Occasional jottings

A clever little site

2012-02-01T10:43:00.002Z

There are times when I'm working in on a quilt and I know what I want one dimension to be but haven't got the heart to do the geometry to find the others. This site http://www.mathopenref.com/squarediagonals.html seems to do it all for me. Not only that, it's Java based so everything is done on a click and drag basis, live on screen:

The link that I've listed goes straight to the square diagonals page but there is an extensive subject list available.

Postboxes

2012-01-31T13:28:00.003Z

Members of Contemporary quilt were asked to create a small (20cm square) on the subject of diversity and for a time, following discussions on our Yahoogroup it looked as though cultural diversity was the way to go. I liked the idea of using a typical 'British' pub menu to capture this - pizza, chicken tikka, chille, you know the kind of thing I mean.
Fortunately (As I couldn't think how to translate this idea into fabric.) the pendulum swung away from this interpretation and now the majority of pieces submitted represent the diverse aspects of Britain life.

So my challenge was to find a subject that was recognisablyBritish, that came in diverse forms, but also displayed how narrow thatdiversity could be. Royal mail letterboxes fitted these requirements exactly,there are whole websites dedicated to these British icons that record the mostminor of changes as letterboxes have evolved since the 1850’s. I can even tell you that the oldest postbox here is a Penfold Type PB8/1!!!

This piece is a ‘wholecloth’ which was created on mycomputer and minimally machine quilted to emphasize the three different postboxesshown.

Manchester Art Gallery Visit II

2012-01-21T15:43:00.000Z

I also went to Manchester Art Gallery to look for inspiration for some personal study - I was on the hunt for an artist or a style that I can learn from but also something that makes my toes curl when I look at it. I began in the Contemporary gallery without seeing anything of real interest, though I did note Peter Lanyon's Built Up Coast (http://jo-dyas-artfoundation-manc.blogspot.com/2011/12/manchester-art-gallery.html - scroll down and turn your head sideways to view!)

I decided that I might have better luck in the Craft and Design gallery and in making my way there I cut through the Pre-Raphaelite Gallery and saw the work of William de Morgan - Bingo! This isn't what I expected to grab me, and as yet I can't define what it is but I now have something to work with, it'll be interesting to see what, or even if, comes from this. All I need now is for the nice people at The Book Depository (Seriously cheaper than Amazon in this instance.) to deliver the source material, paid for by Santa!

Grayson Perry at Manchester Art Gallery

2012-01-20T12:34:00.000Z

Yesterday I went to Manchester Art Gallery to see the two recently acquired Grayson Perry works 'Jane Austen in E17' and 'Print for a Politician'. Also on display were some large vases already in the collection. The statement attached to "Emotional Landscapes particularly caught my attention as Perry talks about a "crowded cultural landscape" where "the voices that stand out are the shrill ones"
A review of the exhibition can be found here - http://thefourohfive.com/review/article/grayson-perry-visual-dialogues
It seemed to me that the idea of juxtaposing Perry's work with other work from the collection probably works better in Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman at the British Museum simply because Perry has chosen the works himself and can link to the emotions behind his work.

CQ JQ Challenge 2012

2012-01-16T14:48:00.001Z

This years challenge sounds wonderful! We are back to A4 size and portrait orientation has been stipulated but once again the challenge has additional requirements - namely that at least 75% of the JQ has to be in shades and tints of one colour; red for the first four, yellow for the second four and blue for the final four. Hmmmm - who likes a nice bit of red then ......

Yesterday I took myself up to my workroom and pulled out my red fabrics, I also had with me this sketchbook spread and some digital images that I'd created from it. I saw a whole year of kitchen paraphanalia in front of me:

So why did my first JQ end up like this?

I had previously decided that I wanted one other colour that would run through the twelve months to give them some kind of identity and once that hand-dyed green jumped out at me the rest of it just happened. The fact that Santa gave me these books this Christmas -

http://www.angielewin.co.uk/plantsplaces.htm

http://www.vandashop.com/product.php?xProd=3852

probably had nothing to do with the outcome at all!!!

Producing a piece in this style which has specific colour proportions is not that difficult as it's easy to check how much other colour you are using -

but those members who work in a more representational style will no doubt find this year's requirements far more challenging - I can't wait to see the results!

Catching up

2012-01-13T20:27:00.000Z

Yesterday I had the feeling that I was going to forget something so I sat down and made a list, and was surprised to see ten different deadlines over the next couple of months. None of them are major - but they are there, no wonder I was feeling a bit niggled. All these deadlines are textile related and most of them are for different Contemporary Quilt challenges, but it's not surprising as I haven't been doing a lot of stitching lately.
What I have been doing is the Kemshall's Creative Sketchbooks course. I haven't blogged about it as, not unreasonably, they have requested that we don't. It's their living and I would hate to be found guilty of unwittingly putting the teaching materials on the web. There are four modules and I'm just getting going with Module 3 and loving every minute of it.
One reason for me choosing this course over others was to help develop my creativity and of course that's the thing I struggle with most. Today I came across a quote from Bruce Mau which exactly describes my conundrum. "Process is more important than outcome. When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we've been. If process drives outcome, we may not know where we are going, but we will know we want to be there." I'll think and think and think about the outcome then work towards it, never giving myself a chance to explore. This course is giving me lots of opportunities to be creative and what am I doing - thinking about what a finished page will look like and how I'll achieve it! Self-admonition over, time to go and be creative!

December JQ

2012-01-03T09:42:00.002Z

Another JQ inspired by the Glenthorne workshop. This is a direct copy in fabric of a paper exercise that I thoroughly enjoyed. We took our jug outline and created a page of overlapping jugs, then using a mask translated various shapes to a grid. The idea was to use a 2" mask to transfer to a grid of 2" squares but I found that this didn't create the simpler outlines that I wanted so I used a 1" mask and a 2" grid. I can see this being a useful exercise to repeat but the abstraction also works for me. I can see plenty of ways to play with scale, pattern, texture ...... This is just a 30 second sketch based on right hand square on the second row:

I could be here for hours!

Triaxial weaving

2011-12-22T16:37:00.000Z

Yes, that did say weaving - if basket making hadn't been so inaccessible, in terms of information and materials, it's easily a route I could have gone down rather than the quilting route. Just take a look at these beauties for example -

Anyway, as part of my research for the next 12bythedozen challenge 'Steps' I thought that I would look at weaving, because anything other than a 'one under, one over' pattern:

Weaving texture on a golden chair
by Yorick... Attribution License

anything else produces a stepped effect. I was also convinced that it ought to be possible to create a tumbling blocks pattern using weaving, and that was where an afternoon suddenly disappeared - I discovered triaxial weaving! I couldn't find a 'how to' though this page was 'interesting' http://hexdome.com/weaving/triaxial/ . In the end I spent a lot of time in trial and error to produce:

I can't say that I conquered the technique as there were a lot of adjustments made along the way, but there is a perverse sense of satisfaction in achieving the end result. This is the reverse;

I don't think I'll be using this for my Steps challenge, but I had a lot of fun and it was much better than the shopping trip that has had to be postponed until a (much) later date!!!!

Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester - Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester

2011-12-21T10:46:00.000Z

The exhibition - Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester - Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism is on at the Lowry until Jan 29 and well worth a trip. It is inevitable that the exhibition is used as a vehicle to display Lowry's work but I found the juxtaposition of work by Lowry and Valette (One of his teachers) fascinating. It served to emphasize the style that Lowry adopted early on and was particularly noticeable in the drawings of 'Antiques' that were on display. I found it difficult to believe that Valette's drawings were done using charcoal.

Adolphe Valette Manchester Ship Canal
Nicholas and Anthony Goeritz Collection

Rather like Lowry, Valette is known largely for his atmospheric industrial landscapes, at least in Manchester where he lived and taught for several years, so it was interesting to see that, less like Lowry, he painted in a variety of styles and used a range of subject matter for his work.

A different take on dining ...

2011-12-20T20:43:00.001Z

... from Sarah Huxley Edwards. I love the strength of the objects in her paintings - http://sarahuxleyedwards.com/archive2.html . This collage typifies her use of shape and space and the overlapping of objects to strengthen the whole.

Pea and Potato Soup - Sarah Huxley Edwards

November JQ

2011-12-17T20:23:00.001Z

This JQ represents all the fun and some of the things I learned whilst at Glenthorne last month! In no particular order - layering stamps and stencils, quilting through felt, free bonded applique, layering stamps and stencils, walking around Grasmere, laughter, unusual chimney pots and did I mention layering stamps and stencils?

Snow and frost forecast for Google tonight...

2011-12-17T18:31:00.002Z

.....Search the words “let it snow” and watch what happens. (And yes, there is a 'Defrost' button!)

Foiled again ...

2011-12-11T22:17:00.001Z

Why don't my skills match up to my expectations?

Stitching at Glenthorne

2011-12-06T21:55:00.001Z

I've been home from my week at Glenthorne for a bit, but it's taking me some time to get my thoughts together. We had four very full days with Gillian Travis working from design to stitch and I'm still trying to put things into perspective..
The best, short term, outcome for me is that I have since sent time playing with no particular goal in mind other than learning more about the materials I have at home. Usually any work I do is very goal driven, with a finished piece in mind, which means that I miss a lot of opportunities that play brings out. Here is just some of the work we covered during the week:

Richard Diebenkorn

2011-12-03T23:14:00.001Z

Karen Rips has posted about Richard Diebenkorn, who I must admit I'd not heard of before, her full post is here but what really caught my eye was a quote from a book about his years in new Mexico -

"He described three ways that lines can be used, implying that successful abstractions employ all three. Lines form the outlines of shapes; lines move independently of color fields or shapes; and lines exist behind or within color fields."

