Week in Review 2016 - 7/15

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques: 

One of two fabrics made using blue glue resist
and Setacolor paint.

This week has been one big happy dance. No, I didn't have my work accepted somewhere exciting. Then again, I didn't receive a rejection either. I am happy, because after weeks, even months of playing with surface design techniques, all with a focus to achieve fabric that would work to create water, while being absolutely clueless about a design that would incorporate water, I had a Eureka moment. My muse didn't just whisper the idea in my ear or show it to me behind a veil of fog. No she shouted out the idea and wrote it across the sky, like fireworks. When that happens, I don't question. I just get working. As you will see by what I did and didn't get done this week, I was focused, but driven.

The working title for the latest obsession is Siren's Song. It takes me back to my roots of block blending. This is when I selected compatible blocks but color them in such a way that the actual block/structure is hard to discern. Nearly all the work in my Shifting Values series was achieved this way. I decided that all the blocks this time should be associated with water. I'm using Flying Fish, Ocean Waves and Storm at Sea. The first two blocks are made using half square triangles and squares, so are very easy to piece accurately. Storm at Sea is a nightmare unless it is pieced using templates or paper pieced. I love the precision of paper piecing but HATE!! pulling out the paper at the end. Yes, I used small stitches, but some paper always gets caught under a few stitches with nearly every patch. This drives me crazy. So, imagine my excitement when I discovered, while googling tricks for piecing Storm at Sea, to stumble upon a method of paper piecing where the paper isn't stitched to fabric. It is called No Tear Paper Piecing and is demonstrated by the owner of Quilt N Bee in Travers, Michigan. 

The second fabric made using blue glue gel as a
resist and painted with Setacolor paint. Both
fabrics will find their way into Siren's Song. One
already has.

What can I say about this week? I've been on a (no) tear and this will become clearer over the course of future posts. Sometimes what is seen as accomplished through a checked off or not checked off list doesn't tell the full story. My plan was to:

1) Create the blueprint for the next artwork - Done!

I won't share the blueprint. You will just have to trust me on this.
2) Free motion quilting practice - Nope!

I had ordered thread to continue working on First Light. It still hasn't arrived. Even if it did, I was too focused on Siren's Song to shift gears and bang out some free motion quilting.
3) Do some surface design work - Done!

I was thinking of inking the fabric I had masked with blue glue gel as a resist. Then I remembered I had just replenished my emerald green Setacolor paint, this time with glitter so wanted to try that out. Love the green, but the glitter washed out with the glue. Suggestions on how to make the glitter permanent are welcome. 
4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open - Done!

Remember that run of green to blue hand dyed
fabrics? I selected 8 of them for Siren's Song.
I didn't dye enough fabric for the quilt the first go
round. This week I dyed a yard more of each color.
I am thrilled to report the second color run is very,
very close to the first run. Hurrah! This is the first
block made. It measures 8" x 8". The pattern is
Ocean Waves. I made two more blocks this
week. That leaves me with 66 more blocks to go.

The truth is when my muse suggested this quilt my first reaction was, "Are you crazy?" The finished size of the quilt will be 72" H x 56" W and it will use 1,000's of individual pieces to build. It was extremely tempting to give up before I even started. I didn't. I stayed open and accepted that Siren's Song, needed to be made.

My plan is clear. I have an exhibit in mind to enter Siren's Song in. Therefore, there is a deadline. It is quite a ways off, BUT for the amount of work that must be done to meet the deadline it may as well be tomorrow. It will require 100% of my focus. Here is how I plan to focus:
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 - 06/17

Sunrise Abstraction is up on my

website now that the facing has

been stitched down.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

I recently finished watching, Cooked, a Netflix Documentary. I rarely rate something 5 stars, but that is what I gave Cooked. What struck me is how food is transformed by how we prepare it. Michael Pollan chose to look at food through the lens of fire, water, earth and air. Each element plays a part in how food is transformed. It is also transformed by how we combine ingredients and choose to season it. 

I was struck by the similarities between cooking and quilting. A quilt is the transformation of fabric that is chosen to work together and then quilted to bring out texture. Some quilters, like me recently, even choose to start with white fabric, that we dye, paint or use other surface design techniques, to get just the color and pattern we need. This is why I spent a couple days dying fabric so that I could have my pick of greens to blues in a variety of values for the quilt that is a glimmer of an idea.

The view from my kitchen window during the height of the

storm. It is extremely rare to have roof run off. This

felt like my own person waterfall.

Nature has a way of transforming the world around us. If you don't like the weather in New England,  just wait a minute, has been erroneously attributed to Samuel Clemens. What he actually said is, "There is a sumptuous variety about the New England weather that compels the stranger's admiration -- and regret. " New England can be replaced by any location on the globe. All you have to do is google the quote, "if you don't like the weather..." and you find it attributed to various places.  

We certainly saw some weather this past Wednesday evening when the skies opened up for 20 minutes of one of the heaviest rains I can recall. Appleton, WI, where I live is relatively flat and the streets flood easily and drain easily. Fortunately, this storm caused no major damage. Instead it provided some light hearted moments. I heard people were kayaking in the streets, but didn't believe it until I found this photo online!

