Week in Review 2017 - 03/24

Now that the clocks have been set
an hour ahead, this is the view
from my studio when I open the
curtains and settling in to work.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques: 

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of being read to, even after I had learned to read myself. My mother would read Grimm's Fairy Tales, to me and my brother. Many of these are fairy tales we all grew up on. Other books I listened to are more obscure. A favorite, which my third grade teacher read to the class during rest period, was The Trouble With Jenny's Ear. As an adult, I still love being read to, or more precisely listening to audio books. I particularly treasurer stumbling upon a book which takes me by surprise by exceeding my expectations. When you listen and/or read 150 books a year, happening upon a stellar book is uncommon. I admit, I have love of books told from varying perspectives, coming of age stories, and set in high school. No surprise, a favorite is Up the Down Staircase. I can recommend it with zero hesitation. My current "school" genre read is The Most Dangerous Place on Earth. The story is set in a contemporary school system full of privileged students. The strength of the book is how the narrative is carried forward by various characters in turn, the spot on voices of the students, teachers and parents, and the character development.

The two bees needing finishing
touches are the ones without
antennae and stingers.

Yesterday, when it was time to move on to the next book available on my audio list, I wasn't expecting to be captivated by The Most Dangerous Place on Earth. I wasn't even sure why I had placed it on my wait list. I'm so glad I did. Much as I enjoy the repetition which naturally comes with fiber art, it can get boring. Add a good book and it is easy to stay behind the sewing machine outlining bees. Only two more to go and then I can move on to other parts of this project.

Once again, I feel as though I accomplished much this week, but have little to show for it, as my list reflects:

1) Work on the design for Picking Up the Pieces #2 and/or #3 - Done!

I cut out, assembled, fused, outlined and secured twelve more bees and have just the securing of two more left to do. I secure each piece of the bee with satin stitch and while doing so, add the stinger and antennae. Not bad, considering each bee represents approximately 90 minutes of work.  

How the piece looked when
I stopped working on it this week.

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1 - Not Yet

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

Those bees have been a great pot making learning experience when it comes to creating small fusible appliqué elements. 

4) Free motion quilting practice - Not this week.

I am eager to move past bees and onto other aspects of this piece, sort of. I am struggling with a banner/label I want to place on the hive. The issue is how to create small legible writing on a curved line. Handwriting the text is out. I've played in Photoshop Elements, EQ 7 and MS Word. I haven't found anything which will allow me to place text on a curved line. If you have a suggestion, I would love to hear it.

When I am not struggling with text options I will turn my attention to:

1) Work on  Picking Up the Pieces #2 and/or #3

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1

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 - 03/17

It was warmth on Thursday to step outside
and take a photo of the view to the south.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

It's been another scattered week. Where has my focus gone? I feel as though I am leap frogging from one false start to another. The end result of my studio time appears more together than the emotions surrounding the work. Why? I think it is because although I am making progress I have a creative problem without a viable solution. Until I have a solution, that problem clouds my ability to sense the progress. I know I need to push through, to try, to test, and eventually something will come to me. One motivator is to sit down, as I am doing now, and record my week's work. It is a reminder of challenges I have overcome.

This week I:

Detail from Picking up the Pieces #3

1) Worked on the design for Picking Up the Pieces #3

I added a few more bees to Picking Up the Pieces #3. The bees are getting easier to stitch down as I develop a rhythm and standard stitching path.

2) Didn't finish Picking Up the Pieces #1

3) Made pot(s) 

The bees are a perfect example of making pots. The more I make, the more I learn about whether it is best to cut out pieces in a clockwise or counter clockwise direction. The answer is counter clockwise, because  it gives me a better view of where I am cutting. I've been honing my "stinger" stitching skills. I've discovered I like to free motion stitch down the circumference of each bee first, then swap feet and finish with a satin stitch. 

My eighth knitted knocker

I have continued to make knitted knockers. This week I finished my eighth one. The beginning rounds, absolutely diabolically difficult for the first five or so knockers, are now stitching out much more easily. I no longer need to check the pattern to see what to do when. Most exciting of all, I have stuffed a knocker for the first time and HURRAH, the stitches are tight enough that the stuffing doesn't beard.

4) And even managed some free motion quilting practice

The challenge I referred to in the beginning is how to best introduce twenty-two names into Picking Up the Pieces #3. Should I free motion quilt them? Write them with a fine point pen? Should they be subtle, stitched in clear monofilament? Should I create them off quilt on a scroll, which I later attach to the quilt? Would they make more sense to appear in the background, on each bee, or on the hive? I tested one idea and learned what NOT to do. 

The most successful part of this experiment
is how using metallic thread was problem free.
I swapped out my standard #70 needle
for a #90, thus providing a large eye for the
thread to pass through.

