Languish Not…Make Another Quilt!

2022

2021 vanished in a flash, leaving me counting UFO’s and dreaming of more fantastic quilt designs to add to the “To Do - hopefully one day soon - List”.  Hmmm, I should stop reading those enticing magazines!  The year did finish with a flourish, however, as I managed to add 4 quilt tops to the “basted and ready for quilting box”. 

The new year however, became the year of catching up with family & friends as borders and boundaries opened.  Our poor car did not sit idle for long at all as we galivanted across 4 states before settling down to a cold and rather wet winter on the river.  Too cold and wet to work in the outside sewing room (my garden shed).  Meanwhile, other indoor projects took priority; sorting photos being one huge job that has STILL to be finished.

At least the RLI girls were able to meet at Randwick again, and aside from the odd bout of Covid isolation and overseas jaunts, we’ve settled back into the old meeting routine.  I’ve now limited myself to taking portable projects to the meetings too, after having my sewing machine in for a service & repairs twice last year.  It just doesn’t enjoy travelling the way it did in its youth!

So, it was with some relief then, that in October, I had reason to limber up and get Bertie primed for a session of free motion quilting.  Woohoo!  Off and running at last.  Now I am working on quilt #4, so it is good to see a nearly empty box on the shelf.  I seriously doubt it will be done by Christmas this year; it still has quite a bit of embroidery to add once the quilting is done.  Never mind, it’s all progress. 

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, a prosperous New Year and time for lots and lots of stitching.

Clip Art from The Graphics Fairy

Cross Roads

At this point (the start of 2021) and with time at home to think, I found myself dithering over where and how to organise my posts featuring finished quilts.  When I started this blog, it was easy to list quilts by "year started" as all I had was a photo of a finished article.  Now I am at a cross-roads with UFO’s.  I have bits & bobs here & there and lots on the go in the WORK BOX too.  Not to mention quite a few unfinished items.  I wonder (to myself loudly) if it wouldn’t be easier to change mid-stream and begin tagging projects by year finished.  What a beat-up!  What a lot of work!

But this great idea has since hit the floor with a thud… Everything would have to be re-arranged and perhaps nothing would make any sense.  There would be no apparent logical order.  And the world as we know, loves order.  Yes, even finding it in chaos. 

However, I've since had an epiphany. My plan now, after all this wasted time on “will I or won’t I” debate, is to note:

   1. The FINISH & START year in my post sub-headings. 

   2. The FINISH year in a "label cloud" making it easy to search.  

All dates will still be located in "Just for the Record" notes of each finished quilt and every post will still be dated according to time/date posted.  In all, this organisation should allow me to easily find key quilt dates, and enable linking of posts (perhaps), even in-progress reports (if I'm super-keen).  I’m so very slow to finish quilts, some taking years (and years) to finish so it is easy to forget details.  And doesn’t everyone keep digital photos and an excel spreadsheet (a documented quilt list) of their wonderful creations?

There, that feels better.  Now, did you really need to know this? 

Wildflower in the Blue Mountains

 

Study from Home

2020 was not without its quilting study initiatives, so the posts that follow are a brief summary of ventures, not necessarily involving a quilt outcome; more for interest:

My Book Choice: Stitched in Color

In one of my Google “research” moments, I found a wonderfully coloured Bears Paw quilt and tracked it back to the book, “A Quilters Field Guide to Color” by Rachel Hauser.  The quilt’s owner had participated in a colour study exercise from Rachel’s book and followed along with her blog quilt-along too for even more tips and tricks.  Working effectively with colour has always been one of my weak spots “needing work”, so I quickly ordered a copy from Book Depository and in between other projects, started my own Bear’s Paw learning adventure.  I’ve wanted to do this block for ages but couldn’t decide on what colour the quilt should be. Now it will be all multi-coloured and happy!  And who would pass up the opportunity to learn more about colour on this journey.  Not me!

