How I See

This is for Felicity and all the rest of you who crave knowing more about how inspiration and surroundings influence work. Bless your curiosity - it got me thinking about just what it is I see and how that makes its way into some of my quilts. Bear in mind, though, that the following observations are generalizations. As I sorted through my thoughts, I realized that for each area I identified, I could immediately think of exceptions. But I think this is a good start to understanding how I see.

As I've mentioned in "Where Inspiration" I glean many (but not all) ideas from nature. So I thought I'd use, among others, some of the pictures I took last weekend to illustrate what I mean. Click on any of them for a larger view.

I think it is fair to say I see in three basic ways and often in this order: 1) line; 2) texture; and 3) color. Does it surprise you that color would be last? It surprised me a bit, but after careful consideration, I decided that at least these days, that is true. Now let me explain what I mean by each category.

Line
When I refer to line, I mean not just a straight line, but curved and undulating lines as well. I also cannot separate line from shape, which afterl all, is just a line whose beginning and end meet. Sometimes contrast enters in, because without it, a line or shape would have no definition. Traditional quilt designs are all about line and shape, and those endless patterns made up of lines and contrast were what originally fascinated me. I'm thinking the real connection between what I observed in nature and quilt designs started when I moved to this area about 5 years ago, and started walking regularly through a heavily wooded area nearby. It was mostly pines with some oak trees, and against this dark backdrop, the occasional stark white of birch tree trunks that naturally caught the eye. Light and dark wasn't the only contrast my eye picked up on. I found myself interested in the gentle curves of the birch trunks, interrupted by very few branches, so different from the straight and heavily branched trunks of the pines. About this same time I was losing my fear of curved piecing and applique thanks to some techniques picked up in workshops. This opened the door to so many more design possibilities as I gained confidence in being able to execute them. That undoubtedly led to my eye being more attracted to curves in nature and a near obsession with subtle curves and interesting shapes.

Here is a shot from last weekend. There's a lot going on in this picture, but my eye was focused on the curve of the tree in the center. Secondary to that, I noticed the interesting contrast set up by the way the snow covered the right side of the trees nearer and to the right, echoing the line of the trunk Lastly, I noticed the angles created by the trees that had been snapped off near their bases in a recent storm. So when I look at a scene, I usually am not looking at it as a whole composition, but at individual components that may or may not be used together.

To the left of this shot is a grassy area. The recent heavy snow had bent the clumps of grass into interesting shapes. Perhaps I found them interesting because I knew that normally they would be stalks rising perfectly straight in the air. I think I was also attracted by the fact that it was not just one clump shaped into a curve, but repeating similar shapes creating a certain rhythm to the scene.
And lest these pictures make you think I live on the edge of the wilderness, they are taken in a section not much bigger than a city block hemmed in by houses and roads. Note in the picture below that it overlooks a 4-lane highway!Texture
After line, I often see texture. Texture is created by intersecting lines and curves, or a denseness of line and curve, parallel or at angles. Here is grass from a different spot, this time maintaining more of its individuality, so rather than shape, I am seeing how the blades overlap to create an interesting texture.Here are two other examples of texture. They are formed by the many small dark branches of the trees as outlined by the snow. In the one to the right, I see the interesting lines, then the background texture of the branches. In the one below, my eye is seeing past the larger lines created by the trunks and focusing on that fine texture.


Color
Usually it is fabric that gives me my color cues. I don't think I consciously looked to nature until I was encouraged to do so by Jinny Beyer and Joen Wolfrom. For a gal who grew up in the woods of Idaho, I was woefully unaware of the variety of greens nature successfully combines, greens that I was taught clashed. No way would I combine them in my quilt! In fact, after reading about these greens in Joen's book, I marched right out to my favorite stand of trees to prove her wrong. To my amazement, I indeed saw as many as 6 different greens, all working beautifully together towards a richer more interesting scene.

Once I started appliqueing, I began looking more closely at flowers, leaves and landscapes in general for color cues. At one point I was collecting iris patterns and was thrilled to discover an extensive iris garden along my morning route. I only meant to get some ideas of different colors I could use (did they come in more than purple?), and just what color were those fuzzy parts near the center? On close examination, I discovered an amazing array of hues, tints, and shades used in combinations I had not considered.

Other than these examples, I usually do not look specifically for color. It tends to find me, after my eye has assessed line and texture to move on to subtle shadings, stark contrasts, unexpected combinations. More likely, it takes me by surprise. I notice certain colors at certain times of the year, like the particular green of new leaves in spring or the turquoise tint of a winter sky.
Swaths of color catch my attention too as in a hillside turned russet and gold in autumn. In the picture to the left, I wasn't seeing individual leaves but the layering and placement of the yellow and orange accented by streaks of black and white. I was envisioning a pieced design having nothing to do with leaves and trees but using those colors in those placements and proportions.

Occasionally I note how two colors play off each other like the red of the mountain ash berries against this blue sky. Those orange-red berries popped! I have to admit, when I think red and blue, I'm more apt to choose a burgundy or brick and a stronger blue, probably navy. This red was a revelation at the time.

And while we're looking at the sky, let's not forget sunsets. I can't begin to describe all I've seen in them. Talk about a range of hue, tint, shade and tone, all shifting and changing until all dissolves into grey and black. Parts shimmer, others are simply pale. Some colors are vibrant and saturated. They all work together, in spite of my tendency to believe they can't. They always make me puzzle over how I can recreate them in fabric.

In a separate post, I'll talk specifically about and show examples of how all this plays into my quilting.

About fabric choice...

At some point early in my quilting career, someone of authority said it didn't matter if you liked a fabric if it was the color you needed for your quilt. I was skeptical, but inexperienced, and these were the days of a limited selection of quilting fabrics, most being those tiny floral "calicos." I needed a certain golden yellow to depict a small sun in my blocks; the only fabric remotely close was one of those calicos, and I really didn't like it. With the authority's words crowding out my own judgment, I purchased the print and put it in my quilt. The suns were so small, I reasoned, that you really wouldn't see the print, just the right color. However, every time I looked at the finished quilt, my eye went straight to the offending fabric and I was never really happy with it.

A year or so later, I found myself in a similar predicament. This was a more ambitious project needing many more fabrics, but the selection in the stores had only slightly improved. I played it a little smarter this time, bringing home many options. I was playing off a "hearts" theme, so one of those options had tiny hearts on it. Seemed like a good idea at the time. In the end, it was rejected and that is how this fabric, incorporated in my WFW quilt, wound up in my fabric stash.


I rarely work with heart motifs - it's just not me. That's probably why this fabric has been hanging around for so long. Even if it were the right color and value, I would be hesitant to include it because of those hearts, remembering my experience with that first yellow fabric. These "bad" fabric choices are all right for charity quilts, but even then I find I have a hard time using them.

I'm not sure why that "authority" gave the advice she did, or if she still believes it. I just know that it didn't work for me. Once I started teaching, I always told my students to only buy and use fabric they really loved. Otherwise they would run the risk of being disappointed as I was, of their eye always gravitating to the offending fabric. It's worth the time and effort to search for not only the perfect color but also the perfect print or style in a fabric that you love.

If you look closely, you'll see that the light fabric also has hearts on it. I purchased it for not a lot of money specifically to use in these Warmth from Wisconsin quilts. Each entry has to incorporate a starter block from the store which has an appliqued heart on it. Here we go with the heart theme again. Not my style, but works for this. Makes me a little uncomfortable, but I don't have to live with it. The dark fabric is one I snagged from my guild's bin. No one else wanted to work with it and as a general rule, I like working with browns. The plaid is a Roberta Horton that I found on sale. It is the one fabric in this quilt that I truly love and possibly the only thing that made the constant repetitions of this pattern bearable.

Quilting Aerobics

Maybe it's the fact that it's been cold and grey and dreary most of the week. Or that the quilt I've been working on is rather dark and dreary as well. Or maybe it's the a sensitive tooth that decided to act up and take my sinuses with it. All I know is that my cheery mood deteriorated as the week wore on, leaving me with a feeling of doom this morning. Even the dog has been lethargic all day.

