Being an Artist

I am an artist.

I’ve said that many times over the years.  Sometimes people look at quilting as a cheesy, old-fashioned hobby.  I’ve defended as well as being indignant when people use the terms “crafty” versus “art”, and/or “home made” versus “hand made” (there is a difference).

Despite the fact that people I regard as “true” artists have confirmed that I too am an artist, I’ve not really felt like I deserved the title.

Why not?

Why – because I can’t draw or paint.  Because I can’t produce a portrait or a still life work that actually looks like it’s intended to.  Because I don’t always come up with unique subject matter off the top of my head.  Because I’m geometrical.

I don’t feel that way anymore.

In the last year, I’ve branched out with my art work and have started working with more mediums than simply fabric (note:  I’m going to start including other things in this blog; I’ve mentioned glass work before – which will be included – but I’m also going to start mentioning other things).  Some of those mediums are more recognized as true art; however, practitioners of those arts are looking at my quilts and giving me feedback about the artistic components of them.  Those people that I recognize as truly artists, see the colors, see the shapes, and complete my assessment of myself as an artist.

Additionally, I’m seeing the skills that I learned in quilting - as well as inner qualities such as a natural feel for color – translating into skills that I need in other mediums.  I couldn’t do the pieces that I do in glass without already having the ability to create art. 

Color is a huge piece of it.  If one does not have a natural artistic feel for color, they cannot create art.  People can follow a pattern, and use rules to pick what goes where, but without that ability to feel the color, art does not occur.

Quilters are artists.  I’ve always felt that, and now that I’m branching out into other mainstream art fields, I truly see it – both in myself and in others.

Art Medium Legend

So, to get my readers caught up, here’s a quick primer of the current state of my art/hobbies:

Fabric / Quilting

This will always be my first love, and my true calling.  I have sewn since I was quite small.  It started as garments, but always included decorative such as embroidery, etc.  My first “quilting” sewing was a square dancing jacket when I was 16 – I added strips of fabric that I cut to exact pieces by pulling threads.  Small quilts (mostly from cheater prints) started at age 19.

I sewed clothing for my children, which morphed into American Girl Doll clothes as they aged, an embroidery machine was included at one point, and then it all became quilting (including embroidery in quilts).

Embroidery

Hand embroidery predates most of my sewing and will always be a strong passion of mine.  I have a commercial embroidery machine.  I do pure embellishment on clothing, and embroidery products that don’t include fabric, but much of my embroidering is for inclusion in quilting.

Paper Arts

This line of work is a little hard to explain.  In addition to art hobbies, I’ve always been widely attracted to anything with paper.  I read – tons – and have a library / book collection at home.  I’ve written poetry and short stories.  I have a huge collection of papers, pens, colored pencils, etc., and a specialty color printer.  I started doing geometric line doodles in grade school, in college; those became geometric designs done on graph paper.  I now mostly use Visio (a computer program that functions as my graph paper), and have translated many of those designs into both embroidery and/or quilt patterns.

Stamping / Scrapbooking

Never a large passion, but with such an attraction to paper and an inability to draw my own designs – something that I have a large amount of supplies for.  Also, my love of embellishments (i.e. embroidery) also translate to glitter, stickers, etc. on cards and picture books.  I have many stamps, ink pads, papers, etc.  When the children were younger, we’d make a look of cheesy, homemade cards, but I’ve never concentrated heavily on making quality cards.

That’s changing a little.  A friend brought me to a scrapbooking event.  We made a couple cards according to patterns and a scrap book page.  At the end of the evening, I won the grand prize – a die cutting/embossing machine!  As a result, my daughter and I have planned a scrapbooking day with friends.

Beading

This is another first tier hobby.  In the period of time that my children were quite little, I did more bead stringing and bead weaving (Native American style) than sewing.  This was also the period of time that I sewed garments for the children – pre doll clothes and pre serious quilting).  It was a hobby with smaller pieces and smaller cost.  I sold many pieces of jewelry during this time as well.

I currently still have a large bead collection, but only make pieces for myself.  I actively buy beads, but mostly just specialty and gemstones.  I have bought several nice gems over the last couple years and am trying to teach myself wire wrapping in order to “set” them without paying hundreds for custom settings (large stones, but “cheap” gems such as Amethyst)

Glass work - Fusing

This will probably be my second great love.  I started fusing with a Groupon for a pendant making class and fell in love.  There are a lot of similar concepts to quilting – geometric patterns, precision cutting, color theory, etc.  I’ll be showcasing pieces here as my blogging continues.

