Category Archives: Lisa Call. workshops

A New Show, A New Store and A Little Spring

fabric is flying…this week

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

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

Stitched Studio opening in Grand Rapids

 

I bought a few fabrics for fun summertime making.

Lotta Jansdotter love

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

Lynne’s butterflies

DSC_6900It really will come. Spring is coming soon.

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

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.

DSC_6494

Rooflines#8, In process © Colleen Kole 2014

 

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

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

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.

 

DSC_6284

 

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.

 

Class Review: Lisa Call’s "Setting Goals"

     When I looked at the title, I have to admit that I really didn’t want to take another class about “time management” and “how to” make the best of my goals with skills I had. I thought about it and really struggled with whether to take this class. I had been in a management position for many years and had taken probably three classes in the past paid for by my employers on time management and goal setting.   I am highly motivated to move forward. Why would I need this?

    But with my art,  I knew I needed to push forward soon- as in NOW.

     And I knew that Lisa Call accomplishes lots of art in one year. And in order to move ahead, I needed a little info on what I was doing wrong.  So in I jumped.

      Four weeks later in an online class with Lisa and a handful of other students, I had a 10 year plan in place. I had a new direction for focusing on what was important on a daily and weekly basis. I know how to plan for the expected and unexpected. I am accountable to myself and a friend on a weekly basis. And I have stuck with weekly goals since February. I have changed and modified these goals. I am learning to not cave in and call myself a failure when I don’t meet my goals. I re-adjust to meet the goal.  I know what I need to do today in order to meet my art goals for the year. I  am a daily studio junkie and crave more time there. If it doesn’t happen, I get right back in there.

     You devote one month of homework to dreaming big and being honest with yourself about what you want for your art career.  You are involved with the larger group for questions and the 3 times weekly emails full of info in a private blog format. The assignments are private and assignment posting is only done between you and Lisa . (Whew -yes goals are fragile and very private.) She gives lots of feedback with weekly assignments and gives you constructive criticism as to your plan. And she calls you on foolish things that you are doing. Time wasters. But all of this is done in an effective manner as Lisa is a great coach and teacher.

    If you have the opportunity, jump to work with Lisa. I didn’t say run. I said jump. Leap. It will be worth it. I couldn’t have imagined having a 10 year plan in place before this class. Now I am just smiling and doing the work because I have a plan to make it happen.

    Lisa Call is also at the Barn in the fall 2013 for two classes.