Arkison in Australia

So, I went to Australia for 2 weeks. It was rather incredible. My first, but hopefully not my last time! Enjoy a quick slide show of my trip. I was there to teach at a couple of amazing events organized by The Creative Retreat. Jules did everything to create a space for action, imagination, creativity, and laughter. More on the creativity in another post.  A few highlights:

... I had no idea how fitting it was that one of the first images I would see would be a sheep photoshoot in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House. You cannot even imagine the number of sheep in Australia.

... After a morning in Sydney and sleeping off my jet lag in Canberra we went on the road to our first retreat location: Kangaroo Valley. A glorious spot among farms, Fitzroy Falls, and creating by the fireplace. 

... The birds! I never thought of myself as a birdwatcher, but now I am totally obsessed. To see a million different kinds of parrots, rosellas, cockatoos, plus kookaburras was phenomenal. Then to spot and hear the unique Lyre bird was mind blowing. I am totally obsessed with birds now.

... After Kangaroo Valley we made our way towards Melbourne, stopping in country towns where I was introduced to the pie shops, RSLs, old buildings, and what counts as mountains in Australia. Road tripping is awesome, my favourite.

... 48 hours in Melbourne! A city I really would like to explore more. They care about architecture and public art in a way I've never seen before. We ate well, we played with Leslie at Maze and Vale (that's a whole other post), and visited Jen Kingwell at Amitie Textiles.

... The second retreat was in Point Lonsdale. The ocean!!! Long time readers know how I love the ocean, no matter which ocean or where. There I was taking my morning walks along the Pacific, but seeing the sun rise over it instead of set. Mind blowing. And, of course, I went for a swim! How could I not? Such a lovely location and another group of hysterical and creative women.

... More roadtripping and then the long flight home. (Right after that last photo Nicole Kidman walked by.)

Such a amazing experience and I am forever grateful to this job. These sorts of trips are so appreciated and I get as much out of them as my students. Their work, commitment, and creativity is inspiring. Thanks Jules, for making this all happen!

Improv Curves Within A Daily Practice

My morning practice, is paying off in spades. It helps me focus and manage my emotions for the day. It acts in a very similar way to a meditation practice by centering me and filtering the noise. And on top of that - I finish quilt tops!

These blocks started as samples for teaching a class. One day I grabbed a stack of solids and just used them. Well then I really liked the accidental combination so I did some editing and adding. Over the course of a few classes more blocks were made. When I was pulling blocks for my daily practice I came across these. Perfect! It was quick to get the blocks done, it took much longer to figure out the best layout.

Quarter circles, like half square triangles, give you many, many, many layout options. Because I'd gone with an only somewhat controlled colour scheme I was trying layouts to give me order more than anything. Random is awesome, but sometimes it doesn't give you a good design. Because I'd included many colours, in both lights and darks, there was no clear cut way to get a successful design. For me, however, that's the fun. I LOVE the challenge of finding a good design.

If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw the many iterations for this quilt top. I wavered, I played, I experimented, I wavered some more. Finally I found my order by focusing on colour and the interconnecting of the one print in the quilt. This design may not be everyone's favourite, but I am in love.  

It's definitely going to be a fun one to quilt!

If you would like to know more about Improv Curves look for a class of mine near you (or book one) or check out my Inset and Applique Circles by Machine class on Craftsy, we cover it in one of the lessons.

Scraps Go Round - An Improv Log Cabin Style Quilt

Those early mornings sessions are totally paying off. Number one, for my mental health. Number two, for quilt productivity. A few years after starting these blocks are finished and the quilt top done!

(I've also finished the blocks for another top already and have been working on some snippets now.)

Depending on if you are a glass half full or half empty person, you will love or hate this - I probably still have enough strips left for another quilt like this! If you make quilts you will always have scraps. Good thing there are a million fun ways to use them!

These blocks were made by simply cutting a pentagon, hexagon, or even a heptagon. Then I added scrap strips, log cabin style, all around. And kept going. I did not use a foundation. Some might argue that the blocks are more unstable with it. And they would be right. But I took my time, was careful not to stretch as I sewed, and squared them up at the end. 25 blocks later and I have a 80'' by 80'' quilt top.

An interesting observation for me as I finished this is that there really isn't much of mine that plays in the medium range of value. A lot of lights, a few darks, and some mediums. This is in contrast to the majority of us quilters who live in the medium range. And to most manufacturers who provide us with those medium value fabrics. If you made this quilt with your scraps it would be a completely different look!

The harder part was trying to get a picture of the top with my 8 and 4 year olds at the park! It seems I underestimated my wingspan. And underestimated the height of the man I freakishly asked to help me hold the quilt while The Evil Genius snapped mostly blurry photos. But hey, they are happy and willing to indulge this part of the quilting so I am happy with the outcome no matter what.

Create Before You Consume

Last week I changed a habit. It's totally changed my life.

What is the first thing you do in the morning, after your victuals? Don't lie. How many of you said check your phone or get online? My hand is up, that's for sure. Yet how many times have we been told that is the worst thing we could do for ourselves? That it kills the soul a little and reduces our effectiveness. Like a smoker who won't quit or a certain person, ahem, who can't stop eating cookies even though she needs to lose weight. We are bound to our social media.

I've been watching the 30 Days of Genius series here and there from Creative Live. One interview really struck me, especially one part of it. Marie Forleo is a life coach and as life coaches can be is pretty cheery and full of clever commentary. She and the host, Chase Jarvis, got to talking about the consumption of social media. She started comparing it to the consumption of a certain disgusting alcohol (to be clear, I like booze, but Goldschlager is nasty stuff). Then she said the words that stopped me straight in my tracks.

"You need to create before you consume."

Number 1, I've never really thought of my time on social media or the internet as consumption. That framing makes so much sense to me though. It might be because I am trying to lose weight so consumption as an act is front of mind. It might just be the thing I needed to hear to make me see that it needs to be managed better.

Number 2, while I often do my best creative work in the morning it generally takes me about 15 minutes to get to it after waking up. I make tea, catch up with the things that came on my phone - email, instagram, twitter, facebook, even texts - overnight. Only then, with a cuppa and the finally feeling that it is time to buckle down and be creative do I get to work. That time is all wasted time for me.

Now, I've been getting up at the same time but skipping tea. And this is the most important part:

I do not look at my phone. Nor do I even unplug it from the charger on the nightstand. 

That's right, I keep it there, plugged in and alarm off. Then I shuffle straight into my sewing room and the first thing I turn on is the sewing machine. For the first 15 minutes of my day now I am sewing. No music on, no radio, no podcast. Just me and my machine and a stack of fabric. 

This is, effectively, a morning meditation for me. I am not going to start actually meditating, I don't feel I need to because the act of sewing first thing like this has me quiet and centered as it is. Then I can tackle a short workout, work on an article or bigger project, and attend to the kids and their morning needs until they are out the door. And bonus! Quilt blocks get made. In just one week of 15-30 minutes first thing in the morning I finished the last 6 of these scrappy improv cabin variations. 

I can't say that watching this interview will change your life as well, but I would definitely encourage you to take the Create Before You Consume message to heart. See what it does for you.

Note: The tea and social media are still there when I get to them a few hours later.