City Girl Quilts

Not Quite New

2010-03-05T20:37:00.006-05:00

I really would like to make more gifts at Christmastime. Last year, I made three. This year I only made two. But one was an entire quilt, so think that should count as four.

When I was trying to think of something to make for my godmother, I realized that I have kind of a limited repertoire. I made her a scarf last year and had to come up with something different and ended up stuck. I have a jillion books and magazines about making stuff, so it was a little ridiculous that I had trouble thinking past scarf. Part of the problem was that I had limited time and needed to make things fairly quickly. But it is mostly that when I make gifts, they are usually big blankets, baby blankets, and scarves which are just short skinny blankets. I’ve made baby hats, but only because I had yarn left over from the blankets. So when it was time to make something other than a blanket or blanket like object, I was stumped.

In the end I did manage to come up with these bowls. They are crocheted and felted. I also added some random embroidery. It was my first time felting and I really liked this project, which is scary because I need another craft like I need a hole in my head. But this combines crochet and needlework so I think it should only count as half a new thing.

Hopelessly Crafty

2010-02-26T16:37:00.004-05:00

I was in Michaels with my son when he saw a book with knit snake on the cover. “Make me a snake Mommy.” He’s three years old and has taken to randomly asking me to make things for him. He knows that I can make stuff. He’s seen me make quilts and blankets and socks. He even helped with the placement of the circles on my Mom’s quilt.

So he saw the book and asked me to buy it and make him the snake. Here’s what makes me hopelessly crafty. I already HAD a book with a pattern for a toy snake. A crochet snake to be exact. Not only that, I already had enough yarn AND stuffing to make it without having to buy anything else. I’m like one of those people who can just whip up a rack of lamb and a cheese soufflé on a whim from the stuff in their kitchen, except mine would be amigurumi. Frankly, I don’t even remember why I was at Michaels in the first place.

He wanted a “big, big” snake which is good since he has a mother who never checks gauge and that is exactly what he ended up with. The pattern was for a big snake, but I don’t think it was supposed to be quite this big. But who cares when you get to watch this.

By the way, the pattern is from Baby Crochet by Lois Dakin.

Circle Group

2010-02-19T20:18:00.007-05:00

My mother had been dropping not so subtle hints that she wanted a quilt. “So what are you going to do with all of these quilts?” and “Are you ever going to give these quilts away?” That sort of thing.

So I decided to make her a quilt this past Christmas. Up until now, I’ve been hesitant to let them leave the house because of the little imperfections they have. They don’t really bother me because I understand that they are part of the process of learning the techniques. Most non-quilters probably wouldn’t even notice them, and I do have them on display in my house. But I think if you are going to give someone a gift, it should be good quality. I finally feel that my work is in a place where there aren’t going to be big holes or loose stitches or cut off blocks.

I used the Eclipse pattern by Joyce Robinson. I decided sometime around September or October to make the quilt, so I needed to start right away and didn’t have time to come up with an original pattern. I also needed something that was going to use fabric I already had in my stash and that I could assemble fairly quickly. This pattern fit the bill and had the added bonus of feeding my growing obsession with circles.

I have to say that this is probably the best quilt I’ve ever made. Not in terms of how it looks, but technically. The seams all lined up, it was perfectly flat, it is as square as I’ve ever gotten anything. It made me ridiculously happy when all of the blocks fit together the way they were supposed to. I ended up liking the quilt so much, I was actually a little sad to see it go.

It is a throw sized quilt. The circles are needle turn appliqué. It is machine and hand quilted and beaded. In the original pattern, the circles are attached by quilting them down. But raw edge appliqué makes me edgy and I didn’t want to do the amount of machine quilting that would have required to attach them securely. Also, I just really like doing needle turn appliqué. My mother once had a consulting business called the Circle Group and that’s where the name comes from.

So here are the three things I learned. First, when you machine assemble blocks, you can press the seams open. The blocks will line up better and the quilt will lie flatter. I think you only have to press the seams to one side when you hand piece. Second, circles are awesome, especially when you have an EZ Cut Circle ruler. And third, trust your vision and just keep going. It will turn out better than you hoped.

Times Are Hard. Make Stuff.

2009-09-08T21:15:00.003-04:00

So I’ve been busy making little things.

I wanted something to keep USB sticks in that would attach to my work badge. That way, I wouldn’t leave my thumb drive at home or at work. But all of the cases I found were ugly and I just couldn’t bear to buy one. After all, this thing is going to hang around my neck everyday, five days a week.

In the end, I decided to make some myself. They were really easy to make. I used scraps from my Olympic quilt and scraps of batting. It was fun and cheap and I was able to use stuff I already had on hand. What more could you ask for? And I get a bit of pretty in my workday.

Speaking of the Olympic quilt, I have actually started quilting it. I’ve been stuck on what to do and I think working on the USB pouches got me unstuck. It helps that I also cleaned my studio, which was on the verge of being condemned.

So I guess making little things can lead to making big things and when all else fails, clean up.

Bad Blogger!

2009-06-16T19:14:00.003-04:00

It has been a long time since I posted. But I have a good excuse.

I literally fell off the face of the earth. Seriously.

I was walking down the street, I tripped, and off I went.

Maybe not. But I got a new job and it felt that way. The new job is great but it has changed everything about how my family lives our lives from day to day. It has been a huge switch to go from working at home for 4 years to working in an office every day. For example, things like having enough socks becomes an issue. And I forgot how cold offices are. Check out what I'm working on keep warm.

So the blog along with my craft studio got dusty. And now I'm playing catch up with projects that have been languishing.

But its good to be back.

Working Day and Night

2008-12-20T14:08:00.005-05:00

I got the scraps on my design wall fused down. Here's a taste. I'm not ready to show the whole thing yet.

I've also been crocheting scarves like crazy. I can't show them here since they are gifts. But if you want to peek at a few of them check me out on Ravelry. I'm citygirlq.

Safe and happy holidays everyone!

Give Love

2008-12-06T20:00:00.000-05:00

Give water.

Separation Anxiety

2008-10-29T19:05:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I posted. But not because I haven't been busy.

I'm hand quilting the quilt I swore I wouldn't hand quilt.

I finished piecing the Olympic quilt.

Which left me with lots of delicious scraps to play with.

And I've done a lot of crocheting.

Mostly I've been dealing the work/life stuff that causes me to neglect my blog. I always manage to find time for a creative life. Just not the time to talk about it.

The Return of Gordon Gartrelle

2008-09-26T22:14:00.000-04:00

Remember that episode of the Cosby Show where Denise told Theo she could make him a knock-off of a designer shirt for the big dance? And it came out all lopsided with long arms? And Theo was mortified?

I have a love-hate relationship with garment making. The idea of is always a bajillion times better than the reality for me. So when I realized yesterday (in what I am sure is just the first of many 11th hour school projects to come) that my son needed an outfit for culture day at day care this morning, and I thought "I will just make him a really simple shirt", someone should have stopped me. I even found a pattern that said "fast and easy" right on the package. Three times. That should have been my signal to throw it down and run away. Because it was neither fast nor easy and I don't know how many times I have to be lied to by packaging before I learn my lesson. In the end, I just improvised the collar because I could not make heads or tails of the so called directions.

But I did manage to get it put together. And it actually stayed together all day. I expected it to fall apart halfway through the day. And, like Theo, my kid only cried a little when we put it on him. I'm pretty sure it didn't cause any long lasting psychological scars. Fortunately, my son does not stand still long enough for anyone to notice the various improvisations, crooked seams, tucks, and threads I refused to deal with properly because it was late and I just wanted to be done. I'm going back to quilting.

Hello My Name is (Part 2)

2008-09-24T17:55:00.001-04:00

I finished the calling cards. I don't really need calling cards. I just wanted to see if I could do it. It was more of an exercise in seeing if I could focus my artistic point of view in small space with limited images and text.

They are the size of standard business cards and made from fabric that has been used in other projects. I also decided that they had to incorporate hand work so they have some type of embroidery or beading on them. I created an image from a baby picture to go with the text for the reverse side. I used an iron on transfer to get the image and text onto the fabric. Mostly because I wanted to try out the iron on transfer stuff.

I put an eyelet in my favorite card and tied it to the bag I made with a piece of scrap ribbon. I will probably attach the rest of them to future projects. It is a good way to use up scraps of fabric. And one day, when we have gas in our state again and can leave the house, I might actually be able to give them to people. They are calling cards after all.

I didn't use anything like a stiff stabilizer or fusible inside the cards because I don't like to hand sew through that stuff. So the cards are flexible which I kind of like. I embellished the back of the cards before stitching the two sides together because I didn't want the stitches to show on the back. And the whole thing is put together like a pillowcase because I don't like binding. I guess my artistic point of view also includes a certain amount of laziness. I'm okay with that.

Hello, my name is...

2008-09-15T19:30:00.000-04:00

I'm making some calling cards. Not that I ever go anywhere or meet anyone. But I was thinking about things like artistic voice and communicating a point a view. Something like a business card or calling card has to communicate everything you want someone else to know about you and where you're coming from in a very small format. So I decided to try making some. They are pretty much like ATC's but 2 by 31/2. And there is text on the other side. I was thinking of attaching them to projects.

Work on everything else has stalled. Mostly because I just can't get to it. But I can work on these little cards here and there and feel like I'm accomplishing something. I'm crocheting baby blankets too. Lots of people seem to be having babies these days. I don't know if they will be girls or boys. But I figured I'd make a few in different colors and get ahead of the curve for a change.

I'm hoping to get back to the other projects soon. The cityscape and the olympic quilt were moving along really well. But I just haven't been able to get to them. I think someone is slipping me decaf.

Super Easy Fun Bag

2008-09-08T22:39:00.000-04:00

I made a bag. I've been wanting to make a bag for a while now to hold crochet projects. The fall issue of Quilts and More had a pattern for a super-easy bag. I'm usually skeptical when I see words like "super easy". And I doubted the pattern the whole time I was making it because if anyone can get a pattern wrong, it's me. But this bag really was super easy. In fact I made it in one night. With an almost 2 year old. And a cranky husband.

The bag has six pockets on the outside which is perfect for hooks, scissors, stitch markers, a pattern, an ipod, a bag of M&M's. Everything you need for crocheting. And I do love pockets.

The inside can hold a surprising number of skeins of yarn. It's holding an unfinished scarf right now. The finished bag is 8"x10"x4". So it is not huge. I don't think I could cram a whole finished afgan in it. But I prefer not to cram afgans into bags anyway. I just want to keep the yarn away from cats and toddlers and keep all of the related notions together. Now I can be super organized.

This was a fun project. Super fun. Now that I have it figured out I can add all kinds of embellishments next time and maybe some kind of closure. It's perfect for those big prints I've been hesitant to cut. And I've got that fashionista fabric in all kinds of color ways. I was thinking it would be cool if I could make it a little bigger. Then I could make a bag that matched the baby afgan and put the afgan (folded not crammed) inside the bag. The baby can use the afgan and the mom can use the bag. On second thought, I might have been better off if the pattern hadn't been so super easy.

One Thing Leads to Another

2008-08-19T19:11:00.001-04:00

My quilting olympics is going very well. Of course, I don't have funky, totally unfair tie-breaking rules to deal with. If two people get the same score they should share the medal or do a tie-breaking back flip or something.

Anyway, I've managed to do some needleturn every night since the olympics started. And I'm getting better at those outside points. I think I've figured out a way to turn the corner that works for me, and they aren't coming out lumpy or weird anymore. It has also given me a chance to experiment with different threads for applique. I'm loving the silk. I like it so much, I want to try quilting with silk thread. And I just happen to have some old silk remnants that would be perfect for such an experiment. I will never have to worry about running out of things to do as long as one project leads to another.

