Weekly Report 2013 - 12/27

Florence Trefethen,
the blog author's mother.

Family lore has it that during the depression my grandmother, Emma Newman, would take her two daughters to the department store to look at dresses. They would point out their favorite dresses. Then Emma would whip out a notebook and pencil from her purse, draw a quick sketch or two and make some notes. Next they would head off to the fabric store to pick the fabric necessary for Emma to recreate the selected dresses. 

The picture to the left is of my mother, Florence Trefethen circa 1945. I don't know if Emma made Florence's dress or not, but it wouldn't surprise me. The Newman sisters were known for being fashionably dressed despite economic hardship and post war deprivation. Flossie, as I called my mother told that story about Emma as an example of how her mother would embarrass her. I suspect she also told it with pride. When I was a child Flossie would periodically whip up a suit from a Vogue pattern. However, as the books in the photo attest she was more academically inclined and as money became less tight bought all her clothes. I have made a few clothing items but I never mastered the art of fitting clothing. Honestly, it doesn't call to me, especially since it is less expensive and much more time efficient to buy clothes these days than in generations past. Yet this week I realized that I inherited Emma's ability to look at a pattern and recreate it!

If you read last week's posting you might recall I was in desperate need of a Christmas miracle. It came, at least in my not so humble opinion. This freed me up to relax and just enjoy my studio time with no pressing need to do more than play and test theories. Here is how the week went:

1) Jazz Trio - Resolve the curtain debacle. - Done!

Jazz Trio with a new set of curtains.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

a) Foundation Piecing - 

i) Baste the face to the quilt. - Not yet.
ii) Finish  piecing the goddess's body "fabric" with the basted hexagons. - Done! 

The next set of hexagons pinned to Express Your Love II's
quilt top. They still need to be turned under around the
body template and then positioned with more accuracy.

b) Free Motion Quilting - Done!

After struggling to rectify the curtain debacle it was pure joy to create this tangled string of Christmas lights. Of course it could be untangled and quilted on a Christmas tree quilt. Wouldn't that be fun?

Tangled Lights in Leah Day's latest FMQ motif.

3) Visioning Project - Do the final assignment from my Photoshop Elements class and take the final exam. - Done! I even have my certificate to prove it. If you need further proof check out the picture of my mother at the top of the blog. I used the elliptical tool and set it  to circle to select the portion of the picture to include. Next I selected the inverse of that and cut it away. Finally, I sized the picture to be web friendly. It took just a couple minutes.

4) Enjoy a traditional roast beef dinner on Christmas. - Done! I took Christmas Day off. I didn't even handle e-mail. The prime rib with glazed brussel sprouts, baked sweet potato and panna cotta for dessert was a rare and delicious treat.


5) In the spirit of the holidays I decided to give in to my urge to make a tumbling block quilt. I knew I didn't want to deal with all those Y seams and thus began the great google search to find that easy method I just knew existed. The method was easy to find, but not the measurements. This is when I put on my Emma Newman thinking cap and by the second try I had the math worked out.




Tumbling Blocks I - with approximately 20%
of the blocks cut, partially seamed and
tentatively laid out on my design wall.
It will be a crib sized quilt when it is done.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Marci Baker has written ABC 3-D Tumbling Blocks and she has a YouTube Video where she demonstrates this technique but does not give the math. My tips are that the light strip needs to be cut 0.5" larger than the medium and dark strips AND that the finished hexagon size (or cube/block size) is the same dimension as the light strip. So, if your light strip is cut at 2" then finished block is 2" and the medium and dark strips are cut at 1.5".

My heart is tugging me to work on Tumbling Blocks I, but I have an obligation to finish Jazz Trio. I am also starting my LifeBook 2014 class on the first of the New Year. With so many projects I am going to have no problem keeping myself busy next week. Here is the game plan:

1) Jazz Trio - Add the figures to the stage.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

a) Foundation Piecing - 

i) Baste the face and body to the quilt.
ii) Start piecing the arms from hexagons.

b) Free Motion Quilting

3) LifeBook 2014 - Do this week's assignment.