Currently I don’t have my own kiln (necessary) and I’ve been both taking classes and using “studio time” at several glass studios around town.  My plan is to buy a kiln and some other equipment in the first quarter of 2013.

Glass work – Torch work (aka lampwork)

Since I like glass and beads, I took a class in torchwork – creating beads by melting glass rods over a HOT torch.  I’ve done it twice.  I’ve invested a couple hundred dollars into supplies for it and will continue to do it, but this won’t be a serious sideline.  The skill set for bead creation and decoration is far more “true” artist that my type of art (geometric, measured, etc.).  I will never be great at it, and, face it, I can buy quality torchwork beads from Italy on eBay for 5/$1.00 that are MUCH better than I will ever achieve.  A glass rod costs $0.70 - $3.50 and it takes about 1/3 of a rod for a decent sized bead.  You do the math – this is about me playing with glass, not economy or producing a saleable product.

Polymer Clay Cane Work

Yea, this surprised me.  I’ve never been truly interested in ceramics beyond painting a couple of pieces with friends as an event.  Creating beads out of clay…?  Naw, not interested…. Sculpting…?  Yeah, right… not something I have an ounce of skill for….

However, I saw a class at my favorite art studio for “polymer clay canes”.  I watched a couple of videos on YouTube, and lo and behold…. It’s precision and geometric! 

Really…!

Polymer clay canes are all about rolling up EVEN pieces of clay – which you’ve either folded, cut, rolled in a cylinder, etc – and cutting, re-rolling, etc, according to a pattern.  Yes, there’s some that venture into the “true” art side, but there’s a lot I can do!

I now own about 10 pounds of Sculpty clay, a “pasta” machine, an extruder and a bottle of furniture polish (for shining them up!). 

Pictures and projects in clay canes will be included here.

Glass Work - Mosaic

Another thing that’s not going to be big.  However, J-Ring Glass Store has a lot of scrap glass (non-fusing) glasses in pretty colors; I have no intention of ever doing Stained Glass work, and mosaic is like coloring.  I’ve done a couple of pieces – it’s a fun “girl time” activity to do – and will probably do more.

Projects Completed:

Disclaimer:  completed means top, not necessarily all the quilting and binding.

MN Quilters’ Challenge

This is the one that I made too big…. I finally decided on another pattern (versus resizing the one I had and doing it a third time (test, then the too big one).  It was turned in today and is on its way to the quilt show next week in Rochester.  I’m taking Friday off to go visit it.  This is a non-judged event.

I did a simpler pattern, but still spirals based on Renae Merril’s spiral books.  I had enough of the fabrics in the packets left but I did have to go out and get some more green to match the marker.  I did triangle spirals with each of the focus fabrics from the packet in centers of different ones.  One of the fabrics – the solid black background with little white triangles – showed up very nicely.  However, I was disappointed in how the busier black and white fabric did not stand out well enough where it was the center.  My remedy to that was to take some scraps of it (I did have enough left from the original amount, but by that time was scraping the bottom of the barrel!), and put them into the very corners of the quilt.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it finished, I’ll do so at the show!  Meanwhile, here’s a picture taken when I was trying to decide how to include more of focus fabric #2.  The empty spots in the corners got filled with black squares with one corner – outside corner – of that fabric.  (note:  the strip off the right side is what I had left of the focus fabric as I was trying to figure out how to showcase it.)

I also agonized over how to embellish it with the marker.  The first pattern was a natural – there were white scoops and I intended to draw in trellis type designs along the scoops (geometric… use a stencil… !).  This piece didn’t have anything like that; when I designed it, I was going for simpler and quicker since I was so tired of this!

I also didn’t use a solid white… oops…

*light bulb*

The lightest fabric is a white with basically line drawings…. Of women…. With open eyes and jewelry!

I colored in all the eyes and jewelry with the marker!

I can stay inside lines….. (smirking emoticon here if I had one….)

I actually think it’s quite genius.  I won’t tell any of the quilt show people that the fabric was accidental (albeit perfect – WOMEN… ) and that coloring inside the lines was an afterthought…. No, I PLANNED this… make a statement for feminists with the woman fabric, and embellish by highlighting that….!!

Jo’s Little Women Club

Technically, this is still “In Flight”, as it’s a monthly program, but I thought I’d show some pictures. 

Just a couple things to note.  The Jo Morton line of fabrics (basis for this club) are Civil War reproductions.  They are not all that colorful.  I tend to add some of my own color schemes to supplement….  Also, the quilts are all miniatures.