On an unrelated note, why oh why did the current issue of Craft magazine have to be about weaving? This is the kind of temptation I don't need. Now, when no one is looking, I sneak peaks at looms online. Somebody stop me. I actually had a loom when I was kid. My grandparents gave me a plastic table top loom and I would make squares of fabric. It was fun. I never turned them into anything. But when you are a kid people let you just make stuff without it having to be anything. Maybe that's what grabbed my attention. It takes me back to when process was more important than outcome. I wonder if my mom still has that loom?

She Sticks the Landing

2008-08-11T19:10:00.001-04:00

I decided to join Quilting Olympics. I know I have other things I should be doing. But I really wanted to do some applique. So I whipped up some 4 patch blocks at world record pace, and cut some squares to applique to the blocks. I'm doing needle turn applique to attach the squares. By the time I'm done, I will have perfected outside points which is the goal of this exercise.

Go team needle-turn.

Let the Games Begin - But Give Me a Minute First

2008-08-08T19:05:00.000-04:00

The Olympics are about to start and I am woefully unprepared with hand projects to work on during my must-see events. I'm a little bit of a summer olympic nut. It's weird if you know me because I'm not much of a sports fan. But I get into the Olympics. I must watch gymnastics, diving, swimming, and track and field. Maybe some tennis and basketball. And some bicycling. And maybe some synchronized swimming. You get the picture.

But I've been preoccupied with other things and neglected to get my hand work together. It's not that I don't have hand projects. There are a few projects waiting to be pieced or quilted. But I don't have the right batting, or the right thread, or a clue about how to quilt something. I might have to pick up a UFO.

I have done some quilting on the cityscape. I have most of the wig shop quilted. Sorry, no pictures. I'm too lazy to get the camera out plus there are loose threads all over the top. There's a project right there. Schnoobie said there are no wig stores in her town and it made be laugh because there was one on every block in the neighborhood where I grew up. Seriously. They are like Starbucks. They didn't just sell hair and wigs you know. You could get jewelry, clothes, toys - pretty much anything made in China - in those places.

Which brings us back the Olympics. In addition to not preparing any hand work projects, I just realized that we are also out of ice cream. We are so unprepared.

5 Days of Solitude (Almost)

2008-08-01T20:10:00.000-04:00

The vacation is coming along nicely, thank you very much. Apart from the telemarketers and the ants that are trying to eat our relatively new air conditioner, it has been ideal. I even gave up worrying about the germs that were threatening to put the whole household out of commission.

I spent the last few days working on a city scape. It's like a landscape but for city girls. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while now - but who has the time? So it was like my own self-directed art quilt camp. And I have been learning a lot.

All of the piecing, fusing and zig-zag stitching is done. And I'm pretty happy with the outcome so far. Naturally there are flaws, but they have taught me valuable lessons, so I choose to look at them as learning opportunities. I'm moving on to the quilting next. Hopefully the ants won't carry us away in the night.

A Day Spent Quilting

2008-07-29T21:24:00.000-04:00

I got to spend the whole day quilting. Right now, I can't think of a better way to spend my vacation.

I did some piecing and I quilted the water quilt which now has it's official title. I don't actually put the names of quilts out there until they are done or mostly done. That way I'm sure they actually are what I decided to name them. Anyway, this quilt is named "Middle Passage Mediations". I'll take a non-blurry picture soon.

The fabric is hand dyed. And it is machine pieced and quilted.

I even quilted a ship on it.

I don't really have too much to say about what's going on with this quilt. Or I have so much to say that I don't know where to start. I'm not sure which is true. Suffice it to say, I think every person has something in his or her consciousness that sort of haunts them. It is useful to process these things and meditate on why they grip you. I think it might also be useful to get them out of your head an up on a wall where you can gain some perspective. That's all I have to say about that for now.

Update on the Blair Witch. I've managed to stay one step ahead of her with hand sanitizer and mentholated vaporizers. It seems like she's not going to get my vacation. But I've seen enough scary movies to know that as soon as you let you guard down, something crawls out of the TV and gets you. And yes, I know those are two different movies. Risk is everywhere.

The Best Laid Plans

2008-07-27T18:39:00.000-04:00

Yipee! I have the whole week off. I don't really say yippee, but I'm not convinced that I can spell yay. Anyway. I have the whole week off. I really need a vacation. My brain is functioning so poorly that I can't even come up with a proper metaphor to describe how much I need a vacation. That's how bad it is. So I'm off. And the plan is to spend the week making quilts and doing other arty type stuff in attempt to reboot my brain. I'm really looking forward to it.

Of course you realize that my vacation is like those kids that go off into the woods all happy and ready for a nice camping trip not realizing the Blair Witch is behind a bush waiting to wreak havoc. It started with my son coming home with a very low grade fever and a runny nose. Now he's coughing and sneezing on everything. And since my husband is helpless against baby germs, he's gone down too. How will it end? Will we all get away in the nick of time? Or will the whole family be left standing in the corner waiting to be taken out? Stay tuned.

Tell the people at Intownquilters I love them and I'm so sorry.

Proof Of Life

2008-07-10T19:56:00.001-04:00

I’ve been a big slacker about keeping things updated around here. And since Kyra was nice enough to give me a shout out on her blog, people have been stopping by. I kind of feel the way I do when I have visitors and realize that I haven’t dusted in a while. It happens to me more than you’d expect.

I have managed to get bits and pieces of things done in between everything else. But I’m not going to show you the whole picture because nothing is at the showing it to people stage. But I think I need to show some proof of creative life.

The water quilt top is done and I’ve dreamed about how to quilt it. I even have backing fabric. But not the right thread. Who has time for quilting anyway?

I pulled a bunch of scraps out of my scrap bin. From time to time, I get to piece them together. I have no idea where this is going. I’m just sewing stuff together.

I’m drafting a pattern for a quilt. It is based on stuff from my sketchbook. I get a minute here and there to ink the pattern.

I’m making favors for a birthday party. There is extreme danger for me anytime I go near the scrapbook section. There is so much in there for quilting and journaling. Forget about actually making scrapbooks. So far, I’ve managed to keep it to what I need for the project.

So at least I’ve managed to do a little bit of something every day. I’ve taken enough piano lessons and art classes to know that you have to practice everyday – even if you only get a few minutes. Everything doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. You just have to keep working.

Coffee Break

2008-06-21T13:30:00.001-04:00

I finally finished the coffee quilt. It was actually finished a while ago. But I just got around to binding it.

This quilt was a UFO. It was going to be much bigger than this. But I put it aside and started working on other projects. Every now and then I would piece a few blocks. All the piecing is done by hand so it was easy to pick up the sewing from time to time. I thought it would take me one hundred years to finish this quilt.

But earlier this year I decided to just finish my UFO's or get rid of them. It's hard to explain, but I feel like my work is in a different place now than it was a few years ago. I don't want to spend my time now on a project I came up with when my head was in a different place. Especially since my time is more limited. So I decided to just stop piecing and put together a top with what I had. It is all hand pieced and machine quilted. After the top was together, I thought it was kind of boring. Again - I don't think about my work the way I used to. So I stamped coffee stains all over the piece with fabric paint. The piece is called, "Wake Up and Smell the Non-fat Carmel Macchiato."

I have one more UFO to take care of. It's being difficult. But it's going down.

I Could Be Loosing My Mind

2008-06-18T19:49:00.000-04:00

But I'm not because I make stuff every day. I haven't been getting a lot done but I do enough to maintain an even keel. There's nothing bad going on. Just life.

Here's what I've been up to.

I graffiti tagged some fabric.

I started drafting a pattern.

I started a dream studio journal.

My major accomplishment was cleaning my workspace. I mean really cleaning it. Like throwing out 35 pounds of magazines clean. I'm even going to dust tomorrow. It had really gotten to a point where I couldn't even work in there because of all the stuff everywhere. I know that people say a cluttered workspace reflects a cluttered mind. I choose not to believe that. And clutter really doesn't bother me. But things had seriously gotten out of hand in there. So now everything is back in where it belongs and there is space to work.

And if I can manage to go a week without anyone catching a weird virus, or a tree falling, or some other bizarre and expensive problem, I might actually get something done.

Proof of Life

2008-05-30T20:57:00.001-04:00

I'm still waiting to exhale but I'm still working too.

See.

I'm painting some background fabric that will be part of a bad luck quilt. The first layer will be stenciled letters. I made these stencils out of freezer paper so they would look like letters I would draw by hand instead of neatly prepared stencils. I'm using an iridescent Shiva paint stick that is very close to the background color. Since it is the bottom layer, I want it to be subtle. This is way too much fun. I could spend all day smearing around this color. Is that weird?

iQuilt

2008-05-22T18:13:00.005-04:00

I finished the improv quilt. Since I just made up the cutting and piecing, I decided to just make up the quilting as I went along. It was fun. I got to play with lots of different threads and lots of different stitches. I'm relatively new to the machine quilting thing - at least new to doing it correctly. So this was my chance to experiment. It's almost like a sampler. I'm sure I will refer to it when I'm doing more deliberate machine quilting. The quilt is raw edge applique, machine pieced and quilted. The fabric is hand dyed.

I ended up naming the quilt, "This is Your Brain on Shuffle." I was listening to iTunes while I was quilting and I had it set to shuffle. I have wide ranging tastes in music. The randomness of the songs that were playing was entertaining and kind of like the quilt.

You know what? Quilting is fun.

Looking for My Thread Snipper

2008-05-18T18:34:00.004-04:00

I didn't fall off the face of the earth. Or get kidnapped by the quilt police. I'm just tangled up in the loose threads of life. I'm working on getting them buried and clipped.

Progress Through Guilt

2008-04-30T21:03:00.008-04:00

I'm making progress. Slowly but surely. Here's what I've been up to.

I figured out what was missing from that improv quilt. I reconstructed the circles and lines I deconstructed in the other blocks and voila - a new block. Now I just have to figure out the quilting. It's always something.

I've also made progress on the coffee quilt. Actually, it is pretty much done. But I don't have the right fabric to bind it. Like I said, it's always something.

I was approaching the other UFO, the blue quilt, in the same way I approached the coffee quilt. That is, stop piecing and see what I could make with what I had. But I didn't seem to have enough blocks to make something out of what I had. So I pieced some more. It's still not working. Did I mention, it's always something?

I've also picked up my crochet hook. I have all this yarn in my sewing room and it has been sending me on a guilt trip. Every time I go in there, "So you're making stuff out of your fabric stash again. I guess we're not good enough to be stuff." And, "We were here before some of that fabric. Sorry, we're not as much fun." That kind of thing. Yarn can be so whiny sometimes. So I'm also busy converting the yarn into scarves and hats and other such things so it will get off my case. It's looking at me right now. I'd better go.

Stitched Myself Into A Corner

2008-04-22T20:02:00.007-04:00

So I decided to to a little improvisational quilting. Like jazz, but with cotton and thread. Because sometimes you just have to play with your materials to see what will happen.

I made these blocks. And I wasn't entirely sure where to go next. Did this ever happen to Ella Fitzgerald? Did she ever start scatting and it just got away from her?

I felt like they wanted to do this.

Now what? Heck if I know. So I cut up some more fabric and came up with this.

I like the x blocks. But, as the kids say, I'm not feeling this design. I think they might want to be in their own quilt. I've taken enough art classes to know that the eye needs a place to rest and this thing probably needs a color to unify the blocks, yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm just going to leave the blocks on the design wall and see what else they have to say. But if they start singing "A-tisket, A-tasket," I'm leaving.

Is It Procrastinating if It's Fun?

2008-04-18T21:29:00.004-04:00

I really should have worked on my UFO's today. I've finished the quilting on the coffee quilt. It only needs a bit more work to be done. And the blue quilt is up on the design wall. I sewed some of the blocks backwards, so I need to unsew them and put them together correctly. I should have done either one of these things today. But a box of hand dyed fabric was calling to me. It was saying, "Come play with us."

