Author Archives: Colleen Kole

Part One: My First Impressions of George

Snaazy packaging

Not too long ago, a new machine named George came to live with me. This was a long researched sewing machine and I really wanted this one to be “it” and have it live with me for long happy life. Now, I have been known to be a bit fickle about sewing machine but I have been loyal to my recent machines.

Why consider a long arm machine? Quite simply, I hated slugging a large quilt under the small harp of a domestic machine. And I knew that long term sewing would wreak havoc with my shoulders. They really hurt after the big quilts and , as a previous physical therapist, knew that the repetitive stress would lead to nasty shoulder syndrome. (“Arthuritis” would settle in. )

I visited my friend the lovely Terri Watson who let me try her Gamill machine one day. I loved it. The ease with which I could finish a quilt was astounding and rewarding. But I couldn’t justify the high cost of a typical long arm if I wasn’t going into business to finish others quilts. And I wasn’t. So, over the course of two years, I went to different shows and tried lots of sit down models. And slyly enough, a George was at the Barn the last two times I went to workshops and the wonderful Beth Shillig, an APQS dealer, was there to entice us to play with George.

I fell in love with him. I was smitten with him.

George set up and ready to go

The reasons why:

1. He was solid. He felt and looked like hefty machine that could handle the beasts of things to come. I like piecing large quilts. I don’t like quilting them.

2. He did not intimidate me as I could use my same skills that I had doing free motion quilting on my domestic machine.

3. And he could accommodate smaller needle.

4. He has a really decent sewing table that is included in the price.

5. He has a good reputation among other art quilters. I hadn’t heard negative things.

So, I took the plunge and made George a part of my studio not so long ago. I have been spending time with him and learning to adjust to him the past few weeks.

Changing a needle for the first time

I am in the learning curve portion of my adventure with George. More next post about the pros and cons I have found early on in this adventure.

A New Show, A New Store and A Little Spring

fabric is flying…this week

I have been working away in the midst of the never-ending winter here in Michigan. I feel the clock ticking down to spring and a garden but am really making the most of my indoor time. And I am appreciating it.

A few catch ups for you:

1. I am currently in Lisa Call‘s Master class and one of the goals I have given myself is to track my actual studio and art business time . I have logged in 58 hours this week. I felt like I was working hard and moving forward but never had any really numbers to justify those thoughts. Good news: This week Monday through Friday, I logged 58 great hours of art time: 46 actual studio time hours and 12 art business hours. Woohoo and no wonder I am tired tonight. Bad news: I am not ready to show you what I am working on yet.

2. I have work hung at the Electric Cheetah restaurant. Last Friday, I hung 5 of my pieces at the restaurant in their mini art gallery section and Saturday went for dinner there to celebrate. Go if you are in the area as they will likely be there for 2 months. It was a great learning experience in having a solo show (lots of work but rewarding ) and it was received well there. Nice to have my art be seen.

Show at the Electric Cheetah

3. I found a new store just a few miles from my home. I went today to visit and was very happy to see bright lighting, modern fabrics and a great store owner who was helpful and enthusiastic about her upcoming classes and events. She will be hosting a Modern Quilt guild meeting at her store on Tuesday April 1st at 6:30 pm if you are interested. Super excited to see her come to the area and I wish her well.

Stitched Studio opening in Grand Rapids

I bought a few fabrics for fun summertime making.

Lotta Jansdotter love

4. A wonderful friend Lynne sent me some spring last week. The multi-talented Lynne is one of the first people I made a group quilt with. She made these beautiful butterflies for me sending a little spring my way. Thanks Lynne! I love my friends I have made along the way !

Lynne’s butterflies

It really will come. Spring is coming soon.