Month 1 - Eggs and Bacon:  I used a couple Civil War prints from this, but also spiced it up with some orange. 

Month 1 - Leftovers:  I had some extra blocks and made a few more.  This simple piece is a nice doll sized and will go to a co-worker’s daughter.

Month 2:  The flying geese in this quilt are TINY.  The gradation (versus scrappy as the pattern was) as my idea, but Ana came up with the arrangement.

Month 2 – Leftovers

Torchwork Beads

Just a couple pictures….. Only time two trying, I’m improving though!

Mosaic

An 8 x 10 mosaic piece done at a class.  I just finished grouting it at home.

Projects In flight:

v  Glacier Star (Glacier Canyon) – a six month, meet once a month for a work session, project at Glad Creations.

v  Ranae Merrill Dream Catcher Spiral – an online block of the month program

v  Jo’s Little Women club – a monthly program at Glad Creations.  The projects are small quilts and the program is named Jo’s, for Jo Morton, a designer of civil war replica fabrics.

v  Twin City BOM – Year 2 of the monthly program at the shop.  Year 1 project was completed

v  Storm at Sea – a project from a class taken

v  Lemoyne Star  - a project from a class taken

Writer's Block

I don’t know where or how to start.  I’m having a bit of writer’s block, but I promised a friend so I have to….

Maybe if I just type as if I were talking to someone, eventually something will come out that is interesting!

Part of my problem is that I keep trying to photograph (more accurately trying to REMEMBER to photograph) some recent projects.  I don’t get the picture because I got home to late (dark), or it was raining, and then say to myself that I’ll take the pictures the next day and write then, and the same thing happens.

I am still plugging away at my project box.  I’ve actually been very good!  I haven’t started anything completely new; I’ve only been working on projects from the box and planned/ongoing Block of the Month types of programs.  Two of those have recently begun, but I have given myself a permanent pass on starting as many as I want.  Block of the month programs are a huge part of my social life and completely necessary for my sanity.  They fill a huge gap – I get out, I meet with people, there’s a common subject, etc., etc.  I would actually really love to organize and lead a monthly program myself.  Maybe someday…..

Projects Completed:

Disclaimer:  completed means top, not necessarily all the quilting and binding.

Note:  Pictures WILL be taken in the next day or three and added to a new post.

Quilting Queens Challenge

This is the yearly project / challenge for my quilt group.  To be honest, I’m very disappointed in this program’s state.  When it started in 2008, the group was slightly larger and more people participated.  Besides actual participation, the projects themselves were more.  I can’t think of a better word than more actually.  More of them, more detail, more complicated, more variety, more fabrics, more interesting, more more…. 

This year, there were about a dozen projects and the vast majority were simple.  I’ll say no more than that, least I insult my readers – some of whom are in this group.  There were NO full sized quilts; the two largest pieces were my table topper and a doll quilt.  I’ll admit that I didn’t put myself whole heartedly into it either; a past disappointed has affected me.   I didn’t find the events and projects to be anything noteworthy in any way.

A couple years back, I told my husband that I would continue to do the challenge as long as it was fun for me.  And, I will state – honestly – that this year’s project was fun for me.

I have an additional hobby.  I discovered glass fusing a couple of months back.  This is my QUILTING blog, so I’m not going to talk about it much (I derail easily…. J ).  I’ll simply state that I find a lot of artistic similarities between glass work and quilting.  Since the challenge is about just that – challenge – I set a three way challenge to myself:

v  Stay true to the colors (ok, didn’t have a choice there, that was decided for me with the rules of the challenge.  Note, the challenge was using two colors randomly assigned (mine were a blue and an orange) and a set third color(yellow))

v  Use several techniques

v  Make a fabric piece and a glass piece that went together.

The end result was that I made a table topper and a six inch plate to be displayed on the topper.  For my quilt pattern, I chose a 30 inch Mariner’s compass pattern as the basis.  I set the completed compass circle into the same fabric as the background of the compass.  Then, for additional techniques, as well as challenge across the complementary hobbies, I appliquéd random small circles onto the background.

This is a diagram of the compass patterned used.  Imaging the points in blue and orange, and the background is basically the same yellow. 

Imagine it set into something like this….