So I cut some squares, and rough cut some circles and sewed them to the squares.

Then I decided to see what would happen if cut them, shuffled them and sewed the back together.

Then I cut them again, shuffled them again, and sewed them back together.

It's fun to play.

New Year's Resolution Quilt 4

2008-04-16T20:22:00.007-04:00

I finished the fourth bad luck quilt. This one is called "Don't Squish Spiders." If there is a spider someplace you would prefer there be no spider, get a piece of paper or a cup, and escort it outside. It is bad luck to kill a spider. For one thing, they eat bugs that are even more objectionable than spiders.

The quilt is machine pieced and quilted. Everything is from my stash except the thread. The spider web is made out of angelina fibers and sewed on by hand. The spiders are hand beaded. As I mentioned before, they came out a little more realistic than I anticipated. I was thinking cute beaded spiders. These things look like they might car jack you. I think the legs are creating the ick factor here. Since they are dimensional and not flat on the quilt, they look like they are going to crawl away.

You might be wondering how I come up with designs for the quilts that incorporate objects or images like the bad luck quilts. I usually have an idea of what I want to make, like a spiderweb or a broom. I use these as keywords in a google image search. For those of you not familiar, you go to google, select images, and then enter the search term. It will spit out pictures instead of websites. And you can search for anything. Even coffee stains. Just don't search for spiders. Trust me. There's something out there called a camel spider, and once you see it, you can't unsee it.

Anyway, I try to find several different images. I don't want to copy the images I find. Instead, I'm looking for common characteristics of the object that would help you identify what it is. Like the bands on a broom or the holes in a salt shaker. Or the legs on a spider. These are sort of iconic elements that help you immediately identify an object even though it might be a strange color or in a weird setting. I then sketch the object and plan the background. Sometimes, the background will be a setting, like the Buy A New Broom quilt. Lots of times, I try to enlarge an element of the object and make that the background. The Don't Spill the Salt quilt has baby blocks as a background because if you look at salt under a microscope it has a cube shape. And sometimes I don't put that much thought into it and just go for a pretty color. So that's my tip for the day.

Why Is There A Tissue On This Quilt?

2008-04-14T18:47:00.005-04:00

Because there's a spider on it. Ewww!

I am aware of the fact that I made the spider. But still, I didn't think it would be so creepy looking.

It's giving me the willies.

These Are The Good Times

2008-04-06T16:33:00.006-04:00

All Skate officially moves from the UFO pile into the done pile. Woo hoo! It is machine pieced and the curved piecing is done by hand. 98% of the quilting is done by hand. The circles were quilted free hand for the most part. Marking the quilt was a pain, so I didn't bother. Actually, if I drew the circles free hand, this what they would look like.

The quilt is from a magazine pattern. I added the border because I couldn't bear to have the bias edges in the circles on the outside of the quilt. For some reason, it reminds me of when I was a kid and would go to the roller disco. I had my own skates you know. I got them for my 7th birthday. If you look under the table you can see them (that's me in the yellow shirt which I also got for my birthday). We had a raging slumber party the night before that brought down the canopy bed. We went to the Rink (or the Loop) roller disco the next day for a party. My mother's mentor, Abena Joan Brown, rented a limo for us so we wouldn't think people just rode in limos during funerals. I still hear certain songs and think, "that's a fast skate" or "that's an all skate." And somehow, the music and all of those memories are caught up in this quilt.

Now, I've got two UFO's on the list. I'm half way through piecing the top of one of them. How exciting.

Pardon the Interruption

2008-04-03T17:08:00.006-04:00

My regularly scheduled quilting was interrupted by a baby blanket that needed to be crocheted. The baby arrived on Easter and I was not already prepared with a hand made blanket for him, so I quickly whipped one up. It kind of looks like a quilt doesn't it?

I know these are rather bold color choices for a baby blanket. I usually make them in more traditional pastel colors. But I fell in love with that blue. And, based on the one week pictures, I believe the kid has the sophistication to pull off such a bold choice in baby blankets. This is actually from a Vanna White pattern and made in Vanna White yarns. It is very unusual for me to follow a pattern so closely. Fortunately, I accidently sewed two blocks together in wrong place so my streak of not following the directions remains unbroken.

I made this little hat from what I had left over. It looks too small to me but I have been assured that it is newborn size. My son was nine pounds and change when he was born so I can never gauge how small regular sized newborns are.

Now, back to the quilting.

The Problem With UFO's

2008-03-26T21:41:00.005-04:00

I finished the hand quilting on the All Skate quilt. Now I just have to sew down the border which I will do by machine. Then it is on to the dreaded binding. I'm hoping there's enough backing fabric to make the binding. One of the things about finishing a UFO three years after you start it is that the fabrics you used in the quilt are probably not available anymore. Fabric manufacturers don't keep making the same fabric year after year. Fortunately, this quilt has lots of fossil fabrics. If all else fails, I can probably still find some fossil fabrics to make the binding. Why didn't I buy enough binding to begin with? That would have involved some advanced planning on my part.

I am not looking forward to trying to trim up this monster and then wrestle with it under the machine to get the binding on. Once again, I have to ask myself what possessed me to make such a big quilt. Obviously, I was more ambitious or had too much time on my hands three years ago. That girl had no clue what she was in for.

If I knew Then What I know Now

2008-03-17T21:18:00.007-04:00

I don't know. There must be something in the water or the planets have aligned or I'm delirious from the kazillion infections I've had over the last few weeks. But I've decided to finish my UFO's once and for all. This is a reversal from my previous stand that it is perfectly acceptable to have projects that take 100 years. But what would an election year be without a little flip-flopping?

It started with the "All Skate" quilt which I am currently hand quilting. I have also decided that the piecing on the coffee quilt has come to an end. I put the blocks I have so far on the design wall. There were supposed to be a lot more blocks in this quilt - it was going to be much bigger. (I know it doesn't look like a lot of blocks, but it's all hand pieced). I don't know what I was thinking back then. I don't have the same interest in making big quilts anymore. That's one of the interesting things about working on these UFO's. It's like the me now is different from the me then. Today, I would make different choices than the ones I made when I started them. I like to think this means I've grown creatively and am able to critique and edit my own work. I actually think my original idea for the coffee quilt was quite uninteresting.

Seriously, this was it. But I've had a flash of insight about this quilt that I'm excited about. I'll share that after I actually figure out how to do what's in my head.

Once I get the coffee quilt off the design wall, the blue quilt is next. That was also supposed to be a big one. We'll see.

Now here is what I think is happening. I've been on a spending diet for Lent. I've been trying to learn the difference between my wants and my needs. So that means I've only been spending money on things I need to put a roof over our heads and food on the table. There have been no trips to JoAnns or the quilt store or the art supply store. I've weaned myself off Borders/Barnes & Nobles. Don't even get me started on Starbucks. So there hasn't been a constant influx of new materials to play with and new ideas. But I need something to DO. And that leaves the UFO's. And I'm in no way disappointed that I've basically been forced to work on my old projects. I like the fabrics, I like the ideas I had when I started them. The only reason I haven't worked on them is because I got distracted by new projects. So I've learned to make do with what I have. I've learned to focus. I've learned to commit. I think I may have learned a little discipline. Lent is awesome.

Also - does anyone know how long it takes to get over this cold? The pink eye is gone but I can't shake the other bug and it is awful. It's like the colds I used to get when I was a kid, and I thought all of my stuff was going to have be burned like the kid in the "Velveteen Rabbit" because I was so sick. That's how bad I feel. Velveteen Rabbit bad.

When It Rains...

2008-03-13T19:18:00.006-04:00

Did you ever have a really crappy week? Sure you have. And when it rains, it pours. I'll spare you all of the grisly details and just say this; it is not a good idea to catch pink eye from your toddler when you already have a cold from said youngster. On top of spreading infections, he's not sleeping. Thank you very much Daylight Savings Time. I'm pretty sure he thinks we're messing with his head, and since he's my kid, he's not going quietly. Since I've been gross and infectious, I haven't been going to the chiropractor about my neck. Did I mention that my neck is still bothering me from the accident? There are also issues with the accident and issues with money, yadda, yadda, yadda. And so it goes.

Maybe he'll treat me for free when he grows up.

Fortunately, during the brief moments when my eyes stop watering, I've been able to slip into a happy place with a little hand quilting. I started quilting this piece a few years ago. It is really big but I had finished most of the quilting when I stopped working on it. When I got pregnant, I would fall asleep under it while trying to quilt it. I pretty much slept through my first trimester. So I put it down and it became a UFO. Now seems like a good time to pick it up and try to finish it. When it rains, it pours, so you might as well quilt.

New Year's Resolution Quilts 3

2008-03-05T23:14:00.004-05:00

I finished the third New Year's Resolution quilt. This one is called, "Buy A New Broom". In my family it is bad luck to bring a broom from your old house to your new house. You should buy a new broom or, better yet, someone should give you a new broom. This is because you don't want to bring the dirt from the old house into the new house. I think this is my favorite family superstition. Something about acknowledging the transition from the old to the new, and the idea that you can leave the "old dirt" behind you and start fresh.

Anyway, the background is machine pieced and the broom is needle turn applique. Most of the quilting was done by machine. The detail on the broom was done by hand. And of course, the beads were applied by hand. The edges are finished by hand with a blanket stitch. I really like the red thread and purple beads against the greens and browns. That red thread on the broom was vexing. I think the overall angle of the broom may be off, which is why the thread never looked quite right no matter how I angled it. After the third attempt I decided to just call it quirky and move on. This quilt is 100% from my stash.

As I was working on this quilt, I got to thinking about how we really are in a partnership with our materials. We will only gain so much control over them, no matter how much we practice. Sometimes it is not worth fighting. Sometimes if we step back and let the materials do what they want, we will be pleased with the results. Keeping this in mind, we should look for the same qualities in our materials that we look for in good partners. Things like quality, flexibility, and endurance. How about sparkle and wit? It helps if you share the same sensibilities. But it also helps if they challenge you to look at things in a new way.

On to number four. It is waiting to be quilted but I don't have the right thread. Number five is also challenging me because it needs to incorporate text. Stay tuned.

A Baby Blanket and More of What I Got In Chicago

2008-02-28T21:18:00.009-05:00

I finished the baby blanket. Yippee! Sewing it together wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Though I still think it could have been worked as one piece. The recipe called for fringe, but I don't care for fringe. I don't like how it frays and it just seems like something to drag on the floor and get all linty. Plus I think a baby would have a hard time resisting the temptation to pull the fringe out and eat it.

Instead, I added a double stitch around the edge and capped it off with a crab stitch. Far more elegant, don't you think? I hope the baby will be content cuddling with it.

You know how every time you go home, your mom gives you stuff to take with you? While I was in Chicago last week, my mom gave me a mystery bag of fabric. Apparently, she started collecting it thinking she would make a quilt. But she didn't know anything about quilting when she started collecting the fabric, and never learned to quilt. So she decided to give it to me. From the looks of it, most of the fabric has been hanging around since the early 1970's.

There's this pretty pink silk dress. Very 80's.

I'm pretty sure these are cotton. But they are very heavy. Like upholstery fabric. The funny thing is these patterns are back in style.

These are either satin or polyester. I'm leaning towards satin. I've heard that polyesters from the 70's were not very good quality. But these fabrics are in excellent condition.

I don't know what these are. I think the blue might be some kind of cotton or linen with a shiny finish. I think that washed out fabric is polyester. It looks like a piece of commercially produced baby quilt. There's batting and a backing and it is machine quilted.

