Take a really deep breath in, and then breathe out... wheh! Yup, that pretty much sums it up how I feel right now. I've been living in surreal land the last several days, and I have to keep asking my husband, my children, and just about anyone I can find to pinch me because I just can't believe it myself... after having started a little over a year, I finally finished my Facing East quilt top! Somehow the first steps just seemed to drag on for forever, leaving me with the feeling that I would finish this sometime around my 80th year of life, and then bam!... all of a sudden it came together faster than I had realized! Would you believe that this was originally planned to be one or two blocks... perhaps even a pillow... something small to experiment with paper piecing?!?
Help, help, help! So, now what? Well, I really don't know. From the very beginning I've been saying that I would like to send this off to a longarmer, but as I got closer to the finish line, I started wondering if I could quilt it myself? I'm not a stickler for "if you didn't quilt it, then you didn't really make it"... in fact all I have to say to that is hogwash! I know, blah, blah, blah with the fulfillment of having made it from start to finish down to the last stitch, but there is a part of me that is far to practical to be bound by such thinking. I'm pleased with my skills as a piecer, and really enjoy the fabric pull, the combinations, and the design, and I don't even mind basting, but somehow I just can't see quilting designs. Is it on the verge of sounding sacrilegious to say that the quilting part is my least favorite?... the irony is that it's kind of a necessary evil of quilting, isn't it? Free motion is no option for me, because I really am a beginner quilter, and I would need tons more practice before I would even consider tackling a quilt like this! So, as it is with most of my projects, I'm going to ponder this for a while... and bask in my moment!
Quilt pattern: "Facing East" from Savor Each Stitch by Carolyn Friedlander
Started: January 2015
Fabrics: Basic Grey Grunges, selected fabric accents from Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler fabric, and various additional prints. Low volume background fabrics
Finished quilt top size: ca. 63 x 83 in. (160 x 210 cm)
So what is it for you?... the design? the fabric pull? cutting? piecing? quilting? basting? binding?... what is your least favorite part in the process of making a quilt?
Linking up to Let's Bee Social and Sew Cute Tuesday.
I remember when I was pregnant with my first son, there was a whirlwind of emotions that had to be sorted out, but it only happened in little steps all along the way. On one hand forty weeks felt like an eternity, but on the other hand it felt like it was in the blink of an eye. Gradually, day by day, each uncertainty, worry, hesitation, decision, attitude change, or even roller coaster feeling had to be worked through as the time got closer... but yet once the time was there, baby was coming ready or not! Perhaps you might find it a little strange to compare my working on my biggest and most monumental quilt ever to that of a pregnancy, but oddly enough, it's kind of how it feels.
Since my end goal quilt had grown to such epic proportions, it felt like the end was so far away, that I almost could not imagine it having an end... and I realized that now that I am coming into the home stretch. Each block consists of four separate paper pieced rays/corners, that too have to be connected... and then the center applique circle! So, working on it day by day, here and there, week after week, only felt like drip-drop, gradual progress, but now it is almost a surreal feeling that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!... and it gives me that ready-or-not-here-I-come feeling that I experienced as a mom-to-be once my due date drew close.
I'm three quarters of the way through, and it hit me that this work-in-progress actually drapes now!... no more blocks on the wall that are being re-arranged, waiting to have the circles finished, and then and only then be connected.
And like a new mom, the feelings of... and now what are coming up! How in the heck am I going to quilt this thing with a walking foot?!? (no free motion for this gal yet) I originally thought that I wanted to give it away to a longarmer, but now I'm just not sure. So while I'm just ONE ROW away from a quilt top finish, I'm still processing (as usual) about what to do once I'm finally finished. (So, I hope it obvious that I am more than open to suggestions!)
Have you had any quilts that almost felt like it was birthing a baby? How long did your longest quilt in the works take to finish?
Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday and Let's Bee Social.
I read a post this past week with tips for bloggers suggesting a few do's and don't's for what readers are looking for (or not looking for) when they visit sewing/quilting blogs. The tip that will always provide the biggest challenge for me is to keep text/content short. For a long-winded gal like me, who actually considers this my personal online journal that others just happen to be able to peek in and read, I don't seem to know any other way to do it.
Another suggestion is that readers like to see progress.... not only pretty stacks of fabrics or one WIP after the other... but results. According to her feedback, most people like to see the process rather than just the tah-dah moment. So, with that being said and the middle of the year drawing close, I thought it would be appropriate to give a status update on my two quilts in progress:
Camille Roskelley quilt pattern, "Swell" from Simply Retro (shown only in part until final reveal)
Started: February 2014
Fabrics: Various Amy Butler collections and Kona Cotton white
Current Status: Pieced top completed except for border
Issues: Completed listed size and decided to make larger. Indecisive about whether to put border as shown in original quilt or continue design and make larger?
Carolyn Freidlander quilt pattern, "Facing East" from Savor Each Stitch (finished blocks for a lap quilt size)
Started: January 2015
Fabrics: Various low volume backgrounds, Basic Grey grunges, and Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, and various additional prints.
Issues: Completed lap size, but indecisive about making it biggger. Quilting concerns about how to quilt as a new quilter - quilt as you go or have it professionally quilted?
I guess I kind of view quilting as a race for a long distance runner. So far I have been a short distance sprinter, and am having to train for a whole new kind of race... one where I will need to increase my stamina and focus. I've wanted to just stop the race now and finish my two quilts as they are, but my husband (who is 6' 5", 195 cm and actually needs a long quilt) and my quilting friend have been rooting me on from the sidelines to push myself further and go the extra mile.
Does quilting ever seem like a long distance race to you? Do you get discouraged when you have such set backs? (i.e. thinking you are almost done with a quilt and then realizing you need to make it bigger)
Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday.
