this one. I have to make one as gift, so I might as well make two, right? I need to finish some other projects before I do that.

APfE v.2 Progress: Handles and Straps

I spent Sunday working on the A Place for Everything bag. I despaired at making any progress, because the handle instructions didn’t seem to make any sense.I know part of this was that I had lost momentum. It makes me think I need to make the Take A Stand bag that has been on my list while I am in tune with ByAnnie bags.

Fortunately, ByAnnie has a series of Handles and Straps videos, which were very helpful. I’d like to see a list of the projects that use the techniques included under the various videos. There may be a list, but I haven’t found it yet. It took me some time to sort through them to find the one I needed. I used:

#5-Making an Adjustable Strap Using a Widemouth Slider : Watch step-by-step as Annie shows how to attach a widemouth slider to make a strap adjustable for carrying over the shoulder or for carrying cross-body.
#6-Making a Detachable Strap : Learn to attach the necessary hardware to make an attachable/detachable strap.

I finally got the adjustable strap made and am pretty pleased with it.

I am also super pleased with the triangle hardware. I have known about them, but don’t think I have used them before. This won’t be the last time! They are great, because they don’t roll around after installation like D-rings. I am in the process of installing them on the bag pockets. Once the bag is finished I will be able to clip the adjustable strap to them.

I didn’t follow the handle and strap making directions, because I decided to use the new Tula Pink webbing. I ran into a few problems. First, I ended up making handles from fabric and Soft & Stable, because I didn’t have enough of the webbing. Second, there were no instructions on finishing the ends of the webbing. The webbing frays/shreds like crazy, so some kind of sealing process needs to take place. I couldn’t find any tutorials or even any pictures of what others have done. I ended up using Aleene’s Tacky Glue** on the edges of some of the pieces and L’Oreal Miracle Base Coat** on others. I wanted to see the difference. I considered burning the edges, but was reluctant because of the smell and, also, I didn’t want the edges blackened at all. The webbing edges will show, regardless, and I wanted them to be as neat as possible.

Both worked well. The glue took longer to dry, but I worked on other things while it dried. I would recommend cutting the end and sealing it immediately. The cut end seems to spontaneously fray. I covered my work surface with wax paper**. I like the wax paper because one side is slippery-ish. It is covered in wax and while the glue sticks it doesn’t bond to the wax paper. I haven’t tried it, but parchment paper** would probably work as well.

In general, I found the webbing easy to work with. I was able to sew through two layers plus fabric and Soft & Stable pretty easily. I did put in a new needle and sewed slowly.

This bag takes a long time. Stay tuned for more progress!

Resources:

ByAnnie A Place for Everything v.2 pattern**
Tula Pink video on how she deviates from the pattern to make more design decisions
Tula Pink video on applying ribbon to cover ‘connections’
#5-Making an Adjustable Strap Using a Widemouth Slider : Watch step-by-step as Annie shows how to attach a widemouth slider to make a strap adjustable for carrying over the shoulder or for carrying cross-body
#6-Making a Detachable Strap : Learn to attach the necessary hardware to make an attachable/detachable strap

**I use affiliate links and may be paid for your purchase of an item when you click on an item link in my post. There is no additional cost to you for clicking or purchasing items I recommend. I appreciate your clicks and purchases as it helps support this blog.

A Place for Everything Bag Progress

I thought I would be able to finish this bag over my break from work. HA! I spent a lot of time on it, though not as much as I anticipated. I made progress, but didn’t finish.

There is a lot of prep to this bag. I took a different route by following Tula Pink’s sketchy directions on cutting out the fabrics in such a way to highlight the designs. I finally finished all the quilting and such and felt exhausted and confused. I hope have done the right thing and it won’t all go off the rails..

Resources:

ByAnnie A Place for Everything v.2 pattern
Tula Pink video on how she deviates from the pattern to make more design decisions
Tula Pink video on applying ribbon to cover ‘connections’

M3-Skunk Progress

Part of M3 included Tula’s Skunk fabric. As cute as those skunks are, I am determined not to have animal faces looking at me from La Pass. Still, I want to use the fabric that comes with the Block of the Month since I am paying for it.

One person used the tails, which looked fantastic. I didn’t think of that before I cut my pieces. I decided to use all of the flowers and arrange them in kind of a rainbow. The colors are subtle., so it doesn’t scream rainbow.

