Temptation

Can't believe it is December. Where did the year go?

The Janome 6600 went in for service before Thanksgiving. Just as I was about to pull out my backup machine, the shop called to say it's ready. Great timing!

Not only does the shop provide excellent service, they also sell new machines and sewing & quilting supplies. I test drove two new machines with wider 11" throats - new Janome Horizon MC8200 and a Bernina (sorry didn't note the model). The Janome fmq'd more smoothly.

Tempting as the new machine was, I came home with my 6600. I can't really justify a new machine. Yet. Might change my mind after wrestling with the next quilt beast. In the meantime I'll finish the year with my fmq quest: samples and smaller ufos. Quest to continue in 2013 with larger works.

Meanwhile, Three 1 and Three 2 are part of the Alameda County Arts Commission Exhibition at the Alameda County Administration Building, 1221 Oak St., Oakland, CA. It opens today and runs until 2/21/2013.

How do you do . . . ?

Update:
For another perspective on Sandy Ciolino's machine quilting workshop, see this post by Annette Guerrero. Annette was already an accomplished quilter when she took Sandy's workshop. What could be better than endorsement from another quilter?!


My apologies if you've seen the rest of this post before. Due to technical difficulties and user error, the rest of this post was temporarily un-published.

How do you do IT? Machine quilting I mean.

quilting Orange Rhyme

So many decisions. What designs/patterns/motifs to quilt? where to apply it?
Quilting to stand out or blend in? contrast or complement the quilt top?
And thread: color, solid or variegated, weight, fiber type.
Let's not even get into batting.
Use the walking foot? or are you comfortable with free-motion?
Quilt on a home machine? or on a mid or long arm? 
Do your own quilting? or have someone else do it? 

I've pinned my hopes on getting answers from Sandra Palmer Ciolino. She's teaching a one-week machine quilting workshop at the Crow Barn in October. 

I've already taken a basic introductory class, and a two-day workshop with Sue Nickels. I've followed Leah Day, Heather Thomas and Angela Walters online. I've stitched up many samples from The Free Motion Quilting Project. 

beginner designs

But I still don't get it - I have not mastered free motion quilting. Okay, admittedly I haven't practiced consistently. Yes, I know, practice, practice, practice! Two to three hours a day for beginners; more if not particularly gifted. Yep, that's me. 

the only finished project with fmq

My last quilt was intensely stitched with a walking foot.

lines up to 3/16" apart

Sure wasn't much fun getting the bulky thing to turn around under the machine arm. Free-motion would be the ticket to avoid that. Someone said, "don't let your skills limit what you can create". So my goal is to master fmq. 


A whole cloth quilt is not for me. Instead a perspective that'll work with abstract improvisational compositions. In time I may figure this out but I'm impatient. If fmq will never be my thing, then I want to find out soon. 

Sandy is a fabulous machine quilter using her domestic sewing machine. Check out her gallery of recent work on her website. I've heard much praise for her last workshop. She has quilted for Nancy Crow - that's alone is quite an endorsement. Plus she's a sweetheart to boot. 

There's room in the workshop. I'm hoping it'd be a go. Worst case scenario, it won't and might not be offered again. So won't you join me in Ohio for the workshop? Would be good for you. But really - full disclosure here - I'm asking in my own self interest.

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.

Early howling

Thursday morning howling wind and rustling trees woke me up very early. In a few hours before heading off to work, I managed to

·    put away the remains of the twisted log cabin block (how do you handle all those bits & pieces - or do you?),

·    pin baste the twisted log cabin block, and

·    remove another project that wasn't going anywhere - bagged – or ziplocked, Colleen's great term).

It's a tough quest to keep my main work area fairly neat -  to get things off the worktable and to keep them off.  Always remainders and reminders left.

A workshop top on the design wall awaits pin basting. Out of the picture there's still a other stuff to sort through from my latest cleanup and reorganization binge. But maybe, just maybe, having work-able space I will be sane, focused and creative.

Start of a new year

Staying up past midnight on December 31st is an activity of a distant past, but I have other new year traditions.

Typically on January 1st I'd go for a long walk to slow down and savor fresh beginnings & new possibilities. Every new year, a book store holds a sale - any 3 calendars for $10. So one for the pocket book, one for the wall, and one for the desk.

Like many others, I set goals - rather than resolutions - for the year (see previous post). I've don't usually select a word for the year, but this time Matisse supplied one (images from desk calendar).

verve (vûrv) n.

1. Energy and vigor, especially in artistic performance or composition

2. Liveliness: vitality

Great word! Merci, Henri!