Last, I did a couple of fun things with the quilting.  I ONLY quilted in the very center, and on background pieces of the compass; I didn’t quilt on any of the points.  I put a very small meandering stipple in the yellow – all of the yellow and only the yellow.   I did do a little stitch in the ditch down the center line of the large points to avoid gaps and shifting of batting.  This method really made the points pop out.  I then did some even lines from the corners and center sides to the edges of the compass setting.  This juxtaposition of styles of top stitching draws the eye in to the design even more.

My complementary glass piece is simpler, and basically looks like this:

Scrap Tamers Mystery

Remember my stories about accidentally cutting the fabrics for the mystery twice?  I followed BOTH the stash cutting and the planned cutting directions, not realizing that they were alternate methods and yielded the same pieces.  I did NOT cut the background twice; there was only one set of directions for those pieces!  When I realized what I’d done, and not wanting to waste a bunch of specialty cut pieces, I picked out a vastly different background and proceeded to make a second quilt.

Both quilts utilize red and black plucked from the “smaller pieces” section of my stash and both quilts have the SAME blacks and reds. 

Quilt #1 – the planned mystery (for lack of a better term), has a background that is a grayish white fabric with some black ornamentation on it.  It’s a dull fabric, meant only to be a vehicle for the blacks and reds.

Quilt #2 – the accidentally mystery, has  background that is a bright, garish lime greenish/yellowish fabric.

Both tops are completed.  However, they aren’t full bed sized and I’m currently deciding if I’m going to add a border and what to add if I do.

The most interesting point to me about my study in color is the opinions.  The white background seems to make the blocks pop a little more.  Those people in my group that I feel are more traditional quilters, and some of the more experienced memember of the group, like that version best.  However, the artists that I know (including myself), like the bright green/yellow fabric better.  The difference in backgrounds is sublte; there isn’t much background and the pieces of it are small, yet that simple color change makes a difference!

Small quilts from box

I’ve completed several pieces from scraps and bits that made it into my project box. 

Projects In flight:

v  MN Quilters’ Challenge – the one that I made too big.  I’m still trying to decide what to do there….

v  Glacier Star (Glacier Canyon) – a six month, meet once a month for a work session, project at Glad Creations.

v  Ranae Merrill Dream Catcher Spiral – an online block of the month program

v  Jo’s Little Women club – a monthly program at Glad Creations.  The projects are small quilts and the program is named Jo’s, for Jo Morton, a designer of civil war replica fabrics.

v  Twin City BOM – Year 2 of the monthly program at the shop.  Year 1 project was compelted

v  Storm at Sea – a project from a class taken

v  Lemoyne Star  - a project from a class taken

Naughty Me

I’ve been very, very naughty….

A lot of fabric has been purchased lately….

I swore that I was going to go on a “fabric diet”…. But… well…..

First, I got a small bonus – cash – from my contract firm and I’ve also been feeling a little down about a lot of things and retail therapy helps. 

Earlier this month, a friend and I hiked out west to couple good, but not often visited due to drive fabric stores as well as hitting standbys that are close by.  The end result:  Blue Bamboo for metallics and some batiks that I cannot find elsewhere, SR Harris for 108 wide batiks, an embroidered piece and many, many, cottons, three large chunks of 108 backing fabric at Joann’s and on TWO days – fabrics from Twin City Quilting.  There was also a trip in there to Glad Creations for the fabrics I needed for the “Jo’s Little Women” club (ANOTHER block of the month)

And, honestly, none of them are really for any current projects.

I also went a little crazy online.  I bought three patterns from Keepsake quilting AND signed up for their bits and pieces club.  I pay monthly (credit card) and get a pack of mystery fabrics each month.  I like the idea and hoping that it will stimulate some creativity.  The first month arrived with the patterns a couple days ago.  It is a layer cake of some very feminine small florals.  Anyone have an idea what I should do with them?

Connecting Threads also got a chunk of money from me.  I have a very fussy Juki.  I’ve written about it before.  It’s one factor in my decision to only buy good quality cotton thread from now on.  I first decided to go with Gutterman because I can get deals at Joann, and Aurfil for a smaller thickness (quilting mostly).  Gutterman is a great thread, but I don’t like the spools.  They are what most people know as the standard spool of thread with “discs” on either end and the thread on the narrower part in the center.  While this is fine for standard sewing – especially when the spool gets spun around to use – it doesn’t work for quilting.  The spool is usually stood up, and the thread needs to wind off quickly.  With the standard spool, thread can often get caught on the ends and break.  I really needed to find another thread type with a different spool configuration.

