Morning Make - June 2020

When I am teaching certain quilt classes I get students to draw. This is because if you can’t draw the line, you can’t sew the line. Inevitably one or a handful of people complain about their drawing skills. The self deprecation and apologies spread like wildfire. I shut it all down by showing them how I draw!

Spoiler alert: I do not draw well at all!

So for Morning Make in June I decided I would draw an object or scene in my home every morning. You can’t improve on something if you don’t do it with some regularity.

After a month of practice I’ve come to the following conclusions:

• 30 days is nowhere near enough practice to make noticeable improvements.

• Areas of improvement I would like - simpler lines AND shading. I seemed to land somewhere in between in the awkwardness showed in my drawing.

• Perspective is a failing on mine.

• My drawings were definitely sketches and not my best work.

• I definitely do not have a career as an illustrator in my future.

All that being said, I enjoyed the process. Some days I did struggle with the decision on what to draw. I also can’t say that I liked what I did most of the time. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t a worthwhile effort. I learned what I would need to improve on. I learned that I should try and pick one style and work harder on that to see more improvement. I learned that you don’t have to know how to draw in order to draw.

Not Reaching Your Goals is NOT a Failure

54 is decidedly not 44.

A year ago I set an intention to finish quilts. I had 54 projects on the Quilts Under Construction list. So, in the year I was 44 I thought it would be am good idea to get that list down to 44. It seemed reasonable. It is reasonable. And I did finish 6 projects. Some of those held long time spots on the list, or short spots. Some were started and finished in one go. I did, however, start a number of projects as well. They are taking up room on the list as blocks or completed quilt tops.

So be it.

In a few days I turn 45 and 45 is 54 backwards. That tiny fact appeals to me. Since I can’t be 44 forever, and I still don’t have 44 projects on the Quilts Under Construction list then I will hang on to this little tidbit of cheer.

And really, when it comes down to it, I don’t care about that number. I don’t care that I started more than I finished this year. Why? Because it all represents the joy of making. The process is so, so great. I don’t want to get hung up on the number of finished quilts. If that is all I wanted then I could just go buy a quilt at the mall. Okay, maybe not right now, but you get the point.

As I look through my master list I am reminded on projects started for specific reasons and that memory makes me smile. I see projects that started as a moment of play that grew and grew. I see old projects that I am, admittedly, a little sad, aren’t getting their time in the sun. I see quilt tops I am anxious to quilt (and the 4 big pieces of batting I bought recently calling their names).

Mostly, I see my time invested in myself. That’s right, not invested in the projects, in myself. That’s because this is 80% about my mental health and finding joy in the creative act and 20% about making a quilt. And this past year, especially these past few months, have been stressful and busy. Without a creative practice like quilt making I definitely would be full of anxiety and tears. Those things are there, but I can manage them because I make.

Long time readers will probably think I sound like a broken record. I can’t argue with that. Right now though, we need to see this more than ever. Make for the sake of making.

So on my distanced birthday this year I will likely get a few stitches in a few different projects and none will get finished. It will be glorious. One of these days I will get down to 44, or maybe even less? Or maybe I won’t.

Sawtooth Sampler from Walk, Jog, Run: A Free Motion Quilting Workout

A few years back I met the bundle of positive energy Dara Tomasson. I think it was at a trunk show I was doing but don’t quote me on that! As we got to know each other we discovered that she had family living only blocks away, her husband and I likely crossed paths as teens, and we had a mutual love of dogs and ice cream. Now she has her first book debuting in the world! When she asked if I could help her showcase it I did not hesitate.

Walk, Jog, Run is a free motion quilt (FMQ) book designed to help you build muscle memory, and thus, expertise. It isn’t just a book full of doodles for FMQ though. Dara walks us through set up, the right tools, and trouble shooting before she even gets to quilting patterns. As a former school teacher and current coach she is adept at breaking everything down to feel both manageable and informative. One of my favourite bits is the discussion on tension troublesheeting - something that I still have to look up after 21 years of quilting.

One of the other parts of the book that makes it unique is the drawing exercises and ‘training’ she suggests to build your skills. Like the title suggests, you can’t run a marathon until you know how to walk first. You can’t FMQ the king size beauty until you can draw the lines you want to make.

Now I am pretty comfortable with my FMQ skills. But I admit that I get lazy. I want to minimize stops and starts so I choose all over designs. Or I want to finish quickly so I choose something easy. But after reading the book and making this Sawtooth sampler I am motivated to try a few new to me things. That’s because they aren’t any more difficult, it was just my perception of the difficulty.

I’ve never done the ribbon candy before, but I love the look. It is definitely something that requires the muscle memory, so I did it all over the background on this piece. And one of my new favourites is the double meander on the top there. These are only 15” stars so quilting on a piece this size was a perfect way to practice. The sandwich was easy to manipulate yet I had ample space to experiment

To quilt I used two colours of Auriful 50W - a fuschia for all the stars and a pale yellow on the backgrounds. Of course, if you really want your stitching to pop then use a contrasting thread. You can see that in effect when I used the fuschia on the blue star.

Confession: I made a mistake when I was cutting the fabric for one of the stars, but I didn’t notice it until I was sewing. Of course, I didn’t have enough fabric left. So with a quick pivot I decided to turn this into a pillow cover. With pandemic shut down though I had to go with a size of pillow form already in the house. That just meant I could do a literal pivot too. I rotated things as I trimmed the quilted pillow top, cutting off points and the oddly shaped star mess. A fun solution! Since it had to be just a few inches bigger than my largest ruler I made the pillow back first and trimmed based off that. Nothing fancy there, just an unquilted envelope back of some fabric in the stash.

Congratulations Dara on your book! It’s a great one and I hope the rest of you will check it out. Especially if FMQ is new or intimidating to you. This book is a great trainer and Dara is a wonderful coach.

As you can see, about 20 minutes after I finished the pillow was put to good use as my littles listened to a teacher reading stories.

Ripples - A Water Inspired Quilt

Ripples

52” x 68”

Next in the landscape series of quilts. (First there was Mountain Meadow, then Names for Snow).

Completely inspired by the deep blue landscape of Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Whether it was the morning sun reflecting off the calm ocean, or the hidden blues of the spruce trees in the rain, or even the rolling fog covering the community like a quilt, they all found a home in this quilt.

Simple improv curves, the repetition of blocks and colour an homage to all that I saw that long weekend on the coast. A way to capture the energy of the community and the creativity of all the people I met. This is absolutely Improv With Intent.

Quilted with concentric circles to emphasize the Ripples. Kind of like the ripples on the surface when you toss a handful of rocks into the water. Or the ripples when the seals poke their heads up to see what you see. Or when the fish bubble up, trying to hide from the seals and the herons. Or, as I see more often than not in our life on the Prairies, kids jumping in a pool!

The quilting was done on my Bernina 820 with an Aurifil 50W in teal. It blended with the front and the fabric on the back.

Backed with a gorgeous loon print from Mark Anthony Jacobson, an Ojibwe artist. Bound in grey, one of my own prints, to remind me of the fog, the logs, and the weathered wood of the docks.

To see more of the inspiration, check out the original post.