Wish you all a new year full of verve!

Old new tried & true

With long term intensive projects at work and at home, 2011 doesn't look promising for studio time  Work means much frustration. Home means much disruption. So what about artistic goals for 2011? They're less concrete, more nebulous, reflecting the state of affairs - guidelines.

Something old, something new,

Something tried, something true.

Old. During studio clean up, I unearthed many ufo(ld)s. I will not finish them all nor are all of them worth finishing. More workshops mean more ufos. So I will finish at least one for the EBHQ's biannual show in 2012.
New. I may not have time in the studio, but creativity doesn't take a break. I have ideas and am itching to start new work.
Tried. Something I've done before – like redoing an exercise from a workshop. Or someone else has done before -  maybe even adopt a pattern.
True. I feel the emergence of a series.

What else is store for 2011? Three week-long workshops. End of February: Indianola, WA for Nancy Crow's Lines, Curves, Shapes & Figure-Ground Composition, Part II. Mid May: Crow Barn for Dorothy Caldwell's Human Marks. End of September: Crow Barn again for Nancy Crow's Lines/Curves/Circles, & Figure-Ground. I am backing out of Carol Soderlund's Layers upon Layers in October since I haven't dyed a thing since last fall's True Colors and probably won't.

I know, I know. At some point I must stop taking workshops and develop what I know. While I am still earning a paycheck, I will continue taking workshops. Until retirement rolls around in a few years. Where I started almost four years ago seem light years away. Even if I haven't made many tops, haven't redone workshop exercises multiple times – all is not lost. Everything is starting to meld and jell. A little voice is speaking up.

Going for the goal / goad!

Such a delusional belief that over a three-day weekend I can get a lot done. I visited SFMoMA, worked in the garden for about 12 hours, did three loads of laundry, and went to the gym twice. Among other stuff. But I did not wash the car, bake a cake, clean house or reduce my pile of paperwork. Unless ironing fabric counts, I did no work on my art either. Ahh, so much for ambitions.

Here's what I've been working on. Only one more seam for my black and white study then I can square it off. Except for one spot nagging for a redo.

How little – only this one thing - I've done since returning from the Crow Barn in May. I need goals as a gauge. But I also need goals to goad me into action! You know I love 'em, so here they are.


One small to medium project each month until I go back to the Barn in the fall. That means four projects total (including the one above) to work improvisationally, experimentally and artistically. That's realistic. Then I have the more ambitious goals: one additional project each month. Lest you think I'm crazy, I'm playing loose-ee goose-ee with these. They could be anything – even following a pattern! As long as it involves fabric and sewing, it counts!


Lately, I haven't been posted frequently. That will be the case for the next few months. But stay tuned! I'll be back when I have something to share. Until then, à la Captain Picard, make it sew!

Recovery from two tough weeks

It is one week after finishing two weeks of workshops with Nancy Crow - Sets & Variables I & II and Sets & Variables III – and I'm still in recovery mode.

My focus the past year was in making that quilt sandwiches and stitching those quilting lines. Though I can pat myself on the back and say, yes! to bringing a few quilt tops to their ready-to-hang state, these skills did not help me in the workshops.

The month before I'd struggled with finishing the ribbon quilt. How many times did I sew together something only look at it, blanch, then begin anew? So I left for the workshop feeling like I'd forgotten how to create. And I did.

I was unprepared. Despite slogging through those weeks, I got a lot out of them. I'll post more about the workshops later.

I've now spent in total five weeks in four of Nancy's workshops. I am still in awe of the woman – she's amazing and inspirational. Words alone cannot convey how fabulous a teacher she is. She teaches more than piecing, more than quilting, more than art. Much more.

I have a list of things to work on. I have exercises and ideas to develop. Projects to finish. I have direction and aspirations. I am now much more clearly focused. I intend to sustain this feeling this drive until I return to the Barn once again.

Old tricks

Three weeks ago, I dared to think I could finish the ribbon quilt before the workshop in Ohio.

One week ago, I dared to think I could finish the top in a few more days so I could get some space and helping hands to pin baste it.

Today I haven't totally given up on this quilt, but I have missed the latter goal and have serious doubts about the former one.

Intending to accomplish more, I set up mini-goals each night – i.e. sew strip A to piece B x 6 times. A couple of nights later I'd look and really see what I've made. Ugh! So I've spent the last three weeks piecing and un-piecing. Repeatedly. If I had enough fabric to cut more or had bought more, I wouldn't need to un-pieced for reuse.

