Monthly Archives: January 2010

Little Things

     I love little things that make my job easier. And I always learn something at a workshop that I can apply to what I am doing. This little scissors is perfect for ripping out tight seams. It’s actually a suture scissors.  I bought one from Deb Kurasik at my workshop on Wednesday. The stitch length she recommended for paper piecing was 1.5-tiny -so ripping out was not fun. They really helped .

    

     Also, I remembered some table extensions that we had used in a fabric dyeing class last spring that put the table at just the right heighth for working in a standing position. When I asked Betsy, my friend who is in charge of organizing the programs where they came from she smiled and went and got me a set of four from the closet.

 PVC tubing that had been cut! This thirty dollar table is now the perfect heighth  for cutting and standing. And I thought it was another gadget to be purchased. Why don’t I think of things like that? (yes, it’s ready for binding 🙂

     I must move with my day. I am Mr. mom this weekend-dad and mom rolled into one as Marc is skiing in VT with his friends. I am tempted to begin something with this beautiful blue linen I dyed this summer, velvet and a drawer full of silk scraps I pick up along my way. I have a show I entered and must have a piece for in three weeks. Fun-remind me I feel no pressure!

Happy Sewing ,my friends!

Something New

     I am a member of the West Michigan Guild which meets every other month and sponsors a nationally known teacher to come for workshops and a lecture. It’s a guild of several hundred so not easy to get to know others. At first. But since I always jump in to the opportunity to take a local class I have met some fun sewing friends. I really had no intention of attending  this month since it was not a technique I could see myself using. But a quick posting of an invitation of Facebook on Tues night led me to go. Paper piecing? Mmmm…I couldn’t imagine how I would do as I was driving there. Where would that fit in to what I am doing now? But I needed social contact with other humans who sew and would actually talk back to me. I hoped.

      Well, the teacher was Deb Kurasik and she would teach us paper piecing using a pattern called Look Ma No Curves. Deb was a great teacher and made everything seem easy. I brought my hand dyes and picked really bright colors to start an intricate pattern of pointy triangles.

  

It was so out of my realm-I haven’t used a pattern in three years maybe-that I was grateful for a great teacher sitting next to me as well-Betsy. I enjoyed chatting her ear off for five hours and one thing about quilters-they are always fun to get to know. And nice.  The pattern is on the back and you sew each piece on to the paper foundation.  Took me awhile to wrap my head around that concept again. With Betsy’s patience, I finally did it and enjoyed something entirely different. Great pieces to use in some project. No, I will not make that quilt. I admire those who have the patience and expertise to do this but not me….

     Five hours of work and I only made two pieces. Wow. But I did sell a piece of my hand dyed fabric to a quilter who needed just the right color. Recouped some of my spending , met a great teacher and got to know another great precision perfect quilter who is funny, too. Thanks Betsy for the invite.

    I have seriously digressed from the jeans quilt. Must focus today.

Happy sewing, my friends!

fussing isn’t usually me

   It really isn’t. I apologize for fussing about that silly quilt. I learned the hard lesson of not having a plan but having a vision. I should have had the quilt sketched out and planned out  in a SKETCHBOOK. Oh yah that’s what this month is about. It is being quilted and it’s doable to have it done this week-just big 60×90 and heavy.


I went down the basement yesterday and found two half yards of fabric in a bucket of soda ash water. I had forgotten about it from when I did snow dyeing about two weeks ago. And I found a little bit of dye left in my bottle. So I thought I would try it even though the water actually felt cold.  A surprising result. A pretty sunshine yellow that reminded me of daffodils.

That was worth trying!

So my lesson of the day for myself is after all my fussing….just do what feels right  when I want to

and not worry about what everyone else thinks about my

.

 🙂 that’s cheesy, I know. better go. Happy sewing, my friends.

Sunday Night Special

     I never blog on the weekend but wanted to come and enjoy the fire down by my family. And I knew I couldn’t sew any more tonight! I know you were wondering where I was on Friday. I was in the process of being rescued by my good friend Lynne. From what- you ask?
     I was pleasantly working on my barn quilt with my sewing machine facing my design wall. And as I was making great progress,  I had a sick feeling in my stomach. The sinking feeling when you know it’s not right, but you just don’t want to face it. Now, I could have taken the hint. No comments were left on the day when I posted it. And then, another not so subtle hint from my family-it’s ok.- glad you are almost done- was the sentiment. I had to face the truth-the jeans quilt was really bad. The color of the print I used for the feet background didn’t look right. And the feet were going nowhere. The dimensions weren’t working for me either.
     Now, I felt absolutely sick after sleeping on this decision. The feet were sewn on after I ironed them on with wonder under. I was stuck with that. After talking to Lynne, she suggested a few things and I took her up on adding a sun above the feet. Of course, that meant piecing together a whole new section for the sun to lay on. And three different trips to get the right color yellow. And then sewing the wrong color on. And then sewing the rays way too big. And needing to peel them back,

scrape the wonder under off(thank goodness that worked because I would resign as a quilter and become a knitter if I had to start this sucker over). And then holding the piece up and my family each having negative comments….They were all right. So, I modified the sun, added some more pieces and finally got it right. Not right, but just improved from the bad spot I was in. I breathed a little tonight but know I have yet to start the quilting. And I wasn’t a bit relieved when the next comment was-this is the biggest thing you have worked on in a long time.

     Clearly, I needed an intervention at some point this weekend. Or maybe my family needed an intervention from me and my auction quilt. It’s a bit like a bad dream …My goal is to have it done by next weekend. It’s taking way too long for something that is going to be,at it’s best, not so great.

