Week in Review 2015 - 10/30

This tom turkey visits me daily. He is
entranced by his image in the picture
windows of my studio. 

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

My posts nearly always include an image of a current free motion practice piece since I make it a point to do some free motion quilting every week. No surprise, many of the comments I receive concern my free motion quilting.

In this post I want to address two questions I have received about my free motion quilting practice. The first is why do I do it. The second is what do I practice on.

The primary reason why I do some free motion quilting weekly is in order to maintain my skill between quilts. However, there are other benefits as well. Not only do I maintain my skill, but it improves, not as dramatically as when I was first starting out, but I do notice that my ability to navigate out of and into awkward spaces is nearly second nature now. When I am practicing, I choose new motifs to test drive. Try 30 new free motioning quilting motifs in a year and do that for five years and I have not only mastered the basics, but I have 150 motifs to reference when selecting how to quilt that next quilt. Even better, because I am constantly trying new motifs I have no qualms of trying something new on an actual quilt.

A detail from Deconstructed Sunrise #3 showing the quilting.

I don't practice on an "important" quilt. For the most part I practice on solid color fabric and that is most likely to be white muslin or black. I do this because the stitches don't blend into the fabric, making it easy to see where I have already stitched. I will often piece together scraps of muslin or black fabric in order to make use of the scraps, but also because this is more like an actual quilt with seams. Occasionally, I even piece my batting. Do NOT seam batting scraps together. Instead align two straight sides of batting together and using either a zig zag stitch or another stitch that goes from side to side (not satin stitch) to attach one scrap to another. I like to use a quilt sandwich that is approximately the size of a fat quarter or 18" x 22". I start by stitching a grid of squares or rectangles that are at least 4" on each side. I only fill in one unit per session. A 5" x 6" rectangle is large enough for me to develop the muscle memory for the motif and work out any tricky areas. One fat quarter sandwich lasts me for two months, so I am not constantly having to put together quilt sandwiches to work on.

The piecing on Deconstructed
Sunrise #3 is complete. All the circular
sunrise photos have been quilted as has
the top sun. 

If learning how to manipulate something larger than a fat quarter is something you need to practice, then I highly recommend making quilts for charity, especially charities that require crib (cot if your live in the UK) quilts.

It has been an awesome week when it comes to spending time in my studio. I actually managed to head down there for three full days this week. Here is what I achieved:

1)  Continue quilting Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015) - Done!

2) Free motion quilting practice. - Done! 

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015 - 90/126

4) Perform a random act of kindness - Done!

Puffy Clouds is a free motion quilting motif of my own,
influenced by Muv, of Free Motion Mavericks. I'm
thinking of using it in the sky portion of Deconstructed
Sunrise #3.

I will be a free motion quilting fiend next week, too. Here is the game plan: 

1)  Continue quilting Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015)

2) Free motion quilting practice. 

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015

4) Perform a random act of kindness 

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 2015 - 10/23

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

The pebbles and rays free motion quilting is my practice
piece before sitting down to start on Deconstructed
Sunrise #3. Note the oil blotch in the lower section of
the sun's center. This is why it is vital stitch on scrap
fabric when you first start quilting after a long absence
from your machine. My George has a tendency to ooze
oil down the foot of the machine if it isn't oiled properly or
if it sits idle for a long period of time. 

When I started quilting back in the Jurassic era (late 1980's) I was clueless about everything. I struggled to select fabric, to use a rotary cutter, to match my seams and even how to get the bobbin thread to pop up through the fabric. I wish I had my first log cabin quilt to share to prove just how clueless I really was. I made it in a community ed class taught by following Eleanor Burnes's Quilt in A Day method. Our instructor gave us a shopping list that included the yardage for light, medium and dark fabric. Let's just say I bought only small calico prints and got the lightest lights and the darkest of darks. I even remember the color scheme was red, white and blue, not for patriotic reasons - more to fulfill the light and dark requirement. If that wasn't bad enough I inserted a lace ruffle trim. The miracle is that I was proud enough of this debacle/master piece that I put it my children's school auction and someone generously bought it. That isn't where my cluelessness ends, however. I had no idea how I would have to learn to properly clean and care for my sewing machines.