An interesting idea to explore .......

12 by the dozen challenge

2011-11-30T17:37:00.001Z

Today sees the reveal of 'Street Life' - the latest challenge by 12 by the dozen.

It was my turn to choose the theme and it's ironic that my own challenge title caused me more problems than any previous one I've done! It seemed that each time I came close to a resolution something inside me complicated the original idea to a point where it became unmake-able and probably unreadable if completed.
I suspect that I was guilty of trying too hard because, in the end, it was a personal response that led to this piece which was completed within twenty-four hours of my first response.
A recent trip into Manchester lasted longer than intended and I got caught up in the evening rush hour as the already busy streets filled with workers making their way home. I used to love the buzz of the city but this time I was struck by the isolation of the individuals in the crowd and my own increasing discomfort at being propelled by the momentum of the rush hour.

The border fabric was chosen to represent my discomfort and the photograph was Colour mapped in Gimp to match the fabric as closely as I could. The photograph was then bondawebbed, slashed and attached to the backing fabric.

In the end I enjoyed putting this piece together and thanks must go to Michele for suggesting an offshoot from a previous piece!

Reminder to self

2011-11-30T14:58:00.001Z

29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

Occasional Jottings?

2011-11-16T10:53:00.001Z

adjective 1. occurring or appearing at irregular or infrequent intervals; occurring now and then

In late September I started the Kemshall's new Creative Sketchbooks Course and am following their reasonable request not to blog about the course activities. I am hooked on learning about the (New to me.) drawing and painting materials used in the course. It's been a steep learning curve, my drawing is improving with practise and I'm getting to grips with things like my Inktense pencils. It was strange to discover that although I could use these on fabric to shade and correct mistakes, but drawing with them was a different matter entirely.
All this means that the sewing machine is sitting almost totally neglected and I am without work to post to the blog!

Next week I'm off to Grasmere with Gillian Travis again, but this time Gillian will be teaching, rather than us doing our own work. Lets hope I'm pleased enough with the results to want to make the next post a little less 'Occasional'!

A new resist combination

2011-10-16T22:12:00.002+01:00

Learning is important to me, though I admit that I'm fairly limited in my interests. I subscribe to the Kemshall's DMTV to extend my working practice and the latest show on resist techniques really intrigued me. The apple figure below is my first attempt with a limited palette of fairly tired paint. The apple design was a botanical print from Vintage printable a really useful site full of intriguing copyright free vintage images.

Butch Belair

2011-10-14T15:02:00.000+01:00

Butch Belair is shown in this video sketching in New York. I didn't know the name until I came across it, but the video was made by Danny Gregory whose blog I occasionally I visit. There is something about Danny Gregory's style that appeals to me - part sketch and part diary, all put to gether with a great sense of humour!

To El and Back: a film about Butch Belair from DannyGregory on Vimeo.

Handmade In Britain

2011-10-10T09:23:00.001+01:00

Handmade In Britain – introduction

In a major new partnership, the V&A and BBC Four present Handmade In Britain, an ambitious year-long season exploring the history of British decorative arts.

The season begins this autumn with a three-part series on British ceramics. From the history of domestic pottery to the heart of Britain's ceramic empire in Stoke-on-Trent and the studio potters of the 20th and 21st centuries, Ceramics – A Fragile History reveals why, throughout the nation’s history, makers have created objects that are beautiful as well as functional.
Two 60-minute films accompany this series, including Treasures Of Chinese Porcelain which uncovers the extraordinary evolution of Chinese porcelain and its impact on British ceramics, presented by Chinese ceramics specialist Lars Tharp. Britain's Most Fragile Treasure, presented by historian Dr Janina Ramirez, unlocks the secrets of the famous East Window at York Minster, the largest medieval stained-glass window in the country.
From autumn 2011 to autumn 2012, Handmade In Britain will draw on the collections and expertise of the V&A, one of the world's greatest museums of art and design. The partnership furthers the BBC's commitment to building partnerships with the arts sector that go beyond broadcast, from sharing expertise to widening public engagement in UK arts.
In Handmade In Britain some of the most evocative objects in the V&A are used to tell particular stories, highlight ground-breaking technical innovations and illustrate how the story of artistic development in Britain is one of multiculturalism and globalisation. Contributors to the programmes include V&A curators as well as collectors such as David Attenborough and contemporary practitioners including Grayson Perry and Edmund de Waal.

The V&A will host an accompanying series of events and online activity to celebrate the Handmade In Britain season.
The V&A is also producing a Handmade In Britain mobile web app for visitors to find out more about many of the V&A objects explored in the ceramics episodes. The app, which will be available on the V&A website, will allow people to use their smartphones to scan gallery labels containing QR codes – barcodes readable by camera telephones to link to an internet page – to find out more. The app will also feature a video of the site-specific Signs & Wonders installation by Edmund de Waal, created in 2009 for the re-opening of the V&A's Ceramics Galleries. Further apps will be produced on different parts of the V&A's collection to coincide with subsequent series of the Handmade In Britain season. www.vam.ac.uk/handmadeinbritain (live from 10 October)

Notan

2011-09-22T20:10:00.000+01:00

Had a good day today at the NW meeting of Contemporary Quilt. The subject was Notan, the 'instruction' was low key but very informative, the company was excellent - a good day all round.

I've played with this idea before so made a conscious effort to set my original piece on point.

This design was based on a sketch from our last day out at Plas Newydd . It simply served to re-enforce the fact that I don't particularly enjoy this type of design, particularly when the leaf below, just didn't look right as a simple reversal of the pieces. So I did as suggested in the introduction and used a pen to create the reverse.

The exploded leaf shape led in turn to these seed heads. I do like working with exploded designs and had forgotten what a good start point they are for print blocks.

CQ JQ's

2011-09-21T17:11:00.001+01:00

I've finally completed the group of JQ's under the text theme. Whilst not in the spirit of experimentation this theme has allowed me to work with some lettering that I created with Angie Hughes at a CQ Summer School a couple of years ago. These are all 10" x 10".

Spotted ...

2011-09-21T14:24:00.002+01:00

... on the gate post outside the house this morning!

Martin Proctor

2011-09-11T18:15:00.001+01:00

There is something about the strong verticals in Martin Proctor's limited edition prints that I find very appealing, nor is this the first time that I've been drawn to this device. I must explore to see whether there is a textile equivalent.

Lovely ceramic sculptures

2011-08-20T20:37:00.005+01:00

Eric Moss’ ceramic sculptures are nearly all finished with a raku glaze - something I find irrisistable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59006390@N04/sets/72157625830981499/

FOQ 2011 - some thoughts

2011-08-18T22:49:00.001+01:00

I still haven't got my thoughts together so I'm hoping that trying to write things down will help.

I had two and a half days at the NEC this year and that was about right - time enough to see what I wanted without becoming brain dead!

Of the competition quilts there were several that I really liked but none that jumped out and said take me home, though the work of Hilary Beattie was particularly appealing. I was very taken with Stephanie Redferns' Stone Birds book and Gillian Travis' 'dollies' as she refers to these fabulous costumed figures. It's a shame that they weren't as well displayed as she shows them on her blog. Amongst the miniature quilts were a triptych by Jenny Rolfe and a piece by Mai-Britt Axelson that appealed.

However it was, as always, the galleries that made my visit worthwhile - Jette Clover's recent monochromatic pieces were good and there were points of interest particularly in the galleries of Barbara Weeks, The Danish Patchwork Association, the Tentmakers of Cairo, Jennifer Hollingdale, Janet Bolton, Padmaja Krishnan and Texui.

I attended two events which were both very enjoyable. I did a half-day workshop based on Seedheads with Jenny Rolfe:

Jenny was a wonderful tutor - her instructions were clear and the workshop was designed so that we could take home, at least, one completed piece. She was very generous with both her materials and her time and her quiet enthusiasm was infectious. The only problem I had was coming face to face with a Bernina for the first time, so changing the thread was not something I did too often. It also made me realise how much I like the larger foot peddle with my Pfaff!

I also attended a lecture by Fiona Wilson the Embroiderers' Guild Scholar 2010 who talked about her journey into textiles including life as a mature student, though there is mature and mature! I had seen and been moved by Fiona's work last year and found her lecture both informative and inspiring.

Another 2010 Graduate - Nina Davis (Quilter's Guild award and bursary for Student Graduate) was exhibiting and I loved her work with paper and textiles.

But probably the most invigorating element of FOQ is meeting friends both old and new and the smiles on peoples faces - absolutely wonderful!

I'm not the quilter that I thought I was...

2011-08-10T11:27:00.000+01:00

I've mentioned before that I belong to a Round Robin group. We began in the traditional way adding rounds to a central block following a set of rules about size and style but over the years we've become more adventurous, abandoning rules, chopping up each others blocks and anything else that we could think of. But when it came round to ideas for the next Round Robin we were stumped - all the ideas we came up with seemed contrived (Because they were.) so it came as a surprise when I said flippantly that perhaps we should start all over again that there was universal agreement.

