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! 

Zesty Lemons and Zippy Bees

The Queen's Honey Bees, Osborne House:  2019  (Started: 2019)

Well, I’m still on a mission to use up my existing stash and after a somewhat unsuccessful bash at “re-creating” my black & white version of Circles of Fun, I decided to check out the yellow box.  In my other “collection” box I found some small pieces called Crow Hill Apiary Garden that held promise of making the yellows interesting.  Now for a pattern…

Initially, I had thought of a quick & easy snowball à la Kaffe Fassett.  It just seemed too simple.  After all, Kaffe’s quilts sing because he uses his strong and colourful fabrics.  I wanted a bit of design complexity (without all the hard work) that would give my yellows a more modern touch.  After all, some of these fabrics have been sitting in that box for nearly 30 years! 

So, it was with some relief that I happened upon an interesting old quilt in my favourite Nancy J Martin book.  It's a design called Paths & Stiles and was a pattern made famous by Nancy Cabot.  Martin’s instructions are always so reliable, so I happily cut away, making a few changes here and there, then assembled enough blocks to make a decent sized queen bed topper.  It wasn’t until I had stitched up the top that I realised I was sewing another version of Monkey Wrench (or Churn Dash).  This was the pattern of choice for my blue box project from last year, and a single, lonely quilt made in 2018.  Oh dear!  Twilight Zone music plays…

With the Cap’n away, I managed to find time to baste and machine quilt, quick smart.  I cannot tell you the sense of achievement I felt when it was all done.  I’d even noted in my diary “finished top! – happy, buzzy lemons.” At least one quilt finished for 2019 and a very happy, and thoroughly re-inspired stitcher. 

Of course, I didn’t manage to get a photo before I leapt on the plane for warmer weather, so that’s a chore to follow…eventually

If you want to find more Nancy Cabot patterns, then here’s a few inspiring sites to spend time browsing:

• A Flicker Group organised by “Fresh Lemons” with a thoroughly Modern twist on Nancy Cabot designs…just stunning!  I hope the group is still going since Flicker’s new (& fee demanding) ownership.  Let’s see.
• A Nancy Cabot Sew Along Group
• Illinois Quilt History – Nancy Cabot
• And to finish, one of many Pinterest sites with Nancy Cabot (Chicago Tribune) patterns

Now for the Apologies:  I know I measured this quilt before I took flight, but that sticky note is lurking somewhere, with the details of its name, hiding who-knows-where.  All this, including a photograph session, and a name, will be rectified once I hit Aussie turf again, soon, maybe…

Just for the Record:

Quilt Finished Size: 170 x 170.5cm
Block Sizes: 9in
Cut in: 14 Jan 2019
Pieced: 30 Mar 2019
Basted: 5 Apr 2019
Quilted: Machine 17 May 2019
Quilt Type: Modern-ish
Quilt Finished: 24 May 2019
Exhibited: No
Collection: Home #057
Pattern Name: Nancy Cabot's Paths & Stiles
Pattern Source: Nancy J Martin's 101 Fabulous Rotary Cut Quilts p.159
Fabrics Purchased: From the Stash…with maybe just one or two newbies
Fabric Design: Various
Fabric Style: Fresh Yellows & Crow Hill Apiary Garden pieces
Materials Type: Printed Cottons
Wadding Type: Warm & Natural Cotton
Backing: Pieced using left-over remnants
Thread Use Machining: 1 reel
Thread Use Quilting: 24 Bernina bobbins (1 reel) and another 1 reel
Thread Type: Gutermann natural cotton

Getting Cross

Black & White Circles: 2016    A Progress Report

Inspired to actually do some sewing, I hit the box of the Great Unfinished and dragged out my black and white circles.  Again.  It's always lacked a little something and nothing I do to improve it seems to fit.  My last effort was to sew some bright pink centres to give it a bit of a lift.  Then I decided that an applique of some large-ish pineapples would make a difference.  Nope!  That grand idea didn't even get past the pinning stage.

