TyQuilts Designs

The theme for the October TIF is “This month the challenge is to  think about your textile work space. How do you feel about this space? What role does it play in your life?”

In a word “YIKES!”. My feelings regarding my workspace which is a sewing room/ office are very mixed. On the one hand I am grateful to be able to have a dedicated space to work in. The problem is it is too small and too full of stuff for me to effectively work in it right now so my projects spill over into the living room and dining room. The other major feeling is embarrassment. I don’t think I can post a picture of this room.  There are precarious piles of paper, fabrics, projects, thread and fabric bits everywhere, on all flat surfaces including the floor.  I can barely walk into the room.

It is not a room that is conducive to creativity, but I haven’t been able to pare down things to a manageable level.  And how ungrateful is that, to complain about having too many things? I cringe as I write this. I really need to cut my supplies in half or maybe even by 3/4 to have enough room to store everything so it has a place that it can easily be returned to. I have trouble doing that on a couple of levels. The first is the amount of money spent on the stash, supplies etc. The 2nd is that age old conundrum…. ” What if I need this sometime?  Which is just stupidity. I have so much stuff I don’t know what half of it is and wouldn’t be able to put my hands on it if I did.

I did go through my closet, inspired by the challenge, and Sharon B’s pictures of her workspace (is that intimidatingly neat or what?). I got rid of two big garbage bags of bits and pieces, fabrics and projects that I would never ever do anything with again.  As you can see It freed up a bit of space, but not nearly enough to really be able to help with the mess in the room.

Ah, well. I am off to shovel out a space to stitch a couple more blocks for the duck quilt and cut a couple of charms to send out.

I have finished the project for the online Class I am taking.  It is Dreamwatcher with Linda Poole. Great class for anyone who believes in fairie tales or wants to learn freezer paper hand applique.  I am very happy with how my fairie turned out. I have named her Maple Sugar and will be placing her on an Autumn themed background.

I finally sat back down at the quilt frame and started working on the wedding quilt again. I don’t know why that is so hard for me to do because once I get started I can sit for hours (I have learned not to do that however, for the health of my back and history of carpel tunnel issues) I so enjoy the hand quilting process. This is what I will mainly be working on for the next little bit except for my dreamwatcher class project (see below), so I likely won’t be posting alot as I won’t have different pictures to show

I am making great progress on my fairie for the Dreamwatcher class. This is the first that I have done freezer paper applique. I have always done needleturn in the past (or on rare occasions machine applique) I have shied away from anything where the layering needed to be exact because it was so hard to get it right. But this technique used in conjunction with a light box, takes away that problem.  It’s a little messy with the gluestick. I wish that they made gluesticks that were half the circumferance of a normal one  but worth the mess when the layers come together so precisely. I am taking Linda Poole’s Dreamwatcher class at Quilters Keep Learning and it has been very easy.

I have been making slow steady progress this week on a number of small projects that I have in the works.

As you can see from the picture above, the top is completed on my Sept Tif Piece and will probably not be quilted for a bit yet. My thoughts on this piece and how it connects to the challenge topic of Lists can be read in my previous posts. I struggled with the applique on these two pieces, finding it very difficult to create an invisible stitch with the batiks. I searched for my silk thread while working on the sunset and the reflections at the bottom of the piece were stitched with that, but still my stitches show way too much. I would appreciate tips on how to more successfully hand applique using batik fabrics.

I am also making good progress on my August Tif Piece- Balance, which began as an exercise for the online class I am taking through Quilt University with Lily Kerns- 15 lines and a Squiggle. This piece isn’t quite there yet, it needs time in the back of my mind to see where if anywhere I am going with it next.

The final thing is this block I have completed for a duck quilt I was asked to participate in. The  paper pieced duck and ducking blocks that I used within this block were enlarged from the book “A Quilters Ark” by Margaret Rolfe.

Making progress on September’s TIF- The subject is lists.   I still have the embroidery, perhaps some beading and the border to add. I went with an autumn theme, because Autumn is a time of introspection for me, reevaluating, setting goals and making Lists.

I have also made some progress on my first piece for the 15 lines and a squiggle class  that I am taking at Quilt university. I have the basic sketch done and am auditioning fabrics. I would probably have started the applique already but sitting in church today I realized that we had guests coming for dinner and I had forgotten. My guest room door is firmly shut with piles of stuff tossed inside (I’m sure none of you ever do that!) but my house was presentable and they were served good food. Of course some of that stuff ended up here in the studio so I will have to shovel out before I can work on my other projects.

Anyway, as I was picking out fabrics for this piece I realized that it would be perfect for the Autumn challenge. I abandoned my previous piece, but still wanted to do something with the balance theme.  I am currently getting treatment for my chronic insomnia, hoping that adequate sleep will restore some balance to all areas of my life. One of the things I have been taught to do is a relaxation meditation exercise and the place that I chose to focus on for this is the lake where we used to go camping when I was a child. I remember the peaceful feeling that would come while sitting at waters edge, watching the sunset and listening to the waves lap against the shore. This piece reminded me of that so I will use it for my August TIF. Interesting how I had drawn a blank on a new direction to go, and then was led there via a totally different project.

Lists– It was a circuitous route that my mind took to come up with this design based on the concept of lists. You can see my initial thoughts at the bottom of my previous post. I have my design sketch done and initial fabrics picked out and hope to get started on the applique today before the new lessons are released for the online classes I am taking.  Of course what I really should be working on today is a list that starts with Laundry, cleaning, dishes, etc etc but what fun is that?