Of course, the book led to Rachel’s blog and her very generous tutorials, quilt-alongs and pattern offerings.  I’ve since decided to go back to the start of her blog to find out more.  In the meantime, I’ve also been hooked on Rachel’s Kingfisher EPP (English Paper Piecing) and have been cutting hexagon shapes from my scrap box.  I’m hoping at some stage to add to all this learning by putting together a colour wheel using a Carpenters Wheel block to hang in my Garden Shed.  Well, it’s a nice plan for 2021 perhaps…

My Tutorial Choice: Tula Pink’s EPP Series

To complement all this study, especially if you are into EPP, I found Tula Pink’s excellent series (made for the Fat Quarter Shop).  Tula shows in great detail how to best achieve very professional results (don’t lick the thread!) and look after your well-being at the same time.  Her three tutorials (the first goes for over 39 minutes) cover so much that I’ve watched them a number of times to make sure I didn’t miss out on anything.  I should add here, that I’m not a huge EPP fan, although I did enjoy putting together my hexi quilt all those years ago.  That said, I am open to small projects that use scraps like Rachel’s Kingfisher, so all I need to do now is to actually start stitching all those little 1” hexagons I’ve been busy cutting and hoarding…  

Loving Quiltmania (& My To Do List)

In the interests of economy and space, I’ve been busy downsizing lately and decided that Quiltmania was going to be my only subscription magazine.  Well, that and its sister publication, Simply Moderne.  Not an edition goes by without my adding at least one more project to my To Do List.  The magazines are great quality, offer a balance of news, articles and advertising, and contain more than enough projects to interest and challenge quilters of all levels of expertise. 

I’ve written about my To Do List before, but it’s essentially a list of the great unfinished kept in my UFO box and a note or two about progress (or otherwise).  I also record where the project is located if it’s not in the UFO box, so that I can find it if I suddenly have a rush of blood to the head and want to finish that something NOW.  I also add a list of those patterns I’m inspired to do or ideas that have inspired me to make a quilt.  Bearing in mind that I achieve about one finished quilt a year and have been quilting for over 35 years, that list is long; rather too long.  Now, I make this To Do List every year, as close to the start of the year as I can.  It helps me to organise myself.  (I have mentioned OCD tendencies before.)  In 2020, I couldn’t help myself and added a further few (too many) pages to my wish list by noting those projects from Quiltmania & Simply Moderne that tempted me.  I’ve been introduced to such luminaries as Sujata Shah, Brigitte Heitland, Kaffe Fassett and Rachel Hauser.  Of course, I’d need to live to 200 to finish them all and that’s not going to happen.  But it’s my happy place!  How inspiring and thank you so much Quiltmania.

Sea Change

In February 2020, we began planning for our usual overseas adventure.  It always takes a few months to organise ourselves.  I’d found some great fares for our flights and consulted the captain (only of our ship).  “I’d wait,” he said.  “Things don’t look good.”  So here we are in 2021.  Still waiting.  Still not looking good…

Meanwhile, he turned his hand to those many outstanding home repairs (long neglected) and I began a major photo re-organisation project.  (It’s finally nearing completion in 2021; I know, I’m leaning towards the OCD type.)  However, with a gentle slide into 2021, Autumn and cooler weather, it was time to take a (sanity) break and hit the Garden Shed, my quilt room in the garden, before winter sent me back inside to a warm cosy fire. 

I dusted off the UFO box, sent Bertie Bernina away for a service and made a few lists to help me work out where I was at.  I also had a spring clean, putting unwanted items aside to give away and thinned out the growing magazine collections.  Spotlight had a few sales and my fabric boxes were full to the brim with wadding and the odd piece of fabric or two.  I was all set for a bit of action.  So, there I’ve been since, happily avoiding my computer (and those never-ending photo piles). Zoom Zoom!

Intermission

I’ve been doing a lot of wishing lately.  You all know what I mean; indecision that comes from wanting to do something.  Perhaps it’s something new or maybe just a project lurking in the box of the “great unfinished”.  But you’re waiting, waiting for lightning to strike.  And the resulting idea - you know it has to be really good!

