Week in Review 2013 - 08/30

Adoration

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Remember the baby in Adoration? That's Andrew, my first grandchild. He started first grade this week. Many people's lives revolve around the school year be they students, teachers, school administrators, school bus drivers, maintenance staff or parents. This has me thinking about the importance of learning and how to continue to learn even when we no longer attend a brick and mortar school. An on-line place that provides excellent quilting classes is Craftsy.com  . 

What I have done the past several years is a more self directed education versus signing up for particular classes. This has been thanks to the Visioning Project on SAQA.com (Studio Art Quilt Associates). You do have to be a member of SAQA to participate in the Visioning Project, but the project itself is free. The Visioning Project has you set a goal/project that you would like to achieve between October 1 and September 30. The first year I did a weekly lesson from Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artists by Carla Sonheim. It was a great way to gain confidence with my drawing, especially developing a more whimsical versus representational style. This past year I committed to working in my studio for 120 full days. Now I am deliberating about where to apply my focus for next year. 

If you were to sign up for the Visioning Project what would you take on?

Enough blathering. Time to check in and see how the week went.

Companion Oysters is nearly done.

1) Companion Oysters 

a) Finish quilting Companion Oysters. - Done!

b) Square up the quilt in preparation of facing it. - Started.

I did soak Companion Oysters to remove the basting glue, marker and water soluble basting thread. Surprise, surprise when I drained the water from the tub there were a few cat hairs that hadn't been in there when I filled it with water. The quilt is now blocked and dry. It could be my imagination, but it looks a tad brighter, too.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments


Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Mostly done.

The assignment from last Thursday was to create a section of the goddess's hair in Express Your Love from log cabin blocks created directly on a foundation. This proved to be a most frustrating experience for me. Leah's method of filling in the gaps between blocks just wasn't registering. It was far more complex for me than create a fabric from log cabin blocks and then cutting out the portion I wanted to use, much the way Michael James used to work. I didn't bother taking a picture of the debacle in progress. I am hoping that when it is finally finished it will make more sense.

Bellybuttons

Tuesday's assignment was another free motion quilting motif. Leah named this one, Bellybuttons. 

Another practice piece is full. Note how Bellybuttons
is basically the same pattern as Missing Pieces
(lower left squares) only the shape is different. Can you find where
I tested some ideas for Companion Oysters?

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon." - This will be an assignment for some distant future date. I keep listing it because I don't want to forget it.

I am taking a week break to celebrate my 120 studio day goal being met. When I return I plan to spend the week attacking the following:

1) Companion Oysters 

a) Square up the quilt in preparation of facing it.

b) Face Companion Oysters

c) Make and attach the sleeves.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments

 
Do whatever assignments Leah comes up with next. 

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon."


I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.

Week in Review 2013 - 08/26

1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

Detail from the backside of Companion Oysters

Whatever was I thinking? Although the deadline is not officially here, I am officially opting to let it slip by without finishing Companion Oysters. I could obsessively work every waking hour and some sleeping hours to finish, but where is the joy in that? Instead I have learned (not for the first, second or perhaps tenth or twentieth time) that intense, detailed free motion quilting takes far more time than I ever book for it, but it is worth it. Companion Oysters is coming alive with the attention to detail that the quilting is giving it.

a) Finish quilting Companion Oysters. - Started.

Detail from the front side of Companion Oysters
The more intense quilting surrounding the seaweed
helps create a sense of depth when seen in person.
I opted to quilt a horizontal pattern to enhance the
feeling that the shells are on a beach.

b) Square up the quilt in preparation of facing it. - Not possible.

Another detail from further away of Companion Oysters.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments

Express Your Love II covered with a plastic orientation
sheet that helps with positioning where various pieces that
will eventually be appliquéd to the background will go.

It can be tempting when I am running behind on my exhibition pieces to skip the assignments that Leah doles out weekly. So, why don't I? The answer is simple. I find that her assignments sharpen my skills and give me new techniques to add to my tool box. I can honestly say that it is making my way through these assignments that has given me the confidence to make quilting as much a part of the design as the image when creating my work.


Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. 

There were two assignments this week. The first was a new foundation style based on triangles and rods. I used it for the tress on the left in Express Your Love II.  I am really curious to see how Leah will recommend that we attached the seven pieced tresses to the quilt.

Detail from Express Your Love II. This week the "tress"
on the left was added. Note how triangles alternate with
rods versus the tress on the right which is primarily
skinny "wobbly" slivers.

The second assignment was a new free motion quilting motif Leah dubbed, Missing Pieces. This didn't grab me when I saw the demonstration video. However, I found it both very easy to stitch and I rather liked the pattern as part of the sampler of free motion quilting patterns I have been testing out recently. I even found it was not that difficult to fit around other motifs.

Practice sample of Missing Pieces.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon." - Some day.

I suspect I won't finish quilting Companion Oysters next week. However I am willing to give it another shot. 



1) Companion Oysters 

a) Finish quilting Companion Oysters.

b) Square up the quilt in preparation of facing it.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments


Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. 

