losing the mind, such a great idea.

Last week I had a lot going on and I could not get myself to work on my current quilt project in the studio. So instead I lost my mind and started paper piecing 1/2" hexagons. To give you an idea to the size of these it is about the size of a nickle. I used all liberty fabric and make a patch of 12"by 20". I want to use this piece of fabric that I made to make a pillow for my bedroom. I want a really pretty pillow for a special spot in my bedroom and this seems like the perfect solution. I will say it was a little bit harder to work in this size but definetly not as bad as I thought it would be. I think working with a lawn fabric makes it easier because it bends and molds so smoothly. It was a great task that kept my hands busy and my mind clear. 

Still thinking about backs of things. 

Liberty is so amazing. 

January

I have decided that for this year, I want to continue using this writing platform as a way to showcase what I am making and how I bounce ideas around.... along with the things that I do in my life that I gain inspiration from, traveling, reading, exploring... I am going to use mostly instagram and photos from my phone, so that I can update more frequently. Over the past year of studio time, and part-time work I have learned that to have time to post, the editing process from my camera is very time consuming, and in the end I can convey a similar image quickly and in real-time, that is important to me. I will still photograph the finished works and other things with a real camera, I am not giving up on it completely. I am trying to get back to posting more regularly though, I hope that the more filtered photographs are still interesting to anyone that is reading. 

It has been a bitter cold start to the year with snow every week. I am not a fan of winter weather, I much prefer the regular 50-60 degree winter here in Richmond. It has definitely kept me inside sewing though, and I hope to take some quilt photos outside before the snow completely melts away. I have been working on this quilt for longer than I would have liked, with some medical stuff that came up and the holidays it was just one of those projects that has taken longer than expected. I am pleased with the way the top of the quilt turned out. I wanted a paper-collage feel to this project and I think that I have accomplished that. This week I am going to work on the back and the binding. I have decided that I want to hand tie this piece. Something about the traditional fabrics, which some are, mixed with the

un-conventional layout and the then traditional hand tying just sounds like a good mix to me. 

I love how the pieces are all meeting. 

Quilt top... I love how it keeps the eye moving around like a paper collage does. 

Also on my mind lately, the underside of textiles... how they show the structure and the shape of the piece.  

Especially loving the back of this quilt top... almost makes me not want to cover it... 

on the cutting table

This is the project that is currently on my cutting table and working wall. I still have not decided on the final placement of the blocks, but I am liking the ombre effect... at least some days, these blocks have been moved a lot... I am using floral fabrics as the pin wheel and tiny prints, mostly civil war and primitive for the background. I am wanted to make something that references traditional quilts but with a modern twist, so far I think it is working well, I like the collage look of it... This whole thing is paper-pieced which I love for the precision! I have noticed that I go through fabric a lot faster, because it requires more with the paper piecing, but it is really worth it.

This is the line of fabric that I am the most excited about at the moment! It is Botanics by Carolyn Friedlander. I loved her first line architectures, and used it in so many different projects. This new one is beautiful in color and line, I am in love with the whole line, and can't wait to use it and am mix it with everything else! 

November

I feel as if life is moving so quickly lately, and I am standing still watching.. waiting... thinking... trying to grasp every moment. I hear and feel everything that is happening, but my subconcious seems so far away that it is almost like living in a dream-like state. I turned 30 this month on the 7th, anyone that knows me, knows that my birthday is my favorite holiday of the year. I had a wonderful time with  family and my closest friends. I am happy to be in this new decade. Happy to finally be at the "grown-up" table, considering that I have never really felt as if I belonged to the children's table. Turning 30, went along with some strange things happening in my body... the reason that I feel as if I am standing still watching... waiting... 

I have had a less that good year when it comes to my health, having been the kid that never missed school for being sick. ever. makes it hard to accept that things are not as they have always been. Before this year I can not remember the last time that I had a even a slight cold. At the moment I am waiting on further results, before they can pro-ceed to the next step to know what is going on. All that I really know is that when I went in with my fourth cold/flu this summer and they took my blood and things were off... my levels are not where they should be... and have continued to get worst. Some things have been ruled out but they are still doing more tests, and waiting for results... that is the hardest part of all this... the waiting. I can barely sit still on a normal day, this is making me want to crawl out of my skin. I do not often go into detail on my personal life on this blog, however, this experience has made me think so much about what I want, that I feel it is important to put here. It is so much a part of what my story is at this moment, and honestly it is definitely being reflected in my work. Hopefully soon I will know more, and I am hopeful that whatever the outcome that it is a fixable problem. Until then I sit and think and think and move my hands quickly to sew tiny pieces of fabric together, because that is what keeps my mind from going to deep, dark places. 

