When Your Quilt Needs a Time-Out

Posted on December 26, 2014 by edges

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you know I participated in a polka dot fabric exchange last year. I received 60 – 10 x 10 in. squares of polka dot fabric from all around the world.

I resolved to include them all in a quilt somehow, and managed to cobble together a tree with the fabric as leaves.

But then I had to put the quilt in a “time-out”, as a friend of mine likes to say. Quilts need it, you know. They become unruly, arrogant, resistant. Or sometimes they just become passive or apathetic. Either way, when a quilt reaches that stage of behavior, it’s time to put it in time-out. It makes absolutely no sense to argue or to fight your way through. The quilt needs time to find its way.

So I put it in the guest bedroom where it could have some time alone to ponder its future.

I checked on it occasionally, offering ideas and solutions, a way out. But the quilt obstinately refused. “OK for you,” I would think. And walk away again, to work on another, more cooperative project.

For months it sat, sulking, pouting, depressed even.

Then one day, shortly before Christmas, when I walked in to check on it, the quilt looked eager. Just a hint of it, you understand, but there it was: a small little whisper of earnestness. It had formed an idea about its future.

So I listened.

And I let the ideas float around for awhile with no pressure or desire for any of them to be successful. Tentatively, we tried something. And then another thing, after that.

And now, the polka dot quilt and I are moving forward together, both listening, both asserting, both with renewed vigor.

I’ll let you know how it all works out.

Zen Again

Posted on October 26, 2014 by edges

Don’t even tell me you don’t know what zentangles are. By now everyone has heard of a zentangle. However, in case you’ve been living under a creative rock…here’s a link explaining them.

In playing with Bernina’s Embroidery Software, I’ve been doing a few lessons from a book written by Sue Shrader: “Creative Sewing Machine’s Workbook for Bernina Embroidery Software 7.”

This workbook covers all aspects of Software 7, and can be purchased from their website. I have found it to be a valuable investment for beginners, and even for people like me who use the software on a regular basis, but still don’t know everything it can do.

One of her lessons involves creating a zentangle piece of artwork.

I had fun with this lesson as it changes every time I do it. I settled on one version and went through the motions of stitching it out. I used a heavy-weight cutaway stabilizer in my machine’s jumbo hoop.

After 30,000 stitches, I knew I’d be leaving the stabilizer behind the design no matter what I ended up making. Besides the white stabilizer would show if I cut it out behind the design.

Here’s the finished stitch-out. I spent a lot of time debating what to make out of the design and in the end I just finished it off with binding and did some quilting.

Not sure how much of the detail you can see in the design, but the various stitches actually form unique patterns. I’m always stunned at the number of things that can be done with the assistance of software.

It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m not sure it even suits me very well. Still, I’d rather push the envelope. It’s the only way any of us improve.

Meditation Bowl

Posted on September 22, 2014 by edges

These bowls are enough to drive you sane.

With a little bit of practice, you can make these and they are useful, visually pleasing and mesmerizing to sew.

I start with 20 yards of cotton cording (generally found in the uphostery section). Traditionally, folks used cording like this as large piping or for drapery –home dec. sewing.

This particular cording, because it is all cotton is very soft, not rigid, like clothesline cord.

I used King Tut all-cotton variegated thread from Superior in both the top and bobbin.

Be sure to have more than 1 spool available. You go through quite a bit of thread. Set your machine to a nice wide zigzag…enough to cross over both sides of the cording.

Start in the center of the bowl and simply sew the cording together. Keep the cording to your right so you can feed it into the machine.

The bottom section of your bowl stays flat. As you progress, gently lift the side of the flat disk and continue sewing. This begins to form a shape.

Crazily, uncharacteristically, the sewing begins to feel like sculpture, like pottery. This is where the meditation kicks in.

You continue to sew at a relatively slow speed, always keeping your eye on the two cords. Is the zigzag always straight down the middle between the two?

You’ll be tempted to keep sewing while you glance away at the cording to see how much you have left. Don’t.

Stop sewing if you need to, but don’t take your eyes off the needle. Guarantee you will slip off track.

The beauty of the process is that if you keep going, you’ll ascend to a higher place. You”ll become a part of the hum, a part of the cording. Your hands will follow the movements automatically and you’ll feel the flow.

Your mind will calm and focus on just about 1 inch of space on the earth.

And when you are done, you will have created something very peaceful, very zen.

And it will be more than just a bowl. It will be the place where you put your effort for a while, and the time when you let your racing thoughts evaporate.

Namaste, friends.

In Over My Head…As Usual

Posted on July 20, 2014 by edges

Silly me.

