And It's Only June...

I finally got it out of my system.  The grief and stress, that is.  Well...maybe not all of it.  But I was induced compelled propelled back into the Sewdio over the last couple of weeks to make something to deal with at least some of what's been going on.

The seed of this piece was planted in January, when the Iranians shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane carrying mostly Canadians.  Flight 752 was on its way to Europe; from there, these passengers could connect to flights home to Canada -- homes from coast to coast, including several from Alberta, the province in which I live.

I got a picture of what I wanted to make and splurged on Tussar silk fabric from MAIWA in Vancouver.  I found a small package of wool batting and a piece of linen for the backing, on sale at a LQS.  I had silk and cotton thread on hand.

And then it sat.

This often happens, because it takes some time for the "vision" I have in my head to work its way out.  This can take weeks.

This time, this process was rudely interrupted by COVID-19.  I went into a creative slump and couldn't produce anything original, let alone work out how I wanted to do this piece.  I knew only that I wanted it to be whole cloth, and have images of candle flames, initially covered with the same number of flames as there were passengers and crew on board that tragic flight.

As COVID-19 continued to take its toll, I watched with increasing despair the short shrift it was being given by the U.S. government, even as our own federal government struggled and worked hard to forge a partnership with the provinces and they, in turn, with counties and municipalities, to keep abreast of it, and to deal with the economic fall-out as best as possible.

Then came the murder of Mr. Floyd, and the subsequent self examination of our own police forces, our own descent into racism over the centuries -- from when Canada was a British colony, which of course includes the horrific behaviour of colonization, and so it goes, down through time, as we work to realize, acknowledge, rectify, reconcile and make reparations.

And the evening I published my last post, I got a call from a friend of my son: he was in the hospital.  He has mental health challenges that apparently were exacerbated into a full-blown "episode" -- by a prescription he was taking to help him stop smoking.  Ten days of care, change of medication and psychiatric counsel -- and he was able to go home.  I was unable to visit but we managed a phone call a few days before he was discharged, and we have connected online since.  I am hopeful he will remain well, but it's not been an easy time, to say the least.

The result of all of this angst is And It's Only June: A Reflection on 2020

35" W x 36" L
Materials: fine hand-woven Tussar silk, linen,
silk and cotton thread
wool batting
Machine quilted, whole cloth

The "borders" of the quilt contain these texts: 'COVID-19 Pandemic', 'Ukraine Flight 752',

 'Black Lives Matter' and 'Murder, Missing Aboriginal Women & Girls'.  

Here are some detailed shots:

"Let there be light"

"Wash your hands"

"Flight 752"

Some of the quilting -- from the back.
Candle flames -- or tears: your choice.

I'm not a skilled free-motion quilter.  In fact, I don't really enjoy doing it.  But try as I might to think of other ways to quilt this work -- including by hand -- it demanded FMQ.  Sometimes you've just gotta do what the quilt wants you to do.  It's far from perfect -- there are a couple of puckered places -- but I don't particularly care.  

I used 3 colours of silk thread on the top because I didn't have enough of a single one of them to do it all.  The back is quilted with cotton thread because the backing is linen, and the thread matched.  The quilt is finished by folding the top over to the back and hand-stitching it down as a 'self-binding'.

I have no idea what I'll do with this piece, except that I know I'll show it at the Lacombe Art Show & Sale in April 2021, God willing.  It's not going into a competition!  (I admit I was originally enticed to enter it into SAQA's call for "Light the World", opening in the fall, but the techniques are just not perfect enough and I won't "fix" it -- or make another.  This one's done.)  Meanwhile, I'll store it flat and hope for the best.

All is not gloom and doom, however.   I've had great joy from my garden...

Pots of posies

Here comes the lettuce -- and a few Brussels sprouts...
and maybe zucchini...

First roses of the season

And I have made more progress on the Toronto Sampler,

shown here before I began the last, deep section...

Meanwhile, the first of the June Socks from Stash Challenge socks is finished -- 

and I'm roaring down the foot of the second!

"Broken Seed Stitch Socks"

What with mowing The Estate, weeding the garden beds, cleaning out the eavestroughs and re-sealing around some of the vents on my roof...I am keeping fairly fit and focused.  Almost all the stitching takes place in the Outdoor Studio, listening to the birds and the hum of other neighbours at their labours.  This keeps me away from the computer; more especially, it keeps me away from bad news.  We've had far too much of it -- and it's only June!

I'll leave you with a Happy Father's Day wish for those of you who have fathers or are fathers...and with a link to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday where this week...she's encouraging theft!  😉  Stealing like an artist, that is!    

Wherever you are and whatever you're about this week, have a good one!

Sometimes...

size does matter.  That's one of the lessons I learned from this bit of sampling.  I really wanted to do some sort of free-motion quilting in the grassy areas, but quickly realized that creating the sharp-pointed 'stippling' in a tight space was tough on my shoulders.  I wasn't keen on doing it over a larger area.

Wait.