I like these fabrics. I would never have bought them for myself - even if you could still find them. Now I have the opportunity to try something different. I think these fabrics will be especially good for book covers and bags. I'm thinking of experimenting with paints and embroidery on these too. Especially those solid cottons. So even though I didn't do any quilt related stuff on my trip to Chicago, I still managed to add to my stash. You gotta love moms.

Defy Gravity

2008-02-25T21:16:00.008-05:00

A city girl trapped in the suburbs must occasionally escape to the big city, lest the perennially quiet nights drive her mad. So we packed up and drove back to that same old place, sweet home Chicago. And it was good to fall asleep to the sounds of cars and the occasional siren. Yes, it was cold. But my husband is not from Chicago and it is impossible for people like that to understand how truly cold it gets there. It is something a person has to experience for themselves. Despite the cold, it was good to be home for a few days.

On Wednesday my mom treated us to our first baby free night and we went to see Wicked. I'm a sucker for big, splashy musical. I think belting out a show stopping tune with the orchestra going and people dancing around you must be the most fun thing in the world to do. Especially if you get to fly around while it's all happening. Too bad I can't sing or dance. The show was great. I read the book a few years ago and it was interesting to see how it was interpreted for the stage. It got me thinking about the whole process of communicating ideas. When I read the book, I wouldn't have immediately picked it as the next big broadway hit. The book is actually pretty deep. It deals with issues of intellectual freedom, individual rights, perceptions of good and evil and abuse of power. The characters have intense and heavy conversations. And somehow, the writers managed to translate this all into twnty or so toe-tapping song and dance numbers. I was impressed with how they managed to maintain the essential themes of the story, while communicating them visually. iIt wasn't an exact translation of the book. But it was still effective.

So this what I'm trying to do with my work right? I read something, or hear something, or come to an understanding about something. And I try to communicate it with color and line and texture. Not a literal translation. But one in which you get the gist of the idea. And maybe by translating a key idea from one format to another, you've touched people on a different level. I know the song the main character sings as she takes her place as the Wicked Witch of the West hit me in a different place than the speech she gave in the book. I was moved in both instances - but music moves you in a different way than words on a page. Good lighting and flying help too.

If I go back and look at "Weeping May Spend the Night, But Joy Comes in the Morning" or "I Left My Thimble In El Segundo", I have to ask if I effectively used the language of this medium to communicate the ideas. And going forward, I have to try to remember that you don't always have to show people what you are thinking. Sometimes, it is better to make them feel it.

I also learned that I was pronouncing Elphaba's name wrong. It was Hermonie all over again. Also, I think I need to get my hands on a magic wand.

The Elves Strike Again

2008-02-17T23:03:00.005-05:00

I finished all of the panels for the baby blanket. Look at this. The end panels are longer than all of the other panels. I measured each panel as I made it to be sure they would all fit together. I even measured them against each other. I swear they were all the same length. And yet two panels still came out too long. Frankly, I think this is the work of elves. Not cute Orlando Bloom type elves. But those scrawny little ones with the pointy shoes. I think this is just a matter of unraveling the long panels until they are the same length as everything else. This would not have happened had the blanket been worked as one piece. I'm just saying.

So now I'm busy sewing the panels together. Between that and tending to a baby with a cold and a husband with cracked ribs, there hasn't been much time for any other type of sewing. The sewing is actually not as painful as I thought it would be. It is going together fairly quickly. And the yarn needle is a bajillion times bigger than the teeny tiny sharps I like to quilt with. So threading is easy and I'm not jabbing myself with the needle. And if I spot that elf, I'm going to drop my Encyclopedia of Crochet on it.

Denial - Not Just for People Anymore

2008-02-11T12:10:00.001-05:00

My car sends me emails to let me know how it's doing. I got an email today saying everything is A-OK.

Apparently, my car doesn't read my blog.

How Could You Not See Something That Blue?

2008-02-10T17:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I was going to go hang out at my favorite local quilt store, Intown Quilters. Instead, I got an answer to the question, "What would happen if I was riding with my husband to his job and another car ran a red light and t-boned my Saturn?" I didn't really have a burning curiosity about this. But I got an answer anyway. And so it goes.
Actually, I think the accident was worse than the photo looks. Yes, that is the muffler under the tire. I love that Saturn. It did its job and took the brunt of the impact. And when we stopped spinning, the OnStar people called, just like in the commercial. While I was standing there looking at the tires which were at a 45 degree angle to the car, the policer officer asked if we could drive it away. He should have asked the other driver how they could not see that big rolling blueberry in the middle of the intersection.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Stiff and sore, but otherwise ok. Well enough to take a quick look around Intown today. And by "quick", I mean slow and shuffling. I nabbed a big floral print from the 50% off table. It was calling to me singing, "embellish me." I actually killed the bolt which always gives me a thrill. "I'll take what's left", is one of my favorite things to say in the fabric store. And I got an Amy Butler purse pattern. They have some great new stuff in there and they were having a red tag sale. I'm sure I would have spent more if I wasn't feeling like I'd been hit by a speeding car. Proof that people who run red lights are bad for the economy. Let's just hope I'm back on my wheels in time for the shop hop in two weeks.

New Year's Resolution Quilts 1 & 2

2008-02-08T23:27:00.000-05:00

I finished two bad luck quilts. The first one is called "If You Hand Someone Scissors, You Will Argue With Them Later". In my family, if someone needs a pair of scissors, you lay them on the table for them to pick up. It is bad luck to hand someone a pair of scissors. The background is foundation pieced. The scissors are needle turn applique. It is machine quilted. That bead in the middle of the scissors is actually a brad from the scrap book section. I punched a hole in the quilt and placed an eyelet there for the brad. This quilt is 100% from my stash. The big lesson I learned here is once you trim a quilt, you can't untrim it.

The second quilt is called, "Don't Spill the Salt". I think most people know that it is bad luck to spill salt. The background is hand pieced and the salt shaker is needle turn applique. The quilt is machine and hand quilted. And it is hand beaded. The big lesson I learned here is that you don't have to take things so literally. Actually, I think I may have known that. But I was reminded of that lesson in the quest for beads that look like salt. I had white beads that were too clear, or too big, or the wrong shape. I couldn't get them to work. I tried the pink beads just to see if they were the size I wanted, and really liked the effect. So I used them. There was no reason to use white beads. The only thing I bought for this quilt was the black thread for the salt shaker. The embroidery is too tiny for you to see how bad I am at french knots. I really like the back of this one. It has that whole "book of shadows" effect I was going for. Maybe I've seen one too many episodes of "Charmed".

On baby blanket front, I have 8 panels down and one to go. The only panel left is the center popcorn stitch panel. Yippee.

Buzz Buzz

2008-02-01T21:10:00.001-05:00

I've been a busy bee this week. Working, running errands, cooking, doing the laundry, running around after my son. Nothing out of the ordinary, but it feels like it has been more hectic than usual. I think I'm longing for a change of scenery, so I'm rushing through the days. I'm feeling pulled again by my quilting. I know I promised that I would work in my sketch books on days I couldn't get to the quilting. I haven't been doing that because I've been crocheting. But I've got ideas buzzing around, and frankly, I would be better off if I got them down on paper. After all, I wouldn't just sit there and do nothing if the ideas were actual bees. Actually, I probably would. I don't make sudden moves around bees. But I would be way more attentive to them than I have been to my creative life these days.

I painted the tea dyed fabric for the back of the bad luck quilts. I was going for an old, wrinkled, rusty, patina stained look. Like beaten, leathery paper. And I'm pretty happy to say I achieved that. I dampened the cloth and then scrunched it. Then I took a cotton ball and pounced on light green and dark green textile paint. Then I used a wet makeup sponge to brush on copper Lumiere paint. I finished by dripping on green Lumiere paint and going over the drips with a cotton ball. I'm especially happy with how they look creased and wrinkled even though they are not. That's what I was hoping would happen when I wrinkled the fabric before painting. Every now and then, things work out the way you expected.

On the baby blanket front, I finally finished the bobble panel and I'm on to the yummy diamond panel. I love crocheting cables. It is one of the simple joys in my life. If you are keeping count, that is 5 panels down and 4 to go.

Likes Shiny Objects Too

2008-01-25T22:40:00.000-05:00

I did some tea dyeing. I haven't done any fabric dyeing all year because of the drought here in Georgia. But tea dyeing doesn't use that much water. I was contemplating the backs for my bad luck quilts. I'm planning to write what the quilt is about on the back. Whenever you see a book of spells or legends or whatever in movies and on TV, it is on that funky, old timey brown paper. I thought that would be a good look for the back of the quilts. And I figured tea dyeing would be the perfect way to achieve the look.

I used cranberry tea, blueberry tea and regular orange and black pekoe tea.

My son stole my spoon and wouldn't give it back, so I let him stir the fabric.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out. You can't tell from the picture. But it is kind of brownish pink. I think it will be a good base for adding some paint and some lettering.

On baby blanket news, I have another panel done. I heart cable stitches. I rewarded myself for finishing the bobble panel by doing a cable panel. Now I have to do the second bobble panel. But at least I have another cable panel to look forward to. And then I get to do popcorn stitches. Whoo hoo. It doesn't take much to make me happy.

It's January 20th Already!!!

2008-01-20T21:16:00.000-05:00

I haven't been doing much quilting because I've been working on the baby blanket. I have sort of a deadline now, and for some reason, January is slipping away quickly. Holy smokes, it's already the 20th! I have two panels done and I'm working on the third. It has 9 panels all together. This one is referred to as the bobble panel.

I don't find it as interesting to work as popcorn stitches or cables, so I'm anxious to get it done so I can move on to the more fun panels. Are you wondering why I'm crocheting a baby blanket instead of quilting one? I've been crocheting since I was about 8 or 9 years old. I've given away almost everything I've crocheted. I do have a few crochet pieces that I've kept, but that is just a big, flat way for me to store yarn. I often pull these pieces apart and make them into something else if I find an interesting pattern or stitch I want to try. When I was laid off a few years ago, I spent a lot of time unraveling and crocheting blankets in between looking for a job. Lynn Krawczyk recently posted a list of 10 reason why it is good to crochet when you have a head cold and I realized that a lot of those are the same reasons I crocheted when I was unemployed. Being laid off is a lot like being sick except you can't spend the day hopped up on cold medicine. What was the question again? Oh yeah, I crochet baby blankets as gifts because I've been making them a lot longer than I've been quilting. It's kind of my thing now. If Martha Stewart showed up at your dinner party with a liter of Coke, you'd be like, "What's up with that?" It's the same thing with me and crocheted baby blankets. And it's fast and fun. Not a lot of people crochet, so it also makes a unique gift.

I did get a little bit of sewing done this week. I did some needle turn applique on one of my bad luck quilts. Can you tell which superstition this one will be about?

I love needle turn applique. It makes me feel like anything is possible.

When You Assume...You Make a Blanket Out of Panels

2008-01-14T20:02:00.000-05:00

I don't think I've been doing anything interesting to report on lately. I've just been doing what I do. I finished another background for my New Year's Resolution quilts. These are pretty much going to be applique quilts, and I've been putting the backgrounds together. I haven't decided how to bind the quilts. Whether they will be self bound like a pillow case or if I will apply binding. This is kind of a crucial decision because I can't do any quilting in the meantime. I only have one more background to put together, so I better make a decision soon.

I've also been working on a baby blanket. I know it looks like a scarf. But it is a fisherman's sweater pattern that is worked in panels which are then sewn together. Believe me, I didn't know that when I picked the pattern. I didn't bother to read it before I started working on it. I just assumed it was worked as one piece. I actually had the yarn tied on when I looked at the pattern and realized it was worked in panels. Now I have to pay attention to things like the gauge - which I never do. It's a blanket, who cares? I just crochet them until they are blanket sized. But now all of the panels will need to be the same size, so I'm actually going to have to pay attention to what I'm doing. Not to mention the sewing at the end. Yes, I'm that lazy. I actually thought about picking a different pattern, but I really like this one so I'm forging ahead.

