Week in Review - 2013 - 2/22

To borrow from Garrison Keillor, it has been a good week in my studio. Here is why.

1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013) - made the deadline with 4 weeks to spare. I can now submit Shore's Edge for consideration in Fiber Revolution's exhibition, "Breadth." It will need to make the first cut by "Breadth's" Fiber Revolution curator and then a second cut by the curator for the Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH. Eventually this will be a touring exhibition.

"Shore's Edge" is bound!

a) Create the binding and sleeves. - Done!

b) Start to attach the binding. - Done! Not only did I start the binding, I finished it.

2) Pictorial Painting

Seta Color Paint Matrix
Each of 8 colors are blended with each other.
The goal (which I didn't figure out until 25% through
the project) was to blend two colors twice, once so that color A
dominates and then again so that color B dominates.

a) Continue to work on my paint mixing matrix. - Done! I finished this, too.

This was a very time consuming project, but well worth the effort. Now, when I blend paint for future projects, such as the geese in "Reflection" I can refer to the matrix as a starting point. For example, I have already identified that I will use violet with a few drops of black for the darkest section of the geese, their necks.

3) Express Your Love

Detail from "Express Your Love" showing the latest
addition of a ray quilted with Flying Geese. It is the one
in the center with triangles flying south.

a) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Done!

"Express Your Love" as it looks today.

The assignment was to quilt some rays using an assisted free motion quilt pattern called Flying Geese. It is an assisted pattern, because unlike most free motion quilting that is done with no marking, Flying Geese requires a few marked lines in order to stay on track. I was pleasantly surprised by how rapidly and easily this pattern worked up. I am left wondering where else I could use it. Perhaps in a geometric, abstract piece for some interesting secondary design.

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

"Reflection" after the central cluster of geese have been added.

a) Finish reverse appliquéing the geese to the background. - OK, almost done. I have one goose and her reflection to go. She will be in the lower left corner and therefore will help balance the piece.

b) Mark where the red branches will be. - There is always next week.

Speaking of next week, here is my plan for the week ending March 1:


1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013)

a) Attach the sleeves.

b) Make and attach the label.

c) Submit Call for Entry to Vivien at Fiber Revolution.

d) Add Shore's Edge to my website.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Create a palette of colors to be used when painting the geese.

3) Express Your Love

a) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

a) Finish reverse appliquéing the geese to the background.

b) Paint the geese.

c) Determine how best to create the red branches and their foliage.

This week's bonus is my recommendation to check out the talented artists I am privileged to work with as part of Fiber Revolution.

Week in Review 2013 - 02/15

One thing is becoming abundantly clear since I started posting my plans for each week and how they overlay with what I actually do, there is always a discernible difference. Sometimes the difference is small, but more often than not it seems as vast as the Grand Canyon. Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. Therefore, this week's thought is a reminder to stay flexible, especially when creating. If something isn't working, find a way to fix it or just get rid of it and start over. If one thing leads to another, go with the flow. Listen to your inner voice. Learn to trust it. Find a way to balance staying in the moment with reflecting on all that has been accomplished to this point and then look to future for motivation to continue.

I accomplished much this week, just not what I thought I would. Here is how the week ending February 15, 2013 played out:

1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013)

"Shore's Edge" is 30" H x 46.5" W
The sea foam and spray is added.

a) Fuse the sea spray (Angelina Fiber creation) to the quilt. - Done!

b) Start adding a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray. - Done!

However, if you are looking for beads indicating foam and spray you won't find them. Here is what I tried...

i. Securing the Angelina Fiber creation down with beads. Rejected.

ii. Securing the Angelina Fiber with Steam a Seam 2 Lite. That worked for the spray but not the lead edge and crests of the mini waves.

iii. Tried couching yarn. - Rejected

iv. Tried satin stitch. - Rejected

v. Tried braiding the yarn and then stitching it into place. Finally! Even this was problematic as I fiddled with different quilting feet to find one that wouldn't jam. I ended up using my open toe foot.

vi. I also tossed white and crystal beads around the ocean in strands and clusters but they looked like beads and not spray. So, no need to bead.

