Week in Review 2016 - 08/26

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

I am working on one of the blocks that will
complete row 9 of Siren's Song.

Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher stated that "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." How true. It is a good reminder when approaching a project of staggering proportions to determine what the first step is and take it. Otherwise it is easy to get hung up on the magnitude of the project. How to keep going when the first step, the first one hundred steps, or in Tzu terms perhaps 500 miles worth of steps have been taken? Time and effort have been expended getting this far. Turning back is no easier than moving forward. What to do? Keep on plodding. This is precisely what I have been doing with Sirens Song, one unit and one block at a time. 

1) Create 11 Siren's Song blocks. - Not even close.

I think I made four blocks this week. I am half way through another five.

2) Free motion quilting practice - Not done

3) Do some surface design work - Not done

4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open. - Done

This block is from row 9 of Siren's Song.
Can you spot the one commercial fabric?

The journey continues next week. There will be a few more blocks to make for Siren's Song, then it is time to focus in on the next phase of the journey. Here is my itinerary:

1)  Siren's Song:
a) Finish row 9
b) Select image to be seen through the porthole.
c) Design backing fabric
d) Have fabric printed

2) Free motion quilting practice

3) Do some surface design work

4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open.


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 2016 - 08/19

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

What does it take to be courageous? In life? As an artist? These questions have been running through my brain, since they appear to be a common thread to what I have been experiencing this week.

I used peony leaves to mask areas of
fabric painted with Setacolor
  transparent glitter paint.

It is 7 a.m. as I sit at my computer composing this blog. There is a massive storm front coming through. I can see a patch of gray sky over the roofline and witness the maple tree bobbing and weaving in the wind. I am fortunate to be inside, dry and sheltered from the rain, wind and lightening. This thought is particularly poignant this morning, since my husband and I headed out for our morning bike ride, knowing the storm was on its way. How far from home should we stray? Would we get back in time? We could see lightening way off in the distance as we rode. In fact we felt the first drops of a shower proceeding the storm about a mile from home. Our courage and obsessive radar watching paid off. We beat the storm by a good hour and got a 20 mile bike ride in.

Have you seen Laura Kemshall's post on how she created her award winning quilt 52º 32′ N 04º03’W? Talk about courageous!  This quilt was one big experiment. Kemshall had faith that her knowledge in one area could be applied to another. 

The same fabric as above once the leaves
have been removed. It is difficult to
capture the glitter in a photograph. However,
you might be able to see it if you click on
the image for an enlarged view. It is
subtle - but a great way to add shimmer.

A while back I was struggling with how to have the glitter in my glitter infused paint stay bonded to the fabric through a typical washing. There are many bonding agents, but for the most part they are either water soluble or they change the hand of the fabric. I needed something that wouldn't wash out, wouldn't discolor, and would leave the fabric feeling soft. Research online and posing the question to many provided no help. Then it hit me. Why not add Liquetex's Gloss Medium & Varnish to the paint? So I did. It worked. The fabric felt stiff after the paint had dried. However, once I ran it through the washer (that is where the courage comes in) the fabric was dry and the vast majority of the glitter was still clinging to the fabric. Why did I suspect this would work? Because I had used gloss medium in paint as an adhesive when I spent a year taking weekly mixed classes, none of which involved fabric or quilting. 

Each week has its challenges. This one was no exception. It takes courage to test what you think might work. I am grateful for each courageous step I take. Progress is made, perhaps not as much as I might wish, but progress none the less, as you can see.

1) Create 11 Siren's Song blocks. - Another valiant attempt


I finished 7 blocks this week and start the prep work for another 4 blocks.
2) Free motion quilting practice - Not done

Row 6 and 7 of Siren's Song are complete.
I'm three blocks into row 8 with four more
to go. Row 9 is the last row. Then it is time
for another leap of faith.

3) Do some surface design work - Done!!

I had fun trying my hand at bonding glitter. When I set the painted fabric outside to dry, I couldn't resist adding some peony leaves for a mask. I purposefully didn't secure the leaves with more than one pin. I wanted some light to get under them and allow the leaves to shift slightly. This way the contrast between the masked section and unmasked sections isn't as strong.
4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open. - Done!

It is so tempting to give up. Each week that I fall short of my goal making 11 blocks I fear I may not make the deadline I need to achieve in order to enter this piece into the huge stretch of an exhibit I plan to at least try for. I remain open to the possibility that I will finish on time and persevere despite the diminishing odds.

Will my courage be there when I face next week's challenges? I believe so. I find having a plan, even as simple as the same one week after week helps. Next week will be more of the same, as you can see:

1) Create 11 Siren's Song blocks.

2) Free motion quilting practice

3) Do some surface design work

4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open.

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 2016 - 0812

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Almost overnight the glorious
plantings in our atrium started
their rapid end of summer
decline.

Signs of summer coming to an end abound where I live. You wouldn't know it by the weather. Most days for the past couple of weeks have been hot and steamy. So why do our annuals look so pitiful? It must be the diminished light, cluing them in to drop their leaves and flowers. There is a last gasp feel this week. I find myself pulled in multiple directions. One very strong pull is my job as Chair of SAQA's Exhibition Committee. The Committee is working on multiple very exciting, but time consuming projects that if they all manage to come to fruition will result in... well, I'm sworn to secrecy, but if you are a member of SAQA, lucky you. 