The only difference this time is that there are no rules other than the basic principle of adding on to whatever is in the bag, so no need for traditional patterns, asymmetric borders are a possibility, the addition could be to the surface of the existing piece etc. etc. So why is this what I put in my bag and why am I hoping that none of the above will apply? (Forgive the flat colour this was manipulated from the photo that I took part way through!)

And when it came to adding a border to the first piece I received I used Seminole piecing ...

Away day

2011-08-02T16:46:00.000+01:00

We had a great day out last week visiting the RHS garden at Harlow Carr, outside Harrogate. Lots of benches for DH to sit on, lots of photo opportunites for me!

Back in the saddle .... at last

2011-08-02T16:12:00.000+01:00

It's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things, but there's nothing like a couple of deadlines to push you back on that horse!

This is the CQ JQ for June, the theme for the next four months being text. The lettering was created at a CQ Summer School with Angie Hughes. I had a lot of fun but had no idea what I was going to do with the words that I created. I made several false starts when I got home, then put the lettering away for another day!

Postie delivers a surprise!

2011-07-15T19:17:00.000+01:00

It seems that it is possible to belong to group without actually attending a meeting! Some time ago we set up a NW group for members of Contemporary Quilt which, after surveying members, meets on weekdays. Since then several new members have joined the group but, due to work commitments, were unable to regularly attend meetings. This has led to the setting up of a weekend group which I joined but, due to family commitments, have not been able to attend!!!!
So I was surprised to receive a challenge pack, put together by the incredibly generous Sandra, and sent out by group leader.

All I have to do now is dig out the challenge rules and .....

Thread choices

2011-07-13T12:23:00.000+01:00

For the last umpteen years I've been a Superior kind of stitcher. Whatever the task, piecing, quilting, applique, Superior thread has met the challenge but .... this new machine I have seems less fond of some of their range. I've been hearing a lot about Aurofil Threads recently and have been wondering about giving it a try, but replacing my stash of Superior threads is not an option until I find a proven replaccemet so where do I begin? The 40 w cotton sounds interesting - plenty of different options, including hand stitching, is this the place to start?

Quilt and other withdrawals ....

2011-07-11T21:06:00.000+01:00

Thanks for the supportive comments, they have definitely made me feel less bad about withdrawing the quilt but it has obviously had an effect on me as I have stopped work on another quilt that I had been working on more or less simultaneously.

I love paring things down to their essentials, but worry that sometimes I go to far. That's OK if I stll like what I've done, like this computer sketch for the 12by groups next challenge 'Fragments' which gives me goosebumps at the moment:

The quilt that I was working on was similarly sparse but based on an idea of repetition and I took so much away that there was no visual interst left, but at least I could see it .... this time. So i think a few days away from the machine might be good for me!

You send the OH out to enjoy himself ......

2011-07-09T23:03:00.000+01:00

... and he comes home with some wonderful quilting accessories! We thought he'd gone out to a new specialist tool shop to view a wood carving demonstration and he came home with:

This wonderful ruler that will be so useful for squaring my quilts, thoughtfully he bought a bigger one than this which is also quite heavy. I can't think what he plans to do with it!

And then there's this 11 piece extension to my lino carving set - he can be really thoughtful at times .... ho ho!

Can you hear it?

2011-07-08T15:29:00.000+01:00

The sound of the steam escaping when the pressure valve is released?

Today I rang Twisted Thread to withdraw my quilt. I expected it to be like not handing in my homework - needing a good solid excuse, not to mention a back up excuse. I do feel guilty and hate the idea of having a withdrawn label in the space where my quilt should be, but it was the right decision.

Because there are four concentric arcs to be replaced, the remaining sections have bias edges and the movement of the pieces as I tried to put them back together was making life impossible. I have realised that I need to stabilise each piece, albeit temporarily, before joining them together. Working out the best way to do this, then quilting and binding the piece is not something I could have done in the time available to me before the deadline. I feel quite sad now.

What I'm up to ...

2011-07-03T22:51:00.000+01:00

sew, sew, sew, sew, sew, sew, sew, July 26th, sew, sew, sew, sew, sew, sew, sew, FOQ deadline

warm cottons by Bronia sawyer

ttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License

Unfolding the Quilts - lottery awards

2011-06-22T17:01:00.002+01:00

Yay! The 'Unfolding the Quilts' made it into the top three in the Heritage section in the National Lottery Awards. We now go through to the final with voting starting (again...) on 2 September.

FOQ Quilt progress update

2011-06-21T23:08:00.000+01:00

I was keen to blame my problems on the marker I was using, I've even mailed the manufacturer for information. But as the quilt was drying I noticed that the marks were only appearing on one particular fabric - a hand-dye bought at FOQ last year, so I guess that some sort of chemical reaction has taken place.

This fabric, that appears in concentric rings across the quilt, now has an irregular red glow around some of it's edges. If I can make a feature of, or cover, this glow then all is not lost but the problem now is time. I've been working on this quilt whenever I have the time to make the deadline and there is little space for testing alternative solutions.

Currently I'm thinking that I'll begin the quilting process and see where that leads me .....

FOQ quilt progress

2011-06-21T14:35:00.000+01:00

Last Month

Entry registered
Plan A designed
Plan A abandoned

This month

New Plan B created
Lots of hand applique and piecing

Today

Piecing finished
Water soluable marker spritzed prior to layering
WATER SOLUABLE MARKER LEFT RED MARKS BEHIND
Quilt soaked in cold water
Quilt soaked in hot water with colour run remover
WATER SOLUABLE MARKER STILL LEFT RED MARKS BEHIND
Quilter considering turning to Plan C - panic

That fabric problem

2011-06-18T22:46:00.000+01:00

The colour palette for my FOQ entry is warm reds through to yellows and browns. Because some of the fabrics I'm working with are remnants from the earlier version, finding new ones to fit in was not so easy. Warm brick reds have obviously had their day, plum is the new red!

That said I initially did quite well, until I decided that I wanted a red with a yellow figuring on it. What to do? I couldn't find a stencil that had the right proportions and would a yellow work on a red background anyway? Stamping was too risky, the looseness that I love from a hand made stamp would not sit well with the commercial fabrics. Then talk of the use of Fabrico pens on the 12bythe dozen website, provided the answer to my prayers (Thank you Hilary!) If I could find a red fabric with white figuring I could use the pens to colour out the white. brilliant! In desperation I ordered fabric over the Internet. When it arrived it was obvious that the white was truly white and in just the right proportion to the red, but the red itself was far too blue to fit in. All this just a few days before the top should be finished.

And then the light bulb moment, the white need to be yellow, the red needed to be warmer - I colour the lot. Yay! No yellow dye in my depleted dye store. Boo! A sense of panic is tickling around the edges and in a do or die (Should that be dye?) moment the acrylic paints came out. Result - one happy quilter:

My monitor still doesn't show just how blue red the original fabric is!

So why am I enjoying making a traditional quilt?

2011-06-14T22:29:00.000+01:00

And the answer seems to be there is no 'one' answer. but several thoughts, recorded here for thinking about later:

It isn't truly a traditional quilt, it's an interpretation of an artifact in fabric, using traditional techniques, and mostly, commercial fabrics
I have enjoyed the drafting stage, placement of registration marks etc.

I hadn't planned to do as much applique as I have. I've always enjoyed needle turn as a technique but don't like fidget of things like floral bouquets for which it is often used. So the geometric shapes I've been creating have been fun. Early success matching points helped. (I'm not a paid up member of the quilt police, but I do believe that if you are doing something you do it as well as you can!)
Matching, pinning, piecing is slow but has been surprisingly satisfying
Because I'm on a tight time scale, I've thrown myself into this, ignoring most potential distractions
I've set my self small targets. I've not always reached them but the targets are part of a bigger plan and have helped dispel the ennui that was creeping into retirement.
I can see how some skills have moved on and have even been able to use some of my 'contemporary' knowledge to fix a fabric problem. You don't often get the chance to reflect on your own development.

INSTALLING SUMMER.....

2011-06-11T10:45:00.000+01:00

INSTALLING SUMMER.....

███████████████░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ 44% DONE

Install delayed.............please wait.
Installation failed. Please try again.
404 error: Season not found.
Season "Summer" cannot be located.

The season you are looking for might have been removed, had its name
changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Please try again...

Be careful what you say ...

2011-06-10T22:29:00.000+01:00

.. you never know what trouble you can get yourself into, or so my mother used to tell me!

I'm not in trouble, but I am short of time. Last year on seeing the floor plans for FOQ I commented, with disappointment, that the proportion of quilts to traders appeared to have shifted in favour of the traders*. I like shopping, but I like to see a good selection of quilts too.

The friend that I made the remark to had the easiest of answers 'Where is your quilt?' and of course I hadn't entered and acknowledged that I could help reverse the trader/quilt ratio next year.

Lesson 1 - Be careful what you say you never know what trouble you can get yourself into

Last month I realised that it is "next year" and registered for the traditional (!) category with only a vague idea in mind. It was simple and striking ... and it didn't work

Lesson 2 - Always plan the visual, visually

So instead, I decided to remake a piece I made over ten years ago. That piece was half the size of the current one and used reverse machine applique. The current quilt is machine pieced with a fair amount of needle turned hand applique. And I'm loving every minute of it! Mind you I haven't got round to fitting the last pieces together (tomorrow) or the quilting of it yet.