That's it. See, I told you.

Just Say No

2008-01-11T21:18:00.000-05:00

I cleaned my sewing studio. I use air quotes when I say "cleaned". Maybe tidy would be a better word? Let's just say it is somewhere below Martha Stewart and somewhere above Oscar the Grouch. Things are pretty much put away. Scraps have been stored or thrown out. There is space to work. That's all I'm looking for. I don't really have any interest in doing any more cleaning than that. I'd rather be sewing.

Here is my work area. It is pretty much a desk where I do my drafting, cutting, and machine work. I keep my beads and embellishments on the desk too. I keep scraps under the desk in bins sorted by color. There is also a big rubbermaid tub of yarn under the desk. The cats love it under there. It scares me a little.

Here's my stash. It is sorted by color. I also have a cube for fat quarters, novelty prints, batting, PFD fabric, and plaids. I even have a cube for extra special, too awesome to cut fabric. The rest of the cubes are holding fabric for projects. Once I pull fabric from my stash, I keep it separated from the rest of the stash until the project has the binding on. That way, I have fabric if I decide to make extra blocks, sashes or whatever. There is a tapestry that hangs over the whole thing to protect it from sunlight.

This week I've also started making the backgrounds for the bad luck quilts. I've put two together and I'm hand piecing the third. It is a baby block design and I love hand piecing those y-seams. I was at JoAnns today to buy yarn to crochet a baby afgan that I will be making as a gift. I was walking around with 5 skeins of yarn thinking it would be nice to have a cute bag to tuck the yarn into. Of course they didn't have any so I thought, "Why don't I make one". Five words that are like crack to a crafter. So now I am also making a quilted bag. At least it keeps me off the streets.

I'm Off To A Slow Start

2008-01-06T23:03:00.001-05:00

I got some needle turn applique done today. That's about it quilt wise for the week. You would think that during a week where no one worked I would have gotten more done. But no, life kept me away from my sewing. It was somewhat distracting because all week I felt like I wanted to be in my studio but couldn't get in there. I don't want to be distracted from life by my creative drive. I value my work and my family. I don't want it to seem like I would rather be quilting when I need to be focused on them. I used to make a habit of working in my sketch book on days I couldn't get to sewing. I think I need to go back to that practice to keep everything in balance.

I also need to make my studio more kid friendly so my son can hang out in there while I'm working. Right now, it's not safe in there for my husband let alone my kid. He likes being in there, but I'm always worried he's going to step on a pin or pull the iron down on his head (my son, not my husband - although those are risks for him too). So I guess I'll add, "clean and baby proof the studio" to the list of things to do. That's something that would make all of us happy.

New Year's Resolution 2008

2008-01-01T14:52:00.000-05:00

At the risk of breaking my streak for random mid-year New Year's resolutions, I have made my New Year's resolution for 2008. Rest assured that this does not signal a departure from my refusal to base resolutions on the whims of some 16th century Pope. It is just a coincidence that I have my resolution ready by the first of the year this time around. I like resolutions that are like assignments. They give you structure that gives you the opportunity to practice a skill without other stuff getting in the way. It is like working in series or on a theme.

Anyway, I have resolved this year to focus on improving design, particularly incorporating quilting in the design process. I tend to think about quilting after the top is done and I should really be thinking about it earlier in the design process. The theme this year is bad luck/good luck. So here is the assignment:

The quilts all have to be the same size. I'm thinking 91/2 by 12.
Quilting lines must be incorporated into the drawing/cartoon of the quilts.
At least 75% of the quilt should incorporate stuff my stash.
The quilts should look like they go together. The design of each quilt should consider the design of the other quilts.

As for the the theme, the subject of the quilts will be things that bring bad luck or good luck. Not every superstition, but ones that have been handed down in my family or amongst my friends. Speaking of which, I've got my black eyed peas going (the food, not the band). We always eat them on the first of the year for good luck. Happy New Year.

Murphy Strikes Again

2007-12-24T11:09:00.000-05:00

I decided to make myself a cute skinny scarf and look what happened.

I ran out of yarn with two inches left to go.

Sigh.

I don't think I'm being overly dramatic when I say that this kind of thing happens to me all the time. It's pretty long so I think I will just fold the little dangly bit and tack it in place. Darn you Murphy and your cursed law.

In The City We Keep It Rocking

2007-12-20T20:36:00.001-05:00

I finished the quilt, “I Let My Thimble in El Segundo.” This is the quilt that required no planning or design on my part. I did it to clear the cobwebs after working on a few big projects. It is inspired by the song, “I Left My Wallet In El Segundo” by A Tribe Called Quest. I like to make quits that are inspired by food or music because they are both things that tap into sense memory. They both have the ability to stir up vivid memories and powerful emotions. And the benefit of using food as a subject is that things that come from nature are already complete in their design. An artichoke comes out of the ground with the perfect balance of line, texture and color. All you have to do is pay attention.

It is a little more challenging to translate music into a visual format. Especially when you are trying to not only communicate the piece of music, but the memory and feelings it evokes. So I was riding in the car one day when “I Left My Wallet in El Segundo” came on and it took me back to college. It reminded me of the music I listened to back then, the dances I went to, and driving around the Bay Area. And it’s a better subject than say, “Baby Got Back” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. To get all of this across, I wanted the quilt to be bright, to vibrate ever so slightly, and to be just a little bit askew. To me, this is what it was like to dance to this music and to ride around Oakland and Berkeley with the radio on.

I pretty much accomplished what I set out to do. I think the blocks could have been a little more askew so that you know it’s supposed to look like that. I think it might look like I can’t sew straight. It doesn’t really matter. The quilt is going on the wall of my sewing studio to make me happy. To remind me of the smell of eucalyptus, the taste of good Chinese food, and a time when jumping up and down was a form of dance. And I feel like I can exhale. I pretty much finished what I started this year. And I have some cool ideas about what I’m going to work on next. I’m getting excited about next year’s New Year’s Resolution project. More on that next year.

Don't Rain On My Parade

2007-12-18T23:13:00.000-05:00

I finished the quilting on my "El Segundo" quilt today. I remarked to my husband that if I managed to get the binding on before the end of the year, I will have completed all of the projects I started this year. He then proceeded to say, "What about that quilt on the chair in the bedroom?"

Are you kidding me? First of all, I started that quilt two years ago. So it doesn't count towards my list of accomplishments for this year. As I've said before, my list - my logic. Second of all, who throws a UFO in a quilters face when they are bragging? That's a good way to get stuck with a pin mister. Don't talk about the size of my stash. Don't ask about all the magazines and books. And don't mention the UFO's. Seriously. That's like talking about fight club.

I was actually looking at said quilt today. It is a really big quilt and there is not that much quilting left to do. It's all hand quilted. And since the weather has cooled, it would be nice to have it spread over me while I work on it. I was in the process of quilting it when I got pregnant. I stopped working on it because I would get drowsy and fall asleep mid stitch. I couldn't do anything for long stretches of time back then. I pretty much slept through my first trimester. By the time I got back into quilting, I had other projects to work on. So I think I will go ahead and finish this one up after I put the binding on "El Segundo". In the meantime, I think we're going to have to rent "Fight Club" again.

Another One Down, One Left to Go

2007-12-12T17:04:00.000-05:00

I finished the top for the "Weeping" quilt. It is quite traditional looking isn't it? I finally decided to send it out to be quilted. I thought for a minute that I might try tackling the quilting - but why stress myself when someone else could have more fun with it. I'm warming to the idea. I have to admit that I'm intrigued by the idea of someone else working on it. This is my interpretation of an idea. Now, someone else will add their interpretation to it. Sometimes, you benefit from giving up control and letting someone else take the lead. Sometimes.

As I suspected, I'm starting to feel the creative juices flow again. For one thing, the sun came out and the weather warmed up. And I only have one more quilt left to work on before my slate is clean. I know that there are actually five quilts on the WIP list. I'm only counting the "El Segundo" quilt because it is the only one left that I started this year. My list, my logic.

Gets Lost Using Mapquest Too (But Still Manages to Get There)

2007-12-09T12:46:00.000-05:00

I had this fruit and vegetable quit top I made a few years ago when I worked for the National 5 A Day for Better Health Program. My thinking at the time was that I would hang it in my office. I made the top and never got around to quilting it. In the meantime, I moved on to work for a different program, and 5 A Day morphed into the Fruits and Veggies; More Matters campaign. So what to do with the quilt top? I didn't really want to quilt it. And once I got it quilted, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. It was too small to be a charity quilt and I was not interested in hanging on the wall. The problem was that the quilt was no longer speaking with my voice. It's a fine quilt. But if I was going to make this quilt today, it wouldn't look like this. 5 A Day has moved on and so have I.

I don't want UFO's hanging around my studio judging me. If they are not going to be finished, they are going to be repurposed. So I decided to make it into a binder cover. My husband tricked me into cleaning out my cooking magazines by saying that if I had fewer magazines, I could have more cookbooks. So I tore out the recipes I wanted and put them into page protectors. I always intended to cover the binder with fabric or a collage. I even bought the book, "Fast, Fun and Easy Book Cover Art" with the magazine project in mind. Halfway through basting the fruit and vegetable quilt top I thought, "I could use this for the binder cover".

When I was in elementary school, we used to get these exercises where you would start with a word, and then by following the directions, like "cross out all the vowels", and "replace the r's with a's", you would end up with a different word. I rocked the following directions exercise. Somewhere along the way - either in college or grad school - I lost the ability to follow directions. Maybe I stood too close to the speakers at the Palladium. Maybe that research design class burned out some synapses. I don't know. But I managed to bungle almost every step of making this thing. I drew the pattern wrong, I drew it on the wrong side of the interfacing, I didn't get how to put the sleeves on and just made it up, and I managed to break or bend 4 sewing machine needles. And yet, I got the thing together and had fun doing it. It is important to be able to follow directions. It is equally important to be able to improvise. And I think that it is a credit to Jake Finch that even if you don't follow her directions exactly, you can still complete the project.

There is still a nice hunk of the old quilt top left. I think I'm going use the rest to make an apron. Somehow, I've been infected with the apron making bug that seems to be going around. It would be cool to have an apron that matched my recipe file. By the way, I don't follow the directions on recipes either.

I'm Looking California but I'm Feeling Minnesota

2007-12-07T20:45:00.000-05:00

I finished piecing the blocks for the "weeping" quilt. What the heck was I thinking? I will probably send this one out to be quilted. It is way too big for me to machine quilt, and I don't have the next 48 years to hand quilt it. Besides, I think those wide open spaces of purple are begging for lots of swirly quilting.

I feel like I've been doing chores lately instead of creative work. Doing the curved piecing felt like grunt work. Basting the "El Segundo" quilt really is grunt work. Have I added basting to the list of tasks for an apprentice? I actually thought I was going to finally quilt the fruit and vegetable quilt. But I was not feeling that quilt at all. It has been sitting around for 3 years waiting to be quilted. I finally figured out that I've outgrown it and it is time to let it go. So I'm going to turn it into book covers. But even that feels like a chore to be over and done with.

I'm thinking it's the weather. It's too cold and dark. That, and the stupid holiday commercials. I want to throw something at that guy searching for gift for his wife at Lowes. But I'm going to keep working. A little bit of light is getting through. And I'm pretty sure that if I cross these last few projects off my WIP list, my creative mojo will return.

