Piecer Madness!

I don't know about you, Gentle Readers -- especially those of you who are art quilters -- but (as I've undoubtedly mentioned in the past) making Original Art can be exhausting for me. For most of my life I've been known as a very organized, detail-oriented, orderly person.

It would seem, however, that sometime around the age of 50, my persona took a sharp turn off the Straight and Narrow and onto a much more winding road.  I began to move away from Following ALL the Rules to listening to the beat of my Inner Artist.

But.

But what?

But for a period of time each year -- usually between projects and very often in the fall -- my brain becomes too cramped to create unique-to-me work and I find myself following Other People's Instructions (OPI).

And that's where I've found myself for the past couple of weeks -- ever since I sent "Blue Pot" off to the Alberta Society of Artists for its 100@100 fund-raiser.  (This online sale goes up in the ASA Shop on November 15 at 9 a.m.: 100 artworks -- 10" x 10" each -- for $100 each. Stay tuned!)

Yes...there is art brewing.  I've been laying out fabrics and making notes for an ASA Call for Entry, for a Sacred Threads Call for Entry and for a new series that I want to showcase in the spring. A new Artists' Co-op is opening up and I've been mulling over the terms of the application to participate in that next year.

But...at the moment I am working my way through an assortment of other projects -- mainly pieced -- and there's no stopping soon!

I got the Rectangle Quilt -- a top finished a few months ago -- quilted (long-arm quilter up the road is very good, and reasonably priced!) and bound and off to a new home -- a gift to a fellow who lives nearby and whose home recently went up in smoke due (it's suspected) to the deterioration of or a faulty join in the chimney pipe from his self-assembled wood stove.

I've had another top quilted -- a gift for a friend's birthday -- and I'm now sewing down the binding.  (No photo; she might read this!)

Both of these are around 60" W by 70" to 80" L, as is this third top, ostensibly for my bedroom, replacing at least one of my collection that's wearing out...

Here it is, getting its second-last border...

Here's the top on my bed (not quilted yet)

The fabric is -- as you can see -- wildly coloured, and it's printed with a sewing theme.  I fell in love with it over a decade ago and finally got it together.  Yes, there's a pattern -- "Summer Citrus", designed by Nellie Holmes and Christine Baker, for the Spring 2009 edition of the Canadian magazine, A Needle Pulling Thread.  I'm not sure my fabric selections were ideal for this pattern, but the resulting top is growing on me!  😉

Then there's the 2018 Block of the Month from The Quilt Show.  But...I didn't want to do either the central 'barn' motif or the applique borders.  Blessedly, there was posted an alternate central motif:

Pattern: "Twinkling Star" - Barbara Brackman #2165
Originally published under the name of Nancy Cabot in the 1930's
Above created by Barbara Black

I modified mine by choosing a solid border instead of a Saw-tooth, and using a white print for the background instead of a more solid white:

Ms. Black goes on to create another border with the applique border motifs from the original Patchwork Barn pattern, and turned the whole piece into a wall hanging -- very pretty, but not my cuppa!

Here's how mine looks once I began to surround it with sashing and the 6" (finished) blocks that form the body of the quilt:

And here's the top lying on the guest room bed.  You can see that it needs a couple more rows -- one on each side -- to make it wide enough.  Then there will be at least one solid-colour border to finish it off.

So... I am creating 18 more of the original blocks, and 4 that are different.  Here are several of those additional blocks, stacked and ready to sew into rows:

The good news about this, is that I'm really using up my red, white and black fabric scraps -- along with a bit of a dusty pink and some grey.

The bad news is...that I might run out of "darks" (red and black) by the time I get to the outer borders!

So...it's true.  You can work hard to use up your fabric scraps, but you usually end up adding to them because you have to buy more fabric to finish the project!  (The same goes for knitting and crochet stashes.  Sigh.)

This quilt is destined for my guest room...but, like the sewing-themed top (above), it'll take me a while to have them quilted.  These tops -- IMHO -- didn't lend themselves to a "quilt-in-sections" approach.  While my new machine has a wider harp, I'm still loathe to quilt a top this large here at home.

Besides the actual quilting, my other stumbling block is trying to sandwich anything this size in limited floor space.  In the summer, I can make large sandwiches in my Outdoor Studio, but at this time of year...there's just no room!  Thus these two tops will have to wait till I either can afford the long-arm again OR June rolls around and I can assemble them outdoors and quilt them myself!

