Quilt as desired

Are you someone who can be ready for a trip at the drop of a hat? Then return home and jump right back into your routine without much jet lag? I am envious because that's certainly not true for me. Out of state trips always knocks me out for a week.

This two-week trip was wonderful despite a couple of hiccups. I re-connected with a long time (not old) good friend near Detroit. Together we took a short trip to Toronto. Then I'm at the Crow Timber Barn for a workshop - Machine Quilting: Inspiration, Design, Critique with Sandra Ciolino. I'll save the hiccups for another time and get down to what you really want to know about - the workshop.

iso right thread color & weight for Golden Sol

Sandy, our fearless leader (she prefers facilitator), not only quilts beautifully, she's a great teacher! Communicative, structured, generous, caring, attentive, open, non-threatening, organized and more. The qualities you wished all your teachers had. She deserves lots of credit for setting up an environment for everyone to thrive. What a difference five days made!

We were a small group of seven with not a bad apple in the bunch! Couldn't ask for a better group of people!

Machine quilting wise, each of us started in a different place - from little to some experience. But that was okay. Sandy gave each individual plenty of attention and guidance from wherever we were. Nudged and nursed us along until we were quilting with confidence.

We were also diverse stylistically. I expected more Nancy Crow students since it was at the Barn. Instead three had never taken any workshop with her and two had taken only one workshop. So we had a diverse range of quilt tops to critique.

The critiques were a fabulous learning experience. These were not a show-and-tell what's-good-what's-not likes-dislikes kind of free-for-all. Sandy provided a timed 5-step structure adapted and revised from Art + Quilt: Design Principles and Creativity Exercises by Lyric Kinard. Of course everyone wanted to know how to quilt their tops - our reason for being there.

The critique structure really worked and we really got into the swing of it. Sandy even joked she'll packaged us up and take us on the road! I got some helpful feedback and am no longer stymied by my larger tops.

The very first exercise was another fabulous learning experience. It made us take the plunge. Jump off the cliff. But in a non-threatening way. It opened up options. Very freeing. We learned there are no rules for thread color, thread weight and stitch lines. Sure, fiddle with the thread tension until that works. Otherwise, quilt as desired! 

I've heard that many times but was clueless as to what that meant. Now I know. There is no one way, no perfect way. Explore, experiment, play. Trust your instincts as an artist and quilt as desired.

With inadequate choice of threads, I didn't get far on the circle with straight lines shown at the top. So I started on these two small black and white compositions in the workshop:

geometric stitches with white, variegated white, variegated gray and black

organic stitches with contrasting variegated thread

A lot of intensive quilting. Geometric stitches requires focus whereas organic stitches flow more. By late morning Friday, I could only doodle:

stitcher doodles 

more stitcher doodles

Many thanks to Nancy Crow for going forth with the workshop despite our small group. Without your faith, this enriching experience would not have happened. When she offers this workshop again, go for it! You won't find a better teacher than Sandy nor a better facility than the Barn.

Apropos, Perfect Happiness was the title of Robert Genn's Tuesday Twice-Weekly Letter, which led with this quote from Winston Churchill: "The way to be happy is to find something that requires the kind of perfection that's impossible to achieve and spend the rest of your life trying to achieve it." Read the rest of it here. 

Artist in training

About halfway done with the 3,000 almond trees to prune before they bloom in mid-February.

pruned branches on ground between rows of trees

Since November I've been helping out in the orchard. I've lost count how many I've pruned. Maybe half. This city girl has gone country.

Some trees are saplings. A few snips and they're done. Easy peasy. The bigger ones are tougher.

I was a pruner in training for the first few rows. After a few hundred trees, I'm surer and faster. Pruning is as much about the eye as it is about the physicality of the cut. 


after



before



Sometimes it's really obvious which branches must go. Other times I must choose. The difference may be subtle. Yet I know I've chosen wisely when the tree lets out a nearly audible sigh of relief.