So, rather than fret, I’ve been lurking on the net instead of petting my stash, and like Brenna Riley Gates (The Quilting Company) trying to decide what to do and where to go.  I’m currently on a mission to find quilts that make my heart stop a beat, that inspire me or are just crying out to be made.  I’m looking for the commonalities so I guess I’m looking for me.  I’m in the process of assembling a “little” collection of these images to make into a screen saver or similar – an easy-access on-line personal inspiration board.  I can hear you all shout “Pinterest” or “Instagram” but really, I’m not sure at the moment I want another reason to sit longer at my computer.  I’m really, really trying to find more time for sewing…

So indeed, WHY am I blogging?  Well, in my search for interesting Nancy Cabot blocks after my last quilt, I revisited an inspiring modern scrap block in a Flickr group (link here) called X & + (or X Plus or Criss-Cross).  It seems Nancy Cabot originally called it Spool Block.  My need for a pattern (with the math done to confirm my own guesstimations) led me to Elizabeth Eastmond’s blog with said pattern nicely done along with some wonderful wisdom that’s well worth repeating.
  
“I hate every project three months in.  I’m exhausted.  I’m questioning whether it’s any good.  I’m unhappy.  [But] that’s just the process.  You have to get through that.  You have to commit. . . there’s no pulling out–it has to work.  And then it works out, because of the commitment.  There’s always failure when you don’t see it through fully.” Andrew Zuckerman, photographer, film director & author (Interview link).  Isn’t it true that sometimes you just need to sit and listen to understand where you have come from and going to…

This same block (free download) also led me to Scissortails who indeed is asking questions and looking forwards (link here) in an admirably organised way – it’s all worth pondering and getting a little personal sometimes!  I’m wondering, given the connection seems to be either Nancy Cabot or her Spool Block, if this is what has lead us to this point of personal contemplation (just plain navel-gazing really) but it’s just so useful/therapeutic/Zen.  So, maybe it is back to the great unfinished, to accept the challenges and work with them – maybe just thinking outside the box or in a different light might just resolve those Gordian Knots.  Or just start a new one! 

Threadbare

The last time I looked, it happened to be 2019.  Somehow, 2018 slipped by with minimal progress on my quilting/textile front and NOW we're headlong into 2019.  Conscious of this time I’m never going to get back, I did, in January, cut out two new designs.  Simple shapes, fast on the machine, limited to stash fabrics only.  

These two piles of cut fabric bits, along with the regulars on my annual UFO list (I’m almost too embarrassed to say how many and for how many years they've been languishing), sit in quiet contemplation in my garden shed (a sewing room since 2007).  I can at least say that I managed to get Miss 4’s first quilt, made by Nanny, completed in time for her birthday in 2018.  

Of course, we've been babysitting too.  

From a non-textile perspective, we’ve not been idle.  Almost every appliance we own died between mid-2018 and now, the fridges, yes both, died last week.  I’ve also been concentrating on organising and storing my “mega gigs” of photos – no mean feat - and just because I've been bitten by the bug, leapt headlong into some family history research.  On the table now, to add to this mix, is planning for our “away from home” excursions.  I’ve decided to try to take some EPP (English Paper Piecing) away with me for any dull days, so I’m looking for patterns and templates.  It’s amazing how much time can slip by when researching quilting or textiles on the computer.  

Then caught up with the family in Queensland

Lately, I’ve been studying Missouri Star Quilt Company’s fab YouTube tutorials, spent time searching for Japanese bag patterns, and decided to seek some advice on how to pep up my rather staid quilt post photos.  Here are a few links to some great photography advice and resource material to help you pass that rainy day.  

She Can Quilt: 

We All Sew:

Holly Knot:

The Modern Quilt Guild:

 So tomorrow is earmarked for a day in my garden shed…whoo hooo!

Before finding time for stitching inspiration at the Art Gallery of  NSW, Sydney
Artwork by Judy Watson

Missing Home

Looking forward to doing this all over again...

Nothing better than warm slippers, a raging fire and a few colourful yarns to get one relaxed and ready to stitch.

Thirty Twenty Five

Can it be that I’ve now crossed the line of 30 years of quilting?  I’ve celebrated by streamlining my garden shed, tossing out all (well, most!) unwanted/unused items that I’ve collected over the years and always thought I’d get back to, someday…  And many of the picture frames that lurked in dark corners are now up on the wall.  Dress fabric I’ll never use has been donated and now I’m eyeing off boxes of quilting fabrics I purchased all of those 30 years ago…  Will they ever come back into fashion? I think not.  I’ve slowly been reducing magazines and sorting patterns.  It’s all so cleansing and I feel quite virtuous although at times it can be hard to let go. 