The sun kissed clouds are fused and the edges
stitched down using the Bernina's
buttonhole stitch. I fused various scraps left
over from making the quilt top to Steam a Seam
then cut used my rotary cutter to free hand cut
long skinny, but undulating clouds.

My Bernina 1230 is my workhorse. This is the machine I piece with and do the vast majority of my free motion quilting. It has one draw back and that is its throat. This is the space between the needle and the motor. What I love about this machine, beyond the fact that it feels like a natural extension of my hands, is just how easy it is to clean. All I need to do is brush out the lint every couple of bobbins and oil the bobbin case every few cleanings. Five years ago I treated myself to the George, APQS's sit down long arm. I had been salivating over long arms for over a decade. It really is a treat not to have tug and shove large quilts through a small throat. However, cleaning and oiling the George is a little trickier than the Bernina. I did a thorough job prepping the George this week before starting to quilt Deconstructed Sunrise #3. I had learned that I hadn't been oiling it correctly in the past. Now, hopefully, I am doing precisely what the George needs. I can say that the quilting went very, very smoothly. I'm in love with my George again. 

My tip this week - love your machine(s) and they will love you back. 

Oiling sewing machines may not be my favorite way to spend my week, but the pay off is definitely worth it. Here is what I was able to get done:

1)  Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015)

Let the quilting begin!

a) Stay stitch clouds in place - done!
b) Prepare quilt for quilting - done!
c) Start quilting - done!

2) Free motion quilting practice. - done!

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015 - 87/126

4) Perform a random act of kindness - done! 

Next week I will be narrowly focused. It is time to leap frog ahead and make major headway quilting Deconstructed Sunrise #3. Naturally, I'll squeeze in a few other projects. Here is the plan:

1)  Continue quilting Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015)

2) Free motion quilting practice. 

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015

4) Perform a random act of kindness 

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 2015 - 10/16

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Some of you reading this post may
recall a past post where I was
debating between several design
schemes for Deconstructed Sunrise #3.
This is the one I selected.

The plan was (wouldn't those three words work well at the start of a mystery?) to update my iMac to El Capitan this weekend. That would give me "free" days to deal with the inevitable fall out. So imagine my surprise when emerging from my studio to find my husband "generously" starting the updating before leaving for work on Thursday morning. The upgrade went very well for the most part. It is that niggling 1% that is the time vampire and precisely why I didn't want to get drawn into it during the business week. I'm like Alice down the rabbit hole trying to figure out how to reset iMail to run under my preferred address and automatically add my preferred signature. Then there is the fact that I am now forced to have my to do list under Reminders vs. part of iCal. I am addicted to printing out my daily to do list in order to stay on top of things. What I really loved about those items being on iCal, was that my scheduled appointments appeared at the top of the page and the to do items followed. Best of all any notes associated with the to do's were printed out, too. Guess I have officially been proven to be part of the senior generation, because I just can't seem to get a picture of my day by peering at a screen. Besides, there is something so rewarding about drawing a line through a to do item, much more satisfying than hitting the delete button on a computer.

Ta da! The big reveal. Well, close.
I've added the clouds to the sky after
this picture was taken. The fabrics used
are predominately commercial, with
just a few of my own hand dyed, hand
painted and stamped or stenciled fabric
thrown in.
Deconstructed Sunrise #3
60" H x 40" W

Why all the preamble about computers? Because it struck me as I made extra work for myself on Deconstructed Sunrise #3 how very similar the constant call/need to venture into something new and just add one more twist to an artwork, is very much like the upgrades we must do to keep our devices speaking nicely to each other. I could have kept things simple. There was no need to play with multiple layers of batting, nor were cloud streaks absolutely necessary (more on that next week.) Could exploration, be it scaling high peaks, pushing the limits of technology or trying out new design ideas be an innate trait of humans?

It was a very brief week in the studio. I had to attend to lots of business, do some traveling and of course cope with a computer upgrade. That's the bad news. The good news, I can finally share an image of what Deconstructed Sunrise #3 looks like after the freezer paper templates were removed. Here is what did get accomplished:

1)  Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015)

a) Finish piecing Deconstructed Sunrise #3 - Done!
b) Prepare quilt for quilting - Not yet. Just couldn't resist adding in another step - the clouds.

