Week in Review 2017 - 07/28

My cat knitted knocker still needs a bit
more work to bring it to life. Must be why
Lola is more interested in playing with the
knitting needle.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques

The most common question I get asked when someone first learns I am an artist, whose medium is quilting, is "How long does it take you to make a quilt?" I've answered that in a previous post. Today, I would like to focus on a typical comment when the topic of my quilting comes up, it is "I've always wanted to make a quilt, but I don't have the time/patience to make one." Does this imply, since I have made several 100 quilts, that I have more time or patience than the person making the comment? Maybe. It certainly has me question whether I have more patience than others. I know I don't have more time. We are all gifted with the same 24 hours a day. The difference is how we choose to use that time. I believe I make the time for two reasons. The first is because I need a creative outlet and have discovered quilting is a natural, essential fit for me. The second is attitude. I am a firm believer in the Tao maxim, "A Journey of one thousand miles begins with a single step." I find if I focus on the first step, and each step to follow as it arrives, I don't get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task before me. 

Picking Up the Pieces #4
The quilting is officially done.

My attitude of taking one step at time has resulted in several milestones being reached this week as you can see:

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4 - Done!

The first milestone was finishing quilting Picking Up the Pieces #4. 

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3 - Not yet, but...

Milestone number 2 is I finally started sewing the facing for Picking Up the Pieces #1.

3) Pot(s) made this week - Done!

Iris Fine Yarns, our local yarn shop in Appleton, Wisconsin, which has partnered with Knitted Knockers of the Fox Cities, is sponsoring a competition for art knockers. These knitted knockers will be put on display throughout the shop as a way to market the project. I'm intimidated by the very idea of making sculpture. I consider myself little more than a beginning knitter. However, I have made enough knitted knockers (pots) by now to have the pattern memorized and understand how the increases, decreases, and iCord come together to create a knocker. All those knockers made gave me the confidence to try my hand at an art knocker. Of course, the artist in me couldn't resist altering the pattern. By judiciously adding extra increase, decrease and iCord rows, I was able to create a neck, body and tail to form a cat knitted knocker. This is milestone number 3, my first self-altered knitting pattern and sculptural piece. 

Picking Up the Pieces #4 detail

4) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

I completed my own thousand mile journey. As of this morning I have biked 1,004 miles in the 2017 National Bike Challenge. 

Although, I will be taking a two week blog vacation, the journeys won't stop. There will be more quilting, knitting and biking in the weeks to come. Here are a few of the journeys I plan on continuing:

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3

3) Pot(s) made this week

4) Free motion quilting practice

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 2017 - 07/21

Tips, Thoughts, and Techniques:

Picking Up the Pieces #4
AFTER I started quilting the border.
Here the border draws the eye in and
allows the pieced portion to appear to float.

It's true, on an organizational spectrum with 0 representing total chaos and 10 standing for nothing ever being out of place, I probably fall between 8 and 9. When my children were teenagers they would have told you I was a 10. Not true. There are always a few things, sometimes more than a few things, strewn across my desk or tools, thread, and fabric scattered through out my studio. The reason items have yet to be returned to their proper location may be because I need them for a current project. However, they are just as likely to be left out, because I haven't found a good place for something new, or more likely I got distracted/excited by something else and then never returned to pick up after myself. 

Why is organization good, but rigidity is to be avoided? In my opinion organization, like working in a series, allows one to notice the nuances, and delightful serendipity that occurs naturally and capitalize on them. It is the unpredictable surprises which keep me hooked on making art. Mickey Lawler, in her interview with Clara Nartey said it so well. Mickey shared, "On my very best days of painting, I only have about 80% control over what happens.  And that’s really a lot. But it’s the 20% I live for."

Picking Up the Pieces #4
BEFORE I started quilting the border.
Here the border pulls the eye out.

My work in the studio, quilting the border for Picking Up the Pieces #4, felt very methodical, most of the time. However, since I control the quilting as I manually maneuver the quilt under the needle, achieving round circles with my pebbles or exact echoes, well they are close, but not nearly as close as using a machine which is preprogrammed. Until I had completed most of three borders, I hadn't realized, just how big an impact the thread and design I chose would radically change the appearance of the piece. Love that 20%!

This week was a continuation of the past few weeks - one primary focus as follows:

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4 - Done!

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3 - Not yet

3) Pot(s) made this week - Done!