What's next?  More piecer madness?

Well...Bonnie Hunter's next mystery has just been announced, so that will take some consideration.  And I still have to finish last year's -- "On Ringo Lake".  All the blocks are finished; it's just assembling the top that's needed.  And that one is very large, so it definitely will go under a long arm!

But in the thick of this, one of those Calls (the ASA) has a fast-approaching deadline, and there are Christmas gifts on the knitting needles so...

As soon as I sign off, you'll be finding me in the Sewdio.  For ongoing encouragement and inspiration, I'm linking this to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday -- and I wish you a happy weekend!

Into the Mystery

I'm out of sorts, "tetchy", at loose ends.  The weather, unlike yesterday when it was clearly miserable, is uncertain.  It's by turns snowy and less snowy, and the roads are unpredictable.  The wind rises and falls.  There are ice patches on the highway at the edge of town.  I had some errands I wanted to run (because I couldn't, yesterday) and just when I think I might risk the highway, the snow and the wind both pick up.  😣  Sigh.

I've worked on some knitting (gifts-in-the-making); I've stitched on the third SJSA block; I've sorted some more of my Scotland photos.

I shovelled (including my driveway), commiserating with my neighbours and Miss Pookie, who pranced delicately about in the footsteps dented in the snow, rather than risk an all-out gambol.  I went to the Post Office (no mail).  I ate some lunch, and caught up on blog reading.

Bless Bonnie Hunter!  As I was reading her latest post -- and commiserating about her late night at the Emergency Vet's with her beloved pooch (all shall be well now but it was a long evening!)...I remembered.

The annual Mystery.

It's that time of year again -- and she's recently posted the introduction to this latest quilt-along.  Why not take a look at it?

Who am I kidding?!  I didn't participate last year (the use of templates is just not my idea of a good time), but maybe this year...?  My current commission is stalled -- temporarily.  I need more of one particular fabric, and while my LQS is holding some for me pending inspection, I can't get there because of the questionable road conditions.  A Quiltville (Facebook) Community colleague in the U.S. is putting some in the mail today with the hopes that it's a match...so between those two sources, I am hopeful. 

But while I wait...I'm antsy.  I finished another small canvas yesterday...but I don't want to do another today.  Yes, I'm an art quilter, but my hands want to piece -- so I printed off the 2017 Mystery intro and took it into the sewdio.  Cutting and piecing is rhythmic for me; it might just relieve the tension of waiting for the weather to clear.  Why not at least audition the fabric?

It didn't take me long to notice, though, that there in a series of Styrofoam trays on the floor under my ironing board was...um...an Unfinished Mystery: "Grand Illusion" from 2015.

Well, then!  I could hardly start a new one when that one was in pieces on the floor, could I? (rhetorical question! 😉 

"Grand Illusion"
Clue #2 units finished

Clue #3 units finished

I did a quick check of where I was -- counting out finished units -- and realized that I'd finished up through Part III of five "clues".  Two more, and I could put together full blocks.  I can do this! 

And I've just enough time to work on it today and to pick it up over the coming weeks, even as I (finally) finish that commission, and those knitted gifts, and perhaps a few more canvases.

The realization was just enough to reignite my Quilting Mojo -- and that, Gentle Readers, is the blessing, the miracle and the mystery of the creative process.  Onward and upward!

Linking up to WIP Wednesday at The Needle and Thread Network, and gettin' back into the sewdio.  I've fabric to cut!

December Already? How'd That Happen?!

I seem to have asked that question twelve times this year, as one month slid into another.  How'd that happen?!  My mother told me almost 50 years ago that once I turned 21, time would speed up and the years would fly by.  She was right!

I do know how I've filled some of my time -- at least, since Friday...

• Rinsing, drying and pressing the first snow-dye of this season:

Yes, the colours are more muted than many of my previous efforts, and the dye is more evenly distributed.  First, I attribute this to my layering these small bits and bobs of fabric rather than scrunching them up under the snow.  Second, I may have let the process go on a bit too long -- there was a lot of melted snow when I finally got to rinsing it.  Note the two really pale pieces; those are a remnants from a white sheet that was a poly-cotton blend.  The 'poly' part just doesn't absorb MX dye the way the 'cotton' does.  

Am I disappointed with these results?  Not a whit!  Remember, my 'go to' pieces are miniature rural landscapes, and these will make wonderful fields and skies.