2) Free motion quilting practice. - Done!

This is another Whirls 'n Swirls pattern. Tracy
calls this one Feathers on the Half Shell. Feathers
and spirals - what fun!

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015 - 84/126

4) Perform a random act of kindness - Done!

My calendar for next week is looking relatively empty. I am optimistic that I will be able to leap forward on Deconstructed Sunrise #3. At least that is the plan, as you can see below:

1)  Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015)

a) Stay stitch clouds in place
b) Prepare quilt for quilting
c) Start quilting

2) Free motion quilting practice. 

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015

4) Perform a random act of kindness 

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 - Mostly in Pictures 2015 - 10/10

It's been a busy week full of conference calls, studio time and travel. My photographer, a.k.a. my husband was unavailable to take pictures as he was away on business. So, I am making due with pictures taken on my iPod. The good news is that Deconstructed Sunrise #3 is fully pieced. It looks great. The bad news is that I can't share a picture yet, because it can't be captured on an iPod. Nevertheless here are a few related pictures as a tease:

Every afternoon the turkey comes by for
easy pickings below our bird feed. This
is my view from the studio. You can tell fall
is coming by the red vine.

In one of those strokes of genius or insanity,
I decided to layer batting behind the three suns
in Deconstructed Sunrise #3. My hope is that this
will result in a rounded, orb effect. Lola, was
just happy to have scraps of batting to perch on
has she watched me work.

Guess watching me work wasn't that stimulating
because she soon passed out.

This is a detail from the backside of Deconstructed
Sunrise #3. If you look closely you can detect the layers
from the lowest, the quilt, through two layers
of batting.

Whenever I work where subtle value shifting is key
I arrange my fabric by hue and then from dark to light.

Next week I promise to share the full front side of Deconstructed Sunrise #3.

Week in Review 2015 - 10/02

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Sunrise over Lake Winnebago at Kimberly Point
in Neenah, WI. Photo by Dana B. Eagles

What's on my mind? What isn't on my mind? I'm having a major case of monkey mind this week. No, I am not thinking about monkeys. Monkey mind is a term coined by Buddha to describe a mind that flits from one subject to the next, often in a fretful, obsessing over problems sort of way. Buddha recommends regular meditation to quiet the monkey thoughts. This is something I can do at the end of my twice weekly yoga classes. Love Shavasana! I'm not so successful at home when interruptions happen, such as robocalls and the ping that announces a new post has arrived in my e-mail inbox. Thanks to caller ID, I know not to pick up the phone unless I know who is calling. I'm also semi firm about not checking my e-mail except at certain predetermined times of the day. Why? Because if I do check my e-mail, I'm likely to get sucked down the rabbit hole of distraction or action. Yesterday was loaded with robocalls and e-mails. I ignored the calls but snuck a peak at the e-mails and that was it - monkey mind off and running. 

A hint of where I am headed with
Deconstructed Sunrise #3.

I did manage to make progress in the studio, but fell just shy of completing Deconstructed Sunrise #3 to a point where I could share the big reveal. This resulted in even more self destructive monkey mind behavior. Progress, any progress is still  progress, right? Here is what I did manage to get done:

1) Continue piecing Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015) - Done!

2) Free motion quilting practice. - Done!

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015 - 80/126

This week's FMQ practice piece inspired by
one of Tracy's at Whirls 'n Swirls. 

4) Perform a random act of kindness - Done!

I fear another case of monkey mind next week, as I have quite a few conference calls scheduled in my role as SAQA's Exhibition Committee Chair. Each call requires some prep work and definitely ends up with actions to be done after the call. It is a world that fascinates and engages me. The reality, though, is that it takes time and that is time that might have been spent in the studio, one of the few places outside of yoga class where my mind quiets down. When I regroup, here is what I plan to focus on:

1)  Deconstructed Sunrise #3 (Due November 30, 2015)

a) Finish piecing Deconstructed Sunrise #3
b) Prepare quilt for quilting

2) Free motion quilting practice. 

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015

4) Perform a random act of kindness 

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.