Don’t Just Do Something. . .Stand There

August 20, 2011 Elizabeth E.1 Comment

The title of this post is taken from an LA Times article of the same name, and it extols the idea of “down time,” or “space time,” or “staring at the wall and watching the paint dry” time. A quote:

The short story writer Grace Paley also spoke up in praise of idleness. “I have a basic indolence about me which is essential to writing,” she said in an interview. “It really is. Kids now call it space around you. It’s thinking time, it’s hanging-out time, it’s daydreaming time. You know, it’s lie-around-the-bed time, it’s sitting-like-a-dope-in-your-chair time. And that seems to me essential to my work.”

Another related article talks about the importance of idle time. A quote:

Until recently, scientists would have found little of interest in the purposeless, mind-wandering spaces between Mrazek’s conscious breakfast-making tasks — they were just the brain idling between meaningful activity. But in the span of a few short years, they have instead come to view mental leisure as important, purposeful work — work that relies on a powerful and far-flung network of brain cells firing in unison.

Maybe that’s what’s going on with me today–just can’t seem to get traction in my off-time. I’ve decided it takes WAY more effort to start a project than it does to finish one. I may decide something different tomorrow. But for now–I’m just standing here. Doing nothing.

**illustration is done by Christopher Serra / For The Los Angeles Times

Squiggles, AKA, Stipples

August 9, 2011 Elizabeth E.Leave a comment

It all started with this video, which I saw on Boing Boing:

It reminded me of quilting. Of our famous all-over squiggle quilting, AKA, “The Stipple.” But the gal in the video goes on to create some really interesting things.

When I walked through the Springville Art Museum’s Quilt Show, I, too, focused on the quilting, and on the different iterations of it, although not to the Hilbert Curve level. And since I’m always collecting interesting photos of quilting patterns, I thought you might be doing the same. Enjoy the show.

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100 Quilts · Creating

Family Tree

August 4, 2011July 23, 2012 Elizabeth E.2 Comments

I really shouldn’t let this quilt show its face in the quilt world. Really, it has that many problems. But sometimes these quilts are fun to look and to remind myself of how far I’ve come as a quilter.

So the idea was, since we were headed to a family reunion, to make a banner for my husband and I, like I’d made for my mother. Hers was more successful, and it’s all on account of the quilting. I hadn’t yet taken a fusible class, so I was working with my old stand-by which unfortunately leaves the fabric like a slab of wallboard.

I cut out the tree, and then traced everyone’s hand for the leaves. I slabbed on them on to a tone-on-tone background fabric (which, thankfully we don’t have around much as the fabric can change colors turning more yellow–I think the newer ones are better).

I then wrote our name using a Pigma pen, copying the style of my sister-in-law’s handwriting.

Then, for some strange reason, I decided to put it under my machine and quilt it. Maybe I did that because this idea of quilting the quilt yourself was an idea that was percolating around; back in the Olden Days (when we wore skins and cooked over an open fire and used cardboard templates and cut everything out by scissors) there was no machine quilting on your own machine. Either you hand-quilted it or you tied your quilt. That was it. Then the longarms started showing up, and then the idea came that you of course could do your own quilting. This quilt is a testament as to why sometimes you shouldn’t. Or you should take a class and get better. (Which I’ve tried to do.)

Okay, here comes the prelude to the scary part. Can you believe I switched out the color in the bobbin? I did it again this year. I’d better write this one down on the Things Not To Do list, and tack it up by my machine.

ACK!!! ACK!!! ACK!!!
Don’t you just love all the loose bobbin stitches, the globs of thread that burped out on the back, the horrendously balanced thread tension? I give myself a little break because I WAS sewing through bunches of wallboard-glued-on-fused fabrics and that’s just about impossible.

But I have to say I learned a lot, and still am continuing to learn about the Big Three Elements of Free-Motion Quilting. They are:

Speed of the machine (how heavy your foot is in on the pedal)
Speed of your hands moving the quilt around
Tension/Thread/Needle Size.

I now sew with a size 14 Topstitching needle most of the time when I’m machine quilting. Sometimes I bump up to a 16. I ALWAYS test drive the thread tension — it can change with the thread you use — on a small quilt sandwich that I keep by the machine. And I really hope I never use a different color of thread in the bobbin again. (Cue: sound of head banging.)

Here’s a photo of my parents’ grandchildren all lined up by age. Not all of them are shown here, but overall there are 27 of them. And now we’re working on the next generation with nearly 20 great-grandchildren (an adoption or two are in process). We’ve been at our bi-annual Reunion this past week, where I got to see all those new cute little great-grands, and they got to meet their auntie–me!

100 Quilts · Creating · Quilts

Cowgirls Write Letters

July 28, 2011July 23, 2012 Elizabeth E.4 Comments

My husband and I lived for a year in Washington, D.C. while he did his sabbatical at the Department of State. (That’s what they call it. Most of the rest of us just call it the State Department.) I investigated any fabric store within reasonable driving distance and one of the ones was Material Girls in La Plata Maryland, about 45 minutes drive from where we lived. Fast forward a year, and I went back for a visit to see my pal Rhonda, and of course, we had to hit some fabric stores. Didn’t have a lot of room in the luggage, so I was drawn to the collection of fat quarters they had, and selected as many of this line as I could find.

But what pattern? Luckily they had a whole rack of Schnibbles patterns, by Miss Rosie’s Quilt Company, and Rhonda and I each chose a couple of them. I decided on this one, Decoy, then enlarged the blocks, cut them out, and had to piece the border because I was running out of fabric.

But what backing? Of course it had to be a Western theme. The cowboys were heavily represented on the front, so I went with the women on the back.

And I had lots of letter fabric, so I envisioned them all out on the plains, posting letters to each other as they herded the cattle wherever cowboys and cowgirls herd cattle.

We all know that the ladies are more frequent letter writers than the men. So I titled it, Cowgirls Write Letters. I made it extra tall for my own cowboy to use while he watches his spaghetti westerns on the television. Thanks, Carrie, for such a great pattern!