The National Bike Challenge winds up on September 30th for another year. I've been hovering at 102 out of approximately 1,000 active riders in our community. I have become obsessed with reaching 100 before the challenge is done. Of course the top 100 are equally obsessed. 

Finding time to spend in my studio this week has been diabolically difficult. Instead of 3 solid studio days, I was lucky to manage about 6 hours for the full week. The result is very little progress was made on Siren's Song. I'm feeling like my annuals - worn out, droopy and off my game. This has happened in the past. It will happen again in the future. Fortunately, it has never proven to be a permanent state. Even now, just as I can find flowers in the garden, I can see glimmers of progress in the past week. It isn't quite as gloomy as my mood as you can see:

The angel wing begonia and sweet potato
vine by our front door hasn't given up yet.

1) Create 11 Siren's Song blocks. - Not even close.

I completed four more Storm at Sea blocks this week. They are the more time consuming of the two alternating blocks. 
2) Free motion quilting practice - Not done.

3) Do some surface design work - Not done.

4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open. - Done!

It can be so easy to give up when the going gets tough. I faced many difficult challenges this week. I never gave up. Instead, I always looked for one step, no matter how tiny, to move forward, whether it was a new approach to a work project, walking away from a daunting list of email to work an hour in the studio, or biking one "bonus" mile to the planned route for the day.

Very slow but steady progress continues
on Siren's Song. 

Attitude is crucial to moving forward. My goal for next week is to bring that can do, determination, persistence and positive attitude to the forefront. When I do, I should be able to make marked progress on the following:

1) Create 11 Siren's Song blocks.

2) Free motion quilting practice

3) Do some surface design work

4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open.

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 2016 - 08/05

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Figure 1
One of the treats of attending quilt shows
is having a white glove lady show you the
back of a quilt that has lovely quilting. What
you can't see in a finished quilt is what the
backside of the quilt top looks like. I've
chosen to share the backside of one of my
blocks to illustrate my preferred method
of how to press seams these days. 

When I started quilting in 1988 I was taught to press my seams towards the dark fabric. So, that is precisely what I did without question. Eventually, I realized the reason for this was so that the seam allowance wouldn't show through the fabric. Something that was likely to happen if a navy fabric was pieced next to a creamy yellow. Then I learned that there was another advantage. If the seam was pressed to one side, the seam allowance covers the actual seam and this kept the batting from bearding to front side of the quilt. Bearding is when fibers from the batt work their way through porous areas to the front of the quilt. I discovered this was particularly problematic when I used a cotton batt as opposed to a polyester batt. 

I am not sure when I learned a different pressing technique. That was to press seams that would butt up together in opposite directions. The advantage to this method is when four pieces in grid format with a "+" seam configuration were sewn together, the opposing seam directions caused the juncture to nest, resulting in a perfect "+". Sometimes I could even achieve the best of both methods with a little planning so that pressing towards the darker fabric AND opposing directions was one and the same. 

Figure 2
This is the same block as shown in Figure 1
but from the front side. Note the pin pointing
upwards in the upper left corner. This tells
me which direction is up. 

I had seams mastered, or so I thought. These two methods of seaming worked great during the days of hand quilting, stitching in the ditch or stitching that followed 1/4" from the seam allowance. However, this seaming/pressing method was problematic once I was free motion quilting all my work. Why? The issue is that if seams are pressed to one side, where the seam is pressed there are three layers of fabric (the piece, that piece's seam allowance and the seam allowance from the piece it is joined to). What happens at a 4 way juncture or an 8 way juncture of seams? The result feels like trying to free motion quilt over a speed bump. No surprise the needle may either jump or get stuck. Not pretty. 

Figure 3
Can you find the block I used to demo
my seaming and orientation tips in this post?
This is what Siren's Song looked like after
this week's blocks were added.

The solution is to press seams open. (See Figure 1) The advantage is that there is less bulk and since the seam allowance is always pressed towards the piece it is affiliated with. This leaves bearding as a potential problem. That can be solved by selecting a batt with little to no bearding. 

I'm really enjoying my single focus weeks of making blocks. There is something so calming about working this way for me. It does mean that little else gets done as you can see.

1) Create 11 Siren's Song blocks. - Closer

This week I managed to make 10 blocks! 
2) Free motion quilting practice - Not Done.

3) Do some surface design work - Not Done.

I do have an idea for something I want to try that I think might make glitter added to paint stay on the fabric even after it is washed. This will be my next surface design experiment.
4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open. - Done!

Perhaps only my brother, who is a regular follower of my blog will get this one. I was so turned off by my eighth grade teacher, who taught the civil war, that I rarely will read a book or watch movie set in that era. One of the few exceptions in recent years was reading March, by Geraldine Brooks. I have never made a single attempt since eighth grade (I'm 63) to understand the civil war from a first hand, non fiction perspective. However, when I discovered that Neal Conan of National Public Radio had put together a series of first hand accounts about the civil war, I gave it a try. Excellent! If only my eighth grade teacher could have humanized the war this way

Next week will be more of the same. At this rate I am estimating that I will finish piecing Siren's Song no latter than mid September. If I need a break there are always a couple of other projects on list to attend to.

1) Create 11 Siren's Song blocks.

2) Free motion quilting practice

3) Do some surface design work

4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open.

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.