Week in Review 2014 - 06/27

Little Lake Butte des 
Morts in Fall
gets perspective when
the trees are added.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

My life is currently weighted heavily towards the National Bike Challenge. Technically the challenge isn't competitive. It simply encourages participants to get outside and ride regularly. However, if you are naturally competitive (who me?) then it is tempting to ride every day and expand the distance you ride. There is something rewarding about watching those miles add up. It is as addictive as watching a quilt evolve and then observing the quilts stack up over the years. I have no idea how many quilts I have made over 25+ years of quilting, but I am sure it is over two hundred by now. If I had set out with a goal to make two hundred quilts I probably would have quit before I reached ten quilts. The thought would have been too daunting. That is why I focus on just one or two quilts ahead. It is the same with my biking. I cope with one ride at a time. If it is long one then I break it down to just making it to the next ten mile marker. It is not so different from quilting one block at a time or with my art quilts completing one next step. It is only upon looking back that I can see just how far I have come.

This week felt like biking up hill into a head wind. The week is done. I'm tired. I don't have much distance to show for it. Still I did make progress as you can see:

Close up of Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Create and attach two tree appliqués - Almost

That certainly sounded easy enough to do, but it wasn't. I had the ingenious idea that I would back the tree versus turn under the seam allowance. How tough could the pillow case turn method be? It turns out very tough when the trees are only one to one and half inches wide. It does give a clean line and a wonderful 3D look though.  

b) Start adding the details such as the cattails, branches and leaves. - Not yet.

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Mat and frame the work. - Not Yet

3) Leah Day  and other free motion quilting projects.

The Wave with an addition of sea foam

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson or find another FMQ motif to try. - Done!

This week I chose The Wave as my FMQ motif to test and tweak. This is strictly a play/practice piece. If I were to use it on a quilt I would need to practice more off quilt until I could create more consistent echoes of the wave and keep to similar sizes according to the guidelines. On the plus side I did the whole practice piece without a thread break and think my tweak of adding sea foam between the waves is rather effective.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. - Done!

LifeBook 2014
Week 26's assignment

This week's lesson on contour face drawing is what I need and because I need it I had a fair amount of fear about executing it. My two weakest links, in my opinion, are drawing faces and creating depth by understanding where to place highlights and shadows. I still have a long way to go with my drawing skills, but this piece already achieves two things I haven't managed before. First, it accurately portrays the age of the image I used for reference (I usually add decades when I start adding shadows) and there is a bit of a 3D feel with the girl in front of the halo, the crease below her nose dipping in, her nose protruding from her face and her chin jutting out from her neck. 

Usually the reward for making it to the top of the hill is that you it is followed by a little to no effort coast down the hill. Will this be my reward next week? I sure hope so. Here is what I might be breezing past:

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Finish attaching the two tree appliqués
b) Start adding the details such as the cattails, branches and leaves. 

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Mat and frame the work.

3) Leah Day  and other free motion quilting projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson or find another FMQ motif to try.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.


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

Week in Review 2014 - 06/20

Detail of the cattails from Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall.
Note the blue marker pen provided general guidelines of
where I intended to use different color threads. It will
disappear when I wash and block the quilt. Most computer
systems will allow you to see an enlarged image by right
clicking on the picture.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Little Lake Butte
des Morts in Fall

I am fortunate that I rarely suffer from artist's block, that bane of artists when they are devoid of inspiration and creativity. There always seems to be some new project I am eager to tackle or technique that I would like to have a go at. Where I get temporarily hung up is how to choose the best free motion quilting motif for each section of a quilt. When I am stuck, as I often am with how to quilt a sky I will look back at what I have done in the past. If that doesn't suggest anything I will turn to the computer and do some research. In this case I googled the phrase "how to quilt a sky" and came up with a fabulous example by Laura Wasilowski. Here is where all that practice of various Leah Day quilting motifs comes in. I can look at Laura's motif, work out the basic elements, test it with pen and paper and then go right to the machine and quilt my own version. When I got stuck on how to quilt the marsh/cattail section of my commission quilt I went to my computer again. This time I used google images and hunted for cattails in the fall. I used one of the images that turned up to get a sense of what color threads to use, how to capture the wind and how to block out the color.