I still have some other pieces to sew on to this rosette, but will finish M5 first.

Getting Back in the Groove

I keep hearing talk about ‘getting your Sew-jo back’. At the moment I have plenty of sew-jo, but there have been times where I have not had any inspiration or motivation. I wanted to sew, but somehow couldn’t.

At various times, I have talked about this. Once was when I was contemplating creativity. 2006 was a year of challenging sew-jo. There are other posts about getting back in the groove. I should make a tag for those.

There are a couple of quilts I have made specifically to get me out of a slump. One was Thoughts on Dots. It came to mind over the weekend, because the YM dragged it out to sleep with. It was on the cold side this weekend and his room has a lot of windows.

This quilt is painful to read about. I was definitely struggling with my process and you lovely people got to read about every minute shift in my thinking. The point about this quilt is that it is plain squares that I rearranged and rearranged until it seemed done. It got me back in the groove.

Lesson: cut squares and rearrange them.

Much earlier than Thoughts on Dots was a little Playmat I made for the YM when he was a baby. According to the information I have, I made this quilt in 1997. I remember making it envelope style. No binding.

I don’t remember why it is all on the bias, but you can tell I was making improv quilts even then. These were scraps of fabric. The lobsters were kitchen curtains we had when the YM was born. The scribbly fabric was purchased in a basement shop downtown on my lunch hour. I am sure that shop is long gone, but I remember the thrill.

I don’t know about the different styles I have employed to get me back in the groove, but here are two of the resulting quilts.

Sew Together Bags Look Like Bags

I spent a lot of time over the weekend working on these bags. I have to say that it was a joy. I do want to get them done, but I really enjoyed the process.

I talked, a long time ago, about trying to be process oriented. It is hard and I have to focus on it. This sewing didn’t feel hard. I just moved through the process steadily, listened to an audiobook and felt very happy.

As you may know, these are the interiors. I was able to put them together, after making the pocket panels the other day.

I also added a little flap to hold WonderClips. It isn’t a great solution and I’ll have to think of something better for next time, but it will hold WonderClips, which will keep them from falling out of the STB if it gets turned on its side.

The arrows point to the flap. I want to hide end somehow for future models as it is hard to get the end straight with the seam allowance pushed down into such a small space.

STB Pocket Panel

Sew Together Bag - 4 Pocket Panels — Sew Together Bag – 4 Pocket Panels

I am not sure if this is actually called a pocket panel. I might have heard that somewhere else or in another bag pattern. It fits the description, however.

I tried to match up the different zippers with the exteriors of the bags. Stayed to see what you think about my matching.

In the photo, you can see that I have already added the needle holder and pincushion. I haven’t found a good pincushion size. I did something different this time, which was to sew the pincushion to the lining piece by machine. I have sewn them by hand before. The pincushions are also much smaller. Not sure that is good, but we will see. I am sure I will make more in the future.

It occurred to me that I should add a WonderClip holder. I wish I had thought of it sooner, but I can still add something.

Latifah Saafir Class

Even though I can teach a vast number of quiltmaking skills, I don’t know everything. The guild hosted Latifah Saafir on Saturday via Zoom to teach us her pattern, Put a Ring on It*.

This pattern uses two of Latifah’s Clammies, the 12 inch** and the 8 inch**. I was super pleased to receive these as gifts between my birthday and Christmas.

The pattern is fairly complete and pretty easy to follow. The class was worthwhile, because Latifah gave us tricks and tips and helped us troubleshoot. The Clammy tool and the pattern really make this, essentially a Double Wedding Ring, pattern accessible to almost anyone. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest it as a first quilt or if you haven’t tried curves, but otherwise, you can do it.

We had to select fabrics and cut pieces before class. I used an older Martha Negley fabric for the background. The background isn’t very much of the quilt. I wanted something different after looking at all the various versions of this quilt plus other DWR versions online. I didn’t want to make the traditional light background. I also didn’t want to copy the version on the cover. I thought of text prints for the rings, but defaulted back to my Frolic! color scheme with a variety of red-violets and the dark blue.

During class I was able to finish two rings. I wasn’t pleased with the green I chose for the squares. That was one good thing about being at home. I was able to grab some other fabrics and switch them out. I’ll mix up the rings so the green doesn’t look like big green blobs in the center of the quilt.