Still, the sewing machine has been humming along for the last three days, getting that Warmth From Wisconsin quilt pieced. So much for my ability to estimate the time it takes to put together traditional work: I truly thought I could sew the units in a couple of days, three at most. By the end of day two it was obvious I needed more time, but even steady work yesterday only got me as far as the blocks sewn into rows. Drat. I really didn't want to work on it today, but I also didn't want to have to work on it next week.

Twyla Tharp (The Creative Habit), says sometimes all you need to do to get going is to move, i.e. do something physical. The walk this morning didn't improve my attitude, so I decided to vacuum rather than put it off to the afternoon as planned. That finally did it. By the time I'd finished, I was ready to sew those rows together. The quilt also has a plain border, but as I said, I didn't want to tie up my whole day on this quilt. I'll give it just one hour, I decided. That was just what I needed to sew the rows. But now I was tantalizingly close to being done - how much longer could adding the borders take? I thought maybe an hour, but it was closer to two. There went my computer time, but at least I can set it aside now until after I give that workshop (see goals for this week). Not quite falling within the "Rule of Three" but darn close.

I believe I predicted that working on this quilt would be "soothing grunt work." Grunt work it certainly was but I don't know about the soothing part. It felt more like doing aerobics. Day 1 was like warming up. It's been awhile since I've just sat and sewed continually for any length of time and I think you have to build up a tolerance for it. Checking the directions and sewing the first stripsets and cutting them was like stretching my muscles. By the end of that first session, I was getting my rhythm back, starting to move, getting to the aerobic part. Day 2 I was still moving right along, sending those units through the machine making long chains. I'd hit the jogging-in-place part, the constant repetition and I soon felt the enthusiasm wearing thin. How many more of these identical pieces are there left to sew together, for pity sake? I ended the day "cooling off" pressing seams to one side. Day 3 & 4 felt like the part of aerobics when you'd just rather stay in bed. Now you know what's involved, you're a bit bored with it all, but you've got to do it anyway.

Granted, I did not pick the most interesting palette to work with, but then again my intention was to use up some fabric on hand and end up with a utilitarian quilt. In this pattern's defense, I have to say it is clear, concise and accurate. It would be a great quilt for a beginner - minimal pinning and includes pressing instructions so all seams abut. I could even see how interesting it might be made up in batiks or more scrappy. However, making 40 identical units, then 40 more with fabrics reversed, which then go together to make 20 identical blocks was something that made me lose interest pretty fast.

By the way, what are the chances that every intersection would perfectly match if this quilt were going to a regular judged show? Exactly - slim to none. Yet every single one does. Maybe I should care less more often!

Observation on Work Habits

I'm not sure this is directly related to goal setting, but I suspect if I had not been setting arbitrary weekly goals, it would not have happened. What happened was this: I acted on an idea before it faded, before it even had a reason for being. I don't usually work this way. I am nothing if not methodical, even plodding. I am very progressional in deciding the order in which things get done. I am more likely to say "No, wait your turn" to an exciting new idea than let it go to the top of the list for immediate exploration. Its only chance of moving up in priority is if it will result in a finished product to fill an immediate need, say a challenge contest entry or a gift. My studio and my brain are littered with exciting ideas set aside for when I have time to pursue them...after the ideas that proceeded them chronologically are completed. No doubt that order and priority have an important role in the grand scheme of things, but I suspect that my habit of saying, "Not this until that is finished," or "No time to play - too much 'real' work to finish," has not served me well where my art is concerned.

I came to this conclusion in a lightbulb moment as I studied my piece with the stamping (which by the way, I think I will be calling "Changing Seasons"). I'd been putting off the experiment with stamping for at least 2 years, yet that one afternoon of play triggered the idea for this quilt. Maybe by chance I would have tossed other fabric squares on the table at some other time and triggered a similar response, but I think that not likely. There was no "good" reason to follow up so quickly with working up the idea - this little piece has no where to go, no real reason for being. Yet in working through it, I may have stumbled upon a form or way of designing that will finally move my art quilting forward in a way that has alluded me so far. This unimportant, unplanned, unpretentious plaything may have led to a breakthrough. By letting it go to the top of the list, it may have filled an immediate need I've been downplaying or thought could be achieved through more progressional, methodical means.

We shall see. All I know is that it was quite an exciting feeling after so many months of being unsatisfied with my work and not knowing what to do about it. It showed me the importance of flexibility in scheduling. It reminded me that I will not discover and grow if I remain in such tight control of the work and process. That will be a huge concession for me because I am all about control.

Goals for Week of Jan 2nd

The parade's over and it's time to get back to work! In fact, I was so angry at myself last night about not reaching last week's hand quilting goal that I did it before going to bed. There! Now I can feel like I'm starting off fresh this week.

Last week I wrote in my guild's newsletter: "I am clinging to the last few days of 2005 like a school child who dreads the end of Christmas vacation...I've maintained a certain freedom from dealing with the serious stuff of the outside world that will surely disappear once the calendar flips to January." And sure enough, even before I could flip the calendar, I received the call confirming that the workshop I'm scheduled to teach at the end of the month will be using an updated book, requiring me to revise my supply list, lesson plans, even demo pieces. Studio time will have to be shared with workshop prep, but that is not an entirely bad thing. It's forcing me to move forward with a technique I've only somewhat dabbled with, in spite of my intentions to explore it more. It will become a part of my creative journey and take its place among my weekly goals.

More reality: It's time to get serious about my Warmth From Wisconsin (WFW) entry, which over-optimistically showed up in last week's goals. This is a local contest sponsored by the Pfaff/Bernina dealer, a quilt shop and a radio station to generate quilts for the needy in Montery, Mexico. Prizes include cash and gift certificates, but really, the draw to entering is that your quilt will end up in the hands of someone who really needs it. Judging criteria is quite different too. The winning quilts must be durable and preferably made from fabrics that won't readily show dirt. That doesn't mean people enter "ugly" quilts by any means. But it does shift the emphasis from counting stiches per inch to will this quilt hold up to abuse. Many are tied and polyester batting is actually preferable to cotton because it dries faster. Mine will be from a Mystery quilt pattern this year - I didn't have time to participate when the series was running in the guild newsletter (except to get the strips cut), but knew I could make it work for this contest. Not much creative about this, but it will be satisfying to work on, soothing "grunt work" (or woodchopping as my friend Bill calls it - Hi Bill!). Deadline is February 11 and I don't want to wait until the last minute, so will get going on that this week.

I also feel a journal quilt coming on. If I'm a good girl this week, I will allow myself a play day to work on it. So here's what I plan to do this week:

1. Revise workshop supply list and mail. (Finished today!)
2. Piece WFW quilt
3. Make self-portrait journal quilt
4. Hand quilt main motif in side triangle of Lone Star quilt
5. Transfer contest/exhibit info to calendar
   

Update on last week...Another balancing act

Here's my quilt using those stamped squares from a week ago and I am so pleased. As I stated in my goals for last week, I wanted to pursue this before I lost the idea but wasn't sure how long it would take. There is no piecing involved and it is only 17-1/2 x 11-1/2 inches, so you would think it would whip right up. However, since the fabric squares were not picked with the idea of using them together, there was a question of whether I could find the proper background and arrangement to make them work. That black (actually a very dark midnight blue) really draws the eye and I couldn't make it smaller to balance the visual impact.

I went to my batik stash once again with a particular piece in mind...a bit muted with greens and dark blues and golds running through a viney leaf pattern to continue the design of the commercial stamp. But I always try additional fabrics even if I think I've hit upon the perfect one. Eventually I had 6 or 7 candidates and through the process of elimination came back to my original choice and a second one that was a little zippier. Then on a whim, I pulled out the piece you see here. It was not as bright as another purple I'd had out, but definitely made those squares pop instead of recede in a muddled mess like my favorite. I put the two on the design wall and kept switching the squares back and forth between the two until I couldn't deny any more that I needed to use the bolder piece. This process also gave me a chance to rearrange the squares into different placements and positions.