• Knitting on the Wild Socks.  The heel on Sock #2 is turned and I'm moving down the foot;

• Serving tea. coffee and goodies at the second annual Mirror & District Museum Open House.

Above is a portion of the main room of the Museum, taken just before the doors opened for yesterday's event.  The quilt in the centre cabinet was done in honour of the hamlet's centennial in 2012 and donated to the museum by yours truly (blush).  

• Assembling 25 'Broken Dishes' units for Clue #1 of Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt:

Aren't they pretty?  I stumbled on a 2 1/2" strip of yellow in my stash, and it's taking me through most of the blocks.  Twenty-five is 1/4 the required number; I'm debating assembling 25 more (to bring it to half)...concerned about the amount of yellow I have left.  (Remember: I'm determined not to buy fabric for this one!).  You can see too (just barely) that I have a mix of pinks and "turquoises" (and blacks, though you can't tell that in the photo).  Going for as-close-as-I-can-with-my-scraps! And...

• Piecing the final block of the second Block-of-the-Month I have from old, stashed kits. (The blocks from the third, "Zen", will be made in 2015).  Dating from 2003, "Four by Four" consists of eleven 12 1/2" blocks -- and one 'stray from who-knows-where, that came in at 10 1/2") assembled with Christmas-themed fabric.  

"Army Star"

This is not my usual cup of tea but the fabric was so pretty I had to collect it.  Here's Block #12 - "Army Star" (I didn't make up that name and don't know it's origin.  If one of you can enlighten, Gentle Readers, I'd appreciate it!)  All I know is, this one is my favourite of the bunch because it's so festive!

While all this piecing's been going on, I've rested my brain from the last 15 x 15 Group Challenge.   It wasn't long till I was pondering a couple of new art pieces...

I'm linking this up with BKH's Mystery Monday Link Up Part 1...and settling in for an evening of reading and embroidery...just for a change.

Have a good one!  :-)

Peaceful PIecing

May, like April, has been a month full of creative activity. On the ninth, I spent a morning in Calgary as one of three SAQA members/artists visiting a Junior High School art class while the SAQA Western Canada exhibit, "The Burgess Shale" was on display there.  Twenty-eight eager students learned about making fabric post cards, and made their own, drawing inspiration from the fossils of the Burges Shale excavation (you can read all about it HERE.)

When I got home, I had to race to get my 2014 SAQA Benefit Auction piece in before the June 1 deadline.  I made it -- as did over 240 others -- but as more quilts are needed, the deadline's been extended to June 15.  If you're a SAQA member and have yet to contribute this year...what're you waiting for?!  ;-)

My last deadline was for my 15 x 15 Group's current theme, "Nature".  I was working on it in my last post; it's now finished.  I'm expecting "The Reveal" to show up HERE any time now (i.e., by tomorrow).


So...as I did at the end of April, I've turned to OPI (Other People's Instructions) to relax a bit.  This time I turned first to a quilt I began to design in January, using Sue Briscoe's book, Japanese Taupe Quilts.  I began by cutting squares and strips for six of 24 pieced blocks I want to use in the corners and around the central medallion -- you can see them in the 'basket' to in the right of this photo.



In the basket on the left of the photo, you see a series of strips -- 2" wide by 7" long.  I'm cutting these from scraps a bit at a time till I can collect enough for a postage stamp quilt.  I admired one in a recent blog post somewhere (sorry; I can't recall where!) and in response to my query, the blogger who posted directed me to a source for a tutorial over at Red Pepper Quilts.  I have so many scraps that I trust I'll be able to fill that 'basket' with lights, mediums and darks before very long.

After prepping the fabrics for those six blocks,  assembled four of them.  This gives me 8 finished or 1/3 of what I need.






For a change of pace, I prepared one of four large blocks -- 18" square (finished) -- to go around the centre medallion.  These blocks have an appliqued "fan" design:

Although the style of this quilt is 'quiet' -- hence the "taupe" reference in the book title -- the sample of this block in the book was a bit more colourful, so I went with that thought, trying at the same time to select fabrics that wouldn't shout when set against the other blocks.

I just love these fabrics -- all from stash, some having been there for a great long time, since before I moved from Calgary (2008).

In ended my indoor sewdio work once I'd pinned the first fan to the background, ready to applique, and went outside to stitch "Mark on the Body" for the day.  Thursday was the sixth-month anniversary of my work on this piece, so I took photos outside for a change.  That post is HERE.

