November Musing

 

Wow, November is here already.  I'm starting to reflect back on this year and am a little disappointed in myself.  I didn't finish as much as I wanted to, still having an overflowing basket of UFO's.  But, I also realize that a lot was accomplished this year.  I joined a postcard exchange group, joined in Round 4 of the Facebook group National Quilt Museum Block of the Month, took a zoom class with Cindy Grisdella and finished the Improv piece she taught, and I finished various small projects including a cheater panel that I thread painted.  Photos below.

 This is the Improv curves zoom class project.  

I also collaged "Oliver" a free pattern offered by Emily Taylor and finished it into a wall quilt. Photo below.

Besides quilts, I've been making ornaments too.  I belong to the Ornament Girls and am always amazed by the creative monthly ornament patterns.

But, there's still time left in the year to finish a UFO or two, I'll just have to make some time.  One more mention...I rearranged my sewing room which gave me more room and better organization.   Happy sewing/crafting.

Orphan blocks and Fall musings

 In recent years it seems I have been amassing a large quantity of orphan blocks.  I feel compelled to save these for some great project for the future.  But, in reality, they are just taking up valuable real estate in my already crowded space.  Time to bust that stash of unwanted blocks.  There is such a variety in style, size and colors that they wouldn't go together in one grand piece anyway.  It's a ridiculous notion.  For this year's "Flood the Streets with Art" project, I will be making pieces from all my orphan blocks to be re-homed to those they speak to on the street.  

So far, I've made some mug rugs and book marks.  I will also be making cup cozy's and pot holders with those orphan blocks and scraps from my huge scrap bag.  

Along with these blocks cluttering my space, I find my mind cluttered as well.  This is definitely a blocker of creativity.   In a world of noise, confusion, and deadlines this is what I need... Peace, solace, quiet, deep breathing, and less.  Less of everything.  Less clutter, less "to do's", less mundane everyday chores, less visual and audio noise.  The saying "less is more" applies here.   Once the ideas come to mind and implemented, less may not be more.  More may be just what the piece needs, but for the time being...less is certainly more.  Not necessarily a minimalist by nature, but sometimes it's what's required.  Moving onward...

The Corn Relish was canned in May when corn was coming in, at least in the south, and I opened one the other day.  Deliciousness.  First time I've made it, so was very pleased with the outcome.  By the way, my jars here are a green glass, so that's why the relish looks weird.

It's September already and the fall season is upon us.  My favorite time of year.  Mother nature makes significant changes in our environment with color displays, weather changes (mostly for more favorable temperatures) and the autumn harvest.  Last chance to pick up fresh goodness from the farm stands or go to the U-pick farms.  Should I can other veggies?  Probably, but will do some planning on this for next year.  I've always been curious about Piccalilly  and will research some recipes.  I used to purchase it for myself while in the UK, but being the only one in the family that likes pickle, it's hard to finish an entire jar of it.  

Apples are on my radar at the moment.  A good fresh homemade apple pie is what I'm craving.  It just screams fall flavors to me.  Pumpkin wasn't really a thing while I was young.  Only for carving at Halloween, and we saved the seeds for roasting, but all that yummy pumpkin was thrown out or cooked down for pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving.  These days, I do love a good pumpkin spice latte with real pumpkin, sorry Starbucks it's not you...sorry DD it's certainly NOT you either.  Nope.  Go to a really good café that brews and roasts their own beans, such a difference.  If you're willing to spend that much moolah on a cup of brew, it should be fresh, delicious and favorably memorable.    

Time to sew something wonderful.  Have a beautifully colorful fall season.  :o)

Beach Glass

 We love to beach comb whenever we are visiting the beach.  I've picked up shells, rocks and beach glass.   Sand Dollars were easy to find along the Corpus Christi  beach we used to visit.  Petoskey stones were abundant along the shores of Lake Michigan years ago.  But, I favor finding beach glass.   The glass is beautiful reflecting in the sun.  Its edges smooth from tumbling in the ocean for who knows how long.  Mostly being worn and frosted, no longer clear glass, it can be hard to assume what the glass was originally.  Perhaps soda or beer bottles, or glass balls from fishing nets.  The hardest color to find is red, being there aren't many glass items made using red colored glass.  I've seen jewelry made with beach glass as well as artworks, cards, mosaics and all sorts of craft items.   I've always wanted to find enough beach glass to incorporate into an art quilt.   There are many examples of sea glass, beach glass, pebble, stones in quilting using bits of fabric scrap.   But, I want to find a way to embellish an art piece with beach glass.  To do this, my thoughts of encasing the glass in a cage made of wire and attaching it to the art with heavy upholstery thread or fishing line could work.   Years ago, I made a craft heart attaching shisha mirrors to the surface with embroidery work. There will be a trial and error period.  

These are post card size art pieces I made recently.  They were made to be mailed, so adding a lot of embellishment is not ideal.   A few beads were added on the card above and when I mail it, I will put it in a small padded envelope.  

