September Morning Make 2021

September is always the new year in my books. And this year it felt particularly monumental. Kids in high school, junior high, and elementary; a return to in person sports and activities; and trying to get back in a routine when, mentally, I’m still needing lazy afternoons with a good book. I knew that choosing a slow, meditative Morning Make would help me with the transition.

This month I chose to doodle mandalas. Well, these are officially mandalas. Let’s call them mandala inspired. I committed to the circle shape but obviously played around.

These, perhaps, could have been a bit more challenging. I will admit to getting a bit bored by the end of the month. It might be better for me to pick a theme rather than a specific technique to get through the month. Although, it is good to push through that boredom, to force creative action, in a way. The struggles are as important as the successes. Just because something is easy doesn’t mean it is without struggle. That struggle could be about the pursuit of greatness/perfection, it might be about forcing yourself out of a comfort zone, and it could be about accepting that not everything has to be hard. Either way, it is a win to sit and make on a daily basis.

August Morning Make 2021

August was set to be a busy month with a lot of motion. Camping and a vacation in between the reality of working and caring for kids. I started the month wanting something portable and to keep scratching the hand stitch itch. Committing to the Euroa quilt was an obvious choice.

From start to finish in the month I made 7 whole blocks. That might not sound like much but considering that, on average, I made 20 blocks per year for the past 3 years I think that is pretty good! This gets me to 70/100 in my goal for this quilt. I started the month cutting fabric and prepping to baste and piece the first block. I worked one or two blocks at a time, the same way I’ve been making the entire quilt. So some days I was prepping, some basting, some assembling. Some days I had an hour or more, some days only 20 minutes. But like always, I was doing my Morning Make before consuming anything - social media, caffeine, the news, or even hot water in the shower.

We had the opportunity to go camping a few times in August, once to the Jasper area and once to the Sheep River. It was about connections with family we haven’t seen and connections with the outdoors. I still started the day with Morning Make though! Then we could hike and kayak and and swim and wander the forest and laugh together. The best of all worlds, even with the dirt and outhouses. Later in the month we visited Waterton for more of the same, but we splurged on a hotel. This was to make up for a cancelled lake vacation because of forest fires. Still more family connections, kayak time, forest time, and sewing in a fancy lodge while tourists stared at me slightly less than the magnificent scenery!

Morning Make is often portable, unless I commit to a sewing machine project, so there is no excuse to miss it. Besides, while vacation is also good for my mental health, the daily creative practice of Morning Make is even more important.

July Morning Make 2021 (Meet Dot)

Remind me never to hand quilt in the summer again.

Not sure what possessed me to think it was a good idea for July Morning Make, other than a desire for the act. We started the month with record heat so it wasn’t my smartest move. But when it comes to the quilt, it was brilliant!

When you only commit to a little each day hand quilting is far from overwhelming. Hand quilting an entire quilt, no matter the size, is definitely a big deal. Just thinking about it gave me the sweats (or is that the menopause transition?). Quilting a little each day, however seemed manageable. One stitch at a time. In the end, I finished this in the middle of the month! Every step is a step in the right direction.

On this particular quilt the stitching followed one single line. Each day I started where I left off so that now that it is done, it is a trail across the quilt. Twisting and turning here and there. Sometimes following the appliqué, most of the time ignoring it. Just taking whatever path felt right at the time.

The quilt top was another Morning Make adventure from last year. One appliqué shape stitched down per day. No preplanning, just improvising the composition and shapes as I went. Great fun!

Dot

49” x 54”

Meet Dot. Dorothy, if you must, but she prefers Dot. Just like she prefers her coffee with a wee bit of whiskey in it, her steak pretty rare, and her men on the younger side. She might look like your Gran, but do mistake Dot for her. Her heart aches for the baby girl who left this Earth when only a toddler. For years she barely moved, barely breathed. Life wasn't worth it until she found a way to find her spot in the world. A spot that can only be occupied by her alone. Dot moves with double the energy of most, playing with expectations and attitudes. You won't find her marching on a path, rather, she finds a winding road and moves where her whims desire. No worries, she'll get where she needs to in the end, but she has to do it her way.