New Year's Resolution #3

2007-11-29T23:41:00.000-05:00

I finished my third New Year’s Resolution quilt. It is called “Arty Choke”. It turned out much better than I expected. The new techniques I tried were raw edge appliqué, using Shiva paint sticks and zig zag stitches around the edges of the quilt. The artichoke is fused and hand painted. Did you know that artichokes are members of the thistle family? I also painted (or colored) the background with shiva paint sticks. I was not thrilled with the outcome. I liked using the paint sticks. But I felt the piece was too dark and dull. I told myself that I could brighten it up with quilting. But deep down inside, I didn’t really believe that. Lo and behold, the quilting helped 200%. The raw edge appliqué worked out pretty well for me too. And why didn’t anyone tell me about zig-zag stitching before?

As usual, I practiced my free motion quilting. I was pleasantly surprised by how well I did. I still need to work on getting the tension right. But I think I’m getting the knack of it. In the picture, the artichoke looks like it is peeling off. But it isn't. That is the shadow created by the background quilting puffing up the fabric around the artichoke. It has a lovely texture and depth that you can't appreciate in the picture. I know I should have hung it and used the tripod, but I'm really too tired for all of that.

So here’s the thing about lowered expectations. Sometimes, they give you the opportunity to do well because you are not so invested in the outcome. I honestly was not thrilled with the background fabric and I thought the paint on the artichoke left a lot to be desired. I didn’t really think the quilting would help. But one of the things I learned in the Self-Expressions class at Quilt University is that you should keep moving forward on a project, even if you are feeling uneasy about it. So rather than give up, or go back and try to fix what I perceived as problems, I just took a deep breath and kept going. And the quilting really did make the whole thing work. So here’s a light bulb moment. It’s called a quilt because it’s quilted. Quilting is as much a design element as color, texture, and shape. I don’t spend nearly enough time considering the quilting while I’m designing the piece. In fact I rarely think about the quilting until the top is done. You may have known this all along, but then you didn’t tell me about the zig-zag stitch either did you?

Leftover Turkey Noodle Soup

2007-11-26T14:11:00.001-05:00

I've been too busy cooking and cleaning and whatnot to get much quilting done. I did get some thread to embellish the "El Segundo" quilt. But I couldn't find the right beads. Speaking of embellishments, check out the embellished Katmandu fabric on Mark Lipinski's website. Just click on "my fabric", then "take me to the pictures". And cover your keyboard with a towel so you don't get drool on it.

Waiting for My Food Network Contract

2007-11-21T15:53:00.000-05:00

I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving. I'm getting excited because I get to cook a big meal. Here's my menu:
1. Pomegranate sangria - which I already messed up by accidentally using sherry instead of brandy. Oh well.
2. Turkey - of course.
3. Dressing - I stuff the turkey with herbs instead of stuffing, so technically it is dressing.
4. Whipped sweet potatoes
5. Baked macaroni and cheese
6. Greens - my first time making greens
7. Cornbread - already done. I can tell you're impressed.
8. 7Up cake -which I will also make tonight
9. Gravy
10. Cranberry sauce - The only thing not from scratch but I added it so this list will go to ten.

I've also got more curved piecing to do on the "weeping" quilt. Since I do all my curved piecing by hand, I should be able to fit it in while the cake bakes. I'd like to see Rachel Ray cook and sew at the same time!

But Are You Funky Enough?

2007-11-20T21:57:00.002-05:00

Look what happened when I turned my back for one second while winding a bobbin. Say what you will about hand piecing. I've never had this happen with a needle and thread.

I finished the "El Segundo" quilt top. I'm a little concerned that it looks poorly constructed. My intention was for it to look a little wonky. Squares are not supposed to be quite square and points are not supposed to quite match up. I wanted it to be a little askew, like you've been dancing all night. The problem is that if you don't make it funky enough, it just looks like you were drunk while you were cutting and sewing and people don't get it. Now I'm trying to think of a way to quilt it so that the viewer knows it supposed to look like that. Oh well. You are not a great artist unless you're misunderstood, right?

What A Difference A New Rotary Blade Makes

2007-11-15T12:14:00.001-05:00

Every few quilts, I find it helpful to clear my mind by making something that requires no thought whatsoever on my part. No planning or design, just cutting and sewing. I find the techniques in Karla Alexander’s “Stack the Deck” books especially well suited for this exercise. It is also a quick way to make a quilt if you don’t have babies and husbands and jobs. So I have spent the last few days working on a quilt that required absolutely no brain power on my part. I didn’t even pick out the fabrics. I used a pack of 10 ½ batik squares. All I had to do was remember how to change the blade in the rotary cutter.

I started with the squares.

Then cut them into 9 roughly equal squares.

Shuffled the squares and sewed them back together.

Cut the 9 patches into 4 squares.

Shuffled the squares and sewed them back together.

Now I just have to sew the blocks together. I’m getting excited about quilting and embellishing this one. I’m feeling like this quilt wants lots of purple thread. I also feel like I have a clearer idea about what I want from my other projects. I work on multiple projects because I have lots of ideas and I can’t do just one thing at a time. I really like working this way, but sometimes the synapses get all clogged up. I think you can work on multiple projects as long as you are able to maintain focus. Without that, you just have chaos, and my studio is too messy for that. So when I start to loose that focus, I do one of these projects to reboot the system. Now I can get back to my artichoke, which has been languishing. And I have new ideas for the weeping quilt. And I finally have a vision for a pomegranate that I’ve been struggling with all year. Now if I only had 20 more hours in my day.

Autumn Sun Through The Gingko Leaves

2007-11-08T23:20:00.000-05:00

I finished my husband Kevin's quilt. And I managed to do it with that thingee of perle cotton I swore was going to run out. The quilt is called "Autumn Sun Through The Gingko Leaves". The colors remind me of fall, which is Kevin's favorite season. And there are gingko leaves quilted on the center blocks. Did you know that the gingko tree is considered a living fossil? Now you know.

I decided not to use the pattern from the rug in the borders. It just wasn't working. I quilted some simple straight lines which were much more effective with the overall design. And easier.

This is the first quilt I've made for my husband. The funny thing is that I don't collect Asian themed fabric, so there was none in my stash. Kevin wanted an Asian theme to go with his office, so I had to to do some shopping. Maybe two pieces of fabric in the quilt come from my stash. Not funny ha, ha. Just funny weird.

As much as I enjoy the New York Beauty Block, I think I'm done for awhile. The "Weeping" quilt features NY Beauties and log cabin blocks. And I just finished the spikey bits for that one too. So I'm feeling done with them for now. I need to see what else I can do with foundation piecing.

Here are my lessons learned:
1. There is more thread on the spool than you think.
2. You don't know what you're going to do until you do it. My plan was to machine quilt the whole thing and do some fancy stuff in the borders. I ended up hand quilting most of it and doing plain borders.
3. You carry a theme on color and style as much as pattern. Not all of the fabrics are so-called Asian prints. But all of the fabrics contain colors and textures that reflect the theme when placed next to Asian prints.

Ignore the Cat Hair

2007-11-04T21:25:00.001-05:00

Woo hoo. I finished quilting most of Kevin's quilt, so it officially moves up on the list. It is now the quilt closest to completion. Of course, I have no idea how I'm going to quilt the borders. I want to machine quilt the borders even though I hand quilted the center. I don't want to use such heavy thread in the borders. I'm thinking about using a border pattern that is in one of my grandmother's Oriental rugs that I have in my family room. I'm going to have to ponder this. I swear I'm pondering, not procrastinating.

To distract you from the obvious lie in the last sentence, here is a cute picture of my son from Halloween.

Quilting 'Aint Always Pretty

2007-10-30T23:23:00.000-04:00

Whew. I completed the foundation piecing for the weeping quilt. And I came “this” close to running out of medium yellow fabric. Now all I have to do is the curved piecing. I do all my curved piecing by hand. I feel like I have more control of the fabric that way. I also think it might be faster. I would image that you would have to take the curves slowly on the machine. I’ll be putting this in line behind Kevin’s quilt. I’m pretty close to finishing the quilting on that one too.

So here is the shrapnel left from the foundation piecing. I love this technique. Not just because you get awesome pointy bits and curves. But because there’s no accurate cutting involved. I tear the strips of fabric, sew them to the block, trim the block, fling the fabric and keep going. Now I know some of you are thinking, “look at all that waste.” Many see this as a drawback of foundation piecing. However, I see a pile of delicious scraps. Mmmm, scraps. Imagine the possibilities for a moment. I could do some string piecing, some crazy quilting, or fuse it and make wicked new fabric. Right now I’m pondering whether or not I will try to incorporate these yummy fibers into the weeping quilt, or add them to my scrap bin. Perhaps mixing them with some green scraps or something.

Of course there is one negative consequence of my reckless foundation piecing. Now someone has to clean the floor. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to have to be me.

Oh, and since I've upgraded to Leopard, Blogger rocks. You Mac users know what I mean.

Is It Just Me, Or Is It Murphy's Law?

2007-10-26T23:36:00.000-04:00

I’m not a very good judge of how much of something is left. I either have too much fabric or not enough. I always think the bobbin is about to run out when I have an hour’s worth left. Then I run out with 4 inches of binding left to sew on. And I never have the right amount of thread. The day after I ran out of fabric for the weeping quilt, I thought I was going to run out of thread for Kevin’s quilt. Once again, I went to the store to buy more only to find they had every color but the one I needed. Seriously, I think someone there is messing with me. I decided to just keep quilting until I ran out and I would worry about it then. And lo and behold, the thingee of thread keeps going. Now I’m thinking I can finish the quilting with this one spool. Which of course means I’ll run out with half a block left to quilt.

A Trip to My Happy Place

2007-10-20T22:28:00.000-04:00

So I’m elbow deep in foundation piecing. I’m making the spiky bits for the weeping quilt. After a couple of false starts, it is going swimmingly. Then, I ran out of yellow fabric. I know what you’re going to say. And really, don’t you think I know that? The thing is, I’m sort of making it up as I go along. I originally thought the spiky bits would be scrappy. I don’t know why, since I don't really do scrappy. I try, but I’m always compelled to make scrappy orderly. When I actually started sewing the blocks, I decided to make all of the outer spikes light yellow, while the inner spikes will be different shades of orange or pink. And this is what led to me running out of yellow fabric. And since yellow is one of my least favorite colors, I don't have a whole lot of it in my stash.

I like to look at running out of fabric as an opportunity to go to my happy place, Intown Quilters. So, after we took our pumpkin to the pumpkin patch, I headed to my favorite quilt shop. Actually, I went to the store where I bought the fabric first. They were practically cleaned out of tone on tones which was weird because they are never out of anything. Then I went to Intown. I found yellow that is not quite an exact match but close enough. And since I can’t go into Intown and just get what’s on my list, I got a couple of other goodies too.

First, this funky Alexander Henry fabric. I really like this theme. Doesn't it just scream "city girl"? I used the fabulous fashionista fabric that came out a couple of years ago in a wall quilt for my closet. I was pretty excited to see a new variation on the theme. I want to panel a wall in this stuff, but my husband is straight so that is not going to happen. This is going in the stash. I also got a bag of 10 ½ inch batik squares. Lest you think I’m adding to my stash willy nilly, I already know what I’m going to do with this fabric. In fact, I went into the store knowing what I was going to do with this fabric AND a name for the quilt. Impressed? I planned the whole thing in my head on the way to the store. I just had to find the right fabric. Stay tuned. I think it’s going to be a cool quilt. Oh, and I got a panel to make an advent calendar for the baby. I got so excited about the batiks I almost forgot.

I love Intown Quilters. If they put a Starbucks in there, I would never leave.

Running in Circles or Quilting Around Circles

2007-10-15T18:26:00.000-04:00

The last few days seem like I've been crazy busy but at the same time I feel like I haven't gotten much accomplished. I hate it when that happens. So what have I been up to?

I have made progress on quilting Kevin's quilt. The freezer paper template is working out well, though it's not sticking as well as I would like. I just pin it and keep going. I've decided to add this herringbone stitch around the outer curves. I picked up this stitch from the book, "Quilt and Embellish in One Step." I'm all for anything that can be done in one step.