Lesson 3 - ignore Plan A, go straight to Plan B in future, it's how things usually work out anyway.

And just to add the obligatory photo, here is some of the fabric:

* And the final irony is that there were actually more quilts last year not less!

Another Place

2011-06-07T12:06:00.001+01:00

Sometimes things are so easily obtainable that you ignore them. Anthonty Gormley's Another Place is perhaps an hour's drive away but until Friday we've never visited.

The day was unexpectedly hot and sunny so was perhaps busier than usual for a Friday but I was amazed at how short a distance I had to walk from the ice cream van to feel as though there was only sea, sky and statues. There were tern and oyster catchers too, taking advantage of the receding tide and their calls added to the sense of being alone.

Fresh

2011-05-31T13:24:00.000+01:00

The latest challenge for 12 By the Dozen was the word Fresh, which was not an easy word to work to. Lots of things came to mind but I am so literal in my interpretation that none of these thoughts stayed round long enough to turn into a design. For a while I toyed with the idea of toothpaste and minty freshness but wasn't able resolve a design for this.

Then I read a post by Elizabeth Barton on conveying visually, how you feel and I was amazed at how different our interpretations of 'Fresh' were. For some reason the differences validated my ideas and I began to doodle both physically and mentally. Fresh for me relates to calm and peace, I could hear waves gently lapping ........ then I remembered my daughter being delighted by the action of the tide making 'her' beach fresh for her to play on each day whilst on holiday.

I feel like a bit of a fraud posting something so simple in it's construction - painted fabric with simple machine quilting. I had intended to machine quilt foam along the 'wave crests' then heavily embellish the 'sea' but neither of these things happened. I had reached a point of calm and peace:

Voting for Unfolding the Quilts

2011-05-31T09:27:00.000+01:00

A direct link to the voting page:

http://www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/best-heritage-project/136/

Your vote is needed!

2011-05-30T22:06:00.000+01:00

The Quilters' Guild's project Unfolding the Quilts, based at the Quilt Museum and Gallery in York, has reached the semi-finals of the National Lottery Awards, the annual search to find Britain’s favourite Lottery-funded projects, in the 'Best Heritage Project' category.
We are asking people to support us by voting for our project, enabling us to reach the finals, which will be shown on BBC 1 television. This would be tremendous publicity for quilting and for the Quilt Museum and Gallery and would recognise the hard work of the staff and volunteers in making the Quilt Museum and Gallery a great place to visit.

For further information about the project go to - www.quiltersguild.org.uk/
To vote go to - www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards/

Dyeing day

2011-05-23T19:11:00.000+01:00

Friday saw a group of North West CQ members dyeing, under the expert tutelage of Sandra Wyman. Although most of us had used Procian dyes before Sandra certainly filled in gaps in my knowledge and de-mystified something which I've enjoyed with mixed results in the past.

There were 14 of us and Sandra provided absolutely everything for the day, all that was required of us was a pair of gloves and a bucket in which to take home our still soaking fabric.

We worked on techniques to create value and colour graduations as well as parfait and tray dyeing. Sandra demonstrated use of a Thermofax screen which is high up on my 'to do' list as well as talking about other resist techniques. I tried to keep my dye choices fairly tight and also to work outside my comfort zone of hot colours but that orange was irresistable!

Some of the parfait dyes looked gorgeous, just as they were:

Thanks Sandra!

So that's a no then!

2011-05-13T21:18:00.000+01:00

It seems that I'm not the only one who likes the capability of blogs to allow readers and writers the opportunity share ideas, information and pictures. Hurray! I found it interesting that some people who replied, both through the comments and personally, considered themselves technophobes ...... hmmm you blog, e-mail, leave comments?

I still don't really understand the value of Facebook - I recently made a deliberate attempt to widen my circle of 'Friends' thinking that that might give me a better understanding of what Facebook can offer me, but that hasn't happened ... yet!

I really enjoyed Twitter when I was at work. I was in a couple of overlapping networks whose members posted information, shared resources and helped answer one another's queries. I liked the pace and the pertinence of the posts. It may be that I'm 'following' the wrong people but the majority of posts that I see are simply links to recent blog posts and require a further click to read something that is probably in my feedreader already!

Me - sound like a grumpy old woman??? Probably, but when things appear so universal you have to give them a try, but then I had a BigMac ...... once.

CQ JQ's April and May

2011-05-10T22:11:00.000+01:00

Whilst I have enjoyed my ramble through Anglo Saxon artifacts, extracting and playing with design elements from jewellery, manuscripts church etc. these stopped when I came upon some B & W photos of archaeological digs. I'm not that interested in archeology but the ground patterns that result from the lives of previous generations fascinate me. So here is April:

The rectangular ground patterns at Crickley Hill fort asked to be captured, but how? In the end I soaked tissue paper squares in coffee then laminated them to the fabric. The post marks were burned or stitched.

May is very loosely based on Windmill Hill and was an attempt at printing on the tissue before gluing it to the fabric. Whilst this looks less like an afterthought than appears in the photo (I found it difficult to get the camera to accept the difference in the reflection of the fabric and the paper.) I need to work on this further, possibly with a matt medium.

Is blogging going out of fashion?

2011-05-08T20:27:00.000+01:00

Having noticed in my feed reader a post from a blogger who'd not posted for a while I took a look at my list of blogs and was amazed at the number of bloggers that haven't updated their blog recently. These bloggers are still virtually active but have moved to Facebook or Twitter. It has to be said that their posts have, mainly, become advertorials for workshops or Etsy which wouldn't interest me but I'm wondering whether they feel that writing/reading a paragraph or two is too arduous, compared with a quick 140 characters.

I'm no wordsmith and too many words can make me re-coil, but I wouldn't have thought that the average blog post constituted "too many words". Reading other peoples blogs makes me think, makes me learn and makes me smile - what more could I want?

Pictorial Consequences finally finished

2011-05-05T19:08:00.000+01:00

The 2011 CQ challenge is to make a small quilt representing part of a body, in the style of the consequences game we played as children. It seems that most of us who have completed so far have made the three parts required to make a whole figure. You can see these pieces and even play the body swapping game here - www.contemporaryquilt.org.uk/pictorial-consequences.html Each section is 16" square

Unusually for me I have finished well before the July deadline, which should be good news, but it's actually taken me way too long to complete the pieces which were begun on a retreat back in February. The stumbling blocks were the usual ones of sleeve, labels and photography - I should know by now that a piece isn't finished until it is finished! Here she is - inspired by our granddaughter who makes us smile:

Three galleries

2011-04-22T17:13:00.013+01:00

In no order, other than alphabetical:

Morvah School House
The setting was a delight. On the edge of the atlantic coast, surrounded by wind swept trees the School House is in an old converted chapel and acts as both gallery and local community centre. (Judging by an overheard conversation the mobile librarian came in while we were there, to catch up and to get some hot water for his mid- morning drink!) Profits from the gallery go back into the Morvah Community. The gallery displays mainly locally made crafts in the downstairs area which also acts as a tea room. It was very hard to focus on my home made cake and coffee with so many lovely pieces to look at. The upstairs space is given over to changing exhibitions see - www.morvah.com/coming%20exhib.htm for the next exhibitions.

There were some textiles pieces on display when we visited which made a change as, in spite of the number of galleries I visited, I saw few textiles on display. Another feature of this gallery is their 'loo' gallery where artists can hang their work for a month at a time, free of charge!

Sally MacCabe

Sally has a gallery in St. Ives in which she displays her own work. The gallery overlooks Porthminster Beach and this obviously influences her artwork.

Sally is not just a painter, she told me that she began working in textiles and quickly developed a love for mixed media before deciding to focus on her painting. When she has time she also makes jewellery influenced by the colours of St. Ives. All these different styles of work are on view in her gallery as well as glimpses of work in progress and some of Sally's sketchbooks.

Yew Tree Gallery

The Yew Tree Gallery is owned by Gilly Wyatt-Smith who has created the gallery in an old farmhouse, surrounded by a small sculpture garden and pottager which we were invited to look round. This is a very different gallery from the previous two, it contains work by internationally known artists as well local makers, all displayed in a spacious setting in very good light. Gilly was around but didn't hover, giving us time to take a good look at the work on display. I'd noted the gallery as one to visit because it was displaying work by John Maltby who I have admired on-line. It was a relief that his work seemed even better in the flesh and, had we the right space to display his work, a piece may have come home with us.

Figures in a small boat John Maltby

We also admired the work of jeweller Guy Royle and tapestry weaver Kirsten Glasbrook whose use of colour was amazing. Further details about this and both previous and upcoming exhibitions can be found here www.yewtreegallery.com

I've been AWOL

2011-04-13T22:50:00.002+01:00

I've just returned from a wonderful week in St. Ives.

St. Ives, Cornwall by Joe Skinner Photography

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License

I took advantage of the ArtPass which gives unlimited admission to the Tate, Newlyn Art Gallery, the Leach pottery and Barbara Hepworth's studio and garden and had a visual feast. Surprisingly one of the things I saw that left a big impression was the newly built studio at the Leach Pottery, rather than any particular piece of work:

I also took time to visit the commercial galleries and, judging by the mailing list, followed two fellow bloggers into the Porthminster gallery where I fell for the work of Sarah Perry whose ceramics captured the colours and textures of the Cornish coast.