2) Pictorial Painting

The set up of paints in my wet studio (doubles as a laundry room).

a) Add the label to the Calla Lily piece. - Done! 

b) Watch the introduction for the second and final project in the class. - Done! However, it turns out that there is a bonus section on how to mix paint in the middle. So, what I really did was watch the instructions for the bonus section and not the final project. 

c) Gather the materials together to begin the final project. - Done! See above. 

Let the paint mixing begin. Seeing what happens when paint
is mixed and applied to muslin vs. a print.

What I worked on was creating a matrix of what happens when you blend the paints Mickey Lawler uses as a her base paints in SkyDyes. Being the over achiever that I am I couldn't resist creating the matrix on white muslin as well as a print. The left hand column and the upper row represent the paint before it is blended. I didn't catch on until I blended the yellow with the violet that I was supposed to blend them so that in the row the yellow dominates and in the column the violet dominates. Oh, well... You can see that I have two stripes of each color in square. The one on the left side is undiluted paint. The stripe on the right has been created with paint diluted with water at 1:1. Annette Kennedy recommends using the paint full strength. The reason becomes obvious when you look at the matrix. The watered down paint tends to travel a little bit and form a darker edge. Of course this could be advantageous if that is what you need.  

3) Express Your Love

a) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Leah was busy filming for her latest Craftsy.com class and didn't post an assignment this week. Her newest class isn't available yet. However, her first class on Craftsy.com is. I can't emphasize enough how much I learned last year by following along with Leah. I missed my excuse to do some free motion quilting.

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

The work on "Reflection" begins in earnest.
It is tempting to leave just the one goose. 

a) Continue to experiment with painting the geese. - What I did instead was learn more about mixing paint. I will tackle painting the geese after I have finished the paint mixing segment.

b) Develop a way to incorporate the painted geese into an artwork that references but does not replicate the original photo that is its catalyst. - Done! What I decided to do is print out the photograph in segments that could be seamed together. Then I am reverse appliquéing those geese I want included in the quilt to the background of ice. I still plan on painting the geese and enhancing the paint with some stitching. 

What on earth will I be up to for the week ending February 22, 2013? Perhaps this plan will work:

1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013)

a) Create the binding and sleeves.

b) Start to attach the binding.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Continue to work on my paint mixing matrix.

3) Express Your Love

a) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

a) Finish reverse appliquéing the geese to the background.

b) Mark where the red branches will be.

Week in Review 2013 - 02/08

This photo is the inspiration for my newest WIP - Reflection.
It was taken early in the winter when the lake that borders our
condo had frozen and then started to thaw. The canada geese
are standing on ice coated with a thin film of water. This photo
like and photos of my work are taken by my husband, Dana Eagles.

This week has felt like one step forward and two steps back. I did make progress, but much of the week was spent on experimenting, rejecting the experiments or only being able to take them so far because I needed supplies that I don't keep on hand.

Once again, my plans and what got accomplished diverged. Here is how it went:

1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013)

Let the experimentation begin! Testing whether eyelash yarn
trapped in Angelina Fibers will make a good sea spray.

a) Finish the beading on the beach panel. - Done!

b) Start adding a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray. - Done, BUT I am thinking of removing them and starting over. I felt the foam was too static as pieced and the crystal and cream beads just didn't look like spray to me. So, what I decided to do was play with adding more movement and sparkle to the foam by using Angelina Fibers. It took multiple attempts of playing with the amount of fiber to use and what to entrap within the fibers before I was satisfied. I don't want to stitch the Angelina Fiber creation in place, because I don't want to add much more stitching to the area or have stitching show. I thought that by scattering beads across the Angelina Fiber spray this would secure and enhance it. It really doesn't do either well. So I am waiting for some Steam a Seam Lite to arrive so I can fuse the Angelina Fiber creation in place then add beads more as droplets than fasteners.

Calla Lilly is bound
and the sleeve added.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Quilt the Calla Lily practice piece. - Done!

b) Bind it. - Done!

c) Make and attach the hanging sleeve and label - Half done. The sleeve is on, but I haven't created or stitched on a label.

Detail to show the quilting used.

3) Express Your Love

The "Boomerang" rays are the two that run from lower
left to upper right. One Concentric Circle ray starts at the
Goddess's neck and its partner faces it.

a) Finish the final ray I plan to quilt using the Boomerang stitch. - Done!

A closer look in order to better see the quilting.

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Done! The assignment was an old design updated called Concentric Circles. I had lots of fun with this one.