Clearly, more testing is needed next week. When I am not testing ways to add the names I will give myself a respite from the struggle by working on the following:

1) Work on the design for Picking Up the Pieces #2 and/or #3

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1

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 - 03/10

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Check out the stripes in Lola's fur. They are
an excellent example of variable repetition.

I've been thinking about repetition this week. It is one of the principles of design. I have learned my preference is for variable repetition. In other words I like to repeat elements, but vary them in some way. Although, I still have quite a ways to go with Picking Up the Pieces #3, I can already see variable repetition occurring consciously  and sub-consciously. It began with the honeycomb background made from a single tessellated block, the hexagon. The variety is due to using nine differing fabrics placed in random order. Next up is the bee hive, built with stacked, curved rectangles of diminishing length. Now I am working on the bees. I have drawn out three different bees, representing different angles of flight. I have resized the drawings so that the bees vary in scale from 3" to 5". 

Progress to date on
Picking Up the Pieces #3.

One of the tools I depend on to do work of this sort is my printer. I love how I can create a pencil drawing, trace over it with a permanent black pen, scan it into my computer using my printer and store it as .pdf. Once I have the .pdf I can print the drawing out any size I want. My original bees are approximately 8" in length. In order to get a 3" bee, I simply divide 3 by 8 and get 0.375. I set the printer scale to 37% (could be 38%, or even 40% or 35%, it doesn't have to be exact.) and viola - a 3" bee.

This week I managed to print out the various scaled patterns and even create my first bee. That isn't all I did, as you can see:

1) Work on the design for Picking Up the Pieces #2 and/or #3 - Done!

Finally, I finished piecing the over 400 half hexagons which make up the background. I have moved on to creating the foreground.

Close up of the bee

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

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

I am continuing to work on various appliqué techniques. Picking Up the Pieces #3 is particularly good for this. The hive is large enough where it made sense to turn under the edges for a smooth finish. The bees, especially one 3" in length made up of eleven different pieces is far to fussy to do anything but fuse. When I fuse appliqué pieces my preference is to finish the edge with satin stitch. I set my machine for a vary narrow satin stitch and used Superior's Bottom Line thread. I don't want the stitching to overwhelm those tiny pieces. 

Most weeks I try my hand at an EQ 7 tutorial.
I find it helps me gain a better comfort level
with the application. I'm finally getting to a point
where I can take a lesson, learn from it, but
do my own thing. 

4) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

I spent 30 minutes or so doing some more pebbling. 

Next week will be a repetition with some variety of this week. I have approximately 14 more bees to cut out, fuse and stitch down. They may be small, but they do take several hours each. Hopefully, the more I make the faster I will get. If I need a break, I have several other things to work on such as:

1) Work on the design for Picking Up the Pieces #2 and/or #3

2) Finish Picking Up the Pieces #1

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.

Weekly Report 2014 - 09/26

Two more leaves and a frog left to go
on Night Vision.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Have you ever noticed how the direction your art takes you reflects your non art life? I have. Even knowing that this happened time and time again I am startled when I "see" the connection when none was intended. My children are both in their 30's now. When they were teenage poster children of adolescent rebellion my work was abstract, but meticulously controlled. The titles were downright scary, reflecting my state of mind, such as Balancing Act, Hope Springs Eternal, Insomnia and Breaking Through Depression. When I gathered the images reflecting the last week's work I couldn't help but notice how much I am using green. Green is my go to color when I crave a long compassionate soothing hug. This summer has been particularly difficult for the seniors in my life. We lost my father-in-law, nearly lost my mother-in-law a few weeks later, lost her brother, one of my  sisters was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer two weeks ago and yesterday I signed the papers for the aunt whom I have been caring for for over 10 years to be enrolled in hospice. Just reading that sentence has me gasping for breath. However, studying the gentle curves of Night Vision and feeling the calming influence of the green, I can relax. How very fortunate I am to be able to self sooth through my art.

Bumble Bees in Flight
A free motion quilting design adapted
from Lori Kennedy's design

All three projects I worked on this week feature green. Here they are:

1) Night Vision - (Due January 1, 2015)

a) Continue the piecing - Done

Often at this stage of a quilt I am beating myself up over the fact that I don't feel the work is coming together. So far, so good. I am pleased.

LifeBook 2014 Lesson 39
Covering up old work to make it new

2) Free motion quilting practice. - Done!

Do check out Lori Kennedy's blog The Inbox Jaunt for a wonderful ongoing collection of free motion quilting designs. I'm fan. Can you tell?

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

This week's lesson was about salvaging old work intuitively, with the flair and confidence of a preschooler wielding the paint brush. It's done. I've done better. It is times like this when I need to remember that failure and/or disappointment in one's work is part of the process.


I expect my time to create art next week will be limited. Any time I do have will focus on:

1) Night Vision - (Due January 1, 2015)

a) Continue the piecing

2) Free motion quilting practice.

3) 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.