The hexagons in these photos are made from my scrap bin, a nice grouping of all of the work that I am doing. It is nice to have this project to work on, on the couch or wherever. One day soon I hope to make a large piece out of these small pieces, as a reminder that sometimes taking it all in, moving slower, and having stitches to keep my mind going is what will keep me moving, during all of the waiting... 

how did this happen.

For her birthday, Sandra asked me to go camping, that was the only thing on the list. Camping is not something I really want to do, I have never wanted to do! I did agree to it though for a weekend in the fall, which seems to be soon approaching. I figured while I am agreeing to going camping, then I might as well make a blanket to bring and to mark the event. I am not one for theme type of quilts or "cute" themes, but I must admit that a lot of the camping related imagery is fun, and I enjoy it. So there, I found one positive thing about camping. 

I am paper piecing most of the blocks for this quilt, which is good practice for a more complicated paper piecing, which sometimes still feels like math for me. It does not always make sense. I did get a bit frustrated with some of the blocks so far, to the point that I refused to take out a mistake that I did not notice until the end. Even though it bothers me every time I look at it... I will most likely fix it one of these days. 

So there is a camper, vintage and fun. I had to add a camper. 

The tent. I wish real tents looked this cool. (Notice the trees in the background are off, yep that was me giving up.)

The fire, because there will be marsh mellows! 

And of course a canoe. ( notice the oars, yep gave up there too..) 

I am actually looking forward to going to the mountains with Sandra and some Friends in the fall on the adventure. I am going to make a couple more paper-pieced blocks and the rest will be more random. Again I am using a large assortments of fabric for this project, and was partly inspired to make it because of all the camping related fabric out there at the moment. I might leave a clean patch on the backing for everyone to sign with fabric markers, to remember "that time I agreed to go camping". 

complete.

The small paper-pieced quilt that I have been working on is now complete. It is so satisfying to finish a quilt, no matter how large or small it is a very rewarding feeling. This is a small quilt about 36 inches by 36 inches. I made this little one, as a gift for a baby shower. The parents went on Safari for their honeymoon, and I know that they love animals, so it seemed fitting. Even though I know the gender of the baby, I am not fond of pink and blue being the only solutions for baby gifts... or pastels for that matter. I used mostly neutral grey, black, white and then threw in the flamingo, elephant and safari prints.
It was a fun little project to work on that moved quickly, and I loved the quilting process on this one, which usually seems like a bit of a chore to me. I also love the way the overage of patterns works with the quilt. They are excessive I probably could have pared them down, but at the moment, I am really enjoying working with many patterns and prints at once.

For the quilting I used a grey thread and outlined each of the "books", then I sewed a 1/4'' around each of the joining corners. I love the way it turned out and the drape of the finished piece is great it folds so nicely. I think I will quilt more things like this in the future with the solid lines running up and down, creating a grid. In the past I think that sometimes I swore off quilting process because I was trying to make it too complicated, this just seemed to work. 

Paper Piecing

I recently purchased this book by Ayumi Takahashi, and despite the somewhat cheesy title, love the projects and the book itself. It is a second volume of the Zakka Style book that has become one of my favorites and this one is right up there as far as well written, and beautiful projects. The main reason that I purchased this book was the very descriptive paper piecing instructions. It has been years since I have paper-pieced anything and recently I have really wanted to because of the precision and accuracy of it. I needed a re-fresher and this had the best instructions and a lot of paper templates to copy. Definitely a good buy.

I had to practice, just like riding a bike it does come back to you, but you must make a few to get into the groove again. The more blocks I made the faster I got. The first day I made one block in two hours, it kept messing up and remembering which side of the fabric to face each way became complicated. Then the second day I made 7 blocks in 3 hours so I have definitely gotten back into the process of making a paper-pieced block. 

I either have friends getting married, or friends having babies, every couple of years it happens again like a cycle. (One day this will pass, as we get older, but I enjoy it at the moment). Since there are more babies on the way, and I love making a baby-quilt I practiced my paper-piecing on the book project inside of the Patchwork book. The fabrics above are what I am using (the parents of this baby love Safari animals.)