A larger area... Of course!  The final piece is going to be at least twice the size of the sample!  What could I do in that larger space that would be effective?  I decided to consult FMQ guru, Leah Day, via her FMQ Project -- and I found Lesson #37 -- "Jagged Lines".  Perfect!

To get an idea of what they'd look like, I tried them in the tiny space left on my sample -- see that brown area on the far left?  (Yes Carolyn, you and I were on the same wave-length here. :-)  Thanks for your comment! )

Then I added some hand stitching to see what it would look like (sorry; this one's a bit blurry).  I like it!

The 'what ifs' continued -- next with the sky.  Now, I'm not fond of stitching in the sky.  I'm always concerned about over-doing it.  However, I did try this:

It might work in the larger piece if I can get into the rhythm of the sky fabric, where clouds 'need' to be.  I know that others stitch in the sky, but they're not always working on batting.  (For example, I believe that Monika works on two layers -- fabric and some sort of stiff backing -- Timtex or some such thing that's not batting.)  When you have a stiffer substrate, your sky stitching has quite a different look to it, right Monika?  :-)

So...I reserve judgment on whether or not I'll stitch in the sky on the final piece.

There there was the bark.  I did go back in and play around with tiny bits of painted fusible web, with very ho-hum results, so I decided to try a technique I learned in a workshop with Anna Hergert in Edmonton in the spring of 2010:  stitched, painted and distressed paper napkins!

First you stitch a grid on your favourite paper napkin.  This one is from an inexpensive pack from a dollar+ store, free-motion stitched with whatever I had in the machine (brown, I think):

Next you paint the grid with textile paint.  I had brown textile paint (Jacquard) and black artist's acrylic, so I mixed 'em, diluted with a bit of left-over brown dye I'd mixed up a while ago:

You let that dry.  Then you spritz it with a water bottle, and distress it with your fingers to get this:

Actually, I think the plastic in the black acrylic paint kept this from being as distressed as it might have been.  On the other hand, it enabled me to get a firm tug on a piece, tear it off, and apply it to my tree trunks.  I used a touch of glue stick for the sample, but on a larger piece, I would stitch it down.

See the dark bits on the centre tree trunk?  See how much more effective it is than the snips of black-painted fusible web on the other tree trunks?  See how on a larger piece you'd have to be very judicious in your use of this material so it wouldn't overwhelm?

Yep; sometimes size matters!

"I Was Hungry"

Finished this piece this afternoon -- except to attach a label and sleeve.  The photo below was taken before I  "bound" it with a facing, but it's essentially the piece as finished -- just under 15" square.

The piece was inspired some months ago by a presentation by a woman in my church family who is our local rep for PWRDF -- the (Anglican) Primate's World Relief and Development Fund.  C. took a turn at coffee hour, having 3 booths in which participants could eat what was a normal diet for a given part of the world assisted by PWRDF.  I was most touched by one booth, wherein we were given a small bowl of dry cooked rice, and some fruit -- and that was essentially it.  I 'got' this 'picture' shortly thereafter and sat with it for some time before I was able to assemble it.  Sometimes this is how it is.

The title comes from the New Testament Scripture:

"...For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.  I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.  I was a stranger and you invited me in." -- Matthew 25:35

'I Was Hungry' - (C) Margaret Blank, 2012

For those who enjoy the particulars:

• Materials: commercial cottons, muslin; Shiva Painstiks (R), Inktense Pencils (R), glass beads, cotton thread.
• Techniques: fused applique, free motion quilting, trapunto, fabric painting, beading; faced finishing.

Twenty Down...

One more to go: assignments, that is.  On Tuesday evening I submitted my twentieth of twenty-one assignments in my City & Guilds Creative Quilting, Module 5.  As with #19, for this activity, I had to take a block I'd made earlier -- my Star-in-a-star:

The first part of the task was to print a paper copy of the block, and create a free-motion design:

I'll bet you can guess what's coming, can't you?  Yes, then I had to sandwich and quilt it!  This proved intimidating as it was clear I'd designed a quilting motif that exceeded my FMQ abilities by a long shot.  Sigh. I stewed over it for almost a week, and then, in a fit of insanity burst of determination, took the proverbial bull by the horns and did it!

Notice that I modified the pattern somewhat.  This is what I learned as I went along:

• Hitherto, my FMQ experience was done on larger pieces -- lap-sized quilts etc. -- not on single blocks less than 12" square.  It's harder to quilt a 12" square block with FMQ than it is a larger surface, simply because there's less to hold onto, and less space in which to create one's desired motif.
• Smaller blocks call for simpler quilting patterns.
• I need more practice quilting in small spaces.
• Look carefully at your piece before you stop quilting.  I left out a curlicue.  Ah, well, "It's only a sample"!
• It's time for Lily's annual check-up, because despite all precautions (cleaned bobbin case, new quilting needle, fresh bobbin, fresh thread, adjusted tension), she kept breaking my top thread.  Sigh.

Activity #21 involves combining techniques to make a small piece.  This will be done on my older, non-computerized, trusty Husqvarna S225.  Without a needle down feature, but otherwise quite capable, stalwart and dependable.  Maybe after all these years, I'll name her too:  Rover.  ;-)