Every year for the past several, I design a BOM Quilt for Quilt Cove. For 2008 I designed a scrappy sampler done in warm batiks called Autumn’s Splendor. We pick out the fabrics each month for the current block which means that I have to work one month at a time. I have a tester, but have been doing this quilt myself as well. I have spent yesterday and today catching up on piecing the blocks. Seems like a perfect time to do it as Autumn temps have hit our area. I love Autumn. It is my favorite time of year. I love the changing colors and the crispness in the air. To me Autumn is more of a time of new beginnings than the traditional Jan 1 or spring.  It is a time for getting projects accomplished and setting new goals. Getting these blocks pieced is part of my studio cleaning project. It has gotten so bad that I can barely walk into the room and all the flat surfaces are covered with piles of fabric, making it impossible to work efficiently. Time for a major shovel out.

This year Autumn is also a  time for me to learn new things. I am taking two classes in Sept- 15 lines and a squiggle  by Lily Kerns at Quilt University and Linda Poole’s Dreamcatcher Class at Quilters Keep learning.  I am also planning to take the studio Journals class with Sharon B at Joggles. it’s going to be a busy (and hopefully productive, not overwhelming) Fall.

As I was writing this post it inspired an idea for the Sept TIF challenge. The topic is lists. I have been totally blocked for an idea on this topic. I do make and use lists, but how to somehow portray this in a little quilted piece?? Seems like this months challenge would be a good one for the collage artists in the group. I looked up lists in the dictionary, list  defined as a strip of fabric was of course very doable, but not inspiring. Then I as I was writing about autumn as my time of goal settings and new beginnings and the lists that I make at this time of year in relation to those goals. I am going to go with an autumn theme for this months challenge piece.

In a post yesterday Sharon B of In a Minute Ago talked about projects and asked how we differentiate between UFOs (unfinished objects) Wips (works in progress) and Wisps (Works in slow progress) and what we do to finish our projects.

For me a UFO is any project that is tucked away in a box. Those projects are likely to be forgotten or abandoned and not even on my radar anymore.

A WIP is anything I am working on currently. they are also projects that are still  sitting out  and so are  in my line of vision and are more likely to be remembered or to still have my interest.

I like the term WISP  for those long projects. The biggest that I have is the wedding quilt. I have written about this quilt before it is 104″ square and being hand quilted. Right now it is stalled with only about 20% left to go and their first anniversary has passed.  It was interesting to see that so many other people hit a hump about this point in their long projects. You would think that with the end finally in site we would be energized to finish. Sharon’s post made me think about why it is stalled, and what I can do to fix it. For me it is stalled simply because new projects can be so much more interesting and so that is where my time goes. However I am going to commit myself to sitting down at the quilt frame at least once a day and Write it on my to do list! I know from past experience, that once I sit down I will want to keep going with it because the process is actually  so enjoyable. However if that doesn’t work alone I will set a timer as was suggested by MargB on Sharons Blog.  Making myself take that time is the key  especially as I have just signed up for the dream watcher class at Quilters Keep learning.  The excitement of a new project and learning a new skill could easily make me overlook the quilt sitting there waiting patiently for me to finish it.

As far as UFO’s I am terrible about finishing those so it will be interesting to see what tips get posted. I think for myself  that the act of getting out a box, opening it and getting it back into my line of site is what gives a ufo a fighting chance. I do like the idea of repurposing or giving them away. I actually have just the friend who might actually do something with it if I handed her one of my ufos. I will have to make the time to delve into my boxes with that in mind.

It’s the time of the year when we get to go to our local Renaissance Faire. The MN Faire is big, and you really can’t see everything in one visit, but even if you could we would go multiple times anyway. I am not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way we became Ren Faire Geeks. I can’t even really put into words  what exactly draws us, it’s a great place to watch people, but so is the state fair which doesn’t even tempt us. The entertainment is fun, but entertainment is to be had in many places– the shopping is fun, but again shopping can be found anywhere and every where, but still we go. It is nice to spend the day outside, no cell phones, no responsibilities. It is more than nice that my husband and I share this interest so it gives us something fun to do together.

The highlights so far this year are the Danger Committee shows, especially their last show of the day.  We always enjoyed them very much as Dew Drop jugglers, so we were a bit worried last year when they changed, but we are thoroughly enjoying them this year. The last show they do in the day their “danger” show is especially fun because it is unscripted, but some of the feats they pull off have the audience on their feet in awe.

Saturday, we did something we have been talking about doing for a couple of years but have never done, We spent most of the day listening to musical groups. It was a great day to choose to do this. Queen Anne’s Lace was a visiting act here this weekend only from Texas. They are wonderful. Great Harmonies, sung a cappella and really fun performances. The gold standard that we judge all Ren groups by is Bounding Main, and Queen Anne’s Lace came close.

We also spent time at the Raku pottery booth, painting some new pieces. It is always such fun to see the end result. My Husband is much better at this than me, but I was pleased with the spooky look I managed to give my pumkin.

I know it is Sept but my August TIF stalled along the way. I am not happy with the way the beading was working, the design isn’t coming  together and my eyes can’t handle the 18 count aida I was using. I have set it aside for now and will try to rethink the design because I really like the topic for the month, and perhaps go get my eyes checked! This all sounds kind of whiny, and I am actually not feeling whiny at all. In the interest of keeping my “balance” I have decided to temporarily abandon this project rather than beat my head against the wall over something that isn’t working.

I have been thinking on the Sept challenge ” lists” and have no ideas where to do with that idea, so will have to let it simmer on the back burner for a bit.

On a happy note I am working on designing a block inspired by this fun fabric for a project I have been invited to participate in.   I have my fabrics all picked out, and just need to sit down a draw a simple applique– should be fun.