Yes, here I was again, working with three squares trying to work out an asymmetrical arrangement that looked balanced. The overlapping was making it harder and I eventually spent a little time reviewing balance and proportion information in Joen Wolfrom's book The Visual Dance and it helped. I was amused (and a little disheartened) to find in her section on asymmetrical design no hard & fast rules, but the suggestion to "attempt to work intuitively as much as possible. Allow time for your design to simmer in your mind; don't rush your progress. Give yourself time to see your design when you are not actively working on it." Ok, good advice, but my intuition has failed me in the past and I wanted to finish this up in a couple days! Well, I could certainly set it aside until the next day and see if I was still happy with the last arrangement I came up with.

Next day, I was totally happy with the background and had pinned the squares together to preserve the arrangement, noting where on the background they fell. I squared up the background fairly close to a figure on Joen's Golden Mean chart. Then with it positioned on grids of the cutting mat I laid down the squares. Ah heck. They still didn't look quite right, so I penciled a few marks so I knew where I'd started and began shifting and changing the overlaps again. It didn't take long to come up with this which I felt comfortable with. I used a little glue baste to secure them, then pinned a tearaway stabilizer underneath and satin stitched around the raw edges. I wasn't sure about using the black, but once it was around the first square, I couldn't believe how good it looked.

I used Hobbs 80/20 black batt and did minimal quilting with rayon thread. Felt very iffy about how that looked. But when I looked at it the next day, I was quite surprised at how much I liked this piece. Went from hoping it would be good enough to sell to perhaps liking it too much to part with it. One more square-up and applied a single fold binding. Hand-stitched it to the back last night.

As for my other goals, I didn't do as well. I only spent one night on the handquilting so did not reach that goal. And as for the WFW quilt I think I threw it in more as wishful thinking than any real belief that I'd find time to sew strip sets. That can easily move to this week.

New Year's Traditions

Watching the Rose Parade on New Year's Day has been part of my ritual since HGTV started airing it live and uninterrupted. I get up in time to make coffee and fry some eggs to go with pastries before settling in on the couch, in my jammies, under a quilt, with said breakfast and a glass of orange juice spiked with champagne left over from the night before. The drumbeats of a marching band makes my heart race (yes, I was in band AND a majorette in high school) and I love those imaginative floats. It's my little treat to myself that gets the New Year off to a pleasant start. But as most of you probably know, the parade isn't until tomorrow, a fact that alluded me until last night. So I was in a bit of a state over how to spend this morning to make it special (Do I spike the OJ or not? Do I save the pastry for tomorrow?). And then, do I watch the parade tomorrow like I'd normally do, even though I'd planned a regular work day? Oh the trauma! Well, yeah I'll be watching the parade. Sheesh.

My other tradition for the day is getting my new calendars up. I love this ritual almost as much as watching the parade. There's something about a fresh calendar that exudes hope and optimism and opportunity, unlike the one it replaces which may be full of disappointments and lost opportunities and too many things to do. It also represents a chance to start over and a freedom that soon dissipates once appointments and meetings and other obligations begin to fill it. But on this day, I am only transferring birthdays and anniversaries from the old calendar to the new. It gives me a chance to reflect on those people I remember on their special days. Paging through the old year also reminds me of trips I took, friends I lunched with, special people I lost and others I gained. Some years are more pleasant to remember than others. This one was not so bad compared to several from a few years back.

That's my kitchen calendar, the overall ruler of my days. I also have a Diane Phalen calendar I hang in my bedroom. She paints pleasant country scenes with quilts draped about. I make no notations on this calendar - it is purely for pleasure.

Then there are the two calendars in my studio. One is the AQS engagement calendar that I use to notate and track my daily progress on projects. It also has some space at the end for notes. I use it to list what I'd like to finish in the new year and also look back at how well I did meeting my goals of last year. Some years I really don't want to look at those goals, knowing how few of them I've reached. Other years I find I've done pretty well. Once I've scoped out the "resolutions" I don't look at this page until the next year. It would undoubtedly be better if I peeked at it now and then to see if I'm on track, but I've never used it in this way. Something to think about.

The other calendar in my studio is a wall calendar where I notate contest deadlines. I usually try to find something quilt related, often traditional, but two years ago I found one with inspirational quotations and beautiful outdoor photography that seemed to fit the artistic path I'd begun to follow. Anyway, this calendar usually doesn't get dealt with today, but sometime this week I'll collect the contest info I've gathered so far, assess it for overlaps and fit with quilts ready (or soon to be ready) to go, then get those dates blocked out on it. This is my calendar for keeping my quilting on track.

I also have a pocket calendar for my purse which duplicates the kitchen calendar. Hopefully it keeps me out of double-booking when I'm out and about. For awhile, I tried to maintain a separate engagement calendar just for scheduling classes and workshops. I was forever setting these up on the phone NOT by the kitchen calendar and it felt more professional to have this special calendar by my office phone. But I found it meant updating 3 calendars with this info, and more than once the kitchen calendar, the ruler of my days, would get the info incorrectly transferred to it. I've stopped teaching now (with the exception of one last guild workshop at the end of the month) so only need a simple one-page calendar by that phone.

I've been posting my weekly studio goals here and I will continue to do so. I'm glad I did not take my usual tact of waiting to the new year to turn over a new leaf and change my daily habits. It has made me feel more in control as I stand at the threshold of 2006, more able to seize opportunities that may present themselves, more confident that I can make real progress. What I'll not do here is set out any long term goals, resolutions or the like. Not yet at least. But I will share that I plan to make serious progress towards my goal of relocating to the West. I'm not sure I'm prepared to say it WILL happen in 2006 - many factors yet to be explored and worked out - but I think it is a real probability. And I do think it is time I make it happen.

New Snow

It snowed yesterday - a couple of inches of the wet stuff. I ran out to take a few pictures so I'd have something a little more current than the ones I posted earlier in the month. Most of the previous snow had melted leaving things a little dingy, so this freshening was welcome. I live at the end of a cul-de-sac that backs up on a wooded hill. This is my view from several windows. The camera thankfully cuts out the four-plex to the left and falling down fence to the next property on the right. I've gotten pretty good at putting on my blinders to enjoy the view.

A little more fell last night. I can walk around the hill through a small field this time of year which allows me to walk the dog without a leash. There was so much to drink in along our route and I realized I should have brought the camera. What the heck...when we got back, I grabbed it and we retraced our steps so I could capture images I know my brain will soon forget, no matter how hard I try to sear them into memory. A fitting way to end the year. Happy New Year to all!

Cool Christmas Gift

My Christmas box from my brother in Raleigh arrived this week - late but forgivable considering what he got me. The picture doesn't begin to capture the sumptuousness and rich colors of the fabric in these silk ties - they are beautiful!

When I visited him in September, I told him about using tie silk in several quilts and that I'd even ended up buying ties at an antique store and Goodwill. "Gee", he said, "I probably still have some nice ties from when I worked in an office. I'll look and send them your way." It was like a lightbulb going off in his brain, connecting the fact that some of the nicest silks end up in ties and that I could use them in my art.

The note with the ties, however, said that apparently he'd gotten rid of the ties in his last move, so he scoured the thrift stores to come up with these for me. Now THAT's a brother who will be forgiven much!

As I stood fondling the ties and repeating, "Oh my God, oh my God," I realized how easy I am. The way I was going on about these ties, you'd think he'd sent me expensive jewelry, bought me a car, was sending me on a trip to the Caribean. No, just give me a few used ties, and I'm happy! And I had to share.

The one in the middle, by the way, is a Jerry Garcia design. I work a lot with birch tree images and I couldn't believe that here were tree trunks on tie silk. Way to go brother!

Goals for Week of Dec 26th

This public goal setting is working really well for me so far. Not only am I getting things done, I'm feeling so much better about myself in general by week's end. I've needed to get some control back into my daily life, and I thought that if I could make it happen in the studio, then I could make it happen in general. I got a little off this week, but I can mostly track that to not getting those lists written.