What I've learned so far:
• there's no point in rushing just to get it done (didn't I say this before?);

• adding to an existing project may be harder than starting from scratch when working improvisationally;

• to make visual decisions, I must really look and see (didn't I say this before too?);

• to minimize un-piecing, take it one piece through all steps first rather than all pieces one step at a time;

• to minimize un-piecing, look and see after each step (and this before?);

• to get in the right frame of mind after one project, take a little break (not a month) before the next.

My Quilt Therapy Group, is meeting tomorrow night. Dare I think I could show them the ribbon quilt with this orange section added?

This old dog, same old tricks.

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.

Back two, forward three

The first attempt to finish my ribbon quilt was disastrous. I threw pieces together in a hurry. Didn't look. Unstitching became the name of the game. I'd forgotten the maxim: make visual decisions visually.

I had to step back and take another approach. Satisfactory results come from listening to my instincts and taking time to play, to look and then be critical. No point in rushing through the process if the finished product is not acceptable.

After another week I'm quite comfortable with the new section. This photo shows it with some colors I've auditioned. There are a few more decisions to make. Back into the studio tonight.  

Maybe I'll meet my goal to get it to the guild drop-in tomorrow. Maybe not. I'm not going to push it just to get it done. I've learned my lesson – until next time anyway.

Can do!

The past weekend was lost to the EBHQ's quilt show. Saturday's dinner didn't happen until 10pm whereas Sunday I was in bed by 9pm. A great event but whew!

Only three weekends remaining! Yikes! Then I'm off to the Ohio for another two weeks with Nancy Crow. Feeling momentarily ambitious, here's my plan for the ribbon quilt, fmq and workshop homework.

Finish the quilt top for sandwiching on Saturday at the guild drop-in. That'd give me three weeks to quilt it. I already have an idea about that. Squeeze in more fmq practice sessions to give it a go. Sets and variables motifs will just fit in wherever and whenever.

Yes, I can!

Thank you, but no

Last night I returned a call from an EBHQ member. My first thought was duty assignment for Voices in Cloth the guild show in April. But that wasn't it. She wanted to know if I would run for the member-at-large position on the board.

I am extremely grateful to EBHQ for the workshops, books and show opportunities. Further thanks goes to them for my monthly get together with my Quilt Therapy group. In return I volunteer at the library before each monthly meeting and co-curated the last two local shows. Much as I would like to be more active, time is a luxury. I declined.

As Kathy Loomis advises, I must make more quilts to develop my own voice. To step up my quilt productivity, I must not stray off on tangents. To stay focused, I must eschew workshops and other activity that does not add to my knowledge base. I shall pursue art with near single-mindedness. I can do it. I just can't do it all.

Resisting seduction

A few years ago my goal was to sample as many techniques as I could. Each month I checked the maximum three books out of the quilt guild library. I joined the Quilt Art list and followed many links. I signed up for nearly every guild workshop and a few more at festivals and local quilt shops. I ran over to quilt shows, exhibits and festivals - anywhere within decent driving distance. Just soaked it up for awhile: looked, read, learned and dabbled. Two things I didn't do: read quilt magazines and joined quilt challenges. Well, not quite - I did join one challenge but never did anything.

Kathy Loomis says all these activities can get you off on a tangent, eat up your time, and lead you astray from finding your voice and making good work. Best to stick with one course she says.

After my first Nancy Crow workshop in fall 2008, my goal was to piece improvisationally and abstractly. Other methods held less interest. I no longer compulsively followed the Quilt Art list and their links. I signed up for workshops only  if they hold promise of better design, better process, or better techniques. I now find few relevant books in the guild library.

I do go to quilt shows because I want to support them and there's always something to learn about how others handle colors, design, fabrics and threads. I do look at blogs because they are a substitute for seeing art in person. I am especially thankful for blogs about artistic process, struggle and development.

Time limitations, compulsiveness, perfectionism, and procrastination all work against me. So I am sticking with one thing and resisting seductions. I want to hearing my own voice.

30-day countdown

The pressure is on. I entered Neutra House in EBHQ's quilt show, Voices in Cloth, happening April 10th and 11th. That means turning in the quilt on April 3. I have 30 days to finish it. Trying to avoid coming down to the very last minute.

This quilt will roughly measure 3'x3'. So it’s not huge - only about 15"x36" bigger than the first. But that extra size has made a difference. More surface to cover. More weight to push around.

To figure out the white quilting lines, I first drew onto tracing paper covering the quilt. I was too close or it was too big. Couldn't see the whole thing.