I also finished drafting the second block for the weeping quilt. Since there are only two blocks in the quilt, this is a big accomplishment. I just went ahead and drafted it with pencil and paper. I did give Quilt Pro another try. I hate paying money for something and then not being able to use it. So I just had to try again. I still couldn't get it to bend to my will so I did it by hand. It took me all of 15 minutes to draft the block on paper and most of that time was spent looking for a sharp pencil. As opposed to 6 hours on Quilt Pro with nothing but scrap paper to show for it. Slacker rule number 3 - technology that makes your life harder is not your friend.

I'm also taking a class at Quilt University on photographing your quilts. I got a new camera (I'm loving the close up feature) and figured this was a good way to start playing with it. This week, I have to set up where I'm going to hang and photograph my quilts. This brings up two problems. The first is that the sunniest room in my house is my quilt studio and there is furniture against each and every single wall in the room. So I need a freestanding arrangement. Kevin thinks we can build something out of PVC pipe. I got a good laugh out of that one too. Between his crazy work schedule, my work and running around after the baby, I seriously doubt we're going to build anything. Not to mention neither one of us has a clue about how to build anything out of PVC pipe. I'm sure we could figure it out, but this is a project that needs to get done this week, not next October. So I went to Wolf camera and picked up this.

It's a thing that photographers use to hang backdrops. I'm pretty sure I can hang a quilt from it. Slacker rule number 2 - let gadgets do the hard work. This brings us to my second problem. I don't put hanging sleeves on my quilts. They just seem like a lot of work. Most of my quilts are hung using clips - way easier. But they don't hang flat and apparently they obscure the binding. Since binding is probably my weakest skill, I'm not sure this is a bad thing. But for the sake of the class I'm now going to have to go back and sew hanging sleeves on the quilts I want nice pictures of. Yet another task I would delegate to an apprentice if we lived in the olden days. So when I get the system all set up, I'll post pictures. You'll get to see my studio. Won't that be exciting?

Oh yeah, don't forget to conserve water yall. I live in Georgia where we'll be out of water in 90 days. And try to get your food at the farmer's market. Peace.

Things You Learn From Historical Reenactments

2007-10-09T23:13:00.001-04:00

Look what I got yesterday. I went looking for a book about Sashiko and picked up a few other things to boot at Barnes & Noble.

So the reason I needed a book on sashiko is that I decided to hand quilt Kevin's Asian themed quilt. I know I said I would machine quilt it. But after stitching down the blocks, I was pondering were to go next. I just couldn't visualize myself handling the quilt under the machine. So I decided to hand quilt some sashiko designs instead. I'm using size 8 perle cotton, so it shouldn't take too long (famous last words). I printed the designs on freezer paper, cut them out, and ironed them down. Now I'm stitching around the pattern. I have a problem with marking quilts. The markings rub off, they are hard to see, and on and on. It's a big pain to mark a quilt. I was visiting the colonial governor's mansion in New Bern, NC around this time last year. They had this woman dressed in period clothes quilting in a little cabin next to the gardens. She pinned a paper template to the quilt and was stitching around it. I decided I was going to give that a try the next time I had a complex design. So far so good. I did have to pin the freezer paper. Either I didn't iron it on long enough, or the motion of the rocking is just going to make it peel up. We'll see.

New Year's Resolution 2 and A Rant

2007-10-06T00:22:00.000-04:00

I finished my second New Year's Resolution quilt. It's called Sketchbook Blueberries. The new technique I tried is using colored pencils on fabric. This was really fun and easy. I will have to try watercolor pencils next. I also practiced some embroidery with the running backstitch in the leaf veins and blueberries. As usual, I had to practice binding. This time, I bound the edge using a plaited edge stitch. This is like a blanket stitch with an extra knot in it. I think I will try this edge stitch again with beads. I haven't tried this sort of raw edge binding before. I like it because it is easier than cutting binding, sewing it on, stitching it down, yada, yada, yada. But it's not really practical for a quilt much bigger than this. All in all, this was a fun little quilt. I will definitely look at colored pencils as another tool for embellishment.

Today, I also tried to print out the New York Beauty foundations for the Weeping quilt. Can I just say - aaarggg! If you heard a crash around 7 pm that was me throwing Quilt Pro for the Mac out of the window. The thing that frustrates me about this program is that you do everything right and it doesn't work. You have to do things 2 or 3 times to get them to work. I wasn't even making up my own block. I was using one from their library for crying out loud and the bleeping foundations still wouldn't print out correctly. The problem is that it is a Windows program masquerading as a Mac program. And the manual is crap. I could have drawn the block by hand in the time I spent dinking around with this program. Technology is supposed to make your life easier - not harder. So I'm done with it. Now I have to find some program that will allow me to design quilts on the computer. There really isn't anything for the Mac. I run an Intel Mac, so in theory I could use EQ on Parallels which lets me run Windows. But I don't want to. The Mac is the best computer on the market for doing design work. In this area, it is superior to Windows in every way. There should be awesome quilt design software for the Mac. If EQ was so great, there would be a Mac version. So there.

Helpful Graffiti

2007-10-04T23:24:00.000-04:00

I was watching Oprah on Tivo today and they showed a message Sinead O'Connor had written on her kitchen wall. It said, "It doesn't matter if it's not perfect".

Party Time or Nap Time?

2007-09-29T23:01:00.000-04:00

I haven't gotten much work done in the past couple of days. We had John's birthday party today and we had relatives in from out of town. So we had to clean house and run errands and so on. The party was a blast by the way. Even if the birthday boy took a nap with his grandmother halfway through. Actually, I think most things in life would be better if you could stop and take a nap halfway through.

When things return to normal, I've got to get that artichoke painted, embellish that blueberry and try to get some quilting done on Kevin's quilt. I should also start the foundation piecing on the weeping quilting. And as always, I have the coffee quilt to work on. So much sewing, so little time. I need a nap.

The Grand Prismacolor Experiment

2007-09-25T20:56:00.000-04:00

The grand experiment with the colored pencils went great. After drying for 24 hours, I ironed the whole thing and put it through the wash. I washed it on a gentle cycle, in warm water, with baby detergent, which is how I pre-wash all my commercial fabric. I also got the sunrise fabric for the Weeping quilt washed too so I can get started on the foundation piecing. Then I put it in the dryer with all of the other fabric. And the whole thing came through with flying colors (pun intended). There is no noticeable fading. And the areas that were treated with the fabric medium still seem soft enough to needle through. The whole piece of fabric has maintained it's drape and softness. Now I'm going to trim it down, layer it and quilt-embellish the whole thing. Probably by hand. First I need to decide how I'm going to finish the edges. I'm not feeling binding. But I can't picture it bound pillow case style either. I've never bound something by satin stitching the edge, so I might try that. Ahh, another project for the WIP pile.

Distracted by Shiny Objects Too

2007-09-23T23:22:00.000-04:00

I recently started a thread on the Pickle Road yahoo group about using colored pencils on fabric. I saw an article somewhere about using colored pencils to embellish your fabric but I couldn't remember where. I was wondering if anyone had any tips or knew of any resources. This lead to a discussion about the best method of setting the colored pencil. When it was all said and done, I ended up volunteering to give one of the methods a try. I know I've already got tons of works in progress. But I was too curious to pass this one up. And technically, since I picked blueberries as a subject, it works for my whole New Year's resolution thing.

So here's what I've done so far. I drew some blueberries and leaves using Prismacolor pencils. It was pretty simple. The colors go on smooth and nice and bright. I like Prismacolors pencils because you can build up layers of color. And they blend easily. Here's what it looked like.

Then I applied Golden GAC900. This is Golden's textile medium. You use it with acrylic paints to turn them into textile paints. You mix the medium 50/50 with paint, paint your fabric, and then heat set it. Some people on the yahoo group mentioned that this is what they used with the pencils. One person said they mixed the medium with water and then brushed it on. She had been using watercolor pencils. The other option was to use a spray fixative. Since I wasn't using watercolor pencils, I applied the medium undiluted with a brush. Prismacolors don't blend out like watercolor pencils - but they do blend. So I was careful to use a small brush and follow the shape of the drawing. The colors did blend a little. After I applied the medium, I painted the background with some Jacquard dye-na-flow. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the pencil acted as a resist to the dye so it didn't flow into the drawing. This is the result.

Tomorrow, I will iron it to set it and then put it through the wash. This is the test. To see if using the medium and heat sets the color. See - it's for science. Lest you think I completely blew off my WIP's, I actually got some quilting done on my husband's quilt this morning. He was snoring away, so I couldn't sleep. Since the baby was asleep too, I took this opportunity to get some machine quilting done. I got about an hour of work done. Woo hoo. Here's a little bit of Kevin's quilt to whet your appetite.

Charmed, I'm Sure

2007-09-20T22:13:00.000-04:00

Someone recently complimented one of my quilts. I responded by saying thank you and asking them what they liked about it. This is the second or third time I've accepted a compliment on one of my quilts without listing each and everything that was wrong with it. I've decided that it isn't necessary to point out every little flaw and to just let people enjoy the quilts if that's what they want to do. I think it's important to be critical of your work. That way you can identify areas for improvement. Like "Dawn of the Kiwifruit." I don't think the center spike is defined enough. The next time I draft a similar block, I will be sure to make a more defined center spike. Do I need to point that out to everyone who says something nice about it? No. It's like when you meet someone at a party. They say, "nice ta meet cha," and you say, "charmed, I'm sure." You don't list every character flaw and bad habit you have. You let people discover your fine points, quirky behavior and bad disposition in their own time.

It's a big achievement for me. Believe it or not, I wasn't always a slacker. At one time, I was a goodie two shoes, grade grubbing, over achiever. I was always trying to win someone else's approval. It's like trying to make everyone happy. In the process you make no one happy, least of all yourself. When I read the "Bell Jar" and identified a little to closely with the main character, I decided a change was in order, lest I end up hiding out in the crawlspace of my house. One of the things about being a slacker is deciding for yourself what makes you happy and not bothering with the rest, no matter what anybody else thinks. I make art that makes me happy. I don't really care if anyone else likes it. And in a bizarre way, this allows me to be open to sharing my work with others. I can have a critical eye for my own work, and accept the criticism (or praise) of others without needing a dose of EST afterwards.

One of my favorite quilts is Covered In Stardust. I love the fabric, and the beading. I love that the title came to me in a dream. It was the second to last line of a poem I recited about the quilt in a dream, and the only line I remembered when I woke up. I love the colors and the quilting. It was the first quilt I free-motion quilted. It is also full of cut off points, bad quilting and mis aligned beads. I don't care. I still love it.

Venus Must Be in My Creative House

2007-09-20T17:33:00.000-04:00

Well the planets must be aligning or something because yesterday I cleaned my studio AND worked on the artichoke quilt. And when I say, "cleaned my studio" I mean both lower and upper surfaces. Who knew there was a floor. And good golly a desk top. So here's the sketch for the artichoke. I know it has way more petals (or whatever those things are called) than the average artichoke. But for me the sketch is about learning the shapes and scale, figuring out where things sit on the page, and experimenting with color and texture. So they go a little wild sometimes. It's colored pencil and Sharpie. I also make notes about construction, fabric and quilting. This is because otherwise I would forget what I was going to do and the thing would end up as a string bean or something.

Here are my supply items. The lighter green is a piece I hand dyed and the darker piece is commercial fabric. In the end, I went with the darker fabric because the texture was more artichoke like. I will paint it with Jacquard textile paint and some lumiere for the purple highlights.