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon."


I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.

Week in Review 2013 - 08/16

 Tips, Techniques and Thoughts:

Detail of this week's quilting of Companion Oysters.

This week my mind is turning to my sewing machines. My very first machine was a Viking with cams. It was an unsolicited gift from my mother-in-law. She was an avid seamstress, adept at making her own clothes and stunning clothes for all the Barbies owned by her granddaughters. She also made my wedding dress. I rarely took the Viking out of its case for the first 10 years I owned it. I made a few clothes for myself and my daughter. Then in 1988 I started quilting. That Viking was heavy a machine, a real pain to bring to classes. I looked longingly at other people's feather weights, but also at their Bernina's. The more quilts I made the more I knew I needed a sewing machine with its own cabinet. I test drove a Bernina 1260 and it just followed me home. It worked really well for piecing and just as well for free motion quilting, so long as the quilt never exceeded crib size. I know Leah Day and others assure us that even king size quilts can be free motion quilted on a home sewing machine. I just knew that it would be so much easier on an industrial machine with a large throat. The more I read about the George, the more I sensed it was what I was looking for. So, when we moved to Wisconsin and that move included in a new, large studio with room for a George, I bought the George. My George has yet to feel like an extension of my body the way the Bernina does. It tends to be a tad fussier. However, when I manage to wind the bobbin not quite to capacity, lock it into place and all key parts are lint free and well lubricated - what a workhorse that  machine is. Companion Oysters, at 42" square is being quilted on the George. I could do it on the Bernina, but I can see so much more of the quilt as I am quilting and no scrunching is necessary no matter how I turn the quilt.

You can judge for yourself how the quilting is coming, since I spent 100% of this week free motion quilting.

The backside of Companion Oysters.
Click on the image to enlarge it.

1) Companion Oysters (due August 27, 2013)

I spent some time studying how different sections of an
open oyster shell have different textures. Then, with
a heavy dose of artistic license I interpreted the textures
with my free motion quilting.

Start the free motion quilting on Companion Oysters. - Done!

I am particularly pleased with texture achieved
on the outer deep plum rim. 

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Done!

Free motion quilting feathers does not come naturally to me. It looks so simple when I watch others swoop and return around the curves, yet I get lost. So, I was grateful Leah assigned us a feather to work on this week. I added it beside the smiling faces from last week. I wanted the added challenge of coping with other motifs to work around.

Feather with pebble stem.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face Canyon - Continues to be wishful thinking.

My plans for next week are:


1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

a) Finish quilting Companion Oysters.

b) Square up the quilt in preparation of facing it.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments


Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. 

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon."


I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.

Week in Review 2013 - 08/09

The week began and ended well, it was midweek that got a little dicey. When my husband and I went to bed on Tuesday night, we knew rain, possibly heavy during thunderstorms, was expected after midnight. What we didn't expect was howling wind, the trees outside our window blown nearly horizontal and the sky lit up brighter than any fireworks display. Turns out we were witnessing the fringes of one of five tornadoes that bounced through northeast Wisconsin. We consider ourselves lucky. There was no damage to our property and minimal tree damage in our community. We did loose power almost instantly and it stayed off until Friday morning at 4:00 a.m. 

I had already spent Monday and Tuesday in the studio. I usually spend Thursday as well. Wednesday being my computer/business day. Needless to say no business was transacted on Wednesday. Here is how I adapted to unforeseen circumstances.

1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013)

a) Determine whether to add shadows and if so, paint them. - Done!

As you can see I opted to paint just a hint of shadow leaning
towards wet sand.

b) Layer and baste the quilt sandwich.

This is how I spent Wednesday. Fortunately, I had already
prepped the three layers, cutting out the batting and backing
and ironing the top and back. You may recall that Companion
Oysters is over 42" x 42" in its unfinished state. I actually
needed some of Thursday morning to finish the basting.

c) Start the free motion quilting. - Not done.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments

a) Finish last week's golden lock. - Done!

I finished the foundation pieced golden tress on Monday. I
was curious to see how it would look in situ. The sheen in the
picture is a layer of plastic that I have drawn the goddess
portion of Express Your Love II on. I find this one of the best
ways to position appliqué pieces. 

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

This week's free motion quilting motif was Happy Stitch. If you have been following Leah than you know this is the biggest leap I have ever taken when tweaking one of her motifs. To see Leah's click here. I thought it would be fun to see if I could create a crowd of faces watching an event. I played with hairstyles, mouths and eyes. Perhaps next time I will even add ears! Lots of travel stitching was required. I focused on flow more than accuracy. Those faces do make me smile.

Gwyned's version of  Happy Stitch
renamed Smiley Faces.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon." - In my dreams. 

Assuming the weather cooperates :) here are my plans for next week.

1) Companion Oysters (Deadline 9/01/2013

Start the free motion quilting Companion Oysters.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments

Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

3) Pictorial Painting - Face "Canyon."

I am now linking up to two blogs on Friday's. The first is Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting Project and the second is Nina Marie's Off the Wall Fridays.