Some weeks I focus in and work on one piece almost to the exclusion of everything else. Not so, this week. I found myself jumping from one project to another. Here is an accounting of the projects that I did or did not work on:

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Finish the quilting - Done!
b) Create two tree appliqués - Not yet

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Create several more small works for the exhibition - Done!

Cascade

3) Leah Day  and other free motion quilting projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson or find another FMQ motif to try.

Pretty Posies

I selected Lori Kennedy's Pretty Posies quilting motif to practice this week. This does require a few guideline markings to achieve the triangular spacing and the ratio of posy to stem. Since there is a natural break in thread between quilting the posies and the filler I couldn't resist changing thread colors. When my husband first saw the design on Lori's site he was happy to see that I would be quilting ice cream cones. It wouldn't take much tweaking to change those leaves to diagonal gridlines and get a waffle cone image. :)

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. - Done!

Art is Alluring

It was a wild, Effy Wild that is, ride on LifeBook 2014 this week. The point that Effy hammered home is that even if you have only 15 minutes a day to create art you can produce something fabulous each week. Personally, I find it more difficult to do art daily in short bursts than to earmark specific days each week devoted to art. However, when I was a stay at home mother whose schedule was dictated by her children's schedule, I learned to work between carpools and how to bring portable work to sporting events. The best tip I received from Effy's class was to use unexpected colors from my palette to create the shadows and highlights on the face. 


Where will my focus be next week? Who knows. However, to avoid artist's block I have a plan and here it is:


1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Create and attach two tree appliqués
b) Start adding the details such as the cattails, branches and leaves. 

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Mat and frame the work.

3) Leah Day  and other free motion quilting projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson or find another FMQ motif to try.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.


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

Weekly Review 2014 - 06/13

Little Lake Butte des Morts
in Fall, a commissioned
work in progress. Most of
the curves were cut free hand
using a rotary cutter
and mat.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Am I a Luddite? The answer is yes and no. I like to think of myself as someone who adapts when adapting is to my benefit. For example, when making a quilt from geometric shapes such as squares, rectangles and triangles you aren't going to find me using templates and marking each shape on my fabric. You can bet I'll grab my rotary cutter, ruler and mat. Have I invested in an AccuQuilt Go? The answer is no and I probably won't. I just don't make quilts based on geometric shapes as much as I used to. Also, I prefer to "oversize" my cut fabric when working with triangles and then trim the pieced units to size. Just because there is a new quilting tool that does something better doesn't mean I have to invest in it. However, when a tool comes along that seems to be the answer to a problem you can bet I will be right in line to buy it.  

Now that I am spending at least one day a week making mixed media the new to me tools that I am purchasing lean heavily to mixed media. I just purchased a set of water soluble crayons by Caron D'Ache.  My first set of inexpensive store brand water soluble crayons weren't water soluble. This new set is! I didn't get to play with them this week, but I did get to use my new permanent ink glitter pens. That isn't all I was up to. Here is a review of how my past week went:

In order to see the quilting of the lake water
more clearly click or right click on the image.

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Finish piecing the background - Done!
b) Start the quilting - Done!

The piecing is done and so is the quilting of the water section. I spent some time doodling various water quilting lines off quilt first using the lake view from my window for reference.

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15) - Not done :(

a) Create several more small works for the exhibition

3) Leah Day projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed. 

Flower Power stitched out in a subtle pink variegated thread.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson or find another FMQ motif to try. - Done!

It was recommended to me that I check out Hilary Florence's cameos and Lori Kennedy's free motion quilt tutorials to find designs to practice my free motion quilting. Great suggestion. This week I tested out Lori's Flower Power motif.