Not being your typical gal, Dot was finished with a lovely contrasting binding. Unexpected but perfect. Her backside is a woven from Anna Maria Horner’s Luminous collection, with a scrap of yellow because sometimes you make mistakes when doing math.

We should all be like Dot a little more - take a few unpredictable paths and see what happens. Whether it is with your quilt making or in life.

May Morning Make 2021

May is commonly known as Me Made May in sewing circles. The goal of which is for people to both showcase their hand made clothing and reflect on ready to wear/fast fashion clothing in their closets. Really, it is an opportunity to show off your sewing and styling.

While I am far away from a handmade wardrobe, I do have a few things that I wear consistently. It’s been years since I sewed any clothing of my own though. So instead of showcasing a handmade wardrobe for Me Made May I decided to work on building mine through my Morning Make Practice. Each day I woke up and spent a little time working on clothing items from start to finish. Some days I only cut fabric or sewed just a couple of seams, some days I spent an hour or more moving from step to step. On the weekends I often found myself spending the afternoon making a lot of progress. The pandemic is certainly good for this extra, quiet time at home.

In the end I made 6 garments. Three for me, one I will give away because it ended up being way too small, and one each for my girls.

The Gallery Tunic by Liesl and Co. I’ve made this a couple of times before and like the fit. It was a good one to start with for it’s familiarity. I was wearing it to work by May 4.

The Charlie Caftan was a pattern I’d admired for a while. I liked that I saw it on many different body types with a lot of different design and fabric options. This was my wearable muslin. I bought a gorgeous rayon to make another version with but I need to make some adjustments to the pattern. For now, the whole house agrees I made a very lovely hospital gown.

The Lark by Grainline Studio has been sitting in my sewing room for years. I made a few Linden sweatshirts years ago and liked the pattern. I loved the idea of making a basic tee. And I really wanted to sort out sewing with knits on my machine. Well, my fabric did not have enough stretch and this DOES NOT fit. Bummed because I really liked this fabric. It was a discouraging experience and stopped me from using knits for the rest of the month. But I forged ahead with the finish to learn more about my machine and sewing with knits. Then a friend claimed the shirt, no matter what.

Another Closet Core Pattern, like the Charlie Caftan, this is the Kalle Shirt Dress. I’ve had the pattern and this fabric for it since a visit to Patch Halifax in 2018. This shirt was a huge learning curve of techniques, but between the pattern and the sew along everything was well explained. Which is more than I can say for how to do buttonholes on my Bernina. This will definitely get worn out of the house.

The Ogden Cami by True Bias was the perfect match for this fabric my oldest, The Monster, has been hoarding. We picked it up in 2019 at the Contextural show in town and it is a hand painted fabric by Caroline Forde. Cropped, because she is 14, and with the lining made longer based on pattern reviews, it is perfect all around. Not a pattern for a large buster 46 year old, but perfect for her.

Finally, the Fiore Skirt, also by Closet Core patterns for my newly minted teen, The Evil Genius. She came with me at the beginning of the month to by thread at Rick Rack Textiles, spotted the pattern, and convinced me to make it for her. I’m not sure if it was bribery on her part to pick fabric of my own design. If so, well played. The pattern came together very well and I am tempted to make a linen version for myself.

Unlike quilts, I felt a very strong need to finish each of these garments before moving on to the next. So much so that I felt them as a bit of a weight at times. I’m not sure I will be as focused on one thing of this magnitude again for Morning Make again! It was a lot of thinking for first thing in the morning too. Quite often I found myself needing to come back in the afternoon or evening just so I could have my brain be really awake for the task at hand.

It was really good to get back to garment sewing again. With the new techniques I’ve picked up I am even more motivated to keep going. Just maybe not at quite the same pace. I have a few more things I would like to make for summer. And, of course, my son has requested I make him something now. As for Morning Make, I’ve moved on to something entirely different for June, something a lot less taxing first thing in the morning.