Week in Review 2015 - 07/31

Tips, Thoughts and Techniques:

I'm nearly finished with Deconstructed Sunrise.
Just 10" remains of the binding to stitch in place. 

Are you SMART when setting goals for yourself? I am most of the time. When I am not, that often leads to a time of frustration, feeling overwhelmed and a need to stop, regroup and refocus. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time (deadline.) An example of a SMART goal I set for myself is to write and post this blog weekly. It is specific - write a blog entry. It is measurable. I know I have obtained my goal when I press publish. It is attainable. I am capable of writing a post weekly, versus something much more difficult, if not impossible for me, such as writing a novel in a month. It is relevant. My passion and avocation is being a fiber artist. Posting my blog weekly is my way of sharing what I do and connecting with others. Finally, it has a fixed deadline. I post each Friday morning. In fact it is the very first business I attend to on Friday mornings.

I started Deconstructed Sunrise #2 this week.
I need something less than 100" square to enter in a
Wisconsin Visual Artists exhibition. I find working
"small" very difficult.

Can SMART goals be applied to making the artwork itself? Sometimes yes and sometimes no. At least that has been my personal experience. When I made work based on quilt blocks I found it easy to set a goal of doing so many blocks per studio day or per week. It is more difficult for me to break my current work into anything but stages. I suppose I could monitor the time it takes me to hand stitch a binding, create a sleeve or FMQ a given area, but I don't. Is it because I don't want to know? I have the sense in all I do when making my art that it takes a long, long time. That I ought to be working faster, producing more and working more efficiently. What is the fun in that? Today, I will give myself permission to be hyper organized and goal driven in some areas of my life and relaxed, messy and goal-less in others.

OK, I am never completely without a goal as you can see by what I accomplished this week:

1) Continue the finishing work on Deconstructed Sunrise - Done!

One advantage of working small, though, is that
it works up very quicklycompared to larger work.
I designed the basic structure on Monday. The next day
I pieced (actually turned under and fused) the fabric.
One more day and I had begun the quilting.

I managed to hand stitch the majority of the binding. I have less than 10" to go. I also have created my split sleeve, so I will stitch that on next.

2) Free motion quilting practice.  - Done!

Actually, I did quilting practice and not FMQ practice as I worked on my newest piece, Deconstructed Sunrise #2. 

3) Post the number of days I have worked in my studio in 2015 - 58.5/126

4) Perform a random act of kindness - Done!

My goal for next week is to accept that with all that I have scheduled outside the studio, my studio time will be greatly limited. I will work on the following with the time I have:

I am loving the gentle contrast between the photo
of the sunrise and the fabric it sits on. There is just
enough black in the trees to allow the photo to stand out.
It was strategically placed to provide a focus
point for the eye.

1) Continue the finishing work on Deconstructed Sunrise

2) Deconstructed Sunrise #2 (Due August 25, 2015):

•  Finish quilting it.
•  Decide whether additional embellishments would help?
•  Start the finish work.

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.

Quilting Along with Leah Day - Week 24

I am curator of a traveling exhibition for Fiber Artists Coalition, titled Conversations in Stitch. When I was recently interviewed about the exhibit for a newspaper article the journalist asked about the title and what I was trying to convey with the work I had selected. Here is what I told her. The work may appear as quite an eclectic collection at first. However, shapes, colors and subject matter repeat throughout the exhibition but are interpreted differently by different artists. I suggested to the journalist that she look at the many ways that trees are rendered in the artwork.

Full View of Tree Roots Practice Piece

Leah's latest assignment has us practicing a free motion quilting with a pattern called Tree Roots. How apropos. We have moved from beginner stitching to advanced beginner level. Tree Roots requires not only plotting our route but back tracking, or travel stitching.

Close Up of Tree Roots
Note Some Travel Stitching is Not detectible
While Other Travel Stitching is Obvious 

You may recall that the prior assignment was titled Branching Out. Tree Roots and Branching Out are basically the same, but the roots are slightly curved while the branches are all straight lines set at angles to each other. I found it more challenging to travel stitch along a gently curved line than a straight line.

It is easier to see the overall pattern that Tree Roots creates by viewing the back side of the practice piece. I purposefully select a commercial fabric with various hues and values as my front. Since that is the type of fabric I use for most of my quilts. However, to demonstrate my stitching acume (or not) I use solid fabrics on the backside.

Back Side of Tree Roots Practice Piece

There is nothing like a closeup to on solid fabric to show every single stitch...

Detail of the Back Side of Tree Roots

If you want to get an even closer look you can click on any picture and it will be enlarged.