No Hesitation Necessary

With a prompt from my daughter’s boyfriend, I answered a request for art on a Facebook page of a local restaurant, The Electric Cheetah. Without really thinking about my decision , I applied to one of my favorite restaurants here in Grand Rapids. Within 24 hours, I was accepted and got to work on getting my pieces ready to show. I was floored when they wanted me to hang the work-um- this week. But sure, what am I waiting for?

disorganization of unfinished tasks

Well, I guess finished artwork means:

1. Sleeve made and sewn on

2. Signed label made

3. Work photographed

4. Photo edited

5. Website updated with info on new work

6. And then add all this to your inventory sheet

I learned, once again, that procrastination is painful. I thought I had done this when I made the website last year but must have stopped midway through the job… I was painfully reminded you have to have ALL your systems in place in order to process this information. I thought I had it but my photos are a mess. I re-shot some of my images and got to work. The info will next get added to my website this weekend. Ugh.

I can hardly wait to see what I learn tomorrow when I hang my five pieces there. 🙂

Pressing Matters

Last spring when I was at a workshop, my iron died. It’s a frustration to me but not a surprise when an iron dies. I ask quite a bit from my irons as they are working for me for me at least a few hours each day. I am sure your regular household consumer irons only once a week. Iron replacement seems to be a yearly or six month occurrence lately and I feel as if I am always replacing an iron. So I spend time researching which iron has the most reliable reviews and I choose the best iron for the best price.

But , at a workshop, my only choice was to go to your local big box store across the street from the hotel and choose an iron as soon as possible. I chose this little guy for all practical reasons: he is cute and vintage looking. I threw all my research out the window for cute and vintage looking.

I love this little 25$ iron . It is a bit heavy but the heat is wonderful. I also love the sharp tip which makes for nice smooth ironing and pressing out those pesky stubborn seams. I never use water in the iron (only in my spray bottle) so I can’t vouch for how well it produces steam. And about 6 months later, it is still working strong for me.

Back to work for me today. I am working on designing a large piece which is always a challenge.

All Things Winter

Lake Michigan shoreline

The last few weeks have been a bit of a struggle. I am slogging through this historical winter we are having here in Michigan. I can’t quite remember shoveling this much snow before and I admit the dreariness is getting to me. So my husband and I planned an impromptu trip to Florida for four days to visit long time friends and I was super excited to exit MIchigan for a brief glimpse of warmth.

And the morning that we were going to leave my son woke up sick. My daughter’s car was very sick and ended up in the shop. And the refrigerator/freezer which was fully stocked went out. All of those things are easily fixed but not in the four hours prior to leaving so we cancelled. Yup, I missed the sunshine and warmth and decided instead to join the winter. My husband and I took a trip to Lake Michigan to see how frozen it is which is at unprecedented levels of freezing. It was beautiful and we walked out on the pier which was really a weird feeling this time of year.

Ignore the sign and walk on the pier:)

Many others walking on Lake Michigan

This past weekend we went to Vermont for our annual President”s week ski trip. I sew, snowshoe and they ski. The first day here it rained buckets and skiing was impossible. The next day I was so antsy, that the minute I saw the sun, I strapped on my snowshoes. I didn’t even think of the temps in the 40’s and all the rain we had the day before.

As I trudged across the meadow to the top of our hill, I almost gave up. My snowshoes were sinking up to about my knees so it was as if I was on an elliptical machine. I laughed as it was such a touristy thing to do and I really do know better. Snowshoes sink in soft snow. But winter had made me crazy and I was going to walk on the trails no matter what.

And after lots of sweat and effort, I made it up the hill to the cross country trails which made for a little easier walking.

Nothing better than walk in the woods in February at my Vermont home. Winter is good as long as the sky is blue every once in awhile! We don’t have that in Michigan with all the lake effect clouds from Lake Michigan.

I was very happy to take the snowshoes off and walk past my neighbors home up the hill. She is 91 and still mows her lawn and has a garden. I hope I can be like her at that age.

After my walks, I went back to work on another Rooflines piece.

Peace in the woods and peace while piecing.

