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I am totally enthralled with this old piece I found in my work basket. Scraps of Japanese fabric which are perfect for hand stitching.
And thank you to the wonderful Lynne who gave me simple direct instructions for changing the size on this image. Hopefully my blog will load faster for you.
One more day of studio cleaning and re-organizing for me. I can’t wait to settle back in again.
I am dreaming of the fairy that is going to get me off my duff , wave her magic wand and sprinkle lots of magic dust and then I will finish something wonderful. And then I will write this amazing blog post and have a million followers. Hah..my dream continues and ….I am amazingly productive, daringly creative and thin.
But in my real life, I have just been trying to catch up. And keep up. And no matter how hard I was trying to dig out, I couldn’t make any headway. I have big gardens and they just needed to be thinned out and replanted. Nothing got done last fall because of my silly foot. And kids just needed to be kids and have a million kids over hanging a million wet towels all over the place. But the garden is ok for now. The kids have settled down a bit into summer and need less to just be and relax into summer laziness.
So the finish fairy and I had a date this morning and at 7:56 am a finish was born.
Lisa’s Quilt: 42×52
I used hand dyed cottons, commercial batiks, hand dyed silk ribbon, embroidery and machine quilting in this quilt. It is a commission that has been around for way too long. I really had trouble with this one. And it came down to the fact I just don’t like browns -it was hard for me. (and me procrastinating) A lot of stalls along the way waiting for our schedules to coincide for approval. (and me procrastinating) But once I got past that and did exactly what my friend wanted, it came together. She is happy with it and will be excited to have it. Actually-when she saw it last week she said it rocks. And her being happy with it is the only thing that mattered. Because it’s hers.
I learned quite a bit from this process. 1. I was able to work with a color that was not my favorite. 2. I always underestimate how long it actually takes to complete a quilt from start to finish. 3. As long as they stay true to what I like design wise, I can do a commission and be satisfied with my results. And get paid for it.
My yardwork is done too and now I am just going to enjoy a cup of coffee in my rocking chair on the porch. I can’t tell you how good I feel that this is DONE.
Happy Sewing, my friends!
We went to the beach yesterday for a party. Water is so relaxing and the breeze was just so soft. It reminded me of the colors in one of my little woven pieces from the cloth to cloth workshop from Jude Hill. (I am sad I didn’t join in to play on the class blog!) So I added a little bit of sun.
And there was more sun to save for later.
On a cloudy lazy day like today, sewing seems like a good thing to do. I am adding some handwork to my friend’s quilt. Then on to the binding and sleeve on a pretty big piece. I have promised it to her this weekend.
Happy sewing, my friends!
I will show you some more pictures of my Nancy Crow workshop piece but not until it is done. I am working on two things this week. One is my commission piece and I am still machine quilting. My goal was to have it done by the 15th. We’ll see….I told her the 24th bit it would be nice to have it done sooner.
I am also taking an online class called cloth to cloth workshop with Jude Hill. It was a five week class on developing this cloth weaving with raw edge pieces and this is the last week. Tearing, weaving, layering and hand stitching the piece before the piece is embellished. I haven’t been much of a completer but did little samples so I could have the techniques down. She has prepared great little videos for us and a blog to post your work. All the videos files have been put into PDF files so we can download it and keep it in notebook for reference.
So why not just buy a book and save some money? (Or better yet take a book out of the library and not spend any money). 60$ versus a 25$ book? Well, I am a visual learner. I need to see someone do the technique and then I can do it. But the format that she has set up of a blog to post your work and ask questions is really worthwhile. She has spent a massive amount of time answering questions and responding to people’s work. Each person has interpeted the work differently so it inspires you.
It was well worth it and she is a great teacher as well as talented person. I can’t wait to spend time with these techniques. A nice small project size and something to use up all the scraps I seem to be accumulating. Recycling-I love this. And the process of hand stitching is really relaxing for me.
Only crazy people take blog pictures with the birds chirping before 7:15 am! And I will need to be a little crazier than usual in order to keep working this summer.
Happy Sewing, my friends!