I love thethreadexchange.com for my embroidery thread, but I haven’t been 100% satisfied with cottons from there.  I bought several large cones – 40 and 60 wt – that are just beautiful and sew very well.  They are high quality, strong, etc., but one cone just will NOT work on the Juki.  It’s the same brand as the others, but it breaks non-stop.  I tried it on several quilts.  I can piece with it, but it won’t work for the quilt sandwich.  A big shame, because it’s a variegated green/purple that I haven’t found elsewhere.

I buy quite a bit of fabric from Connecting Threads.  I really like the charm packs and other collections she puts together (her own selections and collections; not things that everyone carries) and her prices are the best.  I decided to try a small color collection of her threads – brights – just to see.  They are the same weight as Gutterman – 40 – but come wound on straight spools (cardboard cylinders).  The thread is also even cheaper than Gutterman at 50% off. 

Well, suffice to say, the thread is fantastic!  The Juki likes it!  I am also very pleased with her colors.  She doesn’t have as many shades as Gutterman displays in Joann’s, but a large color range is covered and her brights are simply vibrant.  I’ve even quilted a piece with Minkee for the back and it turned out very well.  So, along with my quilt shop shopping, and online fabric purchases, I also got a big box of thread…. And a couple more pieces of fabric….

The Project Box Status

While I’m still putting the “must get dones” on the project list, I’m not listing all the smaller things that I pull out of it and get done.  I’ve actually been really good on that front.  I am ONLY pulling things out of that box to do, and I’m using scraps as much as I can in conjunction with those projects. 

For the last two weeks, most of what I’ve been doing from there is small projects:  (note:  “decorative piece” means a smaller than baby quilt size that can be a wall hanging, table topper, etc.)

Item	Status
Baby quilt using a small jelly roll	Completely done and actually given to Ana to claim she made and give as a baby shower gift (it was planned unexpectedly)
Decorative piece using two charm packs	Completely done
Decorative pieces using leftover 4 ½ inch blocks from the circle dance quilt AND scraps from the scrap bin AND using one of the Scrap Tamer’s monthly patterns (Picture shown last posting)	Completely done
Decorative pieces using left over 7 inch  from the circle dance quilt	Completely done
Decorative piece using six embroidered blocks (originally done to use up ends of spools of embroidery thread) AND  many small bits from the scrap bin	Top pieced, needs to be quilted and bound
Decorative piece using two (slightly different) embroidered blocks AND the leftover QSTs made for the line above ( J )	Top pieced, needs to be quilted and bound
Mariner’s compass quilt (picture to be in a post soon, I promise).  This is a LARGE piece that I’ve been working on since later October (not solidly).  Yay!  One of the major things knocked off!	Top pieced, needs to be quilted and bound.
Decorative piece using the three extra Mariner’s Compass blocks.  How I made three extra when I so carefully cut and labeled, I do not know….	Top pieced and quilted, needs to be bound
Decorative piece using the single block that I made from the Fat Quarter Quilt Shop’s paper piecing block of the month.  This was the shop that I had such bad experiences with and decided not to continue with the program	Top pieced and quilted, needs to be bound

Block of the Month projects

·         Scrap Tamer’s Mystery (x2, remember?) – Not overdue, will be working on at Sewing day tomorrow.

·         Twin City Quilting – Not overdue, will be working on at Sewing day tomorrow.

·         Ranae Merrill – Behind….almost…  I did block one, block two came out 3/1, and block three will come out 4/1.  If I do block two in Sewing day tomorrow, I’ll be golden!

·         Jo’s Little Women: club project – just started this group three days ago and got the first project.  I have all the fabrics for it.

·         Jo’s Little Women:  extra project – again, the group just started.  I’m going to use a charm pack from the project box for this.

I really enjoy block of the month projects.  However, a lot of it is the solidarity with other quilters in the monthly meeting.  I like the presentation of new products, and seeing what other people are doing.  The online BOM with Ranae Merrill’s Spiral designs doesn’t have any of that, but I am really interested in the project as a whole. 

Contest Entry

*sigh*

I have to get going on this. 

Since I discovered that my project was too large, I finished the top, but have neither quilted that piece nor determined what to do instead.  I’m pretty sure that I’m going to do a spiral design, but I’m not yet inspired.  I have to submit the entry form by April 30, so I still have time.