4) Tumbling Blocks I - Cut out more of the blocks.


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.

Weekly Report 2013 - 12/20

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

My attempt to capture light and shadow fails.

Did you ever have one of those days when everything goes wrong? Today was one of those days for me. One of the disasters was an experiment gone sadly awry on my latest quilt. I was very tempted not to share this boondoggle, but then I thought it might be edifying to learn that I do make mistakes, sometimes some real bloopers. It isn't the mistake that marks one, but how one copes after the mistake is made. First I do some ranting and whining. Next I might procrastinate, indulging in a computer game or two or twenty until I have calmed down. Finally, I assess the damage and brainstorm ways on how to fix it.  I believe I have a solution that may just hide this nightmare. It is definitely going to be time consuming. Fortunately, I have the time. 

The week wasn't a total washout even if the paint couldn't be washed out. Here is what I accomplished - the good, the disastrous and everything in between:

1) Jazz Trio - finish quilting the background - I finished the floor and backdrop. Then I thought the curtains would look better if I painted them first. WRONG! I did test this theory off quilt first and the test looked good. However, a line of paint to determine that I had mixed the right color was insufficient to get a sense of the overall effect that would be created. Not good at all. 

Jazz Trio with the floor boards and backdrop
successfully quilted and the curtains painted
less than successfully.

This morning I had the brilliant idea to wash the quilt since I hadn't heat set the paint. True a little bit of paint washed out, but not enough to change the appearance one iota. 

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

a) Foundation Piecing - 

i) Baste the face to the quilt. - Not yet.

ii) Start piecing the goddess's body "fabric" with the basted hexagons. - Done! I have pieced a little more than 50% of the body "fabric." It is coming along nicely. There is nothing like repetitive hand stitching to sooth one.

b) Free Motion Quilting - I tried two new motifs this week.

The Garden Maze motif reminds me of primitive artwork.

After my painting debacle I was determined to lighten
my mood with something uplifting and easy. The
Open Feather motif done in a fanciful variegated
thread was just the ticket. 

3) Visioning Project - Do the next two assignments from my Photoshop Elements class. - Done! Each lessons includes a couple of projects requiring using some of the tools and settings in Photoshop Elements. This was a fun one.

The original photo provided by the teacher.

The same photo after I had manipulated it by "adding"
four more apples.

Will next week be another nightmare or a Christmas miracle? The answer remains to be seen. One of the advantages of a game plan is that when the going gets tough there are choices, perhaps a slight detour for a scenic view or just gritted teeth and determination to push past obstacles and continue the journey up hill with the promise of a 360 degree vista at the top. My plans for next week include:

1) Jazz Trio - Resolve the curtain debacle.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

a) Foundation Piecing - 

i) Baste the face to the quilt.
ii) Finish  piecing the goddess's body "fabric" with the basted hexagons.

b) Free Motion Quilting

3) Visioning Project - Do the final assignment from my Photoshop Elements class and take the final exam.

4) Enjoy a traditional roast beef dinner on Christmas.


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.

Weekly Report 2013 - 12/13

Remember Express Your Love II? Now you can see what
all that work with hexagons was for. It's not done yet, but
I am on the home stretch.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Brrrrr! It has been bitter cold where I live this past week. How cold was it? I would wake up to subzero single digit temperatures. That is Fahrenheit without taking into account windchill factors. It sounds even worse in Celsius with morning temperatures at -20. We are out of the deep freeze next week, but can look forward to a week of snow flurries. What does a fiber artist do when it snows? Use the snow to dye fabric of course. Actually, I rarely dye fabric, but I have tried this technique and it produces fascinating results. If you don't have snow you can use ice. Here are a few links each with a slightly different take on how to dye with snow or ice:

• Pro Chemical & Dye - Snow Dyeing 
• Dharma Trading Company Learn How to Ice Dye
• Tie Dye - Ice Dye Technique

Personally, I use cold weather as an excuse to hunker down in my studio. Here is what I managed to accomplish this past week.