After MOB, I stitched down the facing on my 15 x 15 piece...and then settled down with a snack and my current book, How to Live: A Life of Montaigne by Sarah Bakewell.  It's delicious.  I've borrowed it from the library, but may have to buy a copy so I can underline my favourite bits and make notes in the margins.

Ah...a blissful finish to a perfectly lovely afternoon.

Today?  It's cool again, with a mix of sun and cloud.  Perfect for more peaceful piecing...and a link up to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Friday.

Have a lovely weekend!  

Enough for Today

...I think.  Having decided, due to the wind chill (-29C and it hasn't budged all day) to play hooky from my monthly volunteering at the Stettler thrift store, I have now cut out and sewed up my second batch of hour glass units, working a bit at a time between about 8 a.m. and now (2 p.m.).

Sleeve #1 awaits a fitting

Maybe God's rapping my knuckles for staying home.  Out of a potential total of 52 units (cumulative -- yesterday's and today's), I have 40 that are 2.5" square (the desired size), another 9 that are 2 3/8" square (and in piecing, 1/8" makes a significant difference) and  3 that are smaller (2.25") or just plain wonky.  Sigh.  I know I was a bit loosey-goosey with the first batch, but today I took particular care in cutting, marking, sewing and pressing (even turned off the steam, which I am not usually wont to do; I like steam!)

Ah well...I'm going to take a break and do more hand-stitching on the front of the hanten jacket, and maybe -- finally -- pick up the stitches for the second sleeve of my daughter's Christmas Sweater -- all the while entertained by TQS and a couple of new-to-me podcasters (Pam Holland -- an infrequent podcaster, but arty and interesting; and Sandy, the chatty host of Quilting for the Rest of Us.)

Stay warm!

Getting My Ducks in a Row

Half-squares lined up to become
Hour Glass units

(figuratively speaking, that is!)   The Orca Bay Mystery Quilt officially began today.  I meant to work on it this afternoon, but after shovelling out my back sidewalk, parking pad and driveway behind the garage, I came in and had a nap instead!  That left me this evening, and I was determined to get started.

I thought I had one of the triangle rulers that Bonnie recommends, but no -- my triangular ruler is a 60 degree triangle, for mosaic patchwork, creating hexagons, etc.  Thus I am using 3.25" squares paired to make half-square triangles and then paired again to make quarter-square triangle units, also known as hour glass units.

I ended up with twenty-four acceptable hour glasses, and a few duds that resulted from:

• sloppy matching of seams;
• sloppy sewing;
• skewed shapes due to unequal weight of fabric.

The first two will clear up with practice, but the last one...that requires discernment of my scraps before I even cut the 3.25-inch squares.  It's one of the challenges posed by using ones scraps to make a quilt. 

A couple of times a weightier, denser, sturdier batik has been paired with a light, almost flimsy, cotton, producing a real challenge piecing.  Yes, I know I could use Mary Ellen's Best Press, which I have in a lavender scent and like very much, but I don't want to be starching every other square!

Two Dozen Assorted

I'm happy with my progress in a couple of hours this evening, but confess the thought of making another two hundred Hour Glass units in the next week is rather daunting!  If you don't hear from me for a while...

P.S. The Christmas Stocking is finished -- except for the name of the intended recipient. Photos to come soon!

A Little Stack...

...of finished objects. What, in part, I have worked on over my self-imposed summer sabbatical. It has been lovely to relax my right brain -- up to a point, anyway -- and follow Other People's Instructions.  Now I am gearing up to return to my studio, and my work on original pieces, after Labour Day.  A couple of cool, rainy days have helped this along, motivating me to clean up my cutting table and the space immediately around my sewing machine, with the expectation that a clutter-free space will be more inviting.

Except for the socks, these items are for my church -- either the annual Pre-Christmas Bazaar, held sometime in late November, or for the "mitten tree", which we fill with prayer shawls and items to be given away to those in need locally.

In addition to The Stack, I finished these:

Twisted Rib  Watch Caps - Designer: Terry Lee Royea

Toques for my neighbours, who helped me take down a dead tree and repair my back stoop this summer.  They love to go walking in any weather, so I am hoping these will keep them warm over the next few months.