Calendars, Photo Books and Blank Books

I’ve mentioned “The Picture Project”…. I bought a ton of groupons for Mixbook.com, PrinterPix.com, Vistaprint.com and MyPublisher.com with the intention of making calendars for my family, photo books of the children AND annotated books of my quilts.  I’ve also sent all the snapshots I could find to ScanMyPhotos.com and spent several hours hanging quilts on my front fence and taking pictures of them.  I’m at a stage where I’ve got a lot to work with, and a couple of the coupons are expiring early in April. 

Instead of doing a lot of writing here, I’ve been spending a lot of my computer time putting together quilt books in the online editors for the various programs.  I’ve developed some favorites and will gladly share!

·         VistaPrint.com – this site offers far more photo products than the other sites.  Most of the sites have books and calendars and maybe one or two other things.  VistaPrint has EVERYTHING.  You can make post it note pads, t-shirts, mugs, etc.  I use them mostly for 4 x 6 soft cover spiral bound books.  I have found that size at other sites, but not spiral bound.  These “flip” books make great little brag books that fit nicely in my purse.

·         PrinterPix.com – I got a good deal with this site on paper.  It was $9, plus shipping, for a hard cover book.  I haven’t gotten the first book yet and I will post when I do.  Since buying the coupons (2), I’ve read not so great reviews about them and the editor SUCKS.  It’s awful.

·         Mixbook.com – so far, this is the BEST for editors for full books.  I am really having a lot of fun putting the books together.

·         MyPublisher – I haven’t tried this one out yet

In addition to the books that I’m creating to showcase my quilts (and books of my children), I’ve also created a couple books that lead up to the ability to create more art – blank books.  I’ve created two of them – one with lined pages and one with unlined pages – that are my “working books”.  Each features a picture of one of my quilts on the front.  Granted, at $10 approximately apiece (and adjusted downwards as the groupon used was basically 70% off), they are expensive.  However, it’s really cool to carry a half sized lined notebook to quilt class that has your quilt on the front!  I frequent cut pictures out of quilt magazines and catalogues for inspiration.  They sit in piles on my end tables and I lose track of what I thought of when I cut it out.  I tried once to put them onto index cards and write on them.  That resulted in piles of unorganized index cards.  Now, I’m pasting them all into the blank book and writing in there!

Just a short post today.

I’ve written many times about using up scraps.  I don’t like to waste.

One of the quilts that I’ve made recently used quarter circle blocks – like drunkard’s path blocks – in two sizes.  When I was done, I had eight of the smaller size and six of the larger size left over.   Adding to that, one of my monthly patterns from Scrap Tamers group used drunkard’s path blocks – four per block.

Ok, since I already had eight – there’s the right number for a two block table runner.

Here it is:

·         Scrap Tamer’s monthly project knocked off Project List – Check

·         Used up scraps and left over blocks from other projects – Check

Overall – WIN/WIN

Accomplishments, Color Theory and Glass Fusion

Accomplishment of the week!!!

I have sorted my scrap bin – the one I spoke about last week – and cut all the scraps into 1½, 2, 2½ and 3 strips and a variety of squares.  One of the Scrap Tamers projects on my project list requires a lot of pink and brown squares.  I pulled out a bunch of pieces from my “fat quarters and other small yardage” section of my stash and started cutting.  At one point, I thought to myself that I knew there were some pieces I could use in the scrap bin – the bin that I’ve been tossing pieces into for weeks (months?) now and haven’t sorted….

All of the cut pieces are currently sorted into piles of size; tomorrow I’m going to further sort them by color and roll them onto the existing rolls.  I will also sort out the squares I cut and file them into the “squares” box.

Here is a picture of what my living room currently looks like. 

Clockwise starting at “noon”: 

·         Pile of squares I started cutting for the project

·         pile of fat quarters and other small yardage

·         (on the coffee table) pile of small scraps for the “Terry” bin (the person who does paper piecing testing)

·         (3 o’clock) Leg of the ironing board – have to press things before you can cut well!

·         The scrap bin – now emptied of the pieces piled on top and what remains is the rolls to which I will be adding scraps

·         The bin is resting on a newly finished baby quilt – something made off the project list!!

·         A few strips and squares that I have to put into the right pile

·         A stack of squares

·         The pattern from Scrap Tamers (white booklet with quilt pictures laying open)

·         Four piles of strips (they are separated)

·         Cutting board and tools

I was sitting on the floor watching Netflix with hubby for several hours whilst cutting… probably not the best for me, but I needed something to relieve the tedium!

Don’t judge me by the messiness of the room – it will all come together!

Here’s a close-up of the crate.  I “sub bin” the space with smaller storage bins so I can lift them out.  The crate itself stacks nicely with others that I use for other scraps.