I really love the fact that some of the modern sewing books that have been published recently are embracing the art of sewing from the core of it's very humble beginnings... stitching by hand.
I've always had the utmost and highest respect for the hand quilter. For me, WOW, goes without saying. When I look at almost everything that Anna Maria Horner puts her hand to, digging back to her generational roots, it really makes me realize that this woman really has it in her to the very core of her being! Carolyn Friedlander's new book Savor Each Stitch, really encourages just that, and in her recent book, Applique, the Essential Gudie to Modern Applique, Alison Glass even subtitled her "Fountain" quilt, "this could take a while". Isn't it refreshing that such modern designers, who have been told by today's society that being domestic is not "in", make such efforts to not only preserve the art of handiwork, but take it to the next level?
While my appreciation for the "art of doing it by hand" goes deep, I unfortunately belong the microwave generation. If you want something hot it's very simple... one short minute... ding... eat! With that being said, the very thought of needle turn applique has been haunting me since I started my "Facing East" blocks.
I know that there are two sides when it comes to quilting: machine quilting vs. hand quilting... and EVERYONE who quilts usually has a strong opinion about one or the other. Perhaps my previous statement might be a pretty good indication of my opinion of the topic. This also comes from a girl, who has never even hand basted a quilt binding (I know, I know, big cringe for some of you)
So I looked for a compromise to my dilemma... how to make the center circle for the Facing East blocks using another method other than needle turn applique? At my husband's encouragement, I decided to make the center circles slightly smaller. It was kind of fun pulling out school tools for the task.
I then I remembered a tutorial by the "queen of do-it-by-hand" herself... using this great little tutorial that Ms. Horner came out with back in the Chocolate Lollipop days. Make a circle template, place the template on top of fabric, wrap it up in foil, and iron it in place.
I attached the centers using a blind stitch on my sewing machine, and DING... ready for the next one.
What about you, do you like to savor the WHOLE process of quilting, including quilting by hand, or is the microwave version more your thing? Linking up with WIP Wednesday this week found here.
I've been thinking about color a lot lately.
We all have a tendency to gravitate towards certain colors, while
perhaps we avoid other colors... and we all probably have our reasons why, whether
we realize that reason or not.
A while back someone pointed out to me that the majority of my fabrics stem
from two main colors: green and shades of pink. After having considered it, I
came to the conclusion that there might be some truth in it. I really noticed
recently when I sorted my fabric stash by colors... and there it was staring me
back in the face!
My favorite color has always been green, even as a little girl. I never
went through the "pink is my favorite color, therefore EVERYTHING must be pink"
phase. When I think about green I think about life, spring, new, growth, nature, and think it's the one color that somehow makes everything complete.
Looking at the color wheel, perhaps I might make the natural gravitation unknowingly
to the complimentary color of green. Even though I embrace lots of colors, especially
bold colors, the two colors that I somehow seem to avoid are red and blue, especially in combination with each other...
and I'm not even really sure why. It's true that I see the repetitions over and
over again with my fabrics choices, but when I consider my clothing choices or
how I decorate my home, that is a completely different equation.
I once had someone tell me about people that can see color while
listening to music. (you can read about it here) It was an exciting thought to think about multiple senses
being connected in such a way. There are even some that claim that they can
taste, hear, and smell color. Wow, can you imagine experiencing
color with a sense other than sight?!?
Taking that into consideration, it's been fun for me to think of color
in a completely abstract way that perhaps the way we combine colors might even
be like a song. Each song is different, each song unique, and each song is our
own. Sometimes a favorite color combination might be like singing your favorite, old familiar
song.
So what's your color song?
...slow but sure progress on my paper piecing project, but linking up to WIP Wednesday nonetheless.
Sometimes the hang-up in being creative is that it is easy to be all over the place and the next new project idea is an all too frequent distraction. I suffer from this in a big way. Even though I am not a let's be disciplined about making a long list of New Year's Resolutions kind of girl, (hmmm, very fitting to this time of year) I do have some creative goals/challenges to reign myself in a bit.
"Santa" (aka Hubster) was very nice to me this Christmas in giving me two books from my wish list... now how did he know it was exactly what I wanted?!? Even though I don't buy sewing and craft books very often, I'm totally excited about adding the new books from Carolyn Friedlander, Savor Each Stitch, and Alison Glass Applique to my small collection. Perhaps it might be interesting to know that I´ve been stalking the quilting scene as a quiet and non-participating observer for a very, very long time. My skills and knowledge are there, but I haven't trusted myself enough with my focus to jump in. You, know... just a toe in the water kind of thing.
Well, I've jumped in now and have hit hard. I'm finding that I really enjoy the process, but putting my projects to the side (because who finishes a quilt in a day, right?) feels a little undisciplined and like I have too many UFO's in the works. But with that being said, I had a Eureka moment while flipping through one of my books. One book gives a variety of project size options from mini to small, medium and big, and then it hit me... I think that I would get the most satisfaction out of exploring a variety of quilting techniques if I don't try to eat the whole whale all at once, but instead get full on a variety of little mini appetizers. If you happened to miss my figurative language here... essentially it is my goal to take on lots of little bite size projects before I tackle my "whale".
So, here it is, in black and white:
to finish at least three sewing projects inspired from each of my new books. That's six in total, not including other projects along the way. So, here I am (surprisingly) already done with a couple blocks from the Facing East quilt from Carolyn Friedlander. I've read a lot that paper piecing can be the scary monster that keeps people from buying certain patterns or books, but now that I've gotten a few blocks under my belt, paper piecing has become somehow a little more mouse-like.
So, start at the beginning, and then go!
... and another new beginning is a first time link-up for me for WIP Wednesday on Freshly Pieced's blog. What are you working on?
