Finishing School Friday

June 10, 2011July 20, 2011 Elizabeth E.2 Comments

No, not THAT kind of finishing school, but the kind where you get something done–something that won’t be UN-done, and say “Yay! I finished something!”

I told my husband that I needed to go to Finishing School today, and so I did.

You’ve heard of Northern Lights? Well meet Southern Brights–as in the southwest section of our nation. We like brights, and this bundle from Fabricworm was so fun and cheery that I couldn’t resist adding a few more to make a Bento Box quilt.

This fabric, Round Robin, reminds me of the digital game Angry Birds, with their little round birds flying through the air.

I took it to the quilter today, so I could say: I finished a quilt top, sewed up the back and got it to the quilter!

What have you finished, this fine Friday? So often in our listing of Works in Progress (which I love reading, by the way), we focus on the incomplete, those tasks that still remain heaped around our shoulders like heavy stones. And if you’re like me, you might tend to interpret every new fabric stash purchase as adding more weight to that burden. So I think it’s nice to be able to say–DONE!–even if the quilt itself isn’t done, this part is.

Here is a page out of a terrific book I have that is not used enough. (And yes, I know where it is.) It has a column of little pink boxes along the left side of the page, lines in the middle and drawing space–blank space–on the right. The pages are perforated in case the user wants to tear them out. It’s called Project Planner and it is made by Pen-Tab. I did a Google search on it (couldn’t find it), because while I am a totally digital sort of person and can make loads of computer-generated To Do Lists, there’s something so cathartic and lovely about writing down a list of steps to do next to cute little pink boxes. And there’s also something so lovely about being to put checkmarks in those cute little pink boxes. The above page is for my daughter and son-in-law’s quilt that I made them for Christmas a few years ago. I like looking at this page on those days when I feel surrounded by the Undone and feel like The Undead as I try to muster up some energy to clear the desk.

So, what can you point to this Finishing School Friday (FSF)? Decided on a quilt? Chosen some fabric? Completed a block? Or two? Stitched a few of them together? If you are so inclined, leave a comment with your blog address showing what you’ve finished, even if it is so little as “doodled up a quilt sketch during a meeting.” Celebrate the Completed.

Quilt Festival Entry 2011

May 18, 2011February 24, 2012 Elizabeth E.14 Comments

Welcome to those who clicked over from the Blogger’s Quilt Festival!

Heart’s-ease

I ~~made~~ began this quilt in a class from Ruth McDowell. For those who have taken her classes, you know you only begin there, but then go on to spend a good amount of time chasing down just the right fabric to go in a particular spot. It was a four-day class and by the end, we were all dragging in–our creative juices spent, our bodies dead tired, but our vision–changed. For Ruth (who by the way didn’t look tired at all!) had changed us. I was then, and still am now, a quilter who is enamoured with the grid. I love nine-patch, stars, crazy about sashing, and love love love Log Cabin. Maybe it’s my orderly nature or something, but when you finish a grid quilt it’s like having cleaned out a drawer or a closet or two. You’ve restored some order to the universe with your neat rows and sharp points (even if you have cut off a few in construction–who notices?).

Heart’s-ease is the old-fashioned name for a pansy.
Ruth suggested I use a fabric that my husband brought me from Zimbabwe as the center; she was right–it really works.

So trying to do this quilt–which is a strictly right-side of the brain, pile on your fabrics, cut those pieces of freezer paper and go go go sort of process–humbled me. The angles–none, except a few around the border–are that blissful 30 or 60 or ninety-degrees cut over and over. The picture I’d brought in of the pansy determined her own angles, her own coloring and background. I think I cornered the market on yellow-green fabrics that year. But after a year and a half–it was finally done.

It had been on my pinwall while I finished my undergrad, earning my degree in Creative Writing. So in a way, both Pansy and I grew while she lived, unconstructed and grid-free as I wrote short stories and the beginning of a novel and struggled through having my own brain cracked open and reformed. No tidy endings for either the stories or the pansy, but only a dark, broken border to contain our tales, our thoughts, a few dreams and a degree.

Heart’s-ease label.
When Amy asked for a quilt that taught me a lot–this just HAD to be the one!

Thanks to Amy for hosting this. Some of the other quilts I’ve been working on are:

Come A-Round (which is at the quilter right now)

Spring/Life’s Alive (I just needed a light, happy quilt)

Christmas Star (Whew! Made it before Christmas arrived last year)

You can read about these and others by clicking on the collage of words in the right margin.

Hope you find more inspiration and ideas. I’ll be looking at yours as well!

Thanks for visiting,

Elizabeth E.

Click here to return to the 2011 Quilt Festival, and come again!

Something to Think About

Quilting World Shake-Up

March 25, 2011 Elizabeth E.Leave a comment

Okay, so I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for a while, minding my own business, just stitching along doing my applique for this crazy project I got myself into. And it’s going along very well, thank you. I’m getting a lot of Doc Martin (BBC-TV) episodes streamed down on Netflix while I stitch.