After the sketch, I made a cartoon. This is what it will actually look like. You might not notice because I have a crappy camera, but the actual artichoke is smaller than I originally thought it would be. That's one of the things I learned from the sketch. I needed to bring the size and scale down to make it work. This is why you should just go for it in your sketches and art journals. I think you have a better sense of what will work if you just go a little crazy on paper first. After all it's just pen and wax and paper.

I used this the cartoon to make the pieces out of fusible web. I followed the advice in Robbi Joy Eklow's book, "Free Expressions". That's where the numbers and arrows come from. I was debating about whether I should paint the fabric and then cut out the pieces or cut out the pieces and then paint. I decided I would have more control of the painting if I assembled the artichoke first. So, I got the thing cut out and put together. Now I need to paint it. It is actually looking like an artichoke, so I'm pretty happy about that. I know. I can't believe I got so much done either.

Where were you September 18, 2006?

2007-09-18T21:23:00.001-04:00

Today is my baby's first birthday. A year ago today, I woke up and jumped out of bed at 4 am when my water broke. Quite an achievement considering how ginormous I was. Fourteen hours later I had a c-section. The kid was not making his way towards the light. Well it turns out he was well over nine pounds. Significantly heavier than the seven pounds my gyno estimated a few days before. So an hour later he made his appearance. Happy and healthy. And everyday this year he's been a big old bundle of joy. And I can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us.

So this post isn't completely off topic, at this stage, John loves to look at quilts. I actually took him on the shop hop when he was about 4 months old and he seemed to really enjoy it. I also used to take him to guild meetings. He loves the attention he gets from quilters. I'm doing smaller, faster quilts because they are easier to work on with him around. I've also discovered a new benefit of hand piecing and quilting. Portable and easy to pick up and put down. And I think I'm adding more textural elements to my quilts because of him. He likes to touch the fabric, beads, threads and jewels. I find myself adding more texture to engage him in the quilts. Yes, I let him touch my quilts. Fabric is meant to be touched and I can't think of a reason to make a quilt that can't be touched.

City Girl Goes to the County Fair

2007-09-16T20:34:00.001-04:00

I went to my first county fair today. I thought the baby would like to see the animals and I was interested in the crafts. All they had today were these little cows and shaved sheep. The baby seemed to like the cows but was not impressed by the bald sheep. Oh, and there was a big white bull scratching himself on a fence. He only seemed to be restrained by some kind of leash - no fence or anything - so I got the hell out of there. I'm a city girl. My experience with animals is pretty much limited to squirrels, pigeons and ants. So I find most large, unrestrained animals alarming. It didn't seem to bother most of the kids running around there though. From their t-shirts I gathered they were Future Farmers of America, 4-H and that kind of thing. I'm glad those groups are still around. I wish more people would take advantage of locally grown food instead of the stuff that comes from God knows where to the mega stores. What's going to happen when all of our food is produced by big conglomerates?

I was also hoping for a big craft show. But they had all of the submissions in a weird room and you had to look through a glass to see them. So the quilts, were all folded up and way up high. I hate it when quilts are displayed folded up. Magazines do that too - drape them over stuff so you can't see the design. Spread that bad boy out so we can see it in all it's glory. The other problem with having the quilts behind glass was that you couldn't see the quilting. Hello, it's a quilt because it's quilted. So it was a little disappointing in that respect. On the other hand, I did have my first funnel cake.

On an unrelated note, I got a new book called "Painted Quilt: Paint and Print Techniques for Color on Quilts". It's a pretty cool book. The pictures are great and there is a lot of content. I especially like that it has ideas for your sketchbook. I actually keep several sketchbooks in different sizes and with different weights of paper. The heavier paper lets me use watercolor pencils and paint. I also use pencils, markers, and different types of pens. It seems the authors of this book understand how important it is to work in your sketchbook. I hope I can get some time soon to paint the fabric for my artichoke quilt. Maybe I can submit it to the county fair next year. As a quilt, or produce?

A Y-Seam Is Thing of Beauty That Is A Joy to Behold

2007-09-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

I have two projects that will probably take 100 years to finish. One is my coffee quilt. It took 60 years to decide on a design, another 45 to pick out the fabrics, and I have been piecing it since the dawn of time. Not easy since I was only born in 1972. It is progressing so slowly because I get distracted by other projects and set the Coffee Quilt aside. I think I finished 3 or 4 other projects in the time I have been working on this one. But I recently picked it up again. I can't seem to get to my other projects because I just don't have time right now. The coffee quilt is hand pieced so I can work on it while the baby naps or plays or destroys the house. This is what I mean about hand work being easier. Kevin's quilt is waiting to be machine quilted and the foundation piecing needs to be completed on the Weeping quilt. I can't work on the machine AND watch the baby unroll the jumbo roll of toilet paper. The fabric for the artichoke quilt needs to be painted but there is no way I'm breaking out the paints while you-know-who is awake. So you see the advantage of hand piecing?

Anywho, the coffee quilt is made up of diamonds (it's a coffee quilt because of the colors). Originally it was going to be a traditional baby block quilt. I know. I don't know why it took so long to come up with that. I have about a bajillion bably blocks to sew. Here's what they look like put together:

This is going to seem weird to some people, but I really like Y-seams. They give me and odd sense of satisfaction. To me, this is a thing of beauty.

Then I got bored and started making blocks that look like this:

So who knows what the quilt is going to end up looking like. I'm kind of curious to see myself. The other 100 year quilt is from Jinny Beyer's book and it is blue. It is also hand pieced diamonds. I can't show you a picture becasuse the pieces are safely in their case, buried under a pile of stuff. If I pull the case out, I run the risk of the pile collapsing and being trapped under a pile of UFO's. Then the baby and the cats would take possession of the house.

New Year's Resolution 1

2007-09-06T23:08:00.000-04:00

Around February or March, I made a New Year's resolution regarding my quilt work. I made a list of all of the techniques I would like to learn or improve and resolved to make a series of small quilts that used the different techniques. The quilts have to be based on my favorite fruits and vegetables and have to use at least one new technique and one technique that I need to practice. So far, this has been a pretty good resolution. Picking a theme frees me from worrying about a design. The small size makes the quilts easier to actually get finished. I guess that's the trick to resolutions. You have to set yourself up for success by setting small goals you can actually achieve. So here is the first quilt. It is called Dawn of the Kiwifruit. Yes, those are my son's hands in the picture. It is machine paper pieced and the curved piecing is done by hand. I do all of my curved piecing by hand. It is machine quilted and hand quilted with this funky metallic floss. It is hand beaded and bejewelled. The new skills I tried were drafting my own New York Beauty Block, using a metallic thread, and using the bejewler. The skills I practiced were free motion quilting and binding. I also got in some practice in on the foundation piecing.

So what did I learn? First, I really dig that bejewler. I would bejewel EVERYTHING if it was socially acceptable. You have to be careful to put the jewels where you want them though. If you slip and put them in the wrong place, it is next to impossible to pry them up and put them back in the right spot. Ask me how I know. I also liked drafting the wonky New York Beauty Block. I really like NY Beauties. I was also pretty happy with the machine quilting. I have a long way to go, but this one is light years better than the last thing I tried to machine quilt. The back of my last machine quilted piece looked like a nest built by a drunken, near sighted bird. There were NO threads tangles on the back of the kiwifruit quilt. Woo hoo! I have to give Alex Anderson props for that. I could actually understand her book on machine quilting and the pictures were great too. Maybe it clicked this time because she is a lefty hand quilter like me. The quilting on the kiwi is not going to win any awards, but I was jazzed at how the meander quilting came out since this was the first time I tried meander quilting.

I still hate binding.

And if you're wondering why it took me until March to made a New Year's resolution, I think the subhead tells you everything you need to know.

Thank You Ms. Beyer

2007-09-05T22:37:00.001-04:00

One of the current discussion threads on the Pickle Road yahoo group I belong to is about books for hand quilters. I mentioned my two favorites, "The Perfect Stitch" by Roxanne...something, and "Quiltmaking By Hand" by Jinny Beyer. My apologies to Roxanne, but I'm too lazy to go upstairs to look at her last name on the book. The Perfect Stitch book is great for technique and the Quiltmaking By Hand book is inspirational to me on a deeper level.

I found the book at Jinny Beyer's store in Virginia during the shop hop out there. I was a pretty discouraged hand quilter at the time. None of the magazines or books widely available addressed hand quilting. I couldn't find tools or support. The books I had focused most of their pages on machine quilting and just a few on hand work. Nothing I could really use. I thought maybe people didn't do handwork and I should just give up and start using the machine. I was sad about it because the only machine I had at the time was an old Singer and it was packed in a box somewhere, plus I really liked hand sewing. And then I shop hopped my little butt into Jinny Beyer's store. The book had just been released and the quilt that's on the cover (I forget the name and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and look at the book) was hanging in the store. She made it in commemoration of 9/11. It's huge and it's gorgeous and it is entirely hand pieced and quilted. I bought an autographed copy of the book and it totally restored my faith in hand work. It reaffirmed my opinion that hand work is easier and faster in some cases than machine work. And there is something about working with a needle and thread. That book made me want to be a hand quilter. And even though I do work by machine, I consider myself a hand quilter.

I think the point is that you get what you need when you need it. You can never see the big picture. You just have to have faith that things will work out the way they are supposed to work out. When I design a quilt, I don't expect the final product to look exactly like the sketch. I start working and I change my mind, things go wrong, I forget what I was supposed to do and do something else. I once had a piece of fabric facing the wrong way when I started cutting. You know what? It's cool, man. It's just a quilt. It's going to be what it wants to be. That's life.

So here are two quilts I've made entirely from Jinny Beyer fabrics. They are hand pieced and quilted. The first is called Blue and Gold Mills quilt and it was made on the occasion of my 10 year college reunion. Jinny Beyer actually helped me pick out the fabric for this quilt. It doesn't look anything like my original design even though it is a one block quilt. The second is called Ms. Beyer's Garden Maze. It is a traditional pattern. It looks exactly like the original design. I like both of these quilts because you can't really tell where the blocks begin and end. I know what the blocks look like, but I can kind of let that go and find other patterns. I like quilts where you can squint and turn your head and see different things. That's life too.

Just Do It

2007-09-04T22:15:00.000-04:00

I've been spending my time lately endlessly pondering my blog. What should I call it? What service should I use? Blah, blah, blah. I do the same thing with quilt designs. Then I reach a point where I just kick myself in the butt and do it. The blah, blah, blah is just a form of procrastination. If you never start something - never cut the fabric - you never screw stuff up and embarrass yourself. And you still look like you're doing something because you're considering all the angles. Whatever. I recently took a class from quiltuniversity.com where we were forced to cut into our favorite fabric that we had been squirreling away for that perfect project. It was a terrifying exercise. But liberating at the same time. Here is the fabic I chose for the exercise:

It is in that spirit that I started this blog. Plus I made a New Year's resolution to add new skills to my quilting know-how (more on that later). The purpose of this blog is to journal my progress as a quilter. There's a lot that goes through my head during the quilting process. I take notes and keep a journal of all of the quilts I make. But it's private. I don't actually like to show my quilts to people. Here is something else I need to get over by just doing it.

So here's a little bit about myself. I've been quilting for about six years but collecting fabric since college. I am mostly self-taught, though I've taken lots of art classes. I am mostly a hand quilter. I think hand piecing and quilting is easier and more relaxing than doing work on the machine. That said, I am improving my machine skills. I actually have two Baby Lock sewing machines. A big momma that stays in the studio and a little one that I can use in other areas of the house. I have an 11 month old son and husband so I like to hang out with them when I sew. I have multiple projects going at once. I'm a fast typist and an atrocious speller. I find cutting pieces out tedious. If I were a master artisan, I would have my apprentice do all of the cutting. I hate binding. I love everything else about quilting.

By the way, here is the little quilt I made of that fabric I had been afraid to cut.