These galleries vary so much; for me three stood out, for not only the work on display but also in their approach to potential customers. (There's a lot of grovelling out there!!!!) They were different in personality and set up but were interesting and comfortable places to expore the work on display. I think another post is needed to describe them in more detail!

Not a lot of posts ....

2011-03-29T20:09:00.001+01:00

equals .... not a lot of stitching.

As I ponder and play with quilt show entry/ies I'm keeping my hands busy with traditional work. I've marked and layered a scrappy Irish Chain quilt ready for machine quilting and I've cut out and tacked (My mother wouldn't believe me - I always told her that the word tack wasn't in my vocabulary.) a small Hawaiian wall hanging. I've all but finished the three sections for my CQ Pictorial Consequences challenge, here's just one section as a taster:

March JQ

2011-03-22T21:50:00.000Z

I had lots of fun this month - I used a stencil cut from freezer paper for the first time. I can't believe I've not done that before. I much prefer the fragmented version I used as a border for this piece than the whole image which is currently rather stark - too much gold!

The background is 'pieced' using 505 spray. I love using scraps in this way and continue to search for less labour intensive ways of doing this, than piecing. I don't mind the raw edges but it entails a lot of quilting to make sure that the overlapping fabric doesn't flap around too much. You can see a white gap where 1/4" spacing didn't catch the fabric:

The stencil was based on a Saxon stamp. The top picture reflects the colour better - too much gold!

February CQ JQ's

2011-03-10T08:18:00.000Z

I'm well into my March JQ but suddenly remembered that I hadn't post February's effort. I finished the stitching on this at the retreat last month and a couple of people said they didn't think it needed the final stage of burning away the organza with a heat gun. That threw me, we discussed it some more until Judy said "You made it to distress it, go ahead" And that clinched it, I made this JQ to try out the technique so went ahead - and immediately regretted my first attempts. But as I've come to recognise that I often don't 'work through' my mistakes I kept going and removed more organza than I'd originally planned, and now I've got more or less what I expected. I have been amazed at how the appearance of this piece has changed as it's gone through the different processes, so it's been a good exercise for me.

Where good ideas come from

2011-03-09T16:04:00.000Z

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/tha/steven_johnson_where_good_ideas_come_from.html

A day out - A day off ....

2011-03-04T20:41:00.000Z

So where do you go for a day out - Preston? Maybe not, but for us it was just right - a chance to find out about a soon to open nature reserve at Brockholes, a bit of family past, a bit of shopping, a nice lunch and a walk around the Harris Gallery and Museum. I was fortunate in that they had a touring exhibition showing the work of Shirley Craven and Hull Traders:


Click here for Flickr slideshow

The thing that struck me most was the amount of decorative ironwork around the City. There is a sense of Victorian civic pride that continues today:

Images from http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnyenglish/with/270417258/

Colour Tool

2011-03-02T09:01:00.000Z

I'd forgotten completely about this tool, so thanks to Gerrie Congden for flagging it up on the twelveby12 blog. This colour picking tool can be found at http://labs.ideeinc.com/multicolr/
Pick up to 10 colours from their palette to produce a mosaic:

Multiple selection of a single colour controls the colour balance. Once the mosaic has been created you can click on an image to see it full size. Note that all images are taken from Flickr so you will need to check the License rights, to the bottom right of the page, if you want to use the image in your work.

I had a deadline to meet ....

2011-03-01T12:03:00.001Z

... no matter that I've know about it for three months I still manage to leave things to the last minute! This quilt is my submission for the 12bythe dozen challenge 'Structure'.

I started by making small pieces of fabric from scraps, covered with organza which was machine machine embroidered to hold them together.

Then I worked on the quilt sandwich - the backing fabric which had the design drawn on to it, then the wadding and then a layer of artificial silk. Placing each piece of 'fabric' very carefully I stitched each nautilus through the quilt sandwich.

Finally I cut away each chamber with a soldering iron. the only problem here, was that the organza fabric was immediately underneath the artificial silk and had a strong tendency to hug the soldering iron as I worked on the top layer!!!!!!

I was fairly happy with the end result, but I'm amazed at the variety of interpretations that the other members of 12bythe dozen came up with.

Quilt Retreat

2011-02-21T11:53:00.000Z

I expected to enjoy my retreat last week - what I didn't realise is how much I'd enjoy it or how much I'd learn! Aside from the quilting the enjoyment came, in part, from being back in the Lakes as I have lots of wonderful memories from holidays in the area. Being with a good group of like minded people for five days was fantastic. There were periods of quiet, intense concentration as we worked on our chosen projects broken by outbursts of laughter as well as time spent sharing knowledge and ideas. It was interesting to watch as initial reservations disappeared (Several of us had not met face to face before.) to be replaced by genuine interest and support for one another's work. We shared our leisure time too - sometimes walking together (Thanks to Gillian and Ruth for the trip up Helm Crag!!!) and sometimes sharing local knowledge. By the end of the week the discussion was not about whether we'd repeat the exercise, but when - how wonderful to have something to look forward to for the end of next winter

Can you feel the concentration?

Amazing blue skies

Glenthorne Guest House with Helm Crag in the background

Elisa D'Arrigo

2011-02-18T15:45:00.002Z

Thanks to Terry Jarrard-Dimond Studio 24-7: Elisa D'Arrigo: Accretion I've discovered the work of Elisa D'Arrigo . I couldn't agree more when Terry says, "For me, it's strength comes from the obvious clarity of vision and perfect combination of simplicity and complexity. Simplicity in that it utilizes hand processes and complex in its structure and concept. I hope you enjoy this artist's work."

Packing and time management

2011-02-11T20:51:00.000Z

It seems like a while since I've been away so I'm really looking forward to next week when I'm off on a quilting retreat organised by the NW group of Contemporary Quilt . A little bit of me feels guilty at leaving my husband at home, but only a little bit!
The hardest part has been deciding what to take, yes I'll need some clothes but they're not the problem. I've realised that I have no idea how long it takes me to make something and therefore have no idea what I will be able to accomplish in the time we've given over to stitching. (We've planned in some time for talks and also to get out and about as we are staying in Grasmere.) And, unlike a masterclass or summer school, I have to write my own requirements list, so I'm to blame if I miss off a key component! I'm sure there will be plenty of sharing of resources but there are no fabric shops nearby.

I've already left myself a note by the sewing machine to think of a way of measuring how much time I spend on a project but I'm very bad at doing the odd twenty minutes here and there then wandering off to look at something on the Internet/empty the washing machine/answer the phone etc. When I first retired I made myself try to extend this time and was succeeding but have obviously slipped back into my old ways. This may be the impetus that I need to make me work more effectively.

Google streetview goes indoors!

2011-02-04T20:06:00.000Z

Google has teamed up with some of the world's best art galleries to produce tours, including amazingclose ups of some works. The site is searchable and more galleries are promised soon.

The artproject is here - http://www.googleartproject.com/ but it is also worth viewing the introduction at the Tate here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsynsSWVvnM&NR=1 I was amazed that the project took just 18 months from inception to launch.

Contemporary Quilt 2011 JQ Challenge

2011-02-03T22:27:00.000Z

This year's challenge is to be 10" x 10", no problem there - we've had a square challenge before, but there is now an additional twist. There are three themes which are to feature for four months each - circles, text and buttons.

Having been inspired by the sketchbooks of another, non-blogging, CQ member I started the year working in a sketchbook on Anglo Saxon designs, thinking that the research would act as a basis for my JQ's. When I read about the themes I thought again - but after much deliberation I've decided to go for it. My normal response to the idea of circles would be to break them up, or hide them - anything to make the shape more subtle, but I love the designs on many saxon coins, so I'm starting off with big and bold instead. I'm going to use Angie Hughes sweet wrapper technique which I've done no more than dabble with before. Only time will tell whether my subject matter is lacking in detail for this technique.

As I'm still in the early stages, take a look at the lovely ideas of fellow CQ members Hilary and Margaret .

I'm not alone ...

2011-01-28T15:30:00.002Z

I'm still on the hunt for things that will make me a better finisher (Other than the obvious of just getting on with things!!!) and I came across the following from http://makegreatstuff.com/horseshoes-and-hand-grenades/ . In the absence of a reply to my request to republish I've gone ahead anyway, so if the post disappears, you'll know why!

The Fine Art of Finishing

Before we start a project, we have a fabulous idea in our mind’s eye, get excited and dive in.
About halfway through however, everything starts to look like crap. This is true for everyone and almost every project–not just you. It’s not a signal that you should chuck it, or stop, or that you have no talent. Everything sucks halfway through. That’s why you have to keep going!

Your Mind’s Eye is Kind of a Liar ; That’s Okay

The idea that seemed so clear before you started, well, it was just the rubber before it hit the road. It actually wasn’t nearly as perfect or clear as it feels like it was, so your hands and skills haven’t betrayed the perfection that you imagined.
The perfection you imagined functions more as a motivator for getting going–that feeling of getting excited and our visions of grandeur is one way the imagination gets us riled up enough to take action and actually start creating.
But you shouldn’t mistake it for the truth and decide the thing in front of you is a lie. Once you start to make your project–that’s the living truth of your idea, unidealized imperfections and all.