Free motion quilting is started on Trio. It will finish
at approximately 30" H x 40" W. I am very pleased by
how building up thread helps draw attention to the
individual floor boards. 

1) Trio - finish quilting the background - Well that was a little ambitious of a goal. However, I did make a great start.

Two years of practicing free motion quilting is really paying
off. I am able to travel stitch nearly invisibly and can
navigate on the fly. This is a detail from Trio.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

a) Foundation Piecing  

Close up of the goddess's face in Express Your Love II.
The pattern is Leah Day's. The fabric choices are Gwyned's.

i) Finish piecing the 43 hexagons required for the goddess's face. - Done!

ii) Remove the paper foundations from the hexagons. - Done!

iii) Mold the hexagons to the face foundation. - Done!

iv) Place and baste the face to the quilt. - I placed but did not baste the face to the quilt.

v) Bonus - I started basting the next 90 hexagons necessary to make up the body of the goddess.

b) Free Motion Quilting - I opted to postpone this practice motif since it was very similar to other motifs AND I was getting lots of FMQ in working on Trio.

3) Visioning Project - Do the next two assignments from my Photoshop Elements class. - Done!

How will I keep myself occupied next week? Here is my game plan:

1) Trio - finish quilting the background

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

a) Foundation Piecing - 

i) Baste the face to the quilt.
ii) Start piecing the goddess's body "fabric" with the basted hexagons.

b) Free Motion Quilting

3) Visioning Project - Do the next two assignments from my Photoshop Elements class.


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.

Weekly Report 2013 - 12/05

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

I used my instruction sheet to create
this sample label. You may recall my
first grandchild, Andrew, from my
quilt, Adoration. He turned six
this past July.

Call me old fashion, but I still snail mail my holiday cards and relish every single one I receive. I take advantage of mail merge to send a "personalized" holiday letter with each card. This way I can an include a sentence or two directed at the recipient while only having to "write" the basic letter once. Recently I started creating my own return address labels with a holiday image using Microsoft Word. I use the same technique to brand my business return address labels. In my branded labels I use an image of one of my quilts. It seems every time I create a new label I have to go through the learning curve all over again. So, this time I wrote out the instructions for myself and then polished them up for you, should you be interested. 

Instructions for adding an image or logo to return address labels in Microsoft Word.

Despite being extra busy as I prepare for the holidays, I managed to accomplish even more than I thought I would this week. Here is how the week went.

1)  ZenBlossoms

• add to my FaceBook fan page - Done! You can now follow the evolution of ZenBlossoms from start to finish on my FaceBook fan page.

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

 

a) Foundation Piecing - Piece the 43 hexagons required for the goddess's face. - Nearly done. I have six more hexagons to go. After whining for several weeks about this project, I am beginning to look forward to my "breaks" piecing the hexagons. Who knows, hexagons may pop up in future quilts. They certainly have peaked my imagination.

Hexagon layout needed
to create the fabric necessary
to make the goddess's face for
Express Your Love II

The hexagons nearly all pieced
according to the layout.

b) Free Motion Quilting - Done!

This week's assignment was Daisy Echoes. I used one of my
favorite King Tut variegated thread by Superior. It was just
the ticket to cheer me up during several very grey days.

3) Visioning Project - Do the next two assignments from my Photoshop Elements class. - Done!

Each successive lesson seems to be getting longer and harder, but I am hanging in there. 

4) Trio - Piece the background. - Done! I even went on to baste the pieced background and start the quilting!!

The appliqués that will be placed on the background have
some fussy tiny parts. Therefore, I have opted to quilt the
background before I add the appliqué. 

Where will next week take me? Here is the game plan:
1) Trio - finish quilting the background

2) Leah Day's weekly assignments:

a) Foundation Piecing - 

i) Finish piecing the 43 hexagons required for the goddess's face.

ii) Remove the paper foundations from the hexagons.

iii) Mold the hexagons to the face foundation.

iv) Place and baste the face to the quilt.

b) Free Motion Quilting

3) Visioning Project - Do the next two assignments from my Photoshop Elements class.


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.