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| 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. |
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.
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| Picking Up the Pieces #4 The quilting is officially done. |
1) Work on Picking Up the Pieces #4 - Done!
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.
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.
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| 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:
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.
I couldn't agree more on all of the above. Do people think I just sit down and start a quilt from start to finish in a day or even a week? How could I possibly know how long or more importantly care. A labor of love has no time constraints.
ReplyDeleteYour quilting is wonderful on the picking up the pieces quilt - wow! When you do the motif such as the crescent moon with them skinny lines, do I assume correctly that you do the moon first and then the lines? Do you mark any of it?
I am happily reading the first in the Andy carpenter series and love it. He has the same sense of humor that I do and can so identify. Thanks for the tip 😀
Agreed!! those are The two question i have to answer each time i show my work. i agree it is so much of a choice what you do with your 24 hours as we all are allotted them same amount!
ReplyDeleteI create art because i have an notion a seed of an idea and material and am in love with colors that i can paint and i enjoy the process i go through to get to the point i feel it is done, including the many decisions made along the way..... each time i try to gently educate those asking. Sometimes i think they really don't know what they are asking as it is low on artists list to calculate hours in making, etc. So since they asked, i will attempt to inform and tell my story that i would rather answer the WHY of the piece....
You nailed it...it all comes down to priorities!! Picking Up The Pieces #4 is a real stunner.....worth ALL that extra time you found to complete it....grinning!!!
ReplyDeleteI like your choice of quilting patterns--they integrate the quilt and yet add another layer of interest since the repetition is only approximate. And you are indeed right about getting things done. In order to have finished something, one must take that first step.
ReplyDeleteHello Gwyned,
ReplyDeleteThe joys of FMQ on a plain background! The contrast between bold piecing and intricate quilting has worked atreat. Thank you for linking up with Free Motion Mavericks - your quilt is this week's featured project!
Love, Muv