I thought I would try multi-hooping in machine embroidery.

But I didn’t start with a simple design that might require 2 hoopings. No. Not me.

I didn’t even start with a design (as recommended by Amanda from Bernina) with 3 hoopings. Nope.

My design requires 14 separate hoopings. What could go wrong?

The truth is, it’s a pretty nice design. I used some of the Sepia Petals collection, resized them, wreathed, mirrored and aligned them.

The effect is lovely. But the design is upwards of 157,000 stitches and measures about 2 ft. by 2 1/2 ft.

I used the hoop canvas in Embroidery Software 7. When I went to save, it asked me this question: Would you like the export to split the files-one file for every hooping–SHOW ME first.

The SHOW ME turned out to be the most critical part of the design. It displays a map of every hooping, in relation to every other hooping.

I am only 7 hoopings into this.

Needless to say, after about 2 hoopings I was about to abandon the whole project. The registration marks were pulling out. Nothing was lining up properly. But after about the third hooping I began to get better at facing the challenge.

I relied more on the precise positioning on the machine to help me line things up.

I got good at keeping the software open and showing the view of the hooping that I was stitching (was this number 6 or number 7??) Anyway, at this point I managed to get the second half of the tree stitched…not yet shown in the pic below, and I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This pic is obviously a work in progress and I don’t have a final to show you yet. I am planning on adding some coordinating fabric and quilting before I am finished. But at least you can see where it’s headed.

Remember, its about a 2 ft. x 2 1/2 ft. design when completed. It hasn’t been pressed in about 3 hoopings. But I think I can make it work. What a learning opportunity this has been!

Stay calm and keep stitching. Amen to that.

I’ll share when it’s done.

Gesture Drawing — Learning the Art of Letting Go

Posted on July 7, 2014 by edges

I’m not sure the formal definition for gesture drawing. Leonardo DaVinci did it all the time.

Waaaay back, when I was in college, we were taught the technique in order to de-stress, to loosen up and to relate to our subjects in an entirely different way.

It is a “no judgment” form of art. All it takes is a pencil, some paper and the inclination to look around you. Focus on something and begin to draw…no erasing. Keep it loose and free. Try not to perfect it, try not to correct, simply let yourself feel the essence of the subject. This is more relational than visual. And it’s a brilliant way for everyone to begin to draw. The focus is less on creating a likeness than on creating a feeling.

At any rate, if you are like me, eventually you’ll tighten up. I can start out very loose. But then that’s never enough. One more line, just a little more shading. In my mind I must try a little harder, and before long it’s no longer gesture…it’s “I am irrelevant unless I can create something masterful.” And then of course, all the fun is gone.

A gesture drawing should never take more than about 5 minutes. When you start feeling anxious, stop. Try drawing something else. Or simply walk away.

The beauty of this technique is that it takes about 15 minutes out of your day. It doesn’t have to be lovely. It doesn’t even have to be good. It just has to be fast, before that higher part of you brain wants to take over and tell you it’s not good. Interesting exercise.

A pad of paper and a pencil. No eraser. Not because you won’t make mistakes. But because worrying about mistakes is just not the point.

Slow But Steady

Posted on May 30, 2014 by edges

I am making some progress on the Polka Dot tree. Getting the basics right is always slow going…and the truth is, I am making this up as I go along so we’ll see how it turns out.

The shape of the tree was first drawn on freezer paper.

As you can see, I had to tape several rows of freezer paper together. Freezer paper is cheap. Large format drawing paper is not. I can work with almost anything.

Next I took the garment wool, which was half-price at the local shop, and I attached Wonder Under 805 to the back. Any double sided adhesive paper would work, especially Steam-a-Seam Lite. However, my experience is that once I attach the wool and iron it into position, the Wonder Under causes fewer problems with the sewing needle getting loaded with glue gunk. Every project is slightly different so we’ll see how this goes.

Next, I laid out the wool with the fusible on the back right side up over my cutting mat, and placed the freezer paper drawing on top. Then I simply trace the drawing with a rotary cutter.

Next comes the tricky part, as the tree then is just a squiggly bunch of fabric that has to be switched over and laid out on the red twill. Once it is moved into position, then I carefully remove the backing which allows me to fuse the tree to the background.

This is where you have to get creative. I happen to own a small flat ironing pad which I literally move around under the flat tree, and iron/fuse a little at a time until the tree is attached to the twill. It doesn’t have to be perfectly fused, as I will be stitching down all the branches and the trunk. The fusing just has to be enough to hold everything in place while I am moving it around under the machine to stitch it on.