I Know What You’re Thinking

Right now, you’re probably running through the people in your mind that you think are really talented or prolific or both, and you’re thinking that this doesn’t happen to them. Believe me–they also have this problem–their stuff sucks halfway through just like yours. I promise.
They just push through it.
This pushing through sometimes requires courage (especially when you’re feeling rusty) and almost always requires a lot of shushing of your internal critic, which may also involve some huffing and puffing, various avoidance efforts, and maybe a little stomping around.
Successfully pushing through isn’t always pretty, but it must be done in order to finish something.
But if you do it enough, what happens is that you start to get used to being in this super uncomfortable spot, and you arm yourself with various problem-solving strategies to get through it.

The Messy Middle

Okay, so you had your initial dreamy idea, and you have your current expression of that idea–which at the moment is not measuring up. You’re slightly disgusted and are maybe hating it a little bit.
At this point, you have to be willing to live with the reality of the thing in front of you and strike a balance between listening to it–finding out what it wants and what it can do–and remembering your original idea. You then begin the work of marrying those two things into a finished product you feel good about.
For instance, if you’re decoupaging a tray, you might start having trouble with the side walls looking reasonable–you weren’t thinking about that when you were imagining how pretty the base would be when you glued down the three papers you fell in love with.
But maybe one of those papers is weirdly stiff or another one stretches more than you thought when it gets wet with the glue and now your edges are messy/look ridiculous because you can’t figure out how to transition from the base to the sides, and now that you think of it, from the inside of the tray to the outside.
It’s not not-working, you’re just halfway through where all the trouble happens. You just need to figure out what the tray needs NOW, in order to work. Not focus so much on how it didn’t need anything back in your imagination when it didn’t exist yet and was perfect.
The only way you can do that is to plow through the awkward, irritating, stressful halfway point when everything sucks.

Finishing

Plowing through will teach you a tremendous amount about art and design as you engage with all the possible solutions for each design problem you encounter, and that in turn will give you more confidence and make this step easier every time.
But the real kicker of working through this stage is experiencing the power of finishing.
Finishing is a real expression of commitment. It’s also an incredible source of strength.
When you get yourself to finish something that’s feeling hard or isn’t meeting your expectations, you’re learning that you can do it–and every finished project you’ve ever done helps you make it through the yukky middle stage of every new project that needs to be finished.
It makes you stronger.
There’s dignity in finishing, even if the final product is a disappointment. Finishing is its own reward, which sounds kind of funny lame pious, but it’s true.
This is not to say that you have to finish everything, or that you can’t play and experiment and poke around with things that might not warrant finishing. But it’s important to know when you should, especially if you have trouble finishing stuff in general.
For instance, If you’re feeling heavy about your project or disappointed, then you know it probably matters to you.

Up Side #2

Working through the difficult halfway period when your project looks like crap will teach you so much about making.
That actually increases your personal power as an artist/crafter/creator because the more you trust yourself in the design problem-solving process, the more confident you’ll feel as a maker of things because it’s very cool to come out the other side and have a finished product that really “works”–especially something that pretty much sucked a few hours/days/weeks ago.
When you get to the point where you start to assume you can sort out the inevitable design challenges that happen as soon as you start to make anything, it’s really powerful and feels fantastic.
And this feeling is what makes the anxiety of working through the yukky middle messy phase easier–because the anxiety doesn’t really ever go away, it’s just that your confidence balances it out and makes it less noisy, which is what allows you to keep going.

A Few Things to Remember

Everybody’s stuff looks like crap halfway through, not just yours. I’m not saying this to make you feel better, it’s true.
If you’re not sure how to solve the design problems you encounter, know this–it’s something you can learn. It also starts to get predictable–it’s not some innate mysterious skill that you either have or you don’t.
Even if this particular project doesn’t work out, you’ll learn a tremendous amount in the process of finishing it and each time you do that, it gets easier.
The “process” or “journey” aspect of artmaking is really the whole deal anyway (I know, it sounds so saccharine, but what can I say), and honoring it will take you farther in making you feel like an artist than any amount of fantasizing about perfect work will ever do.
The more you work through the difficult halfway point or plow through your design problems, the more you’ll feel in charge of your artwork, your artmaking, and creativity.
Arming yourself with strategies to get yourself through the hard parts makes it easier. Click here for one of my favorite techniques
Finishing makes you stronger. It’s worth the risk.

What if ....

2011-01-26T21:28:00.001Z

... one or other of you have had a cold since Christmas?

... you are getting to grips with a new sewing machine?

... you have the excitement (and trepidation) of being invited to join an on-line exhibiting group? (You can see previous challenges here - http://12bythedozen.blogspot.com/ - just take a look at the red sub-titles)

... being a starter not a finisher, you are planning out the next twelve months JQ's?

The answer to these what if's is that the 'What if' project stalls, even though I really don't want it to. Usually, once I've started something new the previous project can idle it's time quite comfortably waiting for me to return, but not this time. I want to get on with the 'What if's' . I'm just hoping that my need to get back to them will keep me motoring along with all the other pieces that need making!

This image which is the result of a search for 'optimism' is "Blúmchen" Flowers from below... Uploaded by Dr_ernst on www.sxc.hu

How to Become a Finisher

2011-01-15T15:25:00.001Z

Whilst on a geeky google trawl I found this on http://www.chrisg.com/procrastination-fixer-finisher/, swap the words product/project for quilt and I have a list of prompts to turn this Starter towards being a finisher!

Set yourself achievable goals – Some people are motivated by stretch goals, but if you are the sort of person who would take the instruction to “reach for the stars” literally and start planning your trip to NASA, perhaps a more realistic goal is in order. Also, remember, don’t try to eat the whole elephant in one gulp. Break the project or challenge down into chewable bite sized pieces.
Decide what the finished end product will look like before you start – If your tasks are presented as “get better at sports”, “get fitter” or “learn to cook”, how on earth will you know when you are done? You can always get better, learn more, be more. Decide how you will know when you are done. Make tasks that are “done or not done”, a tick in a box. When your tasks are complete … stop.
Focus on delivering – What is the basic feature set your product MUST have? Just do that. How can you complete the project in the most simple, pragmatic way? Do that. My last project was to release a new product. I decided it was not complete until someone had bought it because otherwise I could have written a whole ebook and not released it. By saying someone had to have bought it that meant I knew I needed a buy button, a sales page, and needed to let people know it was there. I also put a deadline on it to stop me endlessly polishing. This meant in the end I launched it without a logo or any of the other aesthetic niceities that I would have endlessly fussed over. So far a couple of hundred people have bought it and enjoyed it. Nobody has complained about the lack of logo .
Make progress and celebrate it – We often get into a gold medal mentality where there is only a winner and a whole bunch of losers. Sorry but that is just rubbish. So what if your product launch didn’t raise a million dollars? So what if so-and-so has a gajillion RSS subscribers and you don’t. Celebrate the one customer you have. Celebrate the 100 people who want to hear from you. Then set your next goal. Be proud of the achievments you do create rather than sad that you are not living up to some fake ideal.

Angry Birds

2011-01-14T22:24:00.000Z

Into 2011

2011-01-05T11:34:00.001Z

It’s been a busy holiday and one in which the sewing room returned to it’s original bedroom function, albeit with sewing paraphernalia around the edges of the room. My desk has never been so clear – but look under the desk and you’ll see what is waiting patiently for me to open when the family are gone and normality returns!

What I did have was some time to mull over some thoughts about 2011. It’s almost six months since I retired and i have the feeling that I’m settling into my own skin. I no longer have to ‘perform’ or be careful about how and what I say, I enjoyed the discipline of my working life, but it’s good to let go too.

This thought took me a step further and I started to think about the difference in the way I approached my work and how I manage my stitching. I had a reputation in the day job for the rigour with which I applied myself to a project (That was the polite version!) I know I’m into control – so why can’t I apply that to my quilting. (It seems to come out in the finished pieces –but isn’t at all apparent in the way I work) Work based projects had a deadline and, usually, an audience both of which kept me on my toes. The same could be said of quilt shows, so should I be entering more of them? I suspect this is too anonymous for me, and I don’t have a strong competitive nature so perhaps this isn’t the answer. Being part of an exhibiting group may well work, aside from everything else there is an immediate support network and the sense of not letting people down would definitely drive me on. How I go about joining one or even setting one up myself is something I’ll have to look at.

In the meantime the ‘What if’s?’ will continue. I recently re-read an article by Bridget Riley - http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n19/bridget-riley/at-the-end-of-my-pencil (Thanks Margaret for yet another stimulating link!) At one point the article refers to the power of limitations which is beginning to give me an understanding of why I’m enjoying working with just one element. It certainly appeals to the control freak in me!

So that’s the start of 2011 sorted:

learn how to use new sewing machine
push a single idea in small steps
become a member of an exhibiting group

Simples!

Some 'What if' thoughts

2010-12-21T22:04:00.000Z

What if I make units in different scales?
What if I use one piece of fabric - how visible will the piecing be? Will it appear as cracks?
What if, now that I'm not on curves, I stop pressing the life out of the piecing, will it look more organic, or just a mess?

These questions will take me on to inserting contrasting fabric, which was an element in the class with Sandra Grusd that began this ramble. In the meantime Kathy Loomis has a post on 'fractures' which finishes with an image that has a technique in common with this piece by Sandra - http://www.contemporaryquilt.org.uk/sandra-grusd-bt.html

21 December 2010

2010-12-21T19:23:00.000Z

By Jeff Cushner

Find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. Do not judge the universe. Dalai Lama

What if - 4

2010-12-17T19:29:00.000Z

What if I used straight (still freehand) cuts?