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

a) Determine how to best add the geese to the quilt. - Started experimenting, but still am pretty clueless about how I should proceed. For now I am just letting ideas percolate and testing this or that.

I selected a section of the image to play with.
Next I printed on fabric. Finally I enhanced the
image with paint, based on what I am learning
in the Pictorial Painting class.

b) Start adding the geese. - I may never add the geese to the original background. I am still at the playing phase.

With so much in flux this is how I see the week ending on Friday, February 15th shaping up:


1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013)

a) Fuse the sea spray (Angelina Fiber creation) to the quilt.

b) Start adding a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Add the label to the Calla Lily piece.

b) Watch the introduction for the second and final project in the class.

c) Gather the materials together to begin the final project.

3) Express Your Love

a) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Done!

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

a) Continue to experiment with painting the geese.

b) Develop a way to incorporate the painted geese into an artwork that references but does not replicate the original photo that is its catalyst.

Tips, Techniques and Philosophy:

If you are curious to learn more about Angelina Fibers or just need a refresher course, this YouTube clip of Ellen Anne Eddy should get you started on your quest.

Week in Review 2013 - 2/01

A hint of what is to come.

 I zipped along this week.  It feels good to be hitting my stride with my art work. Everything seems to be pulling together with ease and joy. Although I didn't do everything I set out to do during the week, I made a conscientious decision to revamp my goals in a more logical manner. The amount of work completed was the same or more than I planned, just with a slight diversion from the plans.

Here is what I had in mind and how I differed from the plan for the week ending February 1, 2013:


1) Shore's Edge

a) Finish the beading on the beach panel. - Started.

b) Seam the beach panel to the ocean panel. - Done!

The Ocean and Beach panel are joined
using the quilt as you go method.

c) Appliqué the foam panel to the quilt. - Done!

Next comes the foam.

d) Add a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray. - Opted to save this for next week.

Let the beading resume. Note how the shell and sand
beading under an inch of ocean are paler in comparison to
the shells nestled in the sand.

Detail of the painting of the flower.

The Calla Lily is painted.

2) Pictorial Painting



a) Watch the segment on how to paint the flower. - Done!

b) Paint the flower. - Done!

Although I am blown away by what I was able to accomplish, I can't help but be aware of how much more practice would be needed to choose a subject to paint and execute it without guidance.


3) Express Your Love

The golden rays are created with McTavishing. The upper
right corner red ray is done in my version of Boomerang. The
remaining red rays were quilted using micro zippling. Note
that the same red variegated thread was used for all three rays.

a) Finish McTavishing the final six rays. - Done!

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next. - Nearly Done.

Leah came up with two assignments this week. One was to quilt some rays using micro zippling. The other was to quilt some rays in the Boomerang stitch. Zippling is like stippling, only instead of meandering curves the quilting line is straight with angles to help with turns. I didn't do the Boomerang stitch. For some reason my hands naturally made triangles - so I stuck with that while following the flow of Boomerang. The final product is similar in thread build up do to travel stitching.

4) Not part of the original plan for the week is my Canada Geese quilt with the working title of Reflection - Pieced the background.

My plan for the weekend February 8, 2013 is to:


1) Shore's Edge (Absolute deadline March 21, 2013)

a) Finish the beading on the beach panel.

b) Start adding a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Quilt the Calla Lily practice piece.

b) Bind it.

c) Make and attach the hanging sleeve and label

3) Express Your Love

a) Finish the final ray I plan to quilt using the Boomerang stitch.

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

4) Reflection (Absolute deadline April 23, 2013)

a) Determine how to best add the geese to the quilt.

b) Start adding the geese.

Tip/Technique/Philosophy - thought for the week:

If I were to be diagnosed with OCD it would stand for Organizational Compulsive Disorder. It's true - my spices are shelved in alphabetical order with the labels facing forward. My fabric stash is folded, scraps are nestled within their matching folded fabric and the bundles are shelved by hue and then value. I bring the same OCD to my computer files. A common way for me to begin a file's name is with  the date. The system I use is the "Gregorian big-endian starting with year (Year-Month-Day). In this format the most significant data items is written before the lesser data items i.e. year before month before day." (Reference Wikipedia) Today's date would be 130201. For Leah Day's project today's picture can be found under Documents:Quilt Related Files: Leah Day 2013:Express Your Love: 130201 Express Your Love. This way all my files for a quilt project begin with the earliest work and end with the most recent.

