Week in Review 2015 - 07/17

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

Adoration is a self portrait of me holding
Andrew, our first grandson.

Today is my grandson Andrew's 8th birthday. He is the first of our five grandchildren. He was followed by two brothers. They make up one family of grandchildren. Next came our two granddaughters. I was thinking how much our children and grandchildren are like my idea of working in a series. Taken individually, each is unique and is treated with great excitement upon arrival. Parenting our children and grandchildren I quickly learned that what works for one doesn't necessarily work for the next. I was constantly needing to try new parenting strategies and combining them with what I already know. Then there is the fact that my children are certain they have better parenting skills than I did. Yet I secretly watch what they do and see parallels with my own methods, taking delight that some of the routines or strategies I used are being revised.

Each panel in Deconstructed Sunrise
can be seen as a series. I certainly picked up tips
and became more comfortable as I worked on
each successive one.

Three more panels from Deconstructed Sunrise
have been quilted and joined.

I conjecture, that for me, working in series is just like parenting and grandparenting. I learn from each quilt that I make. Then in subsequent quilts I use what I have learned and build on it. Sometimes the series isn't so obvious. Very few of my quilts look alike or even similar. Yet, I am able to pull together various combinations of my work that demonstrate my progression of my work with this technique, that understanding of color and even a return to trees over and over again. I doubt to the causal observer of my work she would say that I work in a series. If the point of working in a series is to dig deeply into a technique or theme and learn from repetition, then I have been working in multiple series since I first started quilting.

In a way, Deconstructed Sunrise, the quilt I am currently working on, can be seen as a series within a series. It has been fun this week to continue with the quilting, repeating some patterns and working with new ones. Here is how the week played out:

1) Continue quilting Deconstructed Sunrise - Due November 30, 2015) - Done

2) Free motion quilting practice.  - Done

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015 - 53/126

This is the back side of the three panels from
Deconstructed Sunrise that I worked on this week.
I'm having so much fun with the quilting.

4) Perform a random act of kindness - Done

I'm having so much fun quilting Deconstructed Sunrise that I hate to see that phase come to end. However, if my week goes as planned that is precisely what will happen.

1) Finish quilting Deconstructed Sunrise - Due November 30, 2015)

2) Start the finishing work on Deconstructed Sunrise

3) Free motion quilting practice. 

4) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015

5) Perform a random act of kindness 

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.