These pieces were made using more of the unwanted pinks from my charm square collection that I gathered a lifetime ago:

This basic cut is a close cousin to many planned and measured blocks with obvious outcomes:

But what if I added some more blocks and some more cuts:

This is getting more like it; but I think that, like gardeners, I'd be happier with the results if I began with an odd number of fabrics. It's also clear that I need to consider which cuts will fit best with the design in mind, this piece is predominantly horizontal as intended but has that strong vertical seam which is more dominant than I thought it could be.

I'm still working towards adding flashes of contrasting fabric but need to keep myself on a fairly tight leash with these 'what ifs'. Though this is as much about proving to myself that I can than for the actual outcome. That said, a gleam of an idea has been scribbled on the back of an envelope for using the blue stripes from a previous post!

What if - 3

2010-12-13T15:32:00.000Z

What if I cut both horizontally and vertically?

The first thing that happened is that it looked boring - so the verticals quickly gained some movement! But I also noticed that, because I started with a set of strips the darkest fabric took centre stage rather than being randomly distributed across the piece. Time for another, very carefully placed cut:

Now the fabric is a little rigidly placed but this seems very crude. However using a carefully chosen palette of like minded fabrics, this could create an interesting background or resting place in a quilt (Colour reuction courtesy of GIMP not the sewing machine!) :

What if's - 2

2010-12-12T12:59:00.001Z

Two pieces of striped fabric are now one:

I learned from this that even the smallest amount of bias, combined with the steam iron gives you acres of 'play' and that my inner control freak won't win this one
Do I like what I've got - not much, in fact the reverse is more interesting, all that lovely texture:

But there are lots of ways in which this new 'fabric' could be enhanced with paint or stitch or cut into. Even simple strips look effective:

What if's - a beginning

2010-12-11T12:10:00.000Z

Starting as we did in class, four fat quarters cut into strips (no ruler) and re-assembled into four new pieces of fabric:

The blues were chosen simply because I have more blue than any other colour and seem not to use very much in my quilts. Then the fun began as I slashed and re-pieced using horizontals:

Already the control side of me is taking over, wanting to manage the spread of the colour ......

Whimsy

2010-12-10T19:58:00.001Z

Did I say lots of 'What if's?' in my last post? I've been writing them down and imagining next steps - then realised that I really do need to do some basic leg work and see what happens rather than guesstimate and move on. So have I been improvisational piecing? No I've gone all whimsical. These little 2" x 2" pieces will be mounted and sent as Christmas cards:

November Journal Quilt

2010-12-08T19:26:00.000Z

This JQ was made withthe samples from Sandra Grusd's Improvisational Piecing workshop and has sparked a lot of 'What if?'.

Rosalie Gascoigne

2010-12-07T14:23:00.001Z

Thanks to Dijanne Cevaal for reminding me of the work of Rosalie Gascoigne who works with re-cycled timber:

Catching up

2010-12-04T19:25:00.002Z

In between times I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Harrogate. I really enjoyed the trip which was made with several friends, and included an overnight stop and a lovely meal at Quantro on the Royal Parade.
The show itself was less appealing for me - I'd forgotten how crowded it can get and how claustrophobic some of the spaces can feel. The Gallery space was by far the best area, but even so there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of space given over to traders. I was particularly intrigued by the work of Gizella K. Warburton a textiles and mixed media artist that exemplified the crossover between embroidery and art quilts. Janet Browne showed her own take on applique:

I seem to be into whimsical at the moment which is probably why I enjoyed the enthusiasm of the young start ups in the cafe area, particularly - LoveLittle and Tania Sneesby who both brought something different to the mix.
Needless to say I shopped but surprised myself by coming home with project for clothes! I bought a pattern and wool for a jacket to replace a much loved one which is wearing away, and loved the range of wools on sale -Toft Alpaca and Habu Textiles to name but two.
My best buy was a pattern for a top from Merchant and Mills. I loved this stand from first glance, even though I didn't quite understand what I was looking at but their packaging drew me in. Aside from the delightful haberdashery Carolyn makes and sells patterns. She has a limited range but each is made up in several sizes so you can try the style before you buy - no more buying a pattern only to find that it doesn't suit you. This is what I bought and having made it up - it does exactly what it says on the can!

The pattern is made from card and I don't think I will ever be tempted to try a tissue paper pattern again - it was so easy to work with. I'm seriously hoping that Carolyn will extend her pattern collection soon!

It's all his fault!

2010-12-04T18:36:00.000Z

The arrival of the lovely Sam brought about some changes to our domestic routine. (Ha - I should be so organised!) This was followed by a sewing machine problem, just days before I was due to give my first ever workshop which happened to be on free machine quilting. The machine is now repaired and normal service can be resumed!

Bellowhead - New York Girls. Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2010

2010-11-23T12:10:00.000Z

Had an excellent time last night at a Bellowhead concert. fortunately the suit didn't feature!

Quilting but not quilting

2010-11-17T10:27:00.000Z

I seem to have done a lot of quilt related 'stuff' recently without actually making any quilts! I've been building up a library of quilting samples for a machine quilting session I've arranged as a fund raiser for the Quilters Guild and then there's the websites that have been developing over the last couple of months. I've been involved in three with completely different roles in each and with that comes different learning opportunities. The newest and the one I've been most directly involed in is that of the Contemporary Quilt group, click on the link below to view our newly launched site:

Teggs Nose Country Park

2010-11-10T19:29:00.000Z

Another walk that seemed to grow as we walked, advertised as 6.5 miles it seemed a reasonable length after the break, though I can't believe that I've not been out since September. Our leader soon confessed that it would be 7.5 miles, it seemed longer but perhaps that was the 1600' of ascent or just my lack of fitness, which I certainly felt! It was chilly when we stopped or were out of the sun but the skies were blue, the views excellent and the company good. What more could you want from a walk?

October JQ - Tuareg crosses

2010-10-24T22:44:00.000+01:00

This was interesting, starting as it did at a meeting of NW members of the Contemporary Quilt group. Magie Relph brought along a collection of Tuareg crosses and associated books and materials, which were the basis for sketching -

The sketches from that day provided the inspiration for this:

The fun part came from letting go, adding a bit here, adding a bit there and changing the colours that didn't work. (And don't believe the photo - the "treasure pewter" wreaked havoc with the camera settings which I haven't been able to over-ride or correct.).
I'm beginning to wonder how much my work ethic of 'staying focussed' has affected my quilting. I've often found difficulty in 'playing', as recommended by several well known quilters. Play has always seemed rather pointless without a clear goal in mind!
But that is just how this JQ came about - there was a plan but there was no route map, and getting to the end was both playful and fun. All I need to do now is to have the camera to hand as alternatives are trialled, discarded or added!

Creativity

2010-10-21T12:55:00.002+01:00

One of the many joys of Youtube is the voice that it has given people. From teenagers re-cutting their favourite pop videos through lego animations to professional video makers Youtube provides a stage, a "what's in it for me" that encourages people to be creative.
This creativity is now being celebrated by Youtube in conjunction with the Guggenheim, the short list (Of 125 videos, so not so short then!) which includes an amazing range of video genre can be seen here - http://www.youtube.com/playbiennial I've included a sample below:

Animation

Mosaic
I've been fascinated by computer generated mosaics since I first came across them, but this video takes things to another level - each still is clickable and plays the video from which the still was sourced.

Music
Just to prove that not all Youtube video tracks are jarring .....or is that just my age showing :-)

Improvisational piecing

2010-10-15T20:56:00.002+01:00

This picture shows several samples from a very enjoyable one day workshop with Sandra Grusd. Anyone standing near me would have been able to hear my brain clicking as ideas dropped into place.
The odd thing is that after Elizabeth Barton's workshop I was clear that planning and drawing (with whatever tool was appropriate) was the way forward. After Sandra's workshop it seemed that fabric and improvisation were the way to go!!
The truth is, there is a place for both. I have had a structure for a quilt in mind for some time but not been able to do anything other than create outlines. (Drawing the plan) With lessons learned in Sandra's workshop I can now create the yardage (fabric and improvisation) that will go into that quilt. But don't expect anything too soon - there are several other quilts in the queue!

Mid (Quilting) life crisis

2010-10-12T22:25:00.000+01:00

I've never been into baby quilting, ever, so where did these come from?

I suspect that these two cot quilts are my brains' re-action to all the changes and learning that has been going on recently. In their different ways both are based on simple stitch, cut and re-stitch methods that are fairly brainless. No awards for the first to say that they are like their maker.....

Choking - from Robert Genn

2010-10-08T10:41:00.000+01:00

From today's letter:
""Choking" is when you know how to do something, do it often, and then, inexplicably and royally, you screw up."
Sian Beilock, a University of Chicago psychologist, says it has to do with roadblocks in the brain. She's written a book to help people open up their roads. Mostly for sporty types and businesspeople, some of her findings apply to us.
Singing helps. Apparently singing distracts the "analysis paralysis" that comes from knowing too much. "

So far so good, but the bit in this article that really hit home, as both teacher and student was this bit of food for thought:

"Another choker Beilock identifies is "stereotype threat." For example, when someone thinks they can't do math because of age, gender, race, or whatever, they often can't. It has nothing to do with their natural ability, and all to do with their beliefs. Art students who know in their heart they can never do as well as their instructors, for whatever reason, won't. It's enough to make you think schools might be houses of choking. "

Tuareg crosses - if not the camera, perhaps the scanner

2010-09-30T21:21:00.001+01:00

These two scans are of sketches done during a meeting of North West members of the Contemporary Quilt group.