Week in Review 2013 - 01/25

Can you guess which project this belongs to?

Rather than finish with my tip/technique/philosophy de la semaine I thought I would start with it. I am a firm believer that to be creative and to live life well the mind, body and soul must be fed. One of the ways I do this is through yoga. Not that I immerse myself in all things yoga. I do take a twice weekly class at our local YMCA. When I am stressed, stiff or pushing myself running I turn to the lessons I have learned about posture, relaxation and breathing through this class. You don't need to tie yourself into knots or do handstands to derive benefits from yoga (although my knots are looking better and I've done a handstand against a wall.) My favorite one minute break at home, in an airport or standing in line waiting is Mountain Pose. (If you skim down the link there is a visual along with a description of how to assume Mountain Pose.) The fabulous thing about Mountain Pose is that as long as you can stand you can do it. A standing ovation in Mountain Pose to my teacher Joanna Dane whose blog A Terminal Case of Whimsy shines an eye on what it is to be human and laugh about it.

Taking a deep breath, shoulders down and shoulder blades moving towards the spine, heart center raised - OK, now I'm ready to look at my goals for this past week and how I did.


My goals for the week ending January 25, 2013:

1) Shore's Edge:

The last shell to be nestled with beads
is in the upper right corner.

a) Finish beading the remaining shells on the beach panel. - I'm 1.5 shells shy.

c) Seam the beach panel to the ocean panel using the quilt as you go method. - Oops! Missed that one all together.

b) Design the foam section. - Done!

The foam has been quilted and prepared
to be added to the quilt.

d) Start quilting the foam section. Done! Actually I finished it completely.

2) Pictorial Painting

The Calla Lily BEFORE
the stems were painted.

a) Watch the next segment of how to paint the Calla Lily piece. - Done!

The Calla Lily AFTER
the stems were painted.

b) Paint the next section as instructed. - Done!

I have definitely gained confidence with my brush strokes and how much medium to add to the various values of paint. The next area of focus needs to be how to blend the paint to come up with the hue I need.














3) Express Your Love - Do whatever Leah comes up with next. - Done!

Loving the golden rays done with MacTavishing

Loved this week's assignment to add MacTavishing to some of the rays in Express Your Love. In the colored version of Leah's quilt she selected two values of blue for her sun rays. On her black quilt she quilted them with white thread. Since I have been using various hues of thread to fill in the ribbon and earth I choose to stick to colored thread. My plan is to quilt alternate rays with the yellow/orange variegated thread you see here and do the in between rays in a deeper yellow/orange/red variegated thread. Should be smashing. I am really enjoying how quilting with colored thread looks against the black background fabric.

An undocumented goal for this past week was to show marked improvement with my eczema. That has been achieved as well. Thank goodness.

My goals for the week ending February 1, 2013

1) Shore's Edge

a) Finish the beading on the beach panel.

b) Seam the beach panel to the ocean panel.

c) Applique the foam panel to the quilt.

d) Add a scattering of beads to the foam and ocean to indicate bits of foam and spray.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Watch the segment on how to paint the flower.

b) Paint the flower.

3) Express Your Love

a) Finish MacTavishing the final six rays.

b) Do whatever assignment Leah comes up with next.

I can't wait to get started.

Week in Review 2013 - 01/18

My plans for the week ending January 18th were a struggle to meet. Several times this past week I have had to take a deep breath, exhale slowly and remind myself of my own mantra that "Perfection is a journey, not a destination. Let go!"

Several weeks ago at the tender age of 59 I developed a case of eczema. Not a small patch at the elbow, but nearly full body involvement. It took days to build and it is taking weeks of doctor's visits and experimentation with this or that salve and lotion to break the cycle and start to mend. In the general scheme of life this is a minor irritation. However, the time consumed applying meds and the trouble focusing on my work and not the incessant itching has made reaching goals difficult. Under the circumstances I did well. Plus, I have made noticeable improvement this week. Next week has got to be better.


My goals for the week ending January 18, 2013 and how I met them were:

1) Shore's Edge:

The ocean panel from Shore's Edge

The beach panel from Shore's Edge

a) Add the beading to 14 more shells on the beach panel. I am under deadline pressure with this!