Another observation about the goal setting. I am setting the creative goals outside of the studio. When I am in the studio, emotion seems to take over. I lose time going from one thing to another until I settle. I set priorities on odd criteria including guilt and aversion. When I am not in there looking at all the reminders of all there is to do, I seem to be more dispassionate. Priorities are based on more rational and businesslike thinking. Then when I enter the studio, wants and likes and need to's don't have to enter in. I'm finding that having made the decision of what to work on several days in advance helps me move along more quickly while I work, not wasting time on wondering if this is what I should be working on. It's on the list; it's what gets done. I like the lack of hesitancy. And even when I've faltered momentarily, like when I was faced with all those paints and rubber stamps to choose from, rather than running screaming from the room (I Can't Do This!), the list of goals sitting there quietly reminds me to get on with it - it's ok. Seems silly but I have really felt the power of committing to those written lists. Confidence and self-esteem are returning.

The only goal I'm having difficulty reaching is the one set each week for the hand quilting. I've got to pin down what my problem is there. Once I get going, I'm fine, but I sure haven't wanted to make the effort each night, so never quite attain the progress I'd hoped.

I'm feeling iffy about the goals for this week. It is a short week for the studio and I want to work on an idea I had for some of the stamped fabric before I lose it. This will not be a traditional rendition and I'm not good at estimating how long non-traditional work takes. Plus, I have some straightening up I need to do before launching into a new project. Clutter is one of the things that makes it hard for me to work, so cleaning up the clutter rather than shoving it to one side is important. I think I'm also starting to feel the pressure of the New Year lurking; I've committed to teaching a workshop and making pieces for two challenges in the first few months of the year. I've purposely put off thinking about either one till after the first so that I could play and experiment. This week almost felt like my last chance before responsibility returned.

Well, enough! Here are some goals for this week:

1. Heat set stamping from last week.
2. Finish gluing leaf shapes to bases for future stamping experiment.
3. Construct quilt top from 3 stamped squares and quilt. (Bind if time.)
4. Finish quilting motifs in current square of Lone Star (1 corner & 2 hearts)
5. Start sewing strip sets for WFW quilt.
   

Additional Update on Last Week

Here is what faced me after I finished the little quilt for my friend last week. This piece is one of two from last year that looked great on paper but once rendered in fabric had major balance problems. The first one finally got adjusted to my satisfaction after many months of contemplation and trial & error. This one, which I call "Something Bold" has been "done" for several months, but as you can see from the braiding draped around it, I still was not happy.

I made it in response to a challenge put out in June 2004 - make a quilt along the theme of Something Old, Something new, Something borrowed, Something blue. My something old is that bold print. A friend brought it back from her father's garage sale, saying it was the only "artsy" fabric he had. I'm sure it's from the 1960's and it was a very small piece which divided up into these three sections. The something new would be the gold solid fabric - one of my hand dyed cottons. I love that rich color and have worked it into antique-looking as well as contemporary quilts.

The something borrowed would be several things: the blue undulating over the gold areas is bias tubes I "borrowed" from the stack I made for some Celtic applique on my Lone Star quilt. Actually, that could also double as something new as I was learning that technique. They are hand sewn in place. There's also some red trim used on the border that was "borrowed" from the traveling mystery box when it came my way. It is stitched down by machine. The something blue is obvious.

I hadn't planned a border, but then again, I'd chosen to defy the Golden Mean, and the result looked squat and dowdy to me. It seemed to need some red out elsewhere, but nothing I had on hand looked right. I stumbled across that gold floral long after I'd given up on making the challenge deadline. It too is an older fabric and I had just enough to try different width borders to stretch the piece into a better proportioned rectangle. What made me think the blue cornerstones were appropriate I don't know, but I felt they were a mistake once they were on. But I left them anyway. Decided once I added the blue binding, it would all come together. It didn't. Now I started contemplating what a strip of dark blue along the border might do. Or maybe some quilting with red thread.

I ran across some embellishment in just the right blue. I don't know what to call this embellishment by the way. It reminds me of a shoe lace because it is knit in a tube, but it is rayon I think. I'll refer to it as braid until someone tells me otherwise. This is when the draping began, but I still wasn't convinced. Then not too long ago, I ran across more of it in rust. I was so sure it was not the right color, but held it up anyway. It was perfect! I still wasn't sure how to arrange it so I put off dealing with it until last week when I suddenly got inspired. I realized that the red braid alone probably wouldn't be enough but what if I intertwined it with that blue? At this point I didn't care anymore, I just wanted to get it done!

I actually had quite a bit of fun working my way around the border with the two and not worrying if I was doing the right thing. I became so absorbed that I lost track of time - a very good sign. Unfortunately, it was slow going sewing it down, working around pins mostly turned the wrong way and doing it with the feeddogs down. I really needed a third hand.

I still think this piece is problematic, but better and I am through trying to fix it. As with most of the challenge pieces I do, I tried some new things and learned quite a bit. And there was at least one moment that amused me. During the piecing process, I was very careful to keep those bold squares turned properly and remember which way was up. Yes, I'd spent a bit of time turning and shuffling them until I was pleased with the way the patterns looked. I got it pin-basted (working with it in the upright orientation), untaped it from the table and spun it to fold over the excess backing. It was then that I realized it looked just as good, maybe better, horizontally. In fact, it seemed to look pretty good no matter which way I turned it. I had a good laugh over that. Here are the two orientations and I'd love to know which you think works best. Finished size, by the way, is about 23-1/2 by 29 inches.

About yesterday...

I am my own worst enemy. Not only do I see the glass as half empty, I get ahead of myself and try to pour a bit more out of it! That's the only explanation to what happened yesterday.

I'd given myself the weekend off and spent it very enjoyably baking, listening to Christmas music, watching figure skating and chatting with friends & family on the phone. No way did I want to spoil it with "work" which in this case was starting on my guild's newsletter. It usually takes the better part of three days to pull together and prepare for mailing, so I often try to do a little here and a little there instead. But I hadn't touched it at all so knew I'd have to really be focused come Monday. Already I was ruing the time it would take away from my studio, as if I'd have no time at all this week for creative endeavors. Um, aren't there 7 days in a week and after the first three, won't you be free to sew? Oh, yeah...I guess you're right. Quit whining.

Unfortunately, someone mentioned that Monday was the official federal holiday, so no mail deliveries. Mmm, I hadn't thought about Monday being a holiday. Must mean I can give myself another day off, right? I knew I couldn't, but subconsciously the seed was planted and I wasn't keen on getting to that newsletter. I fell back into bad habits and wasted (yes, really) the better part of the day. I eventually gave myself a stern talking to and made good use of the last few hours, but it was such a silly thing to do. At least if I was trying to put off something I didn't want to do, I could have used the time more productively. A lesson I haven't mastered.

Rather than stay mad at myself, I tried to think why this had happened and how I could prevent the same thing happening as the week progressed. Then it dawned on me: I hadn't taken time to write out what I needed to do each day this week or established my creative goals for the week. I was just carrying that info around in my head where it made me uneasy. Before going to bed, I took a few minutes to scope out the rest of the week on paper.

Today went much better. I worked hard all day and the newsletter is ready to take to the printer tomorrow. I'll run the rest of the week's errands while I'm out, leaving me all of Thursday and Friday and as much of the weekend as I care to my sewing.

Update on last week...

I totally sabotaged myself today, so I don't have proper time at the moment to report in on last week or tell you of goals for this week. However, I thought I'd quickly share the results of my play day on Friday. I got those paints and rubber stamps out and gave it a whirl. Had a momentary "freeze" as I was confronted with three types of paints and half a dozen colors of each to match up with a stack of fabric and those stamps. Ack! Where to begin? But I remembered sage advice from somewhere - JUST DO SOMETHING!!! - and once I'd made that first choice, the fun of experiment took over. I didn't do a lot, but what I did was instructive. For instance, I thinned Liquitex Acrylic with water - too much water. Had to thicken it back up to get it to adhere to the stamp. You can see my tests on the white paper and the real deal on the two lighter squares to the right.

Then I switched to Versatex fabric paint. I didn't thin it at all although I think I could have. It's not as thick as the Liquetex out of the jar. It is advertised as not changing the hand of the fabric and I'd vouch for that. The teal was absolutely luscious! The silver was used in the small black square - very faint. (Both brands of paint may be found at Dharma Trading Company.)