Time for 2014 Planning

Paint chips for my year of color study

I spent some time over the past few weeks planning my year out. Last year in Lisa Call’s Setting Goals class, I made very specific goals which I did again this year. I am not going to bore you with all the specific details but have decided to group them together under broad categories to share with you.

My sweet Aunt gave this book to me for Christmas. She said she knows how much I love and appreciate color. Can you even imagine a life without crayons? I loved to spend time coloring with my kids when they were younger and still love the smell and freshness of a new box of crayons. Can you imagine a life without color or noticing color? My uncle is colorblind and he says his black and white world is not so noisy as he imagines a world of wild colors to be.

I am digressing. But it leads to my set of goals for 2014.

1. I want to study color. I have never taken a class studying color and my science brain wants to know and explore more. So I pulled together what I have and what I have purchased based on others recommendations. I will spend time each week reading and doing some of these experiments on paper and with small fabric sketches. It will just be a small beginning but it will be a push in the right direction as I think you can know never enough about color.

My personal color study texts

2. Along the same lines of studying color, I am taking a class with Carol Soderlund at the Barn in May. I want to understand how to dye the colors that I choose and that appeal to me. Serendipity in dyeing is so much fun and really thrills me. But about 50 percent of the time, I want specific colors and just don’t have the skill to make a particular color or set of colors.

3. My big goal : I want to make lots of art this year. My numbers goal is 15 -20 pieces finished and completed down to the hanging sleeve and label. I need to narrow it down though with sizes this week. Then, I want to realistically write them on the calendar like an assignment and complete the assignment pretending its homework. And by realistically, it needs to fit into the calendar that week meaning that I need to do a better job estimating my time on my job tasks.

4. I will keep up with studio clean up after each project and do it quickly so I can move on to the next piece. I tend to procrastinate with this and love taking time sifting through the leftovers.

No more obsessive scrap sifting

5. I will keep up adding things to my website, maintaining this journal on my blog and taking better photos.

6. But , most importantly, I really want to have confidence in my work, passion in what I am doing and always remember what a privilege it is to be an artist. If, at any time, the goals get in the way of enjoying what I am doing with my art, I am taking time to figure out why and what’s getting in the way of it being fun. Then I will be right back at those goals.

How about you? Now that it almost February, do you have your year all lined up and planned out?

Hunkered Down in The Art Making

It’s almost February and I feel as if I am finally starting the year out right! It has been bitterly cold with lots of snow so I have been enjoying working in the studio.

Some of my first goals are to finish old lingering half done pieces which are truly worthy of completing.

1. Finished up Rooflines #2 which I pieced 2 years ago in Lisa Call’s class Working in a Series. It was one of my favorite in the early series so I have no idea why I didn’t finish it earlier. But it’s done now. It was a great class and I really recommend it for pushing forward with your work.

Rooflines #2, 35x42 © Colleen Kole, 2014

Rooflines #2, 35×42 © Colleen Kole, 2014

Terrible lighting with all the dreary winter weather with this picture.

2. Then I tried to correct a big problem. I had made this piece and it was just for me as it is my barn in Vermont done in my Rooflines series. I sat down to work on the machine quilting and look what happened…grease leaked all over with my walking foot on. I must have been careless the night before when I went to oil the machine.

Rooflines# 8 in process

I tried washing it and even treating with a degreaser but it wouldn’t come out. I washed it three times and then admitted that it wasn’t going to come out. Note the big swatch of grease on the lower right blue region. UGH.

So I hand appliqued a piece over it, machine quilted over the area and washed it again to make it all crinkly like the rest of the piece. Geez what a mess. But I think that it’s ok for me and it will have a proud new place to hang at our home in Vermont. I now have it ready to bring with me and hang it up when we go there in February. And Rooflines #8 is completed which is even better!

Rooflines # 8 under repair

3. I ordered some lovely supplies from Christine Mauersberger’s online store Hank and Spool . It’s a new addiction and I am currently just petting these these little lovelies until I have some small surface design pieces ready to be stitched. That’s one of my long term goals for this year.