Next I spread it out over a layer of quilt batting to act as stabilizer.

This is NOT the quilt sandwich!

I will eventually trim off the edge of the quilt batting and attach more fabric to the sides of the quilt (I think…if all goes as planned). But I will be fusing polka dot leaves on top of all the branches – 60 of them, one for every fabric I received in the exchange. Then I plan to do some embellishing and then once all is finished on the top of the quilt, I will add ANOTHER layer of quilt batting and the backing and then quilt the whole project.

Whew! I’m exhausted just thinking about it. But everything follows one step at a time.

Keep putting one foot in front of the other and eventually you make progress. Just like life.

Rediscovering Our Hands

Posted on May 2, 2014 by edges

Everything old is new again. Almost. I’ll never be ready to turn in my sewing machine (like, when they pry it from my cold dead hands), but this trend toward more work being done by hand is therapeutic, charming and totally exciting.

I recently ran across Jane Austen’s book “Emma” from Penguin Publishers, and they have released it with hand stitching illustrations on the front and back covers. It’s actually a photo of the stitching, but the work is so lively and fresh, it’s alone worth the purchase. The commissioned embroidery is done by Jillian Tamaki.

Front cover.

Front cover detail

Inside back cover.

One of the big trend setters and players in the new hand embroidery movement is folk artist Sue Spargo. Her work is colorful and, well, just interesting to look at. I think we’re reaching a point where we actually want to appreciate details again.

Sue Spargo bird

I think the re-emergence of wool applique and some of the new hand-dyed colors in wool is another inspiration. Wooly Lady keeps it fresh with their designs.

Wooly Lady

Just for fun I dug out the first and last hand embroidery I ever did. I think it took me months and was from a very simple pattern. I had it stuffed in a drawer, and I think the best part is the bag. Venture stores has been out of business entirely since 1998. The one where this bag came from was one that had originally been a TurnStyle store. Oh, c’mon all you midwestern oldies but goodies, you know what I’m talking about! Retail at it’s finest…hand embroidery from Venture. I’m such a time machine.

A Sketch With Breakfast

Posted on April 23, 2014 by edges

Second Half of the Polka Dot Fabric Arrived!

Posted on April 21, 2014 by edges

Your fabric should either be her or in the precious post! All polka dot exchange fabric is shown...60 squares!

Your fabric should either be here or in the previous post! All polka dot exchange fabric has arrived…60 squares!

Well, the second half of the fabric has arrived, and I spent the morning pouring over the notes, and fabric and addresses (just to see where everything came from). This whole event has been a fabulous experience…and I haven’t even started to work with the fabric!

Vilbert, Germany. Wisconsin. California. Illinois. Derry, Ireland. Canberra, Australia.

Then, of course, was the fabric square from Edyta Sitar, from Laundry Basket Quilts, who also participated and did a lot of promoting of the exchange on her blog.

At this point, I have an idea of what I want to create with all of the polka dot fabric, but I need to work out exactly what I’m going to do…I’ll keep you posted.

Many thanks to everyone who participated and to Prairie Stitches for coordinating. This has been a terrific experience and I hope we can inspire one another to great things with all of our polka dot creations!

How Many Quilts in a Lifetime?

Posted on March 26, 2014 by edges

One of the things I hear constantly in a quilt shop is “I wish I had more time.”

Usually someone is walking around a store, inspired by the work of others, inspired by the patterns, inspired by the fabric, just plain inspired. But what is it about quilting that brings out the lament, “I wish I had more time” ?

When I worked in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented job, I never heard those words. Never.

Something about the act of creating makes us wish we had more time. Or maybe it makes us wish we didn’t have to ever make any decisions.

But the truth is, we all make decisions about how to spend our time. Walking around a quilt shop, looking at all the work and beauty that goes into each and every project, we come face to face with the hard reality that none of us will ever be able to do it all. We simply cannot make all the quilts, travel to all the places, have all the adventures, meet all the people, have it all, be it all, do it all.

None of us. No matter how productive, no matter how many sewing machines, no matter how much time we devote, no matter how skilled, no matter how trained or talented, no matter how much balance or non-balance, no matter how hard we plan, or how well we implement the plan, no matter how. hard. we. try.

We cannot do it all.

And every now and then, we look at one another and while we’re in a safe place, we say the words out loud.

I wish I had more time.

On a good day, someone smiles, gives us a hug and replies, “Me too.”

Larger than queen size. Finally assembled and ready to be hand-quilted.

Edgestitch

Sewing is life. Life is art.

Category Archives: art