I am making a 9 block (1 ring=1 block) quilt. It will be about 48 inches x 48 inches. I didn’t want to commit to something larger and even this number of blocks is feeling like too much. I am going to power through. If I can get a ring a day done this week, I can finish all the ‘blocks’ by the end of the week and be ready to put the quilt together at the weekend. I don’t want this to become a UFO. I want to get it down and ready for quilting.

What I really wanted out of this class was to learn to use the Clammy rulers. I think I have started on that process, but didn’t get very far. This class was all about the Put a Ring On It pattern and making that. Learning various Clammy techniques was not on the agenda. That was sad. I hope Latifah comes up with a Clammy Sampler class. I get the sense that this tool is an awesome method for making circles in quiltmaking.

*No affiliation. Both a PDF and print pattern are available. I got the printed pattern and really liked the format.

Two Quilts Ready for Binding

Black Windmill - ready for binding — Black Windmill – ready for binding

Red Scribbles - ready for binding — Red Scribbles – ready for binding

Colleen sent these two quilts back to me last week. Both are gifts. I have to bind them, which is a problem since I have about 2,000 hours of handwork to do and not enough time to do it. My normal handwork time is taken up now with a 6,000 piece puzzle. I am working on the sky – no clouds, no airplanes – just flat blue sky. It is taking forever. I need to get them done in the next month, so perhaps at Craft Night? At least neither needs a sleeve.

FOTY 2019 OOPS

Fabric of the Year 2019 - mid-November 2 — Fabric of the Year 2019 – mid-November 2

Part of the process is ripping and I had to rip as I was very close to finishing the FOTY 2019 top.

The quilt top started out correct. It is not sewn together completely in the photo (left), but all of the pieces are where I wanted them.

I continued sewing -and it is a lot of sewing to get these Fabric of the Year quilts together- to make chunks.

FOTY 2019 - Letters upside down — FOTY 2019 – Letters upside down

When I had about 12 seams left, I realized that something had happened. I had reversed a section somewhere along the process.

I can tell because the letters (white on red serif print) are upside down. I try to get the directional prints going in the right direction when I make these quilts. They do have a top and a bottom. I was nearly done sewing the quilt together. I could have gotten the quilt done before dinner if I had just continued. The question, however, becomes “will I notice this forever?” In this case, the answer was yes.

One good thing about this type of quilt is that I could rip out that one section, resew it and finish the quilt, which is what I did.

Except that I also tried to figure out where I went wrong. I know that on November 14 that section was oriented correctly. On November 23rd, it wasn’t. Sometime in that 10ish day period, something happened and that chunk was turned upside down.

It is hard to keep these pieces correctly oriented. By ‘correctly oriented’ I mean in the place I want them. Most people wouldn’t notice and in 10 years, I might not notice either. I notice now, however.

It is fixed and the quilt top is on its way to being finished.

FOTY 2019 Again

I finally felt well enough to do some work on FOTY 2019.

The first thing I did was start to move the whole piece down and over so I could reach the top better. I also needed to make the top slightly wider to accommodate the various pieces. I am not quite sure how many rows and columns I need since I didn’t do any math around this piece yet.

FOTY 2019 - early October #2 — FOTY 2019 – early October #2

After move what I had down, I started to add more of the colored squares to the design wall. I am sure I will have to cut more greys, but I haven’t done that yet.

Plaid Top Finished

I spent some time working on sewing the plaid blocks together. I was able to finish the top with only a minimal amount of irritation. There are a few places where I would have changed the blocks if I had been able to see them on the design wall, but didn’t and am not unsewing.

In general, I am pretty pleased with how the piece looks. The yellow is pretty well distributed over the top, so it helps the eye to move around. Now on to back and binding!

Process vs. Product…Again

A bunch of things came together this past week or so to make me think about process vs. product.

For at least a month, I really wanted to finish the Frolic! top and back and get it ready for quilting. I felt like it was taking me too long to piece. However, when I looked at the blocks, they did have a lot of pieces (63? 68? I counted, but can’t remember). Bonnie Hunter, the designer of the quilt, gives the steps, but she doesn’t estimate the time each step takes. I am an experienced piecer, so I expect things to take a shorter period of time. I forget to take the looking, ripping, re-pressing and other parts of the process into account.

