Monthly Archives: November 2011

Small Finishes

I have finished a few small projects that have been hanging around way too long. The first one is a Christmas present for my daughter. It is the softest alpaca and she has been impatiently waiting for it once she snuck a peek at it. She has to wait a little longer though. I just needed to rinse it out and it will be ready for the stocking.

I also finished and delivered to our guild a little doll quilt and remembered at the last minute to take a picture of it. ( not a great picture) It turned out large enough for the doll and the girl to snuggle under-about 24×36.

At lastly, I finished this small piece last night. I had wanted to practice some “extreme” stitching before I started another piece and this worked out really well for that. I also had wanted to try to mount something to a canvas and last week I found this little pre-painted canvas from Michael’s (yes, always use the coupon) which would work for it. Again, I had an awful time trying to photograph this morning as it is dark and rainy.

The Path
2011, Colleen Kole
4×4

I enjoyed how it turned out and have a few more canvases to try this again. I’d like to have four to mount together on a wall. And re-take the photos will be added to the to-do list.

Felt good to finish something as it has been awhile. I have my sister’s quilt assembled on the design wall so next up this week will be sewing the top together.

Happy sewing. It really is peaceful to sew.

Last Week: Japanese Stitching

Last week, I squeezed in a workshop from our local West Michigan Quilter’s Guild titled “Sashiko : A Good Fortune Wallhanging”. The workshop was given by Sheila De Rose who specializes in Japanese quilting and Japanese design. There were only four crazy people taking a class the week of Thanksgiving so we received lots of extra attention. Sheila has traveled to Japan and is very knowledgeable in all aspects of fabrics, patterns and needlework of Japan.

She brought in her fabric boards and I loved the shibori and the actual sashiko fabrics. I had thought sashiko was just the blue needlework stitch on white but there is actual sashiko fabric.

Sheila with one of her fabric boards

Shibori board

Sheila DeRose quilt shown during lecture

Sheila Derose Sampler

Sheila has a new book being published called “The Art of Elegance” coming out soon. She did an excellent job at the night lecture of explaining the Japanese use of color and design principles. I really enjoyed it.

The start of my wallhanging and, yes, I did measure and try to match seams! I can still do it if I need to. The piece will have sashiko stitched centers over a star pattern. Now I have two wintertime hand stitching projects to do. Why was I interested in this class? Long ago, I started a fabric collection of Japanese quilting fabrics and just never knew what to do with them but truly wanted to use them authentically. Now, I know how.

But time to get to work this morning on the Christmas presents. Anyone else making presents?

Be creative, my friends!

As Always, Grateful

I am grateful for family. Oh how quickly they have grown this year in body and soul.

My husband who supports me in all this craziness. He is a little crazy himself….

I am grateful for the change of seasons. Looking throughout the lens of the camera has made me pause and truly see the beauty of the fall season.

I am grateful for the messes I make while I create.

The colors I am able to create.

The workshops I have attended. (Looking back through my photos reminded me it truly was the year of workshops:).

Benn/Morgan Workshop in May

The lessons I have learned while making mistakes. And the friends I have made while I create!
So many things that God has blessed me with.

Have a happy Thanksgiving friends. And be thankful for your blessings.

I Really Love This

I have enjoyed watching and listening to this more than once. In truth, it brought tears to my eyes the first time I watched it and reminded me of why I create-for the sake of simple beauty.

Robin Ferrier is a very talented artist and I have enjoyed her amazing gift with color in her quilts and also her instinctive gift with photography. Way to go Robin! Her “simple” is more than pleasing to the eye.

Enjoy. I am off to a workshop tomorrow. Will share soon. I did finish my little doll quilt and hope a little girl enjoys this small gift and doll.

Ninety Percent and A Relief

Ninety Percent: As I was laying in bed last night unable to sleep ( I really hate insomnia) , I realized that I have three projects ninety percent complete. Two of those projects are small Christmas gifts and one is a small study that I need to figure out how to complete it. That is really silly and why can’t I seem to focus enough to finish them? I guess I know what will do this weekend and I have promised myself not to start my sister’s gift until these projects are done.

A Relief: For about a year now, I have felt extremely guilty about retiring from being a physical therapist. I could be making money contributing to the family and helping others. It was and is a profession I absolutely love except for the dreaded insurance paperwork. I loved working with people one on one and helping them to see what their bodies could do. I gradually weaned out of it as my family responsibilities grew but always kept my foot in the door and my license active.

But, truth was and is that I no longer could do the part of it that I loved-the manual therapy, the massage and the treating of back pain patients. After many years of using my hands, they are just tired . They aren’t as strong as they use to be and can’t do what they need to do to be an effective set of physical therapist’s hands. In feeling guilty at not working, I was forgetting one of the key reasons I am no longer a PT: my hands and back. They just can’t do it anymore.

I wanted to extend the life of them for sewing. And that felt selfish. Has felt selfish. Until this week. I have been volunteering packing shoeboxes for an organization that is also near and dear to my heart: Operation Christmas Child. I will be done today. But I have been reminded of the fact that my hands hurt when I do heavy work and lifting. If I can’t safely lift a 50 pound box with my hands and back, I have no business lifting patients. I have no idea why I keep forgetting that. I retired because I hurt too much when I work. I am strong but the joints are just worn down.