 I was feeling rather light hearted myself this week. It seems I am back in the groove as you can see: 

This isn't the only picture I found of people 

kayaking in the street on Wednesday. Nor is it the 

best. However, I like to choose photos were the 

photographer can receive credit.

I used a combination of dilutive and additive 

methods to create this graduation from a yellow green

to an ice blue with multiple value reductions during

the process. The top fabric that only has the tiniest

corner showing, is a stunning nearly white, pale blue. I 

achieved this by diluting the original blue 8 times.

1) Work on Sunrise Abstraction - Done!

I finished stitching down the facing just in time to have my husband take the formal picture of Sunrise Abstraction for me to use on my website and for calls for entry. Kudos to him for getting even light across the quilt and capturing the texture created by stitching. Not an easy task to do as an amateur photographer with very basic equipment.

2) Free motion quilting practice - Done!

I don't have proof, but I started quilting the whole cloth piece I had Spoonflower.com print for me. There really wasn't enough done to share. I am loving what I've done so far. 
3) Do some surface design work - Done!

Not only did I hand-dye fabric, I also tried my hand at using dishwashing liquid as a resist. I have a tendency to collect articles on surface design techniques, much the way others collect recipes. I intend to try them one day, it is just that that one day never seems to come. This is precisely why I am devoting this year to playing with surface design.
4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open - Done!

See 3 - It was so tempting to count my hand-dying session as my surface design project for the week. However, my goal with this item on my to do list is to learn many surface design techniques, not just fall back on ones I have become relatively comfortable with. I wanted to stay open to learning something new and had to fight the urge not to do anything and everything that I am far more comfortable with and therefore risk running out of time to do the uncomfortable experimenting.
One thing in the plans for next week is to finish the resist project. It requires a series of paint/dry/paint cycles. I am also looking forward to some solid free motion quilting sessions. And then there is a the finish work on Sunrise Abstraction to complete. In other words, if I don't like or tire from one project I can always change to another one, just like the weather. Here is the game plan:

1) Work on Sunrise Abstraction

a) Make and attach the sleeve
b) Make and attach the label

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 - 06/10

We spent a week on a cruise through
the Norwegian fjords. This time we had
a cabin in the stern. This is one of many
pictures I took with my iPad leaning out
over the railing of our balcony.

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

I'm in life is short, eat dessert first mode. I believe this is caused by having my first vacation in years when I had zero access to the internet for seven days. Usually when I am away, even on holiday, the responsible person in me feels obligated to check my email and handle whatever business I can. I also hope that by doing so there will be less to get caught up with when I return. I struggle with the transition from home to travel and back. This time I did something slightly different. I made a conscientious decision to spend time in my studio, knowing that I had mountain of accumulated paperwork to handle. Nirvana! Honestly, I was surprised how just a few hours working on my current project helped to maintain the relaxed state from my vacation AND gave me the energy to face the business side of things. 

Sunrise Abstraction after one vertical
facing has been hand stitched in place.
Don't forget to click on the image if
you want to see it enlarged.

Apparently I was so  relaxed that I completely forgot my goal of doing some free motion quilting weekly. Perhaps that will be my dessert next week. Here is what I did achieve:

1) Work on Sunrise Abstraction - Done!

Before we left for vacation I washed and blocked Sunrise Abstraction. This gave it plenty of time to dry. Early in the week I squared up/trimmed the quilt with my husband. Next I added the facing strips. Now I have begun stitching them in place. I use Kathy Loomis's method of the vertical strips being 2" shorter than the vertical side and the horizontal strips being 2" longer than the horizontal sides. Usually I crop my images so that distracting items, such as the unfinished facing strips don't show. However, I thought it might be helpful to include everything this time around. For example, you can see how I match, in a close enough way, my facing to the front of the work. Also, Instead of turning all the facing to the back at once, I thought I would try turning just the strip I was currently working on. I plan on stitching down the two vertical strips first. Then going back and tackling the horizontal strips. 

After sending one of the water pictures through
a series of art apps on my iPad, I came up with
this design. 

2) Free motion quilting practice - Oops, I forgot to do this.
3) Do some surface design work - Done!

I couldn't resist taking and sharing this photo of my
studio helper, Lola, sitting on my lap as I stitched
down the facing. 

One of the reasons I took Art on the iPad was to be able to do art on vacation. Yes, I was able to do some art. No, working on an iPad cooped up on a trans Atlantic flight didn't work for me. However, I found the iPad the perfect tool to have in the hotel and on the cruise for those free 15 minutes or more of transitional time. 
4) Beware of when I find myself shutting down and find a way to stay open - Done!

We were comped vouchers to go to one of the specialty restaurants on the cruise. This is my third cruise, and being the frugal person that I am, I couldn't see the point of going to a restaurant on board that cost additional money, when excellent food is included 24 hours a day in multiple restaurants. I wasn't even keen on going to one of the restaurants even having my meal comped. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We went. It was the best meal, worth it even if we had to pay.

Next week will be more of the same, but I hope with some free motion quilting. Here is the plan.

1) Work on Sunrise Abstraction

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.