     I am going to sit by the fire and work on stars in the sky. I love this little hand project. It calms me.

    And to reward you for listening to me complain , I want to share with you a link to a giveaway for a beautiful  leather bound journal. (Thank you Paula for sharing!)   Check out Teo . You need to register by Jan 27th.

Also, if you want to take a look at an artist who puts a verb to her art quilts, check out Lauren Camp.

Happy Sewing, my friends!

     

Building of a Barn:Part 2

      Yes, I am lacking on content this week. And driven by a few items that need to be wrapped up. I did see some new things that might help my design of the barn.

I see the barn -love this hand dyed-good thing I made a few yards of this color:

I see sunshine through the trees and over the barn:

And I see trees covered with snow….

Now I must make it all come together.  It’s turning out not at all like I planned but sometimes spontaneous is good. My husband says I cook the same way so why should I make a quilt any other way? A little of this and a little of that…

Happy Sewing, my friends!

The Building of the Barn

     Always wanted to do a quilt representing a barn-the architecture is so neat-I see lines in the each of the boards-the windows-the doors-the roofline. I started to work on this late morning and didn’t make it too far. But I now have a little bit more of a vision of what needs to be done. I did, as promised to myself, start with a drawing. I just ended up re-drawing the photo. That was no help. Then, I saw those things I love- the lines. And lines are strip sets to me. As much as I don’t want it to look like a barn , this first in my series might indeed look like a barn.

 I spent the morning taking pictures of all my quilts for my records and also to be able to list a few of them on Etsy. Only to find that my image size was too large. So….I took them again….I really should just stop when I can’t make something that is computer or camera related work. But I much prefer to bang my head into a wall and try it 30-40 times only to realize, it doesn’t work:).Sometimes being determined is a real detriment to one’s health.

Happy Sewing, my friends!

Progress made



      I sewed yesterday until I could sew no more. I finished stitching around all thirty feet for my little auction quilt. I am not sure when I have been so happy- I was just dreading it. Now I must go to get the backing fabric. I will use batting too-someone asked me if I would and after checking with others who have used recycled jeans they have said it does work. I am worried about the bulk…but not dreading it as much as the tedious stitching around each foot-now done!

      If you take away the feet, the background is really cool.

     I also started sewing my strip sets for my next project. A good day to be inside and sew. Although some clean snow might be nice. That or a vacation somewhere warm!

     Everyone’s foot was so different!
Happy Sewing, my friends!

Improvisational Quilting

       I began piecing improvisationally after a workshop I took about three years ago by Nancy Crow. If you ever have the opportunity, go to one of her workshops. No matter where you are in your journey, you will benefit from it. I’ll talk more about that in another post.

    I normally have an idea in my sweet little head about what I want my piece to look like. I then pick fabrics, strip piece and then begin cutting and designing-on the wall-no sketches. Then no measurements and definitely, no patterns. I re-arrange and create on the design wall. This is immensely fun but I sometimes just fall flat on my face with the design. I went back to my notes from three years ago to try to think of what I am missing. The missing piece for me seems to be my journal or sketchbook. I am not using it consistently. I need to play more on paper-what do I want it to look like? What’s the vision for the piece?

    So this week I will start there-in an entirely different place than I have been. These are my parameters for my next work:

  -I have an inspirational photo. My barn in VT. But it will be abstract and not representational.

  -sketch of what I would like it to look like. To be done today.
  -50 fabrics of my palette-I am stuck on an island and there are no other fabric stores. This is what I have chosen:

   – size of 24×36.

Four parameters and I am going to stick with that. They are broad enough that I won’t feel like I am in a box.  This will be a huge challenge for me- But I know for the next class I need a sketch to start with. Any one want to join in on setting a few parameters for themselves and seeing what happens? You won’t know if you don’t try. If you do, let me know. You have two weeks!

An inspirational link: Judy Martin  a thought provoking post on quiltmaking in today’s culture . Love the photos.

         So be inspired -you chose the parameters. Happy Sewing, my friends.

A Friday Finish

  
  A first finish for 2010. Just a simple quilt 40x 40 intended for a little one. No name yet.

 Just praying for little ones lost this week in Haiti or little ones who have lost their moms.  Doesn’t seem to be much more to say, does there?

  

My Studio

     I am having a very special guest on Saturday- an old friend of more than 25 years-and her mom. She is a faithful reader and is bugging me to death to make her a quilt. Since she is a very clean person, I felt compelled to tidy my studio. Ok that’s a bit of a lie- I will do anything to not have to work on my current project today! The whole new year thing kind of got to me. New year, clean up the junk. I also know, once I start working on my homework for a class I am taking this spring,  I know I will see nothing- I will need to be focused.

     We moved here four years ago and ended up doing a whole renovation on this house. Not really planned but done at this point. The room over the garages was drywalled and while I was gone to Vermont the first year, my husband had it carpeted for me-awfully sweet guy but I was kind of taking over the house with my art. As time went on, I have added shelving and the room is better than I ever dreamed of. I can leave many projects in process out and close the door when I am done for the day. No more clearing off the kitchen table at dinner time!

     Since this is the cleanest it has ever been and it will be this clean for about two more hours, I will show you.

     I love having windows above my desk. My sewing cabinet faces my two design walls so I can think about things while I sew and see them from a distance.

     Yup I am very spoiled- I have two design walls which are about 6×6. They are homesote(?spelling) boards covered in flannel. I can pin right into them. There are bookshelves and drawers for all my junk.

      Shelves for fabric.

     And a old antique printer’s desk to cut on that’s just high enough for me.And now that I have procrastinated… I’ll let you know if my friend likes my quilts. Happy Sewing, my friends!