Of course, Frolic! might be a particular case. I spent a good portion of last year piecing Flying Around. When I started Frolic! I wanted and needed a quick and fun project. Frolic!’s outcome is fantastic, but it wasn’t quick and there were some frustrating bits. It was a process. I forget that. I really should have done the Windmills before starting Frolic!, but I didn’t know how involved it would be. I have only done one other Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt, so the complexity of Bonnie’s designs wasn’t in my mind.

I looked through my process posts to find the one I was thinking of and came across one to read over and contemplate again. Sometime ago I pondered on process, but thought more about creating a habit and continuing to improve rather than exactly process vs. product. There is the implication of process vs. product in that post. The other day, I read a NYT times article** about activities in which people were engaging during Shelter-in-place and found the following quote:

“In the 19th century, intellectuals like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and others started to expand on the positive psychological benefits associated with a concept now known as mastery: practicing an activity at which you have no previous level of expertise, and experiencing gradual improvement over time.”

I know I want to improve over time, so perhaps I need to ponder what Frolic! gave me in terms of skills beyond the finished product. One thing that comes to mind is the way Bonnie Hunter mimicked 8 pointed stars with HSTs. How do I feel about that?

I like the NYT article. It gives examples of non-digital projects people are pursuing, but it talks a lot about the time it takes to improve. I have always been annoyed at ‘quick quilting projects’. Quiltmaking is not a fast process. There are a lot of steps and they take time. I understand the desire for instant gratification, especially since that seems to be what I am talking about in wanting Frolic! done faster. I rely on my knowledge and experience in quiltmaking to finish projects quickly rather than continuously choosing easy patterns. Another conundrum to contemplate.

N.B. There is nothing wrong with easy patterns!

I also came across a Creative Spark post about process, which reminds me of my hopes and dreams within process. This post is part of the Little Spark project we did a few years ago. You can go through the posts again. I am sure you’ll get value.

The post I was actually looking for talked more about product vs. process. Product is very seductive. I like finishing. I try very hard to be more mindful of the process, to enjoy the process and be engaged with the process, to have my quiltmaking be about the process. It can be difficult, because I like to finish things. I also want to use 100 yards of fabric, I want to clear out my fabric closet so I can fit more of my tools and supplies in there and not have them all over the workroom. I want to be more organized. How does the finishing of a quilt contribute to my goals? Does it contribute?

It is possible that how I am feeling has nothing to do with product vs. process. Perhaps Frolic! wasn’t the right project for the time? Perhaps I needed a much easier project to alternate with Flying Around. I needed some mind sorbet. Perhaps my brain needed a rest? It is possible that I will always struggle with that concept when I get tired of piecing something. I do notice that my efforts to teach myself to keep working through problems with projects stuck. I didn’t put Frolic! away. I kept working on it. Did I work on other things? Yes. I worked on the Running with Scissors Tote and I did some work on the UCAB as well as donation blocks and quilt tops, but my primary project was Frolic!.

So, am I stuck on products? Have I not evolved to enjoy the process? Perhaps this is a stepping stone in the path of mastery and I have to work through it. I really think that the biggest issue was that I should have picked an easier project before I started Frolic!

** If you don’t have a personal or work subscription to the NYT, check your local library. They may be able to provide you with access.

Finishing Frolic! Top

Yes! I finished the Frolic! top. The borders were not painful. I was sure the top and bottom borders would cause me problems. I had to ease a bit more on the top and bottom than I did on the sides. Other than that they went on smoothly. I am really pleased.

I thought about adding another plain border, but decided I couldn’t face it.

I also made the back and the binding so the whole piece is ready to be quilted. For the moment, I am not planning on doing a drive-by at the moment, but we will see.

This quilt used about 11 yards of fabric, which put my total up. I am thrilled about that and thrilled that the piece is really for quilting. Really thrilled!

I can’t decide whether I like working on quilts for so long. I did other projects after I started this, but no quilts except donation tops. It is the second project I have worked on recently that took me ~5 months to piece. I am trying to decide if I like those types of projects. I definitely don’t mind the piecing. I think the problem is not having things to show at meetings, feeling like I am making progress and the process being slow. I have to find a balance between impressive, complex projects and speed.

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14	15	16	17	18	19	20
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