Three Blocks

Accomplishment number two – Apparently I write good patterns off the top of my head!

We will be following Michelle’s latest quilt here too… (yes, we WILL, Michelle!)

Last week, I wrote up a pattern (see this post) for blocks that look like these:

I wrote up the pattern for my friend Michelle.  Little did I know that she would jump right in and create some beautiful blocks within the week!  She has texted me the pictures of them but I’m not sure how to get the pictures from texts on my phone to my computer.  I can probably figure it out, but tonight is not when I want to start playing with the phone – it’s late and I’d rather write!  Perhaps she’ll email me the pictures and I can post them yet this weekend.

It really gives me a sense of accomplishment on the highest level to teach hobby related classes and to see people create things based on MY directions!  I can’t begin to explain the sense of pride and satisfaction.  I wish I had time to teach full classes at quilt shops and to do more pattern writing. 

Color Theory

I’ve stated many times that the one of the reasons I quilt is that I love color and love putting together fabrics to create new designs.  That love of color is the basic core of my being and extends into my daily life.  Just today, one of my co-workers commented on how I can pull off just about any color scheme. 

Bear with me through a too in-depth description of my clothing/jewelry/makeup.  There is a point…..

I don’t just wear a particular color/colors – I weave that color into me for that day.  Example – today I wore a light purple top – that was the piece of clothing that I wanted to wrap the rest of my outfit around.  I added a different color purple sweater, and jeans with embroidery (it’s Friday, jeans day even in corporate America!) that had two other shades of purple.  The top had a little bit of a clear/white sparkle on it.  That meant silver jewelry.  I added a silver necklace with clear rhinestones and earrings with both clear and purple rhinestones.  The earrings are little grape clusters.  I topped it with purple eye shadow, liner and even purple mascara. 

At that point – it was not an outfit, but a collection of colors and textures.  It’s important to me to “feel” the colors and experience the whole effect.

My hobbies and interests are the same way.  I like to immerse in color and texture.  I like to experiment and see how things go together.

Last Saturday, Brandie (didn’t give birth to her, but she really is my third daughter in many, many ways) and I took a glass pendant class.  The technique used is called “fusing”.  There are many different types of glass; the glass used for fusing has a different co-efficient than glass for stained glass projects. 

Side note:  I am a more technical quilter/embroiderer than many – being able to use the word “co-efficient” when talking about an art hobby is just cool.

Anyway, the theory behind fusing is that you layer bits and pieces of glass:  clear and colored, opaque and translucent, flat, square, round, and then the piece is melted together in a kiln.  The starting layout and the end result are similar, but different.  Different sizes, thicknesses, etc, of glass will melt differently and create a unique look.  I suppose that with time, one can learn what to expect and take it into account.

For example, here are some pieces as we laid them out prior to fusing:

See if you can match them to the finished pictures a bit later in this post.....

Not what I expected in all the cases!

The other unexpected result was where both Brandie and I went with our pieces.  Brandie is a free hand artist in many ways that I can never be.  She can take a photograph and create a painted picture from it, she can draw faces and shade, and all sorts of things like that.  I am organized, methodical, and base everything on straight lines. 

Over the years, Brandie and I have had many discussions on color.  We both eschew the “color wheel” that is used to teach color theory and are quite snobbish about knowledge of color.  Either you have color theory instinctively inside you or you don’t.  I made Brandie a quilt with all oranges, and a turquoise blue border.  She was the person who supported my decision when I put orange down the center of my beige/pink/brown color progression French Braid quilt.  Everyone else just sort of  hemmed and hawed when I showed them the BRIGHT orange fabric.  For the record – the quilt is stunning and the orange totally worked.

Color is the center of an Artist’s world.  It is the uniting factor.

When Brandie and I were both done with our pieces, and laid them out on the tray for the kiln – this all became obvious.  Despite our vastly different approaches and mediums in the art world – we made VERY similar pieces!  In fact, when I showed Ana them tonight, she had a little trouble picking out which were mine and which were Brandie’s. 

Here is a picture of all the pieces we made.  (the tape on some of them is holding the bail onto the back until the glue completely dries).  The top row of three is Brandie’s and the bottom row of four is mine.

And all the individual pieces:

Ana’s Quilt – Chocolate Covered Cherries

I spoke about Ana’s quilt in this post.  Well, I got off my tush and quilted it for her.  The back of the quilt is a solid fabric in a color best described as “hot pink”.  The main impetus for that particular back was that Joann’s had a pink in 108 wide fabric – otherwise the back was going to be beige/light brown.  I do NOT like to piece backs.  Hate, hate, hate it….