Magie Relph brought along along her collection of Tuareg crosses and a selection of related books for us to use as a basis for sketch. We each spent the morning working in our own way with a range of materials. After lunch we had a show and tell, and discussed how the sketches could be translated into fabric.
I was particularly taken with the idea of these crosses being passed from father to son, hence the quote in the righthand sketch. At the moment I'm thinking that the pattern in the left hand sketch will provide a print background for the cross section and quote on the right. As for colour, none came to mind during the day and a search on the internet kept pointing me to a certain car manufacturer! But changing my search phrase brought up a link to www.colorhunter.com which searches Flickr by tag and then pulls up a palette based on the image. The palettes can be viewed as vibrant or dull and I was rather taken initially by this:

But will probably find it hard to resist this more vibrant palette:

Time to reflect?

2010-09-27T20:12:00.000+01:00

I was surprised when I looked at the calendar to see that it's only two months since I retired - it feels as though it ought to have been longer! But I'm pleased about the timescale as I've become aware that my new life has not really developed any rhythms of its' own and I've been wondering why!
Some things are happening - the house is (marginally) cleaner for a start and I've joined a Pilates class and a walking group. I got into, lost, and regained the habit of going into my workroom each morning and doing whatever calls me.
But there are some things that I want to do that aren't happening. I want to make more time for reading - at the moment reading during the day still feels very decadent, I want to be out of the house more and I want to make better use of this blog.
Changes in the health and well-being of a couple of close family members have made demands on my time, but life is always going to throw such things into the mix so I have to work around them.
Reading and going out more are things I can give myself a stern "talking to" about and will happen as I continue to adjust, but I do need to ponder the blog usage. I enjoy the communication side of blogging but I also want to use it to record my quilting progress, my ideas and decision making. There are bloggers who illustrate and discuss the different stages of their work, which I find interesting to read. I also think that recording my thoughts in this way would help me clarify them more. Idaho Beauty's blog is a good example of this approach.
So why isn't this happening? One thing I struggle with is getting photos onto the blog once I've rembered to take them, which is the other stumbling block! Technically it isn't a problem but it seems so long winded, camera in hand, photos taken, camera linked up to PC, photos transferred and saved, cropped if necessary and finally uploaded to blog. Am I missing something that would make this task easier? I've tried the camera on my phone, but more often than not find the wireless failing at some point. Perhaps it needs a change of attitude rather than a change of technique!

My Life Broken Down Into Segments

2010-09-22T20:52:00.001+01:00

And the irony of this is that I captured this image a couple of weeks ago, and have spent the last five minutes Googling for the source to give credit to - http://www.cartoonchurch.com/

September Journal Quilt

2010-09-14T14:21:00.001+01:00

I could pretend that this was further exploration of the colour theme in black, but really it was a good opportunity to work through Kathy Loomis’s Quilt date for April showing narrow strip piecing. I love this technique, and whilst I think I would prefer to work with straight-ish lines I like the work of Alicia Merrett who has created some wonderful map inspired pieces using fine strips.

Today is the …

2010-09-08T11:17:00.001+01:00

8th day of the 9th month of the 10th year of this century

Blogging from Gmail

2010-09-07T17:29:00.001+01:00

I've only just noticed that I can, apparently, write a blog post from my Gmail page. No option to upload pictures but it's an interesting idea!

FOQ 2010 – Part 3

2010-09-04T13:32:00.000+01:00

One of the joys of the Elizabeth Barton workshop was re-discovering tracing paper – or at least the heavyweight typo paper my husband used to use at work. it was as easy as using the PC for re-positioning elements but kept the feel of your own hand as you worked.

Knowing that Elizabeth works from the landscape I found choosing images to work with difficult, as my photos tend to focus in on line and repetition. In the end I looked for common themes amongst my photos and took two collections. This is the one I chose to work with:

I’ve scanned some of the sketches I did in the workshop, the crinkles are the result of mixing excitement and partially finished coffee. (Thanks Hilary for the mop-up!). By combining the rough tracings:

with photocopies at different scales and various exercises new images appeared:

Some of which are quite likely to find themselves worked up in greater detail, and may even appear as quilts in due course!

FOQ 2010 – Part 2

2010-09-01T20:22:00.000+01:00

One of the best things about this years FOQ was the two day Master class that I took with Elizabeth Barton. I had not met Elizabeth previously and only know her work through her blog – but what a blog it is. She writes succinctly and intelligently about her quilting and particularly about what goes into designing a quilt. So when I saw that Elizabeth was presenting a Master class called “Design and Composition in Art Quilts” I signed up as soon as I could.

The class did not disappoint - as an opener we were asked what we wanted from the class and my answer was that I wanted a structure that would take me from inspiration to quilt design. (Needless to say it didn’t come out as succinctly as that, particularly as I’d been held up in traffic and was a couple of minutes late – not a good start for the control freak in me!) As well as that structure I came out with a couple potential designs and the wherewithal to look at quilt designs much more critically.

Over the two days we were given the opportunity to define the kind of work we want to create, a pathway from design source to cartoon, lots of new artists to explore and some considered insights. One such was “Make visual decisions visually”. This sounds obvious but there were several of us in the group who found ourselves nodding. Too often I work an idea out in my head, and then I’m surprised that it doesn’t look quite the same work out as I’d expected!

I haven’t yet put into words exactly why enjoyed this class so much, timing was definitely a factor but also it has given me a better sense of control over what I do. Elizabeth teaches in the US and on-line through Quilt University and I suspect i will be going back for more in due course!

Lines and grids

2010-08-31T16:59:00.001+01:00

What a lovely morning sky for the end August. It's a pity that I'm not doing lines and grids for the Sketchbook project like MargaretR

What was I thinking about???

2010-08-30T13:51:00.000+01:00

This seemed like a good idea at the time. I've been tidying up (Again!) and came across a bundle of fabric pieces approx 8" x 11" and approx rectangular. I'd won these pieces at a Quilters Guild Regional Day - I could have donated them to another raffle, I could have cut them into quarters, jumbled them round and sew them back together again, I could even have put them in the bin! But no, a little voice inside me said it would be fun to cut the pieces randomly and put them together again, and I believed that little voice!
So I've learned another form of prevarication - do something uselesss instead of getting on with things. I'm still mulling over my Elizabeth Barton class, I've a blog post in draft and an idea to explore the lessons I learned, and what am I doing - almost impossible fabric jigsaws!
The completed jigsaw will make a top roughly 24" x 30", the next step is to give it a tea bath, then I'll layer it and add some extra large white daisy style flowers to make a Linus quilt. (And that'll put off commiting to anything more serious for another couple of days!

Occasional jottings

A clever little site

Postboxes

Manchester Art Gallery Visit II

Grayson Perry at Manchester Art Gallery

CQ JQ Challenge 2012

Catching up

December JQ

Triaxial weaving

Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester - Adolphe Valette: A Pioneer of Impressionism in Manchester

Adolphe Valette Manchester Ship Canal Nicholas and Anthony Goeritz Collection

A different take on dining ...

November JQ

Snow and frost forecast for Google tonight...

.....Search the words “let it snow” and watch what happens. (And yes, there is a 'Defrost' button!)

Foiled again ...

Stitching at Glenthorne

Richard Diebenkorn

12 by the dozen challenge

Reminder to self

Occasional Jottings?

You can't say that I'm not living up to the name of my blog! I can't remember how the name came to be but it has certainly been prophetic!

oc·ca·sion·al [uh-key-zhuh-nl]

A new resist combination

Butch Belair

Handmade In Britain

Handmade In Britain – introduction

Notan

CQ JQ's

Spotted ...

Martin Proctor

Lovely ceramic sculptures

FOQ 2011 - some thoughts

I'm not the quilter that I thought I was...

Away day

Back in the saddle .... at last

Postie delivers a surprise!

Thread choices

Quilt and other withdrawals ....

You send the OH out to enjoy himself ......

Can you hear it?

What I'm up to ...

Unfolding the Quilts - lottery awards

FOQ Quilt progress update

FOQ quilt progress

That fabric problem

So why am I enjoying making a traditional quilt?

INSTALLING SUMMER.....

Be careful what you say ...

Another Place

Fresh

Voting for Unfolding the Quilts

Your vote is needed!

Dyeing day

So that's a no then!

CQ JQ's April and May

Is blogging going out of fashion?

Pictorial Consequences finally finished

Three galleries

I've been AWOL

Not a lot of posts ....

March JQ

February CQ JQ's

Where good ideas come from

A day out - A day off ....

Colour Tool

I had a deadline to meet ....

Quilt Retreat

Elisa D'Arrigo

Packing and time management

Google streetview goes indoors!

Contemporary Quilt 2011 JQ Challenge

I'm not alone ...

The Fine Art of Finishing

Your Mind’s Eye is Kind of a Liar ; That’s Okay

I Know What You’re Thinking

The Messy Middle

Finishing

Up Side #2

A Few Things to Remember

Adolphe Valette Manchester Ship Canal
Nicholas and Anthony Goeritz Collection