I tried several ways of applying the paint to the stamps including one of those small wedge foam applicators. The brayer worked the best. I also tried rolling the loaded brayer over the black fabric as it rested on the orange netting. I really like the texture doing that sort of thing produces. The large green piece below was done by wrapping rubber bands around the brayer before rolling it in paint. As you can see, I ended up getting paint on more than the rubber bands which transferred in big globs on the fabric. Not exactly the effect I was going for, but at least I could see the potential in the rubber bands. I realized afterward that this piece reminds me of the results of finger painting as a child. Must be that color.

The fern-like design is a commercial stamp - I just love it. But I was most excited by the design right under it and on the small green square. It is something I glued up myself from slivers trimmed off a set of Celtic stamps you assemble yourself. I originally thought I would use it to stamp repeating sections turned the same direction or alternating directions, but I really like the look of stamping over the top of each other in different directions.

Best of all, I've got an idea of how to use some of these pieces and am excited to make up a small quilt with them. Usually my experiments go in a box I might as well label, "What in the heck can I do with THIS?"

No Apologies Accepted

I was going to post this picture the other day, then had second thoughts. I realized I was feeling apologetic about starting this blog to explore a creative journey in contemporary textiles or art quilts, and then posting so many pictures of traditional work. Better not show any more pictures until I have something artsy to talk about.

Many of us coming to the art quilt from a traditional grounding (me included) spend a lot of energy downgrading the importance of that background to our arty endeavors. We've heard so often that there's nothing creative or artistic about traditional quilting that even when we are confronted with an example (maybe even a quilt of our own), we deny that it is in the same league as "true art quilts." We remember instead responses from strangers when we say that we quilt, realizing that they are remembering grandma's quilt and thinking "craft" not "art."

You know what? I'm tired of apologizing for my love of antique quilts. I'm tired of feeling obligated to describe the time I spend making traditional quilts as less important and easier than art quilts. I love them both; they each pose their own challenges. I honed my skills on traditional quilts, skills I need to make the art quilts. The art quilts push me even further, and teach me things I can apply to my traditional quilts. They need not be at odds with each other. I should not feel embarrassed about either one. I will no longer accept my apologies about my love of traditional quilts.

As for the picture, it shows the old and the new: an antique applique quilt top from the 1860's or 70's and my own rendition of a poinsettia quilt block from an antique quilt. Holiday greetings to you all!

Time Management

Continuing the theme of the last few days, let's talk a bit more about utilizing time. But first a review. Everyone has the same number of hours per day. A gifted few weren't blessed with a few hours more, nor were the rest of us denied a full allotment of time. We each decide how to fill those hours. Well, sometimes parts of it are decided for us, but basically we pick and choose how our days will play out. We can organize our days to utilize our time to its best advantage. We can even learn to become more productive by capturing bits and pieces of time in between the major events. This, of course, depends on life playing out in the best case scenario.

But even the best laid plans go awry. Illness comes to visit. The changing seasons put extra demands on us. An unexpected (but not unwanted) phone call puts us behind. Life intervenes. Do we throw up our hands in defeat or are there ways around this as well?

Years ago, my brother shared with me something he told his young son: We can have anything we want; we just can't have everything we want. In this case, he was referring to things that cost money, but I've often thought what good advice this is about things that cost time as well. The lesson and reality he wished to show his son was that you need to decide what is most important to you and then figure out what it will take to achieve it. It will undoubtedly mean sacrifice and might take time to attain, but you can make it happen. In essence, this is setting a goal and focusing all your efforts towards reaching it.

Scaling this down a bit, this attitude can be helpful in negotiating those times when there really aren't enough hours in a day. Life has intervened and we must deal with the interruption. The holidays are such a perfect example of this. All I really wanted to do was work on my sewing projects, but I also wanted to send out Christmas cards, with personal notes on most. It was those notes that was slowing me down. I couldn't seem to fit them into the normal routine of my day. Something had to give temporarily, and I begrudgingly decided to put a part of my morning ritual on hold. Now, I've already told you how I prefer to ease into the morning. That easing includes leisurely sipping coffee while reading for 30 - 45 minutes. I can't emphasize enough how tied I've become to my routines and how much I hate to have them upset. But it was obvious that if the cards were to be written, and I wanted to continue to sew, I'd have to sacrifice something. The relaxing reading would be replaced by writing on my cards.

As you can imagine, writing those notes to faraway friends and family first thing in the morning was actually a very pleasant way to start my day. The reading material would still be there when I returned to my old routine. I'd really sacrificed nothing.

It got me thinking about the bigger issue of my creative journey as well. Too often I just want it to happen without having to upset my routines or work hard or give anything up. I'm thinking now that if I seriously want my quilting to be more than a pleasant diversion, I need to face up to the reality that I can have anything I want, just not everything I want. And I might just discover that the sacrifices I choose to make towards that goal really aren't so terrible after all.

Filling in between the grains of sand

In Monday's post, I admitted to my tendency to make a major production out of most everything I do. I also realize that I am an "all or nothing" sort of person, as in if I don't have a big uninterrupted chunk of time, I don't want to start the work at all. My glass is never half full; it's half empty or worse. I don't know if the two are related, but they both have conspired in the past to make me less productive.

I once worked for a manager who was taking a Dale Carnegie course. One morning he arrived at work eager to share with us a story he'd heard at his meeting the previous night. At first, I was doing the eye-rolling bit, but as he went on, I realized he was onto something. My memory is a bit hazy, but the story went something like this:

Imagine that you have a bowl filled with pebbles. You can't cram another one in. Is the bowl full? Many would automatically respond, "yes." But aren't there spaces between the pebbles? Try pouring sand in and around the pebbles; shake the bowl so it settles into every pocket. Ok, so the bowl wasn't full after all, but surely it is full now. Not one more thing could fit in it, right? Wrong! Here's a pitcher of water. See if any of it will fit in your bowl. Ah, the water finds even more pockets of space and perhaps your bowl truly is full at last.

Now imagine that the empty bowl represents one day. It is easy to fill your day with big things like the pebbles and think you have no time for anything else. The trick to using your time well is to be aware of those little pockets of time and learn to fill them with smaller things so that every minute of your day is well used.

I'll admit, I've never been particularly good at this. Every so often, though, I remember this story, put aside my all or nothing mentality and find that I can accomplish more than I think in 5 or 10 minutes. For instance, I've accumulated quite a stack of articles and ideas pulled from magazines that need to be filed. I keep putting it off because I know it will take quite awhile to do. But I could get a lot of pages filed in 5 minutes here and there. In the ten minutes between feeding the dog and having to walk her, I was able to sew several strips of binding on my little quilt banner. I always think cleaning the bathrooms is going to take a big chunk of time, but today I did it in 20 minutes. For real efficiency, check out Lisa's comment on yesterday's post.

So I am adding this mind set to my list of things to help me be more disciplined and focused. I'm going to fight against the temptation to turn away from or leave undone the simple things or parts of things that really only take a small pocket of time to accomplish.

The Secret of Success

Last night's "Peanuts" cartoon hit a little close to home. There was Sally announcing, "They say the secret of success is to get up early in the morning." And there was I...er, I mean, Charlie Brown, in bed, saying, "So?" And Sally exuberantly replying, "I'm up!"

I've never been a morning person. In my childhood, Mom would call me time and again until I finally pried myself out of bed with barely enough time to throw on clothes and race for the bus stop. (Once, my father tried a different ploy, standing silently at the end of my bed until I opened my eyes, then quietly said, "You know, people die in bed," then turned and walked out.) In college I was careful not to schedule an 8:00 class. When I became gainfully employed, I often barely made it to work on time, and then only because my husband (who was a morning person) was up first to make the coffee and let out the dogs.

Now that I have no place to be by a certain time, I find it incredibly hard to leave the warmth and comfort and drowsy dreams of my bed. Friends know not to call before 9:00 (not necessarily because I won't be up but because I won't be functional yet). I schedule appointments for no earlier than 10:00 if I can. It gets a little embarrassing at times, and it's not that I can't rouse myself out earlier. It's just that I know my body well and it prefers reading until 1:00 a.m. and hitting the snooze alarm numerous times before slowly easing into the day. And wouldn't you know it, this morning I hit that snooze alarm more times than usual and really did sleep in.