Detail from Picking Up the Pieces #4
Each pebble is approximately 3/16"

I really, really struggle making round pebbles as a filler motif when free motion quilting. This week I must have quilted 100's if not 1,000s of pebbles. There were some which looked perfectly round. Most don't. I am getting more comfortable in switching from clockwise to counter-clockwise and back, as needed. That's progress.

4) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

I plan to do more free motion quilting next week. I also want to finish up the hand sewing required complete quilts 99% done in my Picking Up the Pieces series. I'm eager to move on to the next idea currently in percolating mode. That will have to wait at least one more week, if I stay true to the following plan:

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3

3) Pot(s) made this week

4) Free motion quilting practice

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 2017 - 07/14

Picking Up the Pieces #4

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

The more chaotic, demanding, and overfull my life feels, the more I crave, but eschew studio time. Then something snaps or perhaps clicks and I settle into my studio. Why, oh why, did I deprive myself of this experience when I need it the most? Not yesterday. Lola, my studio companion and I spent a delightful three hours enjoying monitoring the wildlife (mostly her) and finishing up the free motion quilting in the green sections of Picking up the Pieces 4 (me while she supervised). 

Here we are, me behind the camera and Lola stealing the limelight:



Hopefully, you will be able to watch this 15 second video. It shows off the free motion quilting texture better than any photograph. 

Here is what we, I mean I, turned my attention to this week:

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4 - Done!

Everything but the border has been free motion quilted. Boy were there a lot of threads to bury. Thank goodness for self threading needles. :)

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3 - Not yet!

3) Pot(s) made this week - Done!

Detail from Picking Up the Pieces #4

If burying thread tails count.I must have buried close to 100 thread tails this week. Perhaps the next great add on to a sewing machine will be automatic thread tail burying. 

4) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

When I first started quilting and had school aged children, my personal mantra was "quilting first, the rest will follow". I've been reflecting back on that mantra more and more. I plan to put it back in practice next week. When I do, here is what I will focus on.

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3

3) Pot(s) made this week

4) Free motion quilting practice

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 2017 - 07/07

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Picking Up the Pieces #4

When I was in mid 20's, married, a working mother, and completing my degree at nights, I motivated myself through the grueling, no time for myself period with thoughts of the life I would be living now, 40 years later.  What I imagined was lots, and lots, and lots of free time to use as I chose. In some ways that is precisely what I have. The rub comes with how I choose to use that time. Somehow in my imaginings what I did would feel less jammed packed and more relaxing than how things felt in my 20s. The reality is life is short and there are so many wonderful ways to spend it. Seems I can never resist getting involved in just one more thing. This year it is Knitted Knockers. 

I'm pleased to say Knitted Knockers of the Fox Cities has officially launched. I have been working with several other women to get a branch of Knitted Knockers going in our area. This has required setting up a Facebook/web page, working with the Volunteer Center of E. Central Wisconsin and their group of knitters for charity, and partnering with Iris Fine Yarns to be an official drop off point for knockers, donations and carrier of the approved yarns. Last Friday, I delivered 26 pairs of knockers to the Fox Valley Hematology and Oncology Center. Manuela Lornson brought the marketing material. We were filmed by NBCTV 26 for one of their community caring features. The program aired during three different news slots. You can see the three minute feature here. In less than 24 hours from the original airing we have received several requests for knockers which have already been filled.

This week I focused on the yellow squares,
filling them with a motif I am calling Rain Clouds.

One thing that hasn't changed over the past 40 years is my ability to find ways to get my art fix no matter how busy I am. In my 20's I subscribed to several magazines. I would look longly at the various projects thinking about the time when I could actually try one. American Quilter and Quilter's Newsletter were two I subscribed to once a became a stay at home mother. Oh the joy of finding one of those in my mailbox! Now I get my art fix from www.artdaily.com. It is a great way to start my morning. 

I still manage to head to the studio for a few hours work several days a week. Here is what I accomplished this week:

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4 - Done!

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3 - Not yet.

3) Pot(s) made this week - Done!

I use a refillable pencil to mark
some of the trickier quilting motifs. 

I just finished a size F knocker in breast cancer pink. I've lost track of how many knockers I have made, but I'm sure I'm in the double digits by this time. What I am noticing is I no longer need to check the pattern, and the joins between the double pointed needles are getting tighter. I love how doing something repetitively, it becomes second nature and the overall quality improves.

4) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

I had fun trying out a new free motion quilting motif on Picking Up the Pieces #4. It is in the yellow squares. It reminds of rain clouds in the distance.

When I am not checking out ArtDaily or attending meetings next week, I will turn my attention to:

1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 and #3

3) Pot(s) made this week

4) Free motion quilting practice

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.