My art instructors were right: start with a thumbnail sketch. Then not too much time spent if it doesn't work out. I am sketching again with a 4"x4" photo.

My goal for the week: make a satisfactory sketch and sew those white lines. Then facing, sleeve and label left. The end seems so close. Musn't think that. I do tend to procrastinate. Then rush to finish it in time. Uh, uh! Not this time! I want to finish with time to spare.

Out with the old, in with the new

In November I wasn't doing too badly with my goals for the year. Well, now I'm way behind, and no way I could catch up, so I've abandoned them. But I'm not slacking off. I have new goals and still go into my studio for at least an hour a day if not two.

My first priority is tax returns. It's not a goal but a nasty (at least to me) necessity. Much as I'd like to fast forward through this period, it's always slow going, I don't even do it myself. I take it to an accountant. I hate it. Don't know why. Just do.

My primary goal is to finish a quilt for the local guild show, Voices in Cloth,  Once that's accomplished, then I will play with motifs for the Sets & Variables workshops and make more free motion quilting samples. All this before May. Even finish another quilt perhaps.

So say goodbye to the old goals and hello to the new.

Mid-point status

In April after the Improvisations workshop and at the 2.0-year mark in my quilting life, I was lying. How could I claim to be a quilter with only one 9x12 journal quilt finished? Piecer, yes. Quilter, no. So I set up goals for the year. With the holiday season coming, I may be in my studio but crafting instead of quilting. So now at mid-point is a good time for evaluation.

□ UFOs: 4 out of 12 finished;
□ working with prints: 4 out of 4; and
□ workshop explorations: 1 out of 6.

A little off the mark but I'll continue working on these. Once over that holiday hurdle, I have three major goals before May:
□ finish at least one other quilt for the EBHQ's Voices in Cloth show in April;
□ homework for Nancy Crow's Sets and Variables workshops in May (yes, pre-workshop homework!); and
□ free motion quilting. I won't be coming up with 365 different designs like this quilter. I just want to get comfortable enough to FMQ a quilt and not feel like I have to hide it.

Quilted for exhibition

I am co-curating another local guild exhibit which opens at the end of October and runs into January. My two co-curators will have quilts in the show. So why not me? Yes, why not? It is non-juried. I scrambled to find something to finish.

I picked a top created last spring in Nancy Crow's Improvisations workshop, previously shown here. Now it's quilted. Yeh! Another tally toward the goals! You can see this and others from the fabulous East Bay Heritage Quilters at:

Alameda County Arts Commission 2009 EBHQ Quilt Exhibit

Alameda County Administration Building

Tax Gallery, 1st floor & Board of Supervisors Gallery, 5th floor

1221 Oak St., Oakland CA
October 26, 2009 to January 14 , 2010, Mon-Fri 8am to 5pm

A tasty tidbit before of the guild's bi-annual show, Voices in Cloth, April 10-11, 2010.

Two more toward goals

I've made progess toward two of my goals: quilting and working with prints. Added borders to the two found log cabins squares: Quilted. Lighter one with Superior Threads Rainbows variegated thread, color 805 Inca Pink using a 2mm twin needle. I don't know how you'd turn corners with twin needles so straight lines from edge to edge. The back shows the bobbin thread pulled between the two top lines. Not the most attractive but they won't show since they'd be inside the pillow cover.
Quilted darker one with Superior Threads Perfect Quilter, a heavier weight cotton, color 093 Redwork. They recommend a size 100/16 needle, but I managed with a 90/14 quilting needle. To develop the quilting pattern, I sketched on tracing paper which layed over the top. Then I drew circles and arcs with a compass on freezer paper, cut them out, ironed them on, and stitched around the edges. Here's the back before the basting stitches were removed: These decorative threads are all goodies from my Superior Threads Home Machine Quilting Sampler Set. A terrific deal! Sure you don't get to choose the colors. I wouldn't have chosen the ones I got. Online colors are not very true anyway. But, wow, you never know what'd work! If you don't want the mixed bag set, you can also get one-sies Try Me Specials .

Their newsletter said Perfect Quilter will be discontinued. Whatever they have left is priced at half-off. Too bad – about the discontinuation I mean, not the half-off. I really like the bolder quilt line. It's a thicker thread than their other 30-wts. Heavier cotton thread is difficult to find. Especially in solids. Their alternative would be Poly Quilter, a polyester thread developed for long arms. But only variegated. And only in 2000-yd. spools.

Now that I've overcome the initial hurdle, I am on to quilt something bigger.