Honestly, I lost track. I think I did 12 shells versus 14, but I was hoping to exceed this goal versus fall short.

b) Machine quilt the ocean panel.

Detail of the machine quilting and thread painting used in
the ocean panel. I purposefully only thread painted the shells twice.
I want them to look as though they under an inch of so of water.

Did it!

2) Pictorial Painting - paint the leaf for real. No more practicing!

Did it, even the no more practicing part.

Pictorial Painting
practice piece AFTER
the leaf is painted.

Pictorial Painting
practice piece BEFORE
the leaf is painted

3) Express Your Love - Do the echo/foundation stitching in the globe.

Progress made on Express Your Love as of January 18, 2013

Leah echo stitched the land in her globe using the same white thread that she had outlined it. I figured that if my ribbon could have a turquoise background, why not use lime green variegated thread for the land in my globe. So, that is precisely what I did. I planned to echo stitch the water in blue thread. However, Leah was thinking paint. She painted over her white stitches with green and then painted the water blue and formation stitched on top of the paint. I opted not to paint the land, because I don't have a good green paint. I did paint the water. I didn't have any issues stitching in through the paint.

Detail of the Globe in Express Your Love

My goals for the week ending January 25, 2013:

1) Shore's Edge:

a) Finish beading the remaining shells on the beach panel.
c) Seam the beach panel to the ocean panel using the quilt as you go method.
b) Design the foam section.
d) Start quilting the foam section.

2) Pictorial Painting

a) Watch the next segment of how to paint the Calla Lily piece.
b) Paint the next section as instructed.

3) Express Your Love - Do whatever Leah comes up with next.

Tip/Technique of the week is this YouTube of Ricky Tims demonstrating a novel way to make a single seam, not on the bias, dimensional Flying Geese block.

Week in Review 2013 - 01/11

The goals I set and how I met them for the week ending January 11, 2013:


1) Shore's Edge:

a) Begin the beadwork on the beach panel.

Bead work has begun on the beach panel.

I love beading. It takes me back to the days when I used to quilt by hand. The repetition is so soothing.

b) Baste the ocean panel and thread paint the seashells.

The ocean panel is basted and the seashells have been thread painted.

2) Pictorial Painting Class:

a) Practice the painting techniques one more time.

Practiced painting the leaf from the Calla Lilly project.

I am pretty pleased with how this turned out. I felt I got the right blend of blue/green and yellow/green paint  for the fabric I chose. I managed to create a sense of shadow under the veins and one side is slightly darker than the other, suggesting a light source.

b) Start painting the Calla Lilly.

OK, so I missed one of my goals. Each practice piece has me more and more comfortable about how to blend and apply the paint to achieve what I want. They also show areas where I need more practice.

3) Leah Day assignments:

Express Your Love was marked, basted and the marked lines quilted.

a) Mark the quilt.
b) Baste the quilt.
c) Quilt along the marked lines.

I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I could actually see well enough through the black fabric to trace the lines of Express Your Love.

I promised I would share tips this year. Here is one. I have taken to hand basting my quilts before machine quilting. Why? Although it is more time consuming, I believe it has three advantages. First, I find that the shifting between the top, batting and backing is less than when I pin baste. Second, without pinmoors or safety pins the quilt is more pliable for manipulating under the machine. Finally, I like the control I get since my hands rest on the quilt with no pin interference. I find it very easy to snip the hand basting as I come to it. Those odd turquoise threads, predominately on the left side of the quilt are the areas that are still basted.

I actually accomplished more on Express Your Love this week than I thought I might. I opted to thread paint my mantras in script. Leah Day, designer of the quilt, used block letters. I felt the curvilinear flow of the quilt suggest cursive and it also gave a more gentle, less dictatorial sense to words. The next step was to echo quilt the mantras. I opted for micro-stippling instead. Why? Once again I felt it softened the message.

My goals for the week ending January 18, 2013

1) Shore's Edge:

a) Add the beading to 14 more shells on the beach panel. I am under deadline pressure with this!
b) Machine quilt the ocean panel.

2) Pictorial Painting - paint the leaf for real. No more practicing!

3) Express Your Love - Do the echo/foundation stitching in the globe.