How does this relate to quilting? Nancy Crow always advises her students to do the exercises again and again, to compose many many quilt tops.

Only by repetition does the body and mind learn. As with pruning, so it is with quilting. Quantity does count.

Train the quilter. Train the eye. Train the artist.

Backward progress

Steps backwards to move forward.

Discipline or structure

When my friend called me disciplined just because I go to the gym three times a week and to tai chi every Saturday morning, I laughed. Ha! Me disciplined?

I don't swim endless laps, run miles around the track, or lift tons of weights. The main attraction is the hot tub! Ahhh! Soothing hot water! All other activities are secondary. Monday is Restorative Yoga. Very passive. Very restful. Very calming. Friday or Saturday is aerobics and weight machines. I fit in stretches and crunches here and there and more tai chi if a room's free. No pain. No stress. No sweat. Enough of that elsewhere.

I say it's structure, not discipline. It's a framework around which I schedule all other activities after work. Regularity works well for me. Limited free time means I avoid over committing. At least to a certain degree.  

In two weeks I won't have to worry so much about limited time. How will I structure my whole day then? Can I maintain hours in the studio, not lose it to non-creative activities, yet still get other things done? Hmm. The new frame of mind calls for a new framework.

How do you do it? How do you safeguard your studio time?

Dreamy one

It’s the first day of another workshop at the Barn.

But it's a different setup, smaller room, smaller tables. Only one empty spot with large window but very short design wall below it.

I suddenly realized why it seemed I was travelling so light. I didn't ship nor pack supplies! Attempted to get my sweetheart at home to gather them & send pronto. What’s on the supply list? Where will he find them? When will it get here?

Didn’t see my roommate. But there is a three-tiered bleacher with people including some former classmates. Roommate arrives in furry outfit befitting a rock star but she doesn’t recognize me.

As the day ends, I realize I didn’t cancel the other hotel reservations. Whoops! Extra costs for one night’s lodging.

At least I wasn’t in my pajamas. Nor barefoot or in slippers. Not this time.

Proclamation

The secret is out. Told my manager today. After 19 years plus, I am retiring from life at the office. Countdown to the last work day of November 15th, 2011: 84.

I shall be a full time artist. My! How well that resonates!

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.  - A. Einstein

Many thanks to Guy Tal for that quote. Read about his journey to his creative sweet spot.

Say the word

. . . and you'll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I'm thinking of
Have you heard the word is . . .

procrastination! Dear readers think I am procrastinating?!

Nancy Crow uses that word often. When we are slow to get anything up on the design wall. When we take frequent breaks. When we reach for that comforting piece of chocolate once again. When we've little to show since our last workshop. When we let life get in the way of art and quilting.

What is the definition of procrastination? According to Piers Steel, PhD the author of The Procastination Equation: to voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse-off for the delay.

Do I procrastinate? Yes. 95% do to some extent. 15 to 20% consistently and problematically. That last certainly doesn't apply to me. Nope!

Why do I procrastinate? According to his TMT (Temporal Motivation Theory) of procrastination: motivation = expectancy x value / impulsiveness x delay. So what does that mean?

You're more likely to procrastinate when you are less proficient; when the task is more unpleasant or you have less need for achievement; when you are more distractible, impulsive or have less self control; and when the goal is in the distant future. One definite Yes. Two Maybes. One No.

Steel offers two quizzes to determine your procrastination profile. Complete with tips to tame it. How helpful! I'll take the quiz tomorrow.


Procrastinate now, don’t put it off. - Ellen DeGeneres

Deeper water

Nothing beckons more on a hot hot day than a pool of shimmering water. Much as I would like to jump right on in, I hesitate. More likely to sink than swim. Same with quilting. Six sandwiches but no quilting. Not yet. I'm in the pool but head out of the water and feet on the bottom.

