Quilted Baba Update

Confession: I had a hard time working on this project over the last year. The reasons are many and varied.

First, moving to the studio a year ago meant my Morning Make routine was upended. I only do handwork or writing at home now, for Morning Make. Then, when I arrive at the studio things aren’t always so smooth. At the beginning, my son was coming with me so he could do school online. I didn’t feel comfortable having the machine going while he was doing school so he had a fighting chance at concentration. Then, because the studio is attached to our company offices, I was often pulled into work work stuff. In the end, I struggled to find the dedicated time to work on these blocks.

Second, this is boring and repetitive sewing. Tiny Xs, squared up to 1.5” x 1.5”. There are 100 in each block and the whole quilt requires 81 blocks. A girl can only do so much before it drives her to madness. And, let’s be honest, it’s a short drive these days as I struggle through perimenopause.

All that being said, I have no doubt that I will finish the quilt. It's too important to me not to.

In the last month I’ve pulled it back out. My son is finally back in school full time, so that barrier is removed. I also have my own means of transportation again, which means my mornings are no longer heavily influenced by my husband’s schedule. So I can come in when I want and sew before anyone knows I am here, minimizing the company interruptions in the morning. It’s not perfect, but I am getting more consistency.

One stitch at a time, one stitch at a time.

I usually make 10-20 little squares each day. Then it takes a few hours to put an entire block together, mostly because of all the pressing! One day, when I know I have the time, I will try to make a block from start to finish and time myself. If only to satisfy my curiosity.

The truth is, there is no need to put pressure on myself. This was never going to be a fast project, there is way too much piecing for that to happen! This is about persistence, not patience.

Quilted Baba Update

Making progress over here. It’s slow, but it is progress. This is the first 9/81 blocks, all sewn together.

Early in the year I let you in on this epic portrait project. It is a pixelated quilt portrait of my Baba. Each pixel is actually a little x block. And when I say little, I mean that I square them up at 1.5” x 1.5”. When all is said and done, the quilt will measure 90” x 90”. To make the quilt I’ve divided the picture I started with into a 9 x 9 grid. Each of those 81 blocks is made from 100 of the little X blocks. That means there will be 8,100 little cross stitches in the finished quilt.

That picture there? That is 9 of those 81 blocks of 100 together. They constitute the bottom corner. Why did I start in the bottom corner? Well, I had to start somewhere! It also allowed me to test the fabric choices and pixellation because all the other corners were mostly background colours. I’m happy with how it turned out so I shall keep going!

For the most part, I’ve been making the blocks as my Morning Make practice. I tend to make them in batches of 10-15. It is tedious and boring sewing, so that seems to be all I can handle. That, and the fact that it was in the morning and there is only so much time to sew. When I have 100 for the block I lay them out and start the process of sewing them together. Assembling rows goes quickly, but the pressing is a definite slow down in the process. It’s worth the time and effort, though, as there are a lot of seam allowances and having a mess on the back is not good. With such small pieces a messy back would spell disaster for a quilt that stays flat and in order. Once the rows are sewn I pin - yes, me, pinning! - to join the rows together. I want them to line up as best I can. I will admit, there is a some work needed on my part to improve accuracy. But it improves with each block.

Now that I have the studio space I have to figure out a new time to piece these blocks. I think a regular time would allow me to see continued progress, and make it harder to put things aside for weeks or even months on end. So far I’ve been taking 20 minutes after lunch, after I walk with my son and the dog to school. We’ll see how that works.

I think it is important to tell myself that this won’t be an exact representation of the photo. I did my best to match colours and fabrics, but we are always limited by what is available. I wanted to use prints, which meant buying commercially available fabric. I fear that my work with the values, more than the colours, isn’t exactly spot on. I know, however, that the story of the quilt will still be successful. For me, that matters more.

Beginnings of a Portrait Quilt of my Baba

Meet Nettie Ciona, my Baba.

This photo is nearly 22 years old, my Baba is long gone from our physical lives. But it is a photo and a moment I can always remember. We’d taken her out of her tiny town nursing home to visit the old house and garden. She was feeding the dogs, laughing at my sister-in-law selvaging an old, rotten chair, found out she was going to be a great grandmother, and my whole family was together in the Saskatchewan sunshine. For years I’ve had this image spinning in my creative mind.

The self portraits of 2023 were leading to this project. I wanted to explore the different ways to make a portrait to see how I might translate this one. In the end, I’ve gone back to my original, over the top idea.

You can see that I’ve pixelated the picture. I used a random, free app I found online. Upload the picture and they pixelate it for you. That’s all it does, so the next step is on me. I need to translate those pixels into a piecing plan. Again, I know there are fancy programs out there that could probably help, but the way I am doing it makes sense to me.

After pixelating the picture I opened up Excel. One square for each pixel. I’m creating a colour map. As I go I am simplifying the colours a little bit. For example, using 4 whites, 4 pinks, 3 blues. I don’t want to have to buy a million new fabrics! I also want to simplify it for the making process as well. I’m going to have a lot of colours as it is. This level of planning is way out of my comfort zone!

My plan for sewing is the truly over the top part. Each square will finish at 1”. But I am not using straight squares. Instead, each square will be an improv X block. That’s right, I’ll be making all the blocks as little Xs. You see, my Baba was a phenomenal cross-stitcher. She sewed millions and millions of little Xs in Aida cloth and on linen over her lifetime. This quilt will truly be an homage to her.

So far in my planning I’ve determined I will make the quilt square. It will be 90” x 90” More than that and it will be a lot of extra sewing for nothing but background. The composition of the photo will still work so I’m sticking with it.

So this is my Morning Make until I finish. With breaks, of course. In the meantime, I need to go shopping and buy a bit of fabric. My stash is deep, but not that deep!

A Year of Stitched Self Portraits

A year of Morning Make.

Each day, before tea and clothes and the news and my phone, I make. In 2023 I spent all the time making and remaking myself. Mostly figuratively, but the process required a lot of self reflection. It can’t not when you spend a portion of your day staring at yourself, stitching and making. Truth be told, I’m kind of sick of myself at this point!

Clockwise from top left:

• Embroidered line drawing, based off a painting I did of myself based off a pic from the beach in San Diego last March.

• Skiing selfie done in Tina Tarr’s Stitched Mosaic technique.

• Raw Edge Applique on a crumb background - this one feels the most me in terms of a quilt.

• First one I did, based off of the headshot here on my blog using Melissa Averinos’ Making Faces in Fabric book and her process.

• Cubist applique. Saw a video about a cubist artist and felt inspired. Just freehand cut shapes and stitched.

• Based off a selfie I took on winter hike, this time I adapted Tina Tarr’s technique for improv piecing versus applique. Hand stitched the whole thing to quilt it.

• Another one using the Melissa Averinos’ technique, but playing with a black and white photo. Nailed the values, but boy do I look dead!

Here and there over the year I would draw and paint too. Nothing to share there, just experimenting and exploring. Always self portraits.

It was a great exercise in self reflection. Not only did I fall in love with the dimple I never really noticed before, but I learned to look at myself without criticism. Not necessarily with love, but without criticism.

All of this was a personal exploration. I did nothing in the way of classes or lessons. Where it was someone else’s technique for the quilts I used a book or online class. What I did not do is actually learn how to draw or look at people. I also had a number of ideas for different kind of quilt techniques for portraits. That’s why I am continuing this portrait exploration this year as well. There is a still so much to do!

Only now, I feel somewhat strong enough to at least sketch some other people. Let’s see where 2024 takes me.