Friday, February 1, 2013

Week in Review 2013 - 2/01


A hint of what is to come.
 I zipped along this week.  It feels good to be hitting my stride with my art work. Everything seems to be pulling together with ease and joy. Although I didn't do everything I set out to do during the week, I made a conscientious decision to revamp my goals in a more logical manner. The amount of work completed was the same or more than I planned, just with a slight diversion from the plans.

Here is what I had in mind and how I differed from the plan for the week ending February 1, 2013:


1) Shore's Edge

a) Finish the beading on the beach panel. - Started.

b) Seam the beach panel to the ocean panel. - Done!

The Ocean and Beach panel are joined
using the quilt as you go method.

c) Appliqué the foam panel to the quilt. - Done!


Next comes the foam.
d) Add a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray. - Opted to save this for next week.


Let the beading resume. Note how the shell and sand
beading under an inch of ocean are paler in comparison to
the shells nestled in the sand.

Detail of the painting of the flower.
The Calla Lily is painted.
2) Pictorial Painting



a) Watch the segment on how to paint the flower. - Done!

b) Paint the flower. - Done!

Although I am blown away by what I was able to accomplish, I can't help but be aware of how much more practice would be needed to choose a subject to paint and execute it without guidance.


3) Express Your Love

The golden rays are created with McTavishing. The upper
right corner red ray is done in my version of Boomerang. The
remaining red rays were quilted using micro zippling. Note
that the same red variegated thread was used for all three rays.
a) Finish McTavishing the final six rays. - Done!

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Nearly Done.

Leah came up with two assignments this week. One was to quilt some rays using micro zippling. The other was to quilt some rays in the Boomerang stitch. Zippling is like stippling, only instead of meandering curves the quilting line is straight with angles to help with turns. I didn't do the Boomerang stitch. For some reason my hands naturally made triangles - so I stuck with that while following the flow of Boomerang. The final product is similar in thread build up do to travel stitching.

4) Not part of the original plan for the week is my Canada Geese quilt with the working title of Reflection - Pieced the background.

My plan for the weekend February 8, 2013 is to:


1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013)

a) Finish the beading on the beach panel.

b) Start adding a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Quilt the Calla Lily practice piece.

b) Bind it.

c) Make and attach the hanging sleeve and label

3) Express Your Love

a) Finish the final ray I plan to quilt using the Boomerang stitch.

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

a) Determine how to best add the geese to the quilt.

b) Start adding the geese.

Tip/Technique/Philosophy - thought for the week:

If I were to be diagnosed with OCD it would stand for Organizational Compulsive Disorder. It's true - my spices are shelved in alphabetical order with the labels facing forward. My fabric stash is folded, scraps are nestled within their matching folded fabric and the bundles are shelved by hue and then value. I bring the same OCD to my computer files. A common way for me to begin a file's name is with  the date. The system I use is the "Gregorian big-endian starting with year (Year-Month-Day). In this format the most significant data items is written before the lesser data items i.e. year before month before day." (Reference Wikipedia) Today's date would be 130201. For Leah Day's project today's picture can be found under Documents:Quilt Related Files: Leah Day 2013:Express Your Love: 130201 Express Your Love. This way all my files for a quilt project begin with the earliest work and end with the most recent.


10 comments:

  1. Hey! I fell in love with that Calla lily and went searching for the class. I am going to start it next week. It looks like a blast :)

    I f you decide to do the glass sheet for a light table, be sure to plan your storage for it. It worked like a charm though and saved some pennies :)

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    1. Love how our blogs cross pollenate teachers, techniques and more. Annette Kennedy, the instructor does a great job of demonstrating the techniques used to paint the Calla Lily, as well as her thought process for why she did what.

      I've forwarded your blog to my DH. He is in charge of all DYI building of equipment in my studio. He is also my photographer and shipping and handling department. Don't know what I would do without him. Not to mention he brings home the paycheck that covers all of my studio expenses!

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  2. You are so way beyond anything I would do for organization!!! But that's what makes the world go 'round!!! Love the Calla painting....you are so very gifted! Love to see what you have been up to and your completions are terrific! Hugs, Doreen

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    1. Well I did admit to having a bit of an OCD issue. None of my machines have matching quilted covers. Are you sure you don't have OCD, just with other projects.

      The process of getting from start to finish, especially how some steps radically change a project fascinate me. I assume that it does others as well.

      The Calla Lily painting isn't quite a paint by numbers, by Annette does provide excellence guidance and the pattern. It is hard to go too wrong.

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  3. You're very inspiring... so much progress each week. I'm also taking Annette's class, though I haven't started painting yet and am struggling to decide whether to go ahead with her patterns or make my own up.

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    1. Whether to do Annette's pattern or branch out on your own probably depends on your painting experience. I started with none. I really needed Annette's guidance to know how to build up the colors, which colors to select and blend and how to do the various brush strokes..

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  4. All those clams look awesome! The beading is also fantastic. I don't have the patience for that : )

    I always enjoy checking in on all of your projects.

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    1. I find repetitive work, like beading, very soothing. I tend to use my need to bead as an excuse to "veg" when I feel a need for a mid morning and mid afternoon break. An hour here 30 minutes there, I barely notice the time pass.

      Thanks for the checking out my work and your kind words.

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  5. I love seeing the ocean quilt in progress. Cannot get over the detail you have created with the quilting and beads. It's spectacular!

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  6. Thank you, Jenny. I'm having fun with it.

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