After seven workshop weeks with Nancy Crow, I feel better about design & composition, color choices and piecing skills. Fine and good if I were only making quilt tops, but developmentally lopsided. What if I made a masterpiece today? Unlikely though that may be. I'd be totally stymied by underdeveloped techniques, a plethora of choices and a lack of confidence.  



I'm working on this lopsidedness. First: the sandwiches. Then choices: thread, quilting lines, and fmq. Where to start? Which sandwich first? Daunting challenges!



Focus and choose. I'm starting with the very first quilt top I ever made – the one that catapulted me into this quilting adventure three years ago. It's the largest one dimensionally of the six sandwiches. No heavy quilting at least. It'd be a lap quilt. But thread? Quilting lines? Walking foot or free motion? 

Just choose. Let go of perfectionism. Wabi-sabi. I'm making my way toward deeper waters.

Seven year old mantra

I recently unearthed something from August 2003. Something personal. I am sharing it with you.

An Artist's Affirmations, a poem & prayer

I will listen to my creative voice, act on my creative energy, nurture my artist.
I will let my creativity flourish.
I have not always
But I always will.

I will let my creativity lead me to forgiveness, to truth, to love,
To fulfilling my dreams and yearnings.
I have not always
But I always will.

I am strong enough, passionate enough, confident enough,
To step forward and step out.
I am learning how
So I will always be.

I am willing to take steps of passion, make a commitment
To create my own footprints.
I am willing now and
I will always be.

I will move toward my destiny one step at a time.
I am making progress now.
I am finding the way
I am compelled to go.

With my talents I will build a rich rewarding life.
I am creative. I am an artist.
I have always been.
I will always be.

I wrote the above to counterbalance the many issues and doubts that surfaced while working through Julia Cameron's An Artist's Way. The mantra still holds true today.

All in my head

Do I look different to you? Have you notice? Did I cut my hair? Lose some weight? Botox wrinkles away?

None of these. Let me help you. It's all in my head(ing) which used to say ambitions of a beginner or beginnings of an ambitious quilt artist. I still quilt. I still think of myself as a beginner. I'm still ambitious. I'm still an artist. My new subheading subtlely reflects my clearer focus and resolve.

"It is necessary . . . to go beyond . . . to create something so unique – personal yet universal – that it takes viewers beyond their own understanding, perhaps even out of their comfort-zone, and shows them the world in a new way. Only then . . . does an artist cross the line . . . to fine art."

Rose Fredrick was referring to specifically to illustration, but she could just as well be talking about any other craft or medium - or about quilting. I intend to eventually cross that line and create art.

Cave habit

Most nights I'm in the studio which occupies part of the basement rec room – a dark wood paneled low ceiling room that could use a thousand watts of light.  The ritual of descending the stairs each night, turning on a few lights and the tv (my timekeeper) prepares me for creative focus.

The room looks out into the garden if I would bother to open the shades and pull aside the drapes. But I don't at night when I can't see out much. On weekends I can and I do. Then working in the studio can be problematic because I am distracted by beautiful weather and the lure of the garden.

So though the weekend promises many more studio hours, I go into my creative cave at night. That's my creative habit.

The "quilt" artist

A quilt artist implies an artist whose medium is quilts. So that's the term I've used as opposed to art quilter. I think there's a difference though everyone else may not agree. Joanne Mattera feels an artist is an artist. No adjective needed. Read her well written posting here.

On one hand I agree with her. When people found out I painted, they'd ask with oils or acrylics? As if the medium mattered. As if those were the only two mediums. It's what I can create rather than what I use. So why have boundaries when there are none?

On the other hand I feel adjectives give definition. Don't you gather more information if I say I am an Oakland, CA rather than a Springfield, MO resident; a commercial rather than residential interior designer? So why not say I am a quilt artist?

The word quilt alone is fraught with implications: quilts for the bed; craft instead of art; devalued for being (mostly) women's work; patterns from repetition and symmetry; matching seams; coordinated fabrics, pretty. So much baggage.

Maybe I should just say I am an artist.