From this to

This in 30 years.....

I’ve also realised that I’ve been with the RLI girls (yes, I know we hardly meet that definition now) some 20 years and although at times I wondered whether I’m feeling a little “P&Q fatigued”, something happens; someone finds yet another perfect quilt to make, a new pattern or exciting magazine finds its way into our meetings and I’m inspired.   I think of summer lunches in the garden, the many “I don’t need any more fabric” shopping trips and visits to exhibitions and galleries.
 
It seems hardly possible that it was 5 years ago that I started this blog, a personal voyage documenting my journey so far.  This process too has helped me sort and sift through collections of “stuff” to assemble a physical quilt journal of sorts.  The value add of blogging is that I can post photos and diarise this, my quilting life.

Its all been a wonderful journey. 

Christmas Lunch at Fiona's

Visitors arrive on Dangar by ferry

Bran New Day 2016

2016: Project List

Graphic with thanks to Graphics Fairy

New Year, new broom and definitely a much needed update for OTS!  Welcome to 2016!

As with all resolutions, my list of UFO’s needs attention – some just need a mere photo for a post but trying to find a “perfect day” for a little photography has been something of a challenge lately.  Then the silly season just got in the way of progress.  So, here’s my revised list from late December 2015:

#1.  Stumbling Fans (1980).  Silk cushions made from this era have already been consigned to the bin.  Fabric fatigue, I’m afraid so I’m wondering whether it’s actually worth spending the time, effort or financial commitment to start quilting this project. 

#2.  Christmas Fairies (1989).  Will they ever see light of day?  Tough one!

#3.  Bear Jackets (1996).  Do said bears need warm, appliqued & embroidered jackets?

#4.  Fairy Quilt Medallion (1999).  Currently on the design wall undergoing a revamp into a Dutch Coverlet design.  Too many fairies, so birds are the go to trick this whole thing up.  

#5.  Thai Embroideries (2002).  This is a personal challenge and I need a week locked in my garden shed to get this one from a fuzzy idea onto the design wall.  Let’s hope 2016 – only 14 years on from the workshop, (eeek!) – will see it started.

#6.  India Exchange Blocks (2005).  Yes, yes!  I’m planning to start this one soon but as I plan a fairly complex applique border, it’s going to take years to finish.

#7.  Antique Toys (2006).  Just waiting on embroidery – a few details to add character to this quilt and it’s done.

#8.  Explorer Series (2008).  Repeat after me…one day I’m going to finish this art quilt series.  Only 3 little guys to go.  Let’s get the pressure on!

#9.  Flash Purples (2011).  Never let a box of UFO’s get in the way of starting a new quilt.  This was especially challenging as I made up my own design and then slunk off back to Kaffe’s books – as you do (when nothing’s going right)!  This one’s in the quilting hoop right now.

#10.  Windom Quilt (2012).  I fell in love with this design though managed to incorporate an even older UFO (from the Armidale Symposium, 1989) as the medallion centre.  I’ve posted a few “progress” photos already.  This one too, is waiting in line for quilting.

#11.  Horta Calling Cards (2013).  On a dull day what better to do than fiddle around with “photofabric” pieces and a perfectly good printer.  Look Mum, no hands - and now I’ve got a rather too large selection of photos on fabric to do something amazing with. 

Phew – that’s it.  Not too bad I suppose, so I’ll just keep slogging away at the fabric mountain in my garden shed.  No new bits until I’ve made a bit of a hole in the assembled collection.  (You know that’s never going to happen – buying new fabrics is ESSENTIAL, right?)  My plan now is to post as I progress and when I’ve finished each quilt, new or UFO, round out the detail I’ve managed to record.  It’s taken me ages to find (or not find, as the case may be) information about quilts my own fair hands have created.  Who would have thought it so hard to find facts about your own history…

So begins another year full of hope for the future.

Nature is an inspiration in itself, isn't it?