When I sew, it doesn’t involve heavy manual work. I can take breaks when I need to. I will need a joint replacement in my thumb at some point but not now. It is a huge relief to be reminded of that. I can’t tell you how much I have been beating myself up being selfish and making art. There isn’t another career to go back to. My art is it. This is my career . And I am very grateful for being reminded of that! A huge relief to let go of the guilt of not being a physical therapist anymore.

You deserve a fabric picture after listening to me ramble. I did buy fabric from Pink Chalk Fabric earlier this month( which is why on the last post why I am not buying any more…) The top bunch is a group of solids from their fabric of the month club. Great way to add stash if you need solids. Then on the bottom, two new pieces from Lotta Jansdotter and the red piece from Anthology. Pink chalk carries both of them.

Pink Chalk Fabric Purchase

Ever onward, my friends. Thanks for listening to me. I am hugely relieved and hope to have some of my enthusiasm back again. I didn’t even know it bugging me that much but it was. Now back to Christmas gifts.

Happy sewing 🙂

Beginning of Holiday Projects

I started a small doll quilt for our guild donation. They collect dolls and doll quilts for the Santa Claus Girls , an organization in Kent County which provides gifts for needy kids at Christmas. It is an organization founded in 1908 and has continued for over one hundred years. That is a long term commitment to kids.

My goal for most of these projects is to just use what I have on hand. No crazy buying or getting things I won’t use but just use my supplies on hand. I know I will run out of batting but with my Joann’s coupon, I should not spend a significant amount of money.

You know me well enough that this will look different the next time you see it. It needs to be done by next Tuesday night so I need to get going on the finishing part of it. No time to procrastinate.

Are you making things for the holidays?

Happy Sewing , my friends!

And The Winner Is

When I get to a certain point making these improvisational quilts, I ask myself the same question. Who is going to win: the quilt or I? Now, being a fairly determined person, I hate to lose.

So, the story of this little quilt began when I purchased a group of fat quarters from another hand dyer, Sue Cortese. I usually dye solids so all these luscious little pieces of multicolored fabrics were calling to me. I even dragged them with me to the last class and occasionally petted them thinking of what could be made. They just said the colors of fall to me. And I wanted to make a ribbon quilt so it seemed a perfect thing to make that would be quick.

My first mistake was making a prediction that anything involving quilting would be quick. Twenty some years later you would think I know that making a quilt is anything but quick. A month ago I started this very simple piece.

This was about the 57th revision. I have totally removed another section which had no relevance and wasn’t even the same color. (Just temporary color blindness I have reminded myself. ) A loving child asked me what kind of chaos was I trying to crate at that point so that portion was removed. She said it was only slightly better after that portion was removed… I asked for no more comments please. ( Ok, she said it was no less ugly is the real truth.)

Falling Leaves
34×36, 2011

I also ignored the fact that some long strips were looking very skewed. Now, sometimes skewed is good. But obviously some are very straight and one are skewed. So, skewed here is not ok. It should have been randomly skewed.

But after many re-sews and cuts, I have declared myself the winner and the quilt the winner as well. A tie. The quilt wants to be crooked in spot where I don’t want it to be. But I finally just let it be what it wanted to be.

And I win because I actually finished piecing this thing and enjoy some of the fabrics. The top is done where a year ago I would have given up. Crooked but done. I will eventually quilt it. I just need a teensy break from it.

So, I remind myself not to make predictions of how long it will take to complete a piece. If stuck, move on. And, sometimes, it’s ok to let the quilt win. Or tie. 🙂 I am more than ready to move on to the next thing.

Be creative, my fiends.

A Week of Yardwork

At the end of the week, I stopped to wonder where did my week go? I finished that small piece on Halloween but hadn’t sewn since then. I spent the majority of the week cutting down my perennials , shrubs and grasses and raking up leaves. I had high hopes for lots of after school assistance from my able bodied teens. However , they had winter sports practices starting already so that didn’t help me out…oh well.

I did venture to two fiber arts lectures or meetings. The first one was last Saturday and I heard a three hour lecture from Terri Watson and Beth Ann Williams on machine quilting covering both domestic and long arm quilting. It was nicely presented and they had oodles of luscious samples. I wouldn’t hesitate at all to have Terri quilt one of my pieces in the future. Very talented women and I enjoyed it.

The second event was a meeting of the Lakeshore Fiber Arts group in Holland. They were doing a mini workshop on various surface design techniques: gelatin mono-printing, crayon rubbings with various plates and a bit of Notan using black and white paper. I didn’t get to try the techniques as I needed to leave early but plan on trying them next week. Very enjoyable just to spend a few hours with friends from Holland and new to me fiber artists from the area.

So, at the end of the week as I finally ventured upstairs and opened up the blinds, I am still caught by the beauty of the sun shining in on my fabric. Such lovely sunshine and such lovely color at the end of the week and I am glad I stopped to breathe and appreciate it.