Linen threads, pins and Merchant and Mills’ great needles

I love these needles for sewing on a facing. They are larger than I would usually use but boy they just slip through the fabric like butter to make the job so much easier and faster. Did I tell you how much I love them? Too much.

4. And I finalized my yearly goals. I promised you a post but I was just too busy in the making. Next up, I promise.

The Empty Drawer Mirage

Not an empty drawer…

It was truly a mirage, a delusion, an outright lie I told myself. I really, truly believed that by making this piece, I would have a new, empty drawer to fill up with 2014 scraps. It took me the entire week of my design/ piecing time that I had allotted for the week. ( A new goal for 2014 -divide studio time into design and finishing time).

The quilt is pieced but I made little headway in my quest to use the scraps. The drawer remains really full but the top is pieced. And my irrational obsession of using up curvy strip sets has been temporarily taken care of.

The WIld Side, in process -Colleen Kole 2014

It turned out to be about 40 x 52 without the facings on it yet. I will baste it tomorrow and have it in line for machine quilting. I think I will back it with flannel , use on it my couch. and go back to my list of what I should be working on!

More about what I have planned for 2014 in the next post.

It Became an Obsession

I have to admit it started awhile ago. I opened one of the drawers next to my sewing machine and I found a whole boatload of curvy fabrics from a workshop. I know it was a Nancy Crow workshop but I am not sure which one. I quickly shut the drawer knowing I was deep in holiday mania making mode.

But I didn’t forget it. In fact, that drawer became this little niggling thought in my head. What could I make with those strips? It needed to be cut up. What am I waiting for?

No it doesn’t need to be cut up. It’s ugly.

Yes it does. Don’t you see how much of it there is?

Then began the era of procrastination purging. If I use it up, then I would have a whole empty drawer. Ok, Ok. Normal sane people would just dump the drawer in the trash and move on. Nope not me. It needs to be used. It can be beautiful . I know it can.

Now, I am going on day 4 of trying to make something wonderful with some not so wonderful strips. It has become more of an obsession to make something wonderful . Up and down and cut and sew some more. It was four times as large as you see in this last photo. Crazy piecing with strips in colors that I would never choose to sew together today. And finally, tonight, I have given myself a deadline.

If it isn’t sewn together by tomorrow night, it will not be done. Ever . The obsession has become very irrational which is why they call it an obsession.

And there is good reason why I do much better with a set of goals at the beginning of the week and stick to it. Otherwise I waste time with ill thought out projects. Ugh.

(PS- I keep trying to fix my blogroll on the right but can’t get it to work properly. I will call in the experts and see how to get this done or removed. )

Return to the Land of Art Making

Vermont Sunset tonight

Well, it went from manic holiday making which I found more fun than I ever imagined to manic holiday fun cooking, shopping , wrapping and family celebrating. My husband and son left the day after Christmas for a soccer tournament at Disney so I hung out with my girls and purged my house and studio. This was an epic manic event which involved several trips to the recycling center and Goodwill but all the mania was wearing me out so I needed a sense of control again. 🙂 I am sure if you are , in any way, a manic maker, you understand exactly where I am coming from. (Otherwise this is a ludicrous post and you can enjoy my pictures. ) The house and studio were more than out of control and I wanted to start the year out – in control.

Another one for you visual peeps

Once my son and husband arrived home, we loaded up the car and drove 14 hours in bitter cold to our house in Vermont on New Year’s Day. I arrived here realizing I had a horrible sinus infection so laid here in front of the fire for the last three days. My neighbor brought me this concoction and I tried it. But also with an antibiotic.

My neighbor’s cold remedy

I was not at all listening to my body which was getting really tired after all the manic making and holiday stuff. Lesson learned once again: If you want to make holiday gifts, start early in the year and have fun making gifts year round rather than during December which is one of the busiest month’s of the year.

I returned to the land of art making today. I was kinder to myself. I played as I felt rusty. I took out a set of fat eighth’s I had dyed during a class last winter.