It took a few trials, some seam ripper action, and lots of patience... 

By the end of the day yesterday I had blocks that were successfully looking like books! I need to remember my notes on color theory though, because its funny how the shape of the book shows so well against some of the fabrics and got lost with others. Good practice, and a fun project in the works.

I took my cross-quilt to be quilted on a long arm machine, I should get it back today... I am nervous, I have never sent anything out, and even debated on if it was cheating for a while. I was re-assured by many traditional quilters that it is ok to send a quilt out to be topstitched. It is easier than working with the bulk on my small machines. Hope it comes back and I love it, then I can send others out. Which will save me time and frustration! 

progress

I have been vigorously working on the this cross-quilt for the last couple of weeks. I began it before the holidays, but with other projects in the works and all the traveling, it seems that I am just now really getting into it. This week I have actually completed the top of the quilt. I am pretty excited to be done with that part, because it is always nice to see a vision from your brain come out in reality. This pretty much has turned out exactly like I wanted; a study in color and places. All of the fabrics have to do with maps, or terrain sketches, with the exception of a few floral patterns, for an organic element. I want to make something interesting for the back of this quilt so it may take a couple more weeks to finish in its entirety, but I am finished with the major piecing! The above picture shows it almost complete, there were still a few rows missing when I photographed it. I am toying with the idea of hand quilting this one... or very precise machine quilting... the jury is still out. 

The above block was the start to a monthly quilt project. I started this back in January however, I do not seem to have kept up with it. The plan was to make a different quilt block every single month, and with each one to depict a different method of quilting. Some would be paper-pieced, some random quilting...etc. As much as I love the idea of a block a month, it is just not my kind of thing.... I work fast and usually finish one project before another is begun, sometimes I will have an embroidery and a quilt in the works but I like to stay focused for the most efficient finish. I think this little block will become a pillow. I still love the way it turned out. 

newest

It seems as if I have a couple of things going on at the same time in the studio right now, which is actually nice. Some I can work on in the studio others I can pick up and do anywhere, and others are nice to see as a progression over time. I am good about finishing work but sometimes I do like to multi-task so that nothing becomes mundane. This is especially important to me, because I usually choose projects that require a lot of steps that are often very repetitive and time consuming. I have had people close to me say that the only thing I have patient for in my life is my artwork, and I must admit is probably true.

In the idea of repetitive, detailed work, here is my latest project, that I am prepared to spend some time on to get it exactly like I want. (In addition to being patient with my work, I am also a bit of a perfectionist.) 

This project which for now I will call Terrain, happened because I have been collecting a couple of different brands and designers of maps, terrains, and geographic things in general. It seems that maps are everywhere at the moment, and I have long been interested in their appearance. I mixed 6 different lines of fabric for this piece and have the whole thing planned out on paper, so UN-like me. Usually I just make, but I wanted this to be just as I see it in my mind. All of the fabric is cut and ready and I have begun piecing most of it. About an hour into planning this with fabric I realized that I needed a wall to work on, so that the mistakes would be kept at a minimum. So I finally installed a cork wall in the studio, something that is way overdue. It is really easy to work on and has been nice to get things off the table, ironing board, dining room, and the floor. 

A detail of the part that I have begun piecing...

Another part... 

Coming together... The new corner of the studio.... I will show this in pieces and process and can't wait for the final work. 

wings and things

A friend of mine is having a show this weekend in Petersburg, VA, at "Curl up or Dye." Instead of a first Friday, like RVA, in Petersburg they do a second Friday. This show will be part of that, and since it is October there is a Halloweenish theme. 

I decided to make some pillows and ornaments for the show. I will show the ornaments later, but for now the pillows.. 

I love the way the back of things look with the seams all pressed down, and separated, for a nice clean finish. 

These fabrics of course include winged creatures to make sense for the theme.. They also make me think of fall and warmth. Fall used to be very warm colors to me, and still is sometimes. However, since having a garden, I have noticed that fall means lots of purples and murky grayish tones. Not being one to use purple very often, I really enjoy this play on color. 

I almost like the back better than the front on this one. 

Finally I made myself a pincushion! I love these fabrics so I used the scraps to make myself a little pillow pin cushion.