And this:

Boneyard Shawl - Designer: Stephen West

A prayer shawl which has already been delivered to the church. I really like this pattern -- simple enough to work on and still carry on a conversation, but not so plain that it becomes boring.  In this colour way and yarn weight ("Aran"), the shawl is pretty enough for a female, but sturdy and simple enough for a fellow. I got the pattern for the toques and the shawls on Ravelry, currently my "go-to" place for free patterns if I'm not motivated by my already extensive collection -- or if I'm too lazy to look in my pattern binders!  ;-)

Still being worked on:

This is the first section of a quilt called "Sunrise, Sunset", found in the  December 2002 issue of Better Homes & Gardens' American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.

Some time ago, a quilting friend of mine was cleaning out her stash, and presented me with a clear plastic tub containing this project! She'd cut all the strips and squares, and made all the 1/2-square triangles; now, however, she decided that she was never going to put this top together.

It became my 'down-time' project.  Piecing can be a very meditative practice when your right brain is ready to explode from ideas, or you just can't face your sketchbook. Piecing can kick-start your next creative streak when you look at your design wall and think, "What next?"

I plodded along with this project, making stacks of blocks, until I had enough to begin to put them together.  There are three sections to the centre of this quilt, and that which I've labelled "Section One" is now complete.  I've finished enough blocks to make up the better part of Section Two, and may just get that done before Labour Day.  After that, the project will "rest" until I need it again to "unblock" my over-worked right brain.  :-)

The main challenge to this quilt has not been making the star blocks, but in doing it out of flannel.  Yes -- my friend chose flannel for this piece!  Given the propensity of flannel to stretch out of shape along the bias -- even more than plain ol' even-weave cotton -- I was surprised.  I can only surmise that she fell in love with the colour-way and couldn't resist it!  Those who are quilters would, if looking closely, notice the odd tendency to buckle just slightly that's happening in spots on this top...but I'm hoping that the adage, "Don't worry; it'll quilt out!" will apply when it's all finished.  ;-)

Photos Up!

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been working in my City & Guilds course over the past two or three days; my progress since early January is now recorded under the Polishing the Process tab.  Drop by and take a look!

Pieceful, Peaceful

Some months ago, my friend W gave me a box of squares, strips and half-square triangles she'd assembled to make into a quilt called "Sunrise, Sunset", designed by Joy Hoffman and included in the December 2002 issue of Better Homes & Gardens American Patchwork & Quilting.  When she gave me the blocks, W said she was no longer interested in assembling the quilt top, and that I could keep the magazine.  I'm delighted, because it has some very pretty patterns in it.  Even though I don't make many traditional pieces now, I still find looking at them and reading about them a restful way to spend time between projects.  This quilt is no exception.  In the past week I've turned to the box of pieces to bring some order to the psychological chaos created by getting 4 entries off in the 2 months since Christmas.  I've begun to assemble the star blocks, which W chose to create in 3 different colourways -- purple/cream; red/cream; and gold-orange/cream.  (The pattern had a 4th -- in a fuschia/cream combo.)  I've decided I will take time to make these blocks whenever I need to turn to the orderly and the methodical over the next few months.  When the top is assembled, I'll return it to W; she can find someone to quilt it, and then do what she likes with it -- likely give it away....unless, of course, I fall in love with it in the meantime...

"Abandoned"

Watching

My newest art quilt project is a series I've been pondering for well over a year.  I took the photos for it last spring/summer, and have been mulling over various interpretations.   It's based on abandoned buildings 'round about where I live.  The first piece, "Watching", shown here in the pinned stage, is almost completely stitched now.   The bit of roof you see at the top is a slice from the body of a sweater I found at the thrift store in Stettler where I volunteer once a month.  The other strips have been torn and cut from cottons and lining fabric.

Nobody Here But Us

The second, more a landscape, is now under construction  I call it "Nobody Here But Us".  It's inspired by a winter photo of the same stand of aspen that I used for my "Aspen" piece this past summer.   The trees still have more branches than you see here,  but I've chosen to show only their trunks -- it's how they spoke to me against the winter sky.  This piece is currently lying on my cutting table, waiting for the pins. (I don't like using spray baste much.  I like to have the option of changing my mind about the position of something, and I find straight pins give me that flexibility -- even if I'm pricked from time to time as I work!)


The fabric you see:

• The sky: my own hand-dyed fabric;
• The trees, bushes and snow -- commercial cottons.

Looking out my front window, I see that the rather tame snowfall that started this morning has turned to a full-fledged snow-and-blow, and is destined to accumulate to far more than the 1 cm (about 2/3 of an inch) that was forecast.  What better way to spend this day indoors than working on my projects?  Let's see...where shall I begin?