This is part of my problem lately with discipline. I know from experience that when I force myself out of bed even an hour earlier than usual, I am amazed at how much more I can accomplish. The earlier start seems to have an exponential degree of benefit. If I want to be more successful in my creative life, I need to be less of a Charlie Brown and more of a Sally (I'm up!) Now, if I can just convince myself of that tomorrow morning when the alarm goes off...

Bottom line (and no news here), we all have the same 24 hours in a day. It's how we choose to use them that makes the difference. More on this tomorrow. In spite of my late start, I got quite a bit done today, including putting the last few stitches in that little quilt - which I realize now I should really call a banner - and getting it and the other gift wrapped and in the mail. Pictures! Pictures! I know you all love to see pictures and I think it's safe to at least show this detail of one of the blocks.

Goals for Week of Dec 19th

The temptation, of course, is to not set any goals for this week leading up to Christmas. At least, nothing beyond finishing up the little gift with the three traditional blocks started last week. However, I have no good excuse for not put in some work. See? The goal-setting habit is good for me! Still, I'm tempted to keep it light; tomorrow promises to be a day of mundane chores the likes of which normal people attend to on the weekend. Maybe I can get that stamping experiment in this week. I've got the additional supplies now. Sounds like a plan.

So here are my goals for the week:

1. Quilt and bind the little gift quilt.
2. Apply embellishment to border of "Something Bold."
3. Experiment with stamping
4. Quilt 1 corner motif and 2 hearts on Lone Star

One of the habits I'm trying to break is the tendency to make a big production out of everything I do. I can take the simplest projects and make them much more complicated than they need to be. And more time-consuming, too, of course. I headed that direction several times in the course of making this current gift. All I need to do is simply set the three blocks together in a row, a bit like a tablerunner, stitch-in-the ditch and call it good. Thank goodness I was working with a limited supply of fabric again and nothing else in the house to augment it, although don't think I didn't spend time searching just in case. And wondering if I should set them on point. And thinking about other options. Good grief! This is not a masterpiece, nor an heirloom. Neither is it going off to be judged in some competition. It's just a small token of friendship.

If only someone would create and hire me to head up their D & D department; there's nothing I excel at better than D & D - Dithering and Dawdling. It's that moment's hesitation when I know darn well what I need to do, but question if there might be a slightly better solution. Now, there's nothing wrong with questioning and considering options, but it sure slows you down and isn't always necessary. Today it was not necessary, but as I looked for batting and backing, I caught myself wasting time considering various options. Fortunately, with my goal firmly in mind, I kept mentally shaking myself back to reality and got my little quiltlet quilted and the binding sewn on. I still need to hand tack it around to the back, but will do that tonight probably. With any luck, it and the pillow top will get in the mail tomorrow. I'd say the week is off to a good start.

Progress Report - Technical Info

Considering how I felt a few days ago, I'm pretty darned pleased with myself right now. I managed to put the finishing touches on the pillow top and join the three traditional blocks today. This evening I'll spend a little time with my quilting so should meet that goal as well. I can start fresh tomorrow.

Oh, and I got notes written on all my Christmas cards but two this week. Not to mention I took time out on Saturday to meet with a friend over coffee (mmm - eggnog lattes at Borders!). So you'll excuse me if I'm dancing around a bit!

Two observations for the week: 1) Again, I felt my written lists saved me from frittering away my time or worse, giving up on my projects. 2) A part of me was hoping my friend would cancel; I felt I had so much to do and my time would be better spent at home. Well, she didn't cancel and neither did I. After chatting and sharing and sipping that latte, I realized this was just what I needed: to get out of the house and away from my work.

I am not posting a picture of the pillow at this time, but here is one done in a similar manner. I was dithering over how to do this - the more traditional way with binding around the edges and an overlap on the back, or this method which uses a large rectangle with sides folded under twice, one seam along the bottom and buttons along the sides to finish it off. I went with the latter because the center panel was not square and that would be accentuated on a square pillow, especially if edged with the same fabric as used to edge the center. Besides, I probably didn't have enough of that fabric left for binding. (I make so many design decisions based on what I have on hand.) This method also allowed me to use some buttons from my grandmother's collection to add another layer of meaning to the gift.

I used paper instead of fabric under the batting when I quilted to reduce bulk and to protect the Thermore batting from the feeddogs when they weren't down. It also gave a nice stable edge to sew the single fold binding to. The paper was removed and the binding pulled to the back, but without turning under that edge like you would if it were exposed. Pins were placed parallel to the seam and the piece centered on the pillow top (held in place with a few more pins). Using clear thread, I stitched in the ditch all around which secures the binding but leaves its outer edge free. Adds a nice dimensional touch, but you could just as easily blind stitch that edge down as well. There are no buttonholes along the sides. On one side the buttons are sewn on through all layers. On the other side, they are sewn on through the top layer only, then I used Fabri-Tac to add Velcro under them for easy opening. The original directions had you adding the pillow form and sewing the buttons through all layers, but I like to be able to remove the form without unsewing anything. If making buttonholes doesn't give you grief, that would be a great way to finish it off as well.

Safety Nets

What do you do if you set goals and discover that you really don't want to work towards them this particular day? This is kind of where I found myself today. I have these two gifts I'm working on, starting with that pillow top. I realized yesterday that the fabric I'd picked out previously didn't work with this new print - the colors were that much different. So there I was auditioning again, and based on the quantity of the various "winners" on hand, reconsidering how I would put it all together. How wide should this first border be and can I stretch this little bit of fabric that far? Yes I can. Which direction should I cut the strips to get the shading I want? Double and triple check that math to make sure I've figured the lengths correctly. Sew them on and reassess my choices. Should I add another border or just sew this much on to a larger square of fabric?

So you see there was a lot of thinking and decision making going on yesterday. It ended with the center pinned to batting and paper, several threads laid across, and my mind toying with using embroidery stitches in the quilting. I had every intention of doing that quilting today and attaching the center to the pillow cover. But when I looked at it this morning, I simply couldn't bring myself to face it and the decisions I would have to make. I simply did not want to work on it, goal or not.

If I hadn't had a second goal for this week, I probably would have forced myself to soldier on. Instead, I turned to that other project, one not requiring me to make any decisions. The requirements for this one are simple: cut and piece three blocks in a traditional pattern. Only two fabrics in this block and they had already been chosen. I used instructions from a book that I'd worked with before so no figuring or trial and error. No tricky construction, just straight seams to sew - grunt work. I've done this type of sewing so much that it is second nature, unlike the machine quilting. It's the sort of thing that I can easily gauge how long it will take and be relatively certain of success. Traditional quilting - my comfort zone, my safety net when I start doubting my abilities.

I was right about how much I thought I could do; I cut and pieced the three blocks and they came out fine. The hum of the machine while I chain stitched the units proved therapeutic. The positive outcome has made me feel more sure of myself. I think I can tackle that pillow tomorrow.

Goals for Week of Dec 12th

As I indicated in yesterday's post, I didn't get quite as far on Christmasy things over the weekend as I'd hoped . I was already wondering if I should bother with setting creative goals for this week knowing I should work on a couple of gifts and that today would be mostly shot with errands and appointments. My week seemed to be gone before it even started! Wow, what defeatist thinking, I realized. Not to mention the fact that everyone else has to deal with Christmasy things too while juggling much more responsibility than I do. I thought of Felicity's mild rant about "who isn't busy these days?" and agreed, that's no excuse for not making time for what you deem important. So stop whining and set some goals!

As it turned out, yesterday went really well and I got almost all of my Christmas preparations done. In spite of those errands and appointments today, I managed about 30 minutes in my studio. Amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it. As for goals, I decided there was nothing wrong with having them include working on those gifts.

It occurred to me, though, that I was wording this all wrong. To say my goal would be to "work" on the pillow top for my friend, for instance, was not specific enough. It implied that I did not expect to complete it. It did not indicate what part of the process I would try to complete. It didn't demand a lot and made assessing my progress difficult to meaningless. A goal needs to be more specific. So with that in mind, here are my goals for the rest of the week:

1. Pillow for gift: Choose and sew borders on photo-printed fabric. Complete minimal quilting. Bind edges with back.
2. Small quilt for gift: Cut and sew three blocks and join.
3. Hand quilting on Lone Star quilt: Complete two corner motifs and one heart.
   