My intuition lead me to a peacock palette with a
heavy dose of shimmer.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.

This week's LifeBook assignment, taught by Jane Davenport, was how to intuitively start a new piece when you have no idea what you want to make. Two of her recommendations were to look over unfinished work with fresh eyes and to look at your supplies to see what is calling to you. All that shimmers was calling to me. I pulled out my pearlescent paints and sparkling markers and let them guide me.

Will it be my supplies that guide me or something else next week? Whatever I turn my hands to I'll be back next week to tell you about it. Meanwhile I always have my next steps list to remind me of my commitments.

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Finish the quilting
b) Create two tree appliqués 

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Create several more small works for the exhibition

3) Leah Day  and other free motion quilting projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson or find another FMQ motif to try.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.


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

Week in Review 2014 - 06/06

Detail from
"Who's There?,"
the result of a
LifeBook 2014
assignment.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

I am back for real this week. Last week I was easing my way back from vacation by catching up with my mixed media assignments from LifeBook 2014. These act as no pressure play for me since I have no desire to switch from fiber to mixed media as my primary art medium. I don't compete in mixed media, sell mixed media work, lecture about mixed media, teach mixed media classes or get mixed media commissions. I do all these things with my fiber art and because I do I feel the pressure to make strong work, get my work accepted in exhibitions and meet deadlines, even self imposed deadlines. I relish the challenge of commissions, yet the operative word could be challenge. I am at my most vulnerable when working on a commission. Let's face it, my work constantly surprises me in that I never know when I start what the final piece will look like. I begin with a concept and work from there. Even when I am commissioned I refuse to be pigeonholed to reproduce a specific image. Still, I want my client to be pleased. It certainly helps if I meet the promised deadline for the commissioned piece. That wouldn't happen unless I actually worked on the piece. First, I needed confidence. My instinct was that I needed to loosen up through mixed media. Maybe I did or maybe I didn't. What I do know is that my success with this week's mixed media piece gave me the confidence to start working on my commissioned piece again.

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

The commission is a view of Little Lake Butte des Morts during the autumn. The commissioner is a neighbor. We share the same view of the lake that includes cattails in the foreground and gentle slope of trees topped with sky in the background. I have the advantage that this is the very view I see from my studio. It is fascinating to look up and check the lake, it is never the same from minute to minute.

a) Finish piecing the background - Started. I still need to add the sky.

b) Start the quilting

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Create several more small works for the exhibition - not yet

3) Leah Day projects.

The quilting motif is called Escargot Flambé 

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson. - Done, sort of. Leah Day is no longer providing weekly quilting motifs to try, so I went in search of another source. I really like to doodle on the machine as a warm up exercise much the way musicians start with scales as they settle in to practice. This motif was from Melody Johnson. She is a member of the Chicago School of Fusing. Other CSoF members use and teach this motif, too.

"Who's There?," my take on this week's
LifeBook 2014 lesson.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments. - Done

I am completely caught up with LifeBook 2014. YEAH! This Monday's lesson was SO much fun. For once I am thrilled with the results. Tamara LaPorte was our teacher. It definitely helped that she broke down how draw a stag. I can't help but wonder whether the focus on repetition and a pattern was so intuitive for me because of my background making fiber art.

Now, if I can only build on this momentum. Here is where I plan on focusing next week.

1) Little Lake Butte des Morts in Fall (Due August 3) 

a) Finish piecing the background
b) Start the quilting

2) Wild Apple 12" x 12" Opportunity - (Due August 15)

a) Create several more small works for the exhibition

3) Leah Day projects.

a) Baste the face, torso and arms to Express Your Love II. - On hold until the quilts with deadlines are completed.

b) Do Leah Day's Free Motion Quilting lesson or find another FMQ motif to try.

4) LifeBook 2014 - Do the assignments.


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