This one is my favorite using Kaffe Fassett fabrics by Free Spirit.  I added a sequin and bead for his eye.  It will also be mailed off.  

The components used in creating post cards is minimal and can be very inexpensive.  Use what you have on hand.  You could back it with card instead of using a stiff product as I did.  Pellon makes a fusible heavy weight called 72F Peltex II and is fusible on both sides.  You can go here to find out more.  HERE  They also make a variety of other products that are equally suitable.  I like the two sided fusible and stitching through the layer is easily done without sticky gummy needles.  

After the card is completed, I write on the back using a Micron Pigma permanent pens which come in an array of color choices.   Place the card in a clear sleeve.  Add US first class postage + extra postage for non-machinable handling and Mail it.   It's a surprise and utter joy when the recipient receives the art card in their mail box.  

Pack Rat

I realized one of my sewing room drawers holds countless needles.  Hand sewing needles.  I do some hand sewing, but this is ridiculous. There's another drawer with a big stash of sewing machine needles.  I found cross stitch needles...and I hate cross stitch.  It's time.  It's definitely time to do a clean out.  Every drawer I opened seemed to be brimming with "stuff".  Am I a pack rat?  That "one day, I'll need this" has never come.  It's not just needles, I've saved empty foil and plastic wrap rolls to wind bindings on and one drawer is full of paper I've made along with some I've painted and marbled.  So, it's time. 

I just finished this postcard and will mail it off soon.  I love it.  I hope the recipient will enjoy it.  Years ago I was doing a postcard series called "postcards from the edge".  They were meant to contain content of the places I've been and lived.  But also incorporating some techniques I wanted to try out on a small scale.  In the back of my mind, I want to return to this and pull out my journals to refer to.  Finding time is of course, one of the aspects.   Ideas still abound.  

 

Applique a Bee

 The warmer spring weather brings out the blooms along with the bugs and especially the bees.   To me they're fun to watch as the hover around me when I'm on the patio.  We have a yellow jasmine on our fence that's full of buds and I think the bees are patiently waiting for their blooms.  

The Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg Virginia has put out their 2022 mini challenge schedule where you can submit 15" quilts to be displayed and sold - or not, they will mail it back to you when the exhibit ends.   Go HERE to learn more.  

For the summer exhibit, I wanted to make a mini with large blooms and a bee in flight. Even though the flora and fauna category was for the spring exhibit, I enjoy summertime blooms.  Click here to see the schedule for the mini challenges for 2022.  

I drew a rough sketch of some Asters.  

And I had some reference photos to get some ideas.   

Originally, I thought green was going to be the background.  Once the flowers went on, I didn't like the green and the flowers looked like they were just floating.  I took my scissors and started cutting away the green saving some of it around each flower for leaves.  

The brown grid batik was an experiment with bleach and I didn't end up using it, so I kept it for a future use...now... as the background for these flowers.  

I chose the arrangement and sewed a straight stitch around each flower and leaf combination using polyester monopoly thread.  

I drew out a bee onto paper and then copied it using a lightbox onto fusible.  I thought about embroidering the entire bee, but ultimately choosing applique.  So, each component of the bee was traced onto fusible and I chose a black cotton for his body.  The yellow/gold is lame.  The wings are a blue hue of organza.  I used silk thread to attach the wings and add the lines.  

I thread painted the flowers with variegated threads and metallic thread.  My bee needed more so I added his antennae, eyes and a center square of lame. 

I think I'm happy with it and now it's on to finishing with binding, sleeve and label.  

NQM round 4 March and April

 The National Quilt Museum's Block of the Month Facebook group put out the March block on the first of  the month.  I took my time deciding what to do with it to fit into my theme this year.  In the end, I chose to do Jacobs ladder with 2 Angel silhouettes on the rungs leading to heaven and the dark Angel descending into hell. My ice-dyed fabrics worked very well for this block.   The technique used was an improv style cutting and assembling, but I had some control with my cuts to show more perspective on the ladder.  The appliques were easy simple shapes hand sewn and afterward I added some thread painting to the wings (not shown in the picture). 

The April block has been released and I'm trying to come up with the next "element" for this month and what the design and color combo will be.  The sample given is the furthest it could possibly be from my theme....a folk art design with applique's and a checkerboard border.  I like the idea of a pieced background/border, but NOT in contrasting colors and possibly on one side of the block not all 4 sides.  Subtle changes in one color would be interesting instead of a solid piece of fabric.  I can manage that.  But, the applique may take some thinking and sketching.  

As I'm writing this, I hear the rain pouring down outside with intermittent bouts of thunder and lightening, actually it's lightening and then the thunder.  Loud cracks of thunder.  So, I've unplugged my machines and turned everything off sitting in my walk-in closet waiting for the all clear to come.  We're in for some tornado weather today.  