One thing leads to another

This picture is one I took out my parent's living room window (with an Instamatic no less!) over 30 years ago. It was on my mind because we've gotten just enough snow on the ground for me to want to change my computer wallpaper from a fall one to a winter one. Oddly enough, I didn't have a decent digital one at hand but also didn't want to take the time right now to dig this one up and scan it in. The weekend was supposed to be devoted to Christmas preparations: composing a letter, printing off mailing labels, getting three packages gift wrapped and boxed for shipping.

It was that last one that tripped me up. I remembered I'd borrowed a family photo album to scan some pictures and intended to return it in the Christmas package. I hadn't gotten around to the scanning, so everything halted while I did that. In the process, I got out some of my old albums to make sure I wasn't scanning one I already had. Ran across several from my brother's wedding reception which resolved the argument we'd had back in September about when that was. (When you've been married three times, some of those early details blur I guess.) It was 36 years ago so we all look really young and I couldn't resist scanning a couple of them to e-mail to the brothers. And yes, I stumbled on my winter scene as well, so might as well scan it too while everything is out and fired up.

Do you think I could scan just one image? Of course not! There were, in fact, two different angles which I couldn't decide between. Then I hit the "color restoration" button and got a whole different look. Mmm, what if I played a little with the contrast, brightness, saturation on my own? And lets get some high resolution ones as well because I might want to play more with these and print them out. Well, you can see how one thing led to another and I didn't get as far on my Christmas tasks as I'd hoped. But I sure had fun! Consider this my little Christmas gift to you.

Progress Report

Before I lay out this week's goals, I wanted to recap how things went last week. I was very pleased with how making my lists kept me on track. I met my two primary goals by the end of Thursday, leaving me free to play on Friday. I always seem to have so much to do that it's hard for me to designate a weekday to play. But because I did, I'd given myself a carrot, and subconsciously I was pushing myself harder to complete those first goals.

I settled on stamping for my play day for several reasons, but mainly because it is another technique I want to try with my willow leaves. It turned out I wasn't as ready to stamp as I thought. I let myself fixate too much on doing leaves instead of practicing stamping and quickly discovered I had nothing on hand with which to make my own leaf stamps. I decided I could review some instructions I'd accumulated and get organized though, so picked out some fabric and started going through my cart where I keep paints and dyes and yes, stamps I've purchased but never used. I found ink and paint I'd forgotten I'd bought, a stamp I'd made with pieces trimmed off an assemble-yourself-stamp set, in short, plenty of stuff to play with. It's all out now and ready for some serious experimentation.

The amazing thing I discovered on Friday was the sense of freedom I felt all day. No looming guilt about what I should be doing. No disappointment in myself because I changed my plans about what constituted play for the day. No sense of obligation to work on something "important" as long as the stamping idea fell through. I'm notorious for beating myself up, and I wasn't doing it at all. It felt as much of a major breakthrough as when I tackled that free motion embroidery.

As for my hand quilting, I really had no sense of what a reasonable amount of progress might be so I ball-parked what I knew would be high, just to get me moving. As it turns out, I'm struggling a bit getting into the swing of it so the stitching is going much slower than I thought it might. The goal I set was totally unreasonable, even if I had worked on the piece every night (which I did not). Still, without writing down something, I may not have touched it at all. Here is part of what I finished this week. There is one of these motifs in each corner of this 22" square and a small interlocking heart design between them on each side. I was thinking I could get all those done, but that really was overly optimistic.

Failure humbles; Success buoys

Yesterday went so much better than Tuesday. And the lists seem to be working for both the everyday tasks and the creative ones.

Knowing I had two things I wanted to complete this week kept me from fussing with that purse. Time to start on goal two, but when I went into the studio, I could feel myself wanting to get out of working on it. Without it on my list, I probably would have chosen to put it off like I've been doing for the last couple of months.

"It" is something I'd printed onto fabric, something I'd put together from a vacation photo and some GIF's with the help of a software program. "It" looked great on the screen but didn't print vividly on the pretreated fabric sheet I was trying for the first time. My frugality kept me from experimenting more at the time to see if the problem was with my new printer or the new fabric. I'll just make do, I convinced myself, thinking it would be made into a gift for a friend. She'll never know what the original looked like. Bad reasoning there.

So here I have this 8-1/2 x 11 inch piece that just as well could have been printed on photo paper and framed. This is the on-going problem I'm having with photo printing on fabric. My brain hasn't moved beyond the photo part to figure out something unique to make it worthy of conversion to fabric. I've looked at what other artists have done and see the possibilities, but when I try, I just go back to the same old rut. But I'm tired of looking at this fabric and either need to make it into something for my friend, or turn it into a journal quilt.

The journal quilt idea was gaining favor, but after auditioning a number of batiks for a frame, I warmed to the idea of adding multiple borders and turning this into a tote bag or pillow top. One part of me said, quit dragging your feet and just put this together some way so you meet your goal. Another part of me said, since how you will finish this is partly dependent on whether or not you could get a better print on fabric, maybe you should experiment with your printer first.

It's good to have a plan and to stick with it - not let yourself be sidetracked, but then again, it's good not to be so rigid that you miss opportunities that might actually improve your work. I decided this was one of those times. I had some fabric treated with bubble jet set already, so I decided to go for it. I had to figure out the best settings to use with this new printer as well as how to stabilize the fabric to feed through it. It is very sensitive to the least bit of curling of whatever you are running through it and so far my usual method of ironing to freezer paper hadn't worked. I'd read somewhere about using spray baste to affix fabric to cardstock so I gave that a try. Success! The fabric not only fed through perfectly, the resulting print was much sharper, darker and truer in color. That freed me up to finish out the first piece as a journal quilt.

Can you believe, I was still dragging my feet about finishing this up today? Got sidetracked sorting through some beads before I realized I was in avoidance mode. Got back on track, added the bits on the sides to frame it, layered it and quilted it. Good practice for the piece for my friend. My other problem with photos on fabric is how to quilt them, especially if they are of people. I was pleased with how that part went, less pleased with my background choice. Relieved that I'd stuck to my goals and let them take me a little farther than I'd anticipated.

Tomorrow we play...

Sometimes you can save too much money...

I should have bought the pattern.

This particular exercise in frustration started with what seemed like a good idea at the time. A friend & I were perusing the vendors at a local quilt show early in November. We spied a demonstration going on and watched while a lady explained how to make this nifty three pocket purse. The pattern was a brand new one debuted at Market in Houston the previous week and this local shop hadn't even received their shipment yet. But of course, you could pay now and have the pattern sent to you once it arrived at their store. Well, the concept seemed so simple that my friend and I looked at each other and mouthed, "We don't need the pattern, do we?"

That night, I played around with folding a piece of paper to lock the basics of this idea in my brain. Basically, you just take two squares of fabric with batting in between, quilt it any way you want and bind the edges. Then by folding on the diagonal and stitching two seams, the basic bag is formed and the points become flaps and outside pockets when folded in place. I could think of so many possibilities for creative variations by changing the size of the square, using patchwork instead of wholecloth, using heavier dec fabrics and eliminating the batting all together. I could see many personalized purses hanging from my shoulder and given as gifts.

When my father would let his Depression Era make-do training kick in only to waste a lot of time and effort (and sometimes ending up having to get those things he was trying to avoid buying), he'd look at me and say, "Sometimes you can save too much money." My two days of working on this "quick & easy" project have made me realize that once again, I made things a lot harder on myself than necessary, all in the name of saving a buck.

It started with my choice of fabric. Didn't want to spend time quilting and binding a square. But I had a pair of worn flannel-lined jeans I'd cut up and saved and was about to pitch (really - I'll never make one of those rag quilts). Wouldn't take much to piece some sections together and it should be heavy enough to avoid a batting layer. Plus, I can just overlap the jean sections and run a decorative stitch along the raw edge - do the same for the outside edge and just let it ravel. What a time saver! Except that I had second thoughts about the weight of the finished project so fused suit weight interfacing to the flannel. And I still had to run some stitches to secure the flannel and denim together. Just used random straight lines of the same decorative stitching...and ran out of that color of thread. Decided that was enough for one day as I had to run off to my guild Christmas party. Rats, and I really wanted to have that purse to show off during show and tell!