So I finally decided to hang it up and take a photo - a chance to get a bit further away from it and spend time in contemplation and study.  I've decided that there's just too much "white" space in that middle border between the circles and the outer wavy border. The thin yellow border is not enough - it only looks lost and lonely. 

You can understand my dilemma?

The outcome has been pinks removed, pineapples binned and the centre section of the quilt unpicked and in pieces again.   Just sometimes, don't you have to go backwards to go forwards?

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

Butterflies & Birds

Butterfly Garden: 2018  (Started: 2016)

A certain amount of dithering went on with this quilt.  Firstly, what to do for a first grand-daughter?  Then finding myself selecting a heap of charm squares in “just the right pinks” and finally, wavering between, not one, but three patterns.  Well, I was struck by the ever-so-cute quilt in Quiltmania (see info below) but found a fantastic tutorial by the ever-so-productive and ever-so-scrappy red pepper quilts.  From this RPQ tute, I was directed to Mrs Schmenkman Quilts and proceeded to cut merrily from all three directions.  This explains why some of the blocks are a little off.  Not to worry, it all went well once I had my nose firmly planted on the grindstone.  As one must when a 4^th birthday is close at hand…

Proof of a Start - taken 17 Mar 2016

2016 turned out to be not such a happy year for us as a family, so it wasn’t until the end (September) of 2017 that I finally pieced up all the blocks and added a border.  Once again, I just took sooo long to decide on a suitable border arrangement; finally settling on setting the blocks on simple white sashing to make the butterflies dance and a light green and yellow floral border - so fresh and citrusy.  At this same time, I also resolved to add something meaningful on the quilt and found the perfect solution in another Quiltmania Issue (details below).  Even if it meant more embroidery!

(Photos to follow when I find them - having cleaned up, they're momentarily "lost")

Found my photos at last however they are sadly in need of editing as the
colours are washed out (in the strong sunshine) or too dark (in the shade).
Hmmm! Who said life wasn't meant to be easy.... but they'll do for now!

However, before embroidering anything, I needed to baste the quilt.  I initially chose a natural shade but very quickly unpicked all my work when the whites in the quilt took on a yellow cast.  Hmmm!  Not clever.  My one day job turned into two and I re-basted on a white cotton batting.  Much better. 

Machine quilting also seemed to take forever, as it does on a small domestic but finally it was ready for me to add birth sampler details and of course, that lovely sentiment from another Quiltmania project in Issue #100:  “Having someplace to go is Home, Having someone to love is Family, Having Both is a Blessing”. 

Sadly, I seem to be in quilt limbo again.  Blame Spring and an urge to clean up that dreadful, disorganised mess my photographs have become over the years.  Weeks later and I’m only starting to surface from a bit of a high-tech (well, for me at least) frenzy.  So, everything’s nearly sorted.  And I'm hoping my photos of this quilt will appear soon.  To lift the spirits though, Mrs Maggie is warbling each morning, the Plovers are busy protecting chicks on the bowling green and all our Jacarandas are about to bloom into a perfect purple haze. 

Just for the Record:

Quilt Finished Size: 150 x 168cm
Block Sizes: TBC  (but using 5” charm squares for a set of wings)
Cut in: Feb/Mar 2016
Pieced & Basted: by Jun 2018
Quilted: Machine Jul 2018
Quilt Type: Fresh & Modern
Quilt Finished: 25th July 2018
Exhibited: No
Collection: Gifted #018
Pattern Name: Mimi’s Butterflies p53
Pattern Source: Quiltmania #52 2006
Fabrics Purchased: From the Stash and maybe a few little extras…
Fabric Design: Pinks and anything fresh
Fabric Style: Brights
Materials Type: Printed Cottons
Wadding Type: White Cotton
Backing: Pieced using left-over remnants
Embroidered Quotation: Quiltmania #100 2014 p54