I'll grab one of my journals and do some sketching, perfect time.   

 I've been working hard at spending at least an hour in my sewing room everyday working on the UFO's I've accumulated.  Finishing 4 of them at retreat and mostly thread painting and FMQ this panel wall hanging.  I found this one a good practice piece for thread painting and will give this away.  

These little projects were done at the retreat.  The midi bag was a kit I bought way back in 2013, so I'm very happy to get that out of the UFO basket and done.  

The last thing I want is to squash or diminish my own artist journey.  I look back on the last 5 and even 8 years and I see a change in my work and my goals.  Looking back in my journals and I see a lot of ideas, sketches, even doodles that would be great places to start elaborating on a new venture in an artistic piece I would be proud of.   Being bombarded by pattern made, designer created/recreated, BOM's, kits, step-by-steps, etc... all the time is becoming frustrating for me.   This is just reproducing a pattern for the masses.  I am more interested in creating something original without the ability to re-create it over and over again. Unpopular thinking....I know!  But, this is me, this is the way I feel.   I've known that I have to do what makes me happy, not crazy.  Whether it's popular or not, who cares?  

In the photo above, the postcard is made from silk and foil with thread painted areas, applique on top of some hand dyed fabric I made in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.   The subject being a Finnish glass artist who produced numerous birds in his lifetime.  

This year, the National Quilt Museum's BOM on Facebook is in round 4 and it seems they have chosen an artistic edge to the samples the designer's have made so far.  I am using all the ice dyed and hand dyed fabrics I've made over the last 2 years.  It will be interesting to see how it comes together.  I've chosen the natural elements as my theme for this quilt.  January's block turned out to be artic glaciers under the aurora borealis...

February's block showed the discharge dyeing technique, so I chose sound waves and used paint on the fabric after discharging an outline of the waves...But, I may choose a sample I did of a leaf design, haven't decided quite yet.  

For March, I want to do a block that connects heaven and earth like Jacobs ladder.  I haven't started on it yet, but the ideas are fading in and out of my mind.   It's time to start on one of these ideas and run with it before this month is over.  With the block of the month, it can be exciting to see one at a time and work on just one at a time.    

New Year

 Happy New Year (a few days late)!  I can't believe it can be 2022 already.  Like a lot of other quilters, I've made my UFO list with good intentions of working or completing one or more every month for the year.  I can gleefully say that I have finished one item from the list this early in the year.   It started out as a fused stained glass block.  I added machine applique, sandwiched and quilted the square and made it into a pillow.

I finished the stained glass block into a 22" square pillow.  The ice dyed fabrics used are my own. 

I love the back of this pillow.  My medallion ice dye looks like an Indian headdress to me.   

I hesitate to join in the National Quilt Museum's Block of the Month program on Facebook for 2022.  This is round 4 and I've participated in every one of them since the very first one, even the Sew Along.  I love the learning ability and process, but tired of samplers which are made into wall hangings.  I simply have enough of those.   But, having finished the pillow and seeing my ice dyes in blocks, I may have to go ahead and do one more year in these fabrics.  I have so many now.  

Another UFO on my list is an orange and teal improv piece.  My improvs are sourced from my scrap bag so they start out pretty small.  I'm trying to be better about using larger pieces and shapes.    

The black pieces are added to break it all up.   Some of these are sewn into larger sections, but now I may add a lot more black and introduce a new color or two.    There is no set direction for this, I just want to keep working at it and see how far it goes.  Maybe it will be a huge quilt, or maybe I'll keep it small and make it into a usable piece of art like a tote bag?  No.  Huge.  For once, I want to go HUGE and see if I really like it.  Most of the time I put the skids on size because it's a LOT of work, sometimes boring and exhausting work.  This is why I absolutely hate pattern making.  Some designer creates a pattern and sells it for anywhere from $15 upwards to $$$ and to me it's just duplicating over and over the same thing.  I get bored with repetitive patterns.  What's the point?   With Improv, there's no pattern, few rules and all the freedom I want.   But, having said that, yes, I have made quilts and things from a pattern.  It's just not something I would do all the time.  Actually, it's hard for me to be proud of doing one of these repetitive patterns.  Originality, artistic, freedom, play, intuitive piecing...this is what excites me.   

FMQ (Free Motion Quilting) is also my "thing".    I love sitting down with a blank quilt and just starting somewhere around the middle working my way outward.  Usually thinking about what I want to fill the space with and go from there.  

This was a BOM last year.  I call it "Butterflies in Flight".  It's hard to see the FMQ, but the entire quilt was not marked beforehand.  It's a lap size just for me, I wont be giving it away.   

It's January, lots of projects left over from last year and a few from past years, so my focus remains on finishing UFO's.  If I decide to do the NQM-BOM, I'll use fabrics I have on hand and/or the iced dyed fabrics I made last year.  The improv orange and teal UFO will be my focus this year and I hope to add on to it, but we'll see.