I tried to start off Tuesday with more optimism, but right off the top I needed to address finishing the edge. The thread color was the biggest issue - had nothing remotely like it. Kept trying to remind myself, this is a prototype - it doesn't have to be PERFECT. But I don't listen to myself very well. I spent some time stitching on a scrap trying different threads and decorative stitches and ended up back with my original stitch and black thread. How creative. I was starting to feel like a real clutz, dropping bobbins as I changed them, wrapping the thread on the spindle instead of the bobbin when I went to refill it, making tons of stupid mistakes. But eventually I got the edges stitched and trimmed and now it was time to figure out where the velcro and side seam stitching belonged. Oh yeah, the gal mentioned you could add straps as well (although her demo bag had none) and just HOW do you do that? I cut a strip of denim, folded it over and stitched it like the edge and hid the ends under the velcro. Eventually I got all the sewing done and it was time to turn the side points and tack. I was losing my patience big time and ruing my frugality as well. I began to suspect there were additional tips and tricks included in the pattern that the demo lady failed to share. Some of my seams fell in absolutely the wrong places which made the turning hard. And just how was I to tack that point like she said? In real defiance, I grabbed a bottle of Fabri-Tac and glued that sucker in place. That's when I realized I needed to take a break.

I was definitely calmer after lunch, got the other side turned and calmly tacked with thread, glue tacked a couple other spots for security and considered what to use, if anything, as closures for the flaps. Not buttons (no way am I doing buttonholes or tabs of some kind on this), not snaps (to my surprise, I had none on hand, just hooks). Well, I guess I'm back to Velcro, but didn't want to have to sew it on. So out came the glue bottle once more and with velcro in place, I set it all aside for the night.

So yesterday ended on a very down note. I did not feel very clever. I did not feel creatively satisfied. I had lost all enthusiasm for making more of these (unless of course I get my hands on that pattern!) and I was pretty mad at myself for falling into that trap of thinking I was making things simpler only to make them just as complicated and time consuming - possibly more so. The good news is that when I looked at the purse this morning, I decided it wasn't as bad as all that, there was nothing more I needed to do to it and I could move on to something else. Yeah!

Goals for Week of Dec 5th

I have gotten into a bad habit of late. I am very driven by lists; they help me focus on what I need to do and when I need to do it. If something is just floating around in my head, it often disappears when I actually get down to work. Now what was that I thought I needed to do today? There's also I real sense of accomplishment as items get crossed off a list. I seem to need concrete evidence that I have been productive. Making and managing lists is one way I can track that.

Whenever I get the sense I've been drifting, I can often trace it back to neglecting to make a list. Lists are a way of setting goals, and without goals, we really are apt to drift in a most unproductive way. My reading of The Creative Habit has reminded me I've been lax about making my weekly "to do" lists lately, and have totally neglected setting out definite goals for my quilting. No wonder I've been floundering in the studio.

So I started yesterday off by making out my general list of things to do this week, and then took it one step further by grabbing a fresh notebook and titling it: Project Lists/Weekly Goals. It's been too long since I listed all the in-process projects and yet-to-be started ones and prioritized them. I've just been carrying them around in my head and letting them weigh me down. The notebook is a safe place to put them so my mind can deal with now.

As for the weekly goals, I've not done this much, except if I'm working to deadline and need to make a certain amount of progress each day in order to meet it. In the book, Twyla talks about managing your time and how it is trickier to do when you have all the time in the world. Limits and limitations really do make us more productive and creative, in spite of our grousing about it. I'm in one of those periods with nothing immediately pressing so setting some arbitrary weekly deadlines, or goals, is just what I need to get motivated and moving, I think.

So here are this week's goals:

1. Experiment with 3-pocket purse idea
2. Finish out reunion photo printed on fabric
3. Experiment with stamping?
4. Complete 1/2 of hand quilting on corner square of Lone Star Quilt

I was only going to put the first two on the list, but thought perhaps I should challenge myself a little more. I'm hoping that the first two will be done quickly so that Friday will feel like a free play day, and I'll tackle that stamping. As for the hand quilting, that's my time in front of the TV at night and I've been lazy about pulling over the hoop and working on it. Perhaps if I expect to get so far this week, I actually will.

Where Inspiration?

The short answer to "where do you get your inspiration/ideas?" would be, just about everywhere. If I were to generalize, I'd say most come from nature, but many come from architecture. Nature is all about fluid lines, interesting shapes and color for me. Architectural details may also be about fluid lines and interesting shapes, but also some very basic geometric shapes and motifs. I'm thinking brickwork (grids), tiles & mosaics, the angle of a building's eaves, the stringing along the front of a piece of furniture. But in truth, I can get an idea from almost anything.

I keep a fairly thick file of traditional and more contemporary quilting designs. (I'm talking about the stitching design that holds the layers together, not the patterns that make up the top.) Tossed in it are also pictures from catalogs and magazines - a trivet, ironwork, carving on a table, jewelry, things that say to me they could be adapted to quilting. I have books full of quilting designs as well. My resources overfloweth.

So where did I find my design source for the quilting in Willow Leaves? In a most unusual place, even for me. I was reading a book from the late 1980's called "How To Live With A Neurotic Dog," by Stephen Baker. The illustrations by Fred Hilliard are just line drawings, but when I looked closer, I realized he'd done all his shading with a single device: a wavy line. Short or long, sparsely or densely overlapped, it was the same figure throughout. How clever and simple! And it was just the look I was envisioning for my background but not sure how to go about it. I think it worked pretty well.

By the way, the walk was cold but lovely. Think Christmas card with glitter. The snow sparkled!

The Rule of Three

You're familiar with the Rule of Three, aren't you? The Rule of Three states that however long you think a task will take to complete, multiply that number by three for the actual time you'll spend on it. Don't laugh; it's true more often than not, at least for me. So when I said I was looking forward to spending the other day completing the quilting on my Willow Leaves, I should have known I'd be working on it for three days, not one.

(Please note, when I say "day," I do not mean 24 hours, 12 hours or even a typical work day of 8 hours. My "day" is sometimes as short as 2 hours, but usually 4 or 5.)

I wanted to better define the center vein on each leaf and thought I could accomplish that during quilting. It was the first thing I tackled, using a 35wt cotton variegated thread. The plan was to quilt down the center, then around the outside of the leaf. I did several this way and realized that I did not like the look of the stitching around the leaf. Spoiled the whole effect of the embroidery. So I took out those stitches. I was also reminded that this particular thread is heavy enough that I prefer to pull the thread to the back, knot it and bury the tails. Argh! That takes a lot of time, but I forged ahead anyway. (I'm nothing if not stubborn.) I tried stitching around several more leaves running the stitching within the embroidery which worked very well on the first one but not on the next one. More ripping. I finally gave up and just stitched the centers. A few of those came out and were redone too because I misjudged which color of the variegation would be coming through. So you see why the rest of the quilting didn't get done that day.

Yesterday I had to go out in the afternoon, so spent the morning on housework and starting to tie off and bury those tails. I finished that tedious task last night in front of the TV.

I refuse to let this project slop over into next week so I've finished the quilting today. Not without fits and starts though. My first thread choice showed up more than I anticipated and I thought it would detract too much from the leaves. Thread two - black rayon - blended better but I still didn't like the look. The effect I'm going for here is texture of a blacktop street, perhaps looking a bit wet. It dawned on me that what I really should be using then is my smoke monofilament thread. It always glints a bit, but otherwise takes on the color of the fabric. Tried that and it was perfect. However, I had about a 2" square section each of the other two colors to rip out before I could proceed.

I powered through the rest of the quilting and here is the result. I don't usually quilt this heavily, but I like it for this piece. It makes the leaves look very realistic. It has distorted the piece quite a bit though, so major blocking is in order.

It's been snowing lightly all day, by the way. Very conducive to being inside quilting. But now I have to feed the dog and walk her before it gets dark. That's ok; I'd much rather walk her in the snow than the rain and I need a break.