But while I’ve been gone, there’s been a seismic shift in the quilting world. I caught whiff of it this morning on LaVie En Rosie’s blog, then followed it over to Sandi of Piecemeal Quilts where she wrote a post about the Dumbing Down of Quilting. It must have set off quite a firestorm about quilting in-breeding, same-ness, blah-ness, stupid-ness, whatever-ness, judging from what I read in the comments and in other blogs. What she decided to do was to post a survey about quilting, to sort of “take the temperature” of her reading public. So, head over there and take the survey if you like. I’ve posted it below, along with my comments. You can see, it’s quick and easy–add your .02!

All of the comments I left in her Other box are italicized in this post.

Other than Stack & Whack (which I hate), I pretty much have tried everything in my 37 years of quilting. I didn’t check boxes where I’ve tried it once and thought–not doing that again. I’ve only checked boxes that I have done multiple times.

I could have checked her first box, but she had the word “only” in there. I don’t quilt with square or rectangles ONLY. See my Christmas Star quilt for reference. And for your information, I have done everything on her list with the exception of pre-cut shapes and Stack N Whack. I started to make one of those stack n whack quilts, but lost my nerve when I was layering up about 7 yards of fabric only to mutilate it, sight-unseen, by cutting a wedge out of it. That’s why I have two lovely flowering tablecloths made out of intended-to-be-stacknwhack-quilt fabrics.

(Did one King-sized quilt. Never again.)

Don’t see the point in mug rugs. That’s what coasters are for, although I do have a very cool fabric coaster made for me by someone I ~~traded~~ gave a lot of fabric to in a quilt class once. (Note to self: post about that.)

I use Quilt-Pro 5 as my design software. While I can draw any template any size, I love this program!

My stash includes everything. Good to have a variety to choose from. I even have some fabrics from Ghana (woven pattern in cloth, overprinted with design), Japanese fabrics, French fabrics, even fabrics from Zimbabwe. Have to admit I’m not a fan of those lines (such as Fig Tree) where everything seems to be the same colorway and print design.

My favorite cut is 1/3 yard. That’s why I like Sew Mama Sew’s shop, as they’ll cut what I want. (Confession: I don’t often read their blog.)

I guess Sandi’s fuse blew when she read a line in Sew Mama Sew’s blog where they talked about a kaleidoscope block being an intermediate block. You can go over to Sandi’s blog and watch it happen.

I don’t want a long-or-short arm quilting machine. I did the math. And do I really want to have to do one more thing? However, I reserve the right to change my mind about this. . . or anything on this survey at any time.

LOL at your “getting sidetracked by the computer” line. Perfect. I get WAY more done when I get off the computer.

I can also get sidetracked by eating chocolate, talking to my husband. I am forced to get sidetracked when I have to do lesson prep or grade papers (like I should be doing now, instead of writing this post). I can also get sidetracked from grading by doing quilting. It’s a vicious cycle.

I take a digital snapshot of items on the web and store them in a folder on the computer. I’ve stopped buying a lot of print magazines because I can make most everything they show and a lot of it is re-run stuff, although I do glance at them in the grocery store or when I’m at Jo-Ann’s. I do buy books (between 5 and 8 a year) as I like to see a quilter’s progression/ideas in aggregate, and they are good references.

Of course, one of the best inspirations is the internet, which is why we all spend so much time here. I also like going to quilt shows to get inspired, as well as a quick (or long) trip to my local fabric store, where just seeing the fabrics can trigger a design idea.

Hope you can take time to do the survey.

100 Quilts · Something to Think About

Hooray! Blues Top Completed

June 24, 2010August 28, 2022 Elizabeth E.1 Comment

Here it is, hanging over our stair banister, all complete. Today’s task is to sew the backing (it’s the same fabric as the “fans” just up from the bottom on the very right) and take it over to Cathy, my quilter.

There’s a nice rhythm to piecing a quilt like this: rows and rows and stacks and stacks of squares slide under the presser foot to become a bed covering. I like the complex quilts, like the Christmas Star. I also like more artsy quilts like Provence (Lyon Carolings is the real name), where the play of fabric becomes the focal point.

Piecing a one-patch is kind of like vacuuming the house, I think, but certainly in a more enjoyable way. It’s not fancy, nor particularly noticeable, but when the whole house has been vacuumed it gives off a certain pleasure of being clean, ship-shape if you will, or perhaps even just being done for another few days. My life has lots of corners like that. Getting the make-up on when only running a few errands outside the house. Cleaning off the computer desk. Finishing a good book. Writing daily in the journal.

It’s the acculumation of patches that makes this quilt, just like it’s the accumulation of tiny tasks that make up a life. None seem particularly noteworthy on their own, but the bits, pieces, squares, and patterns make the whole. Make it complete.