My machine is fussy about thread.  Often times, what is good, cotton thread for pieceing just doesn’t work on the machine.  It only likes Guterman, Aurifil and the cotton thread from Connecting Threads. All others – even good brands – break way too often when used as a top thread.  I have a great collection of variegates that I have gotten from odd sources over the years – thrift stores, estate sales, etc. – which I can tell by feel are good, and hold up well for piecing, but just aren’t usable on the Juki.  I’ve talked about the machine before (this post) and often refer to it as haunted.  I put up with it because I can do beautiful quilting on it with nice, even stitches.

That was the case here – I found a nice variegate that was more pink/red/white, but in the right tones.  I just couldn’t pass up using it, so I used it on the back.  It shows up very nicely on the pink.  I then found a Guterman variegate that was red and a deep plum/almost back color.  Not quite the brown I was looking for, but it went nicely.  You can often get away with colors on a busy front of the quilt that won’t work as well on the back.  Most of the front has a lot going on – blocks with smaller pieces, patterned fabrics, etc, but there is a wide border of white, so I did have to make sure it fit in.  I used a simple meandering pattern in what I refer to as a “medium/large” size. 

Here are some pictures:  Didn’t she do a wonderful job?  Yay Ana!!!!

My Picture Project and Taking Good Pictures

Speaking of pictures, I am learning a lot about my camera and lighting as I go through my “Picture Project”.  None of the concepts are new to me; for example, I’ve known for a while that my house interior is dark (woodwork) and most pictures – even with flash – have a yellow base when I take them at night.  However, I’m learning more tricks with getting things lit better and have pretty much decided that ALL quilt pictures from now on will be taken with natural light only.   I’ve also learned that using one of my smaller OTT lights when taking quick pictures of things to post here.  For example – the picture on the left was taken without additional lighting.  I then grabbed a small OTT light and took the picture on the right mere minutes later.  Neither have been adjusted in software – notice a difference?  Just one small natural light light bulb…

This, of course, puts a lot of cramp into my photo taking project.  It’s Winter in Minnesota.  I have to wait for two things before I can take pictures – sunlight and decent enough of a temperature that I can be outside for a couple of hours.  I can’t bundle up too much when taking pictures; a heavy coat will restrict my movement and anything but light gloves will impact my dexterity with the binder clips that I use to hold the quilts to the fence.

Perhaps this weekend will be decent enough t allow me to finish the last couple hours of picture taking I need to do……

Trials and Tribulations of Making a Picture Book

And still on the subject of pictures…..

So, I mentioned last week about the various groupons that I have bought for various online sites for creating books.  I have already created calendars and some small “flip books” at Vistaprint.com.  For the books – 4 x 6 inches approximately with a spiral bind – I simply threw in a bunch of quilt pictures and called it a day.  I really like the little book and it’s a good “brag book” to keep in my purse.

Mixbook.com is another site and I have several coupons for there.  They are each $15 for $50 worth of product.  Their offerings are different that Vistaprint.  Rather than having the boatload of photo products that Vistaprint has, Mixbook is really only about basic photo books and special occasion stationery (wedding invites, birth announcements, etc.).

So, my plan is to create several volumes of my quilts.  I initially figured that I would throw the pictures of my better pieces onto the site, randomly throw them into a book, and that would be that.

Nope….

I’ve got several hours into editing the first book and many more to go.

Instead of just a picture per page, fill up the page, etc., I’ve been playing around with layouts, adding embellishments, writing text – generally creating a “history” of my quilts.  I’ve found myself rearranging pages to “group” the quilts according to some similarity and adding pictures of basic, simple and sometimes poorly done pieces to illustrate the story and create a pathway of how something developed.  I’ve also decided that ONLY pictures of completely finished quilts go into the books.  The flip books that I did had pictures of unfinished quilt tops (I basically am using those as an inventory versus the complete history/story).

It’s really a lot of fun, VERY time consuming and has become a journey.

I have three $50 coupons to Mixbook.  Two expire in mid April and one is good until September.  My plan is to use the two current coupons for Volume One of the Mary Quilt world, a small picture book for my purse (kid/family pictures) and next year’s calendars for the family.  The third coupon will be the Volume Two of the Mary Quilt world as it will probably take me well into the summer to finish taking photos and to compile the picture layouts and annotations for the rest of the quilts!