Process on the Quilts in A Month of Sundays

It's another snowy morning. That means it is perfect to talk about quilts. Today to celebrate A Month of Sundays I want to share a bit about some of the quilts with you. As a blogger it is so hard not to share my work in progress when making the quilts for the book. So hard. I'm used to sharing everything from the initial inspiration to the fabric pull to the frustrations to the finished top to the end. Sharing that is part of my blogging style and I believe in the honesty of that. I did take photos along the way while making book quilts, so at least I can do it after the fact.

When I'm making quilts for publication my process is actually a bit different. If I were to go my normal way of sewing - starting without a definite plan, adapting and making changes along the way, and ending with something for the sake of it - I would have a lot of work to do reverse engineering to write a pattern. That is a recipe for disaster - for me and someone trying to make the quilt from that pattern.

Oh boy, was finding text prints at the time of doing this tough! 

Thankful for some screen prints dug up on Etsy.

Quilts destined for publication always start, for me, with the pattern. Not just a sketch, but the actual pattern. I like to draft the whole thing first. This lets me think about the best way to divvy up fabric requirements and calculate yardage as well the most efficient way to make the quilt. I consider myself the first pattern tester. As I work there is always going to be a sketchbook filled with numbers or a pad of graph paper next to me. That allows me to write down any notes or corrections as I go. A half an inch makes a difference.

From first fabric pull to second, after patter drafting, things changed a bit.

A good friend gave me advice when I was starting on the journey of this book. She told me to send out the quilts to be long armed. I'll admit, this was hard for me, but it was the best thing I could do. I was having another baby, after all. The deadlines may push forward because of the need to get the quilts to long armers, but the time saved for me was valuable. It meant a lot less stress and a lot more time with my family during the work. Not to mention the savings on my already taxed joints. So, thank-you to Angela Walters and Janet Madyski for getting me through the work.

I use a lot of binding tape in the book.

Coordinating my snacks and my quilts.

When I was looking through my photo library to pull these images I was struck by just how much the making of these quilts, these books, is intertwined in my life. On the same day I was cutting fabric there was a crew framing in the basement and I had a book launch for Sunday Morning Quilts! Same day. Other days will be pictures of my babies doing their thing - like finishing preschool - while I finish a quilt. And all while I had a newborn. So the quilts, and the book, are a true reflection of our life at a moment of time. And more than once I had to take my own advice that I was writing to slow down and sew, not just get caught up in the frenzy of making.

It is always a huge rush to get the quilts made, though. You think you have all this time but you end up doing everything at the end. Your fingers are sore from binding, your shoulders hurt, everyone in the house is cranky at the fabric everywhere... Then you send the quilts away and don't see them for months, or even a year! It kind of feels anticlimactic. Such an energy high from the moment of first sketches to the last stitch and you don't get a chance to even snuggle with the quilt. But now the quilts are home, living in rotation. Reminding me of the time spent in creation, the moments that happened then, and the concept to just chill out.

Not helping me when I needed to quilt.

So, on this Sunday filled with sunshine and a blanket of fresh snow I will do just that. Right after a birthday party and coffee date with my Hubby. But then, then I can pour some tea, wrap myself in a quilt, and attend to an afternoon of puzzles and paper crafts with my girls.

Remember, there will be giveaways at the end of this celebration. One comment on each post in the month enters you for the prizes.

Tell me, coffee or tea, or hot chocolate with marshmallows?

Vanity Fair from Dear Stella

One of the perks of my job is people sending me fabric to play with. It all seems well and good and lovely (and it is) but if I don't play with it in a timely manner I feel guilty and awful. The whole point to sending the fabric is to promote it. And, I must confess, there are times that the fabric sits in my stash, untouched, for a very long time. I never even photograph it. And that means I've wasted the designer's time and money to send me the fabric. This makes me a tool.

As a result, I've become very honest and selective when contacted about fabric. I know how I like to quilt and create. Single line quilts just aren't my thing generally. And being able to stop everything I'm doing and play with a specific fabric is a near impossibility. So, yes, I will happily take any fabric you want to send my way, but if you expect me to create with it right away it might be best to find another designer or blogger.

Sometimes they are still willing to send you the fabric. And when you get it the bundle is so lovely and inspiring that you do start creating right away. Well, within a month of receiving the fabric at least. For me, that is right away.

The bundle up there arrived on my doorstep from Dear Stella just before Quilt Market. They contacted me and asked if I would like to play with one of their upcoming lines. You know me, I had to pick the one that whispered. (This, despite the fact they made two awesome quilts from Sunday Morning Quilts with Mini Confetti Dots and Zig Zags.) Very soft, very pretty, this Vanity Fair line.

In all honesty, the bundle was set to linger on the shelf, then likely broken apart as inspiration hit. Then I remembered a magazine contribution coming up, rescued an orphan block of something I was testing for my Craftsy class, and found the Vanity Fair some friends in my stash. Commence play.

Quilts of Valour Donation

Yesterday was Remembrance Day here in Canada and a few other countries, Veteran's Day in the US. As in every other year we hear stories of veterans and the sacrifices made. For so long the stories were consumed with the vets of the World Wars. Here is Canada you would here more about the Korean War as well. Now, however, there is so much said about Afghanistan and more recent peacekeeping missions. Being a soldier did not end in the 50s. And every year we are reminded that being a soldier does not end when your tour of duty ends.

Quilts of Valour provides quilts to service personnel dealing with injuries - those we see and those we don't, like post traumatic stress disorder. We all know that a quilt is such a comfort and a real hug when we need it most. It isn't about warmth, it is the spreading of love.

$1 from the sale of each of my Oh Canada! patterns is being donated to Quilts of Valour. This is from all sales - wholesale, printed, and downloaded. If you haven't purchased the pattern yet, this is the perfect reason to do so.

I'm also proud to know that many people have purchased the pattern to make quilts of Quilts of Valour recipients. To be honest, I never thought of that when making the quilt in the first place or in producing the pattern, but it makes me quite proud to know that this is part of its life.

Buy Oh Canada! here.

Ideas

She kept coming by the dining room table to finger the project. She would pick it up, feel the laminated fabric, flip it over, and then look at me.

"Seriously, who gave you this idea?"

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Mom.

My Mom is awesome. She is always happy to come and help us when I am overwhelmed with too much stuff (she is an expert purger), when I travel to teach she arrives here to watch the kids and clean my fridge, and when producing A Month of Sundays she came and kept us together during the photoshoot. She cleaned my house and watched the kids and fed us in the most Mommiest of ways, as Kate described it.

My Mom, however, has not had the chance to live a creative life. She delivers babies and helps new moms. She is the woman who taught me to sew and I do vividly remember her sewing us clothes and herself a gorgeous winter coat. There may have also been some macrame lessons in there. But that was all a long time ago. So when she looked at this particular project she couldn't imagine how I could have imagined it.

She's not alone. I get that question quite frequently. Just where do you get your ideas?

There is no easy answer, no one spot to look when I need a project. It just isn't that simple.

The project my mom was talking about was the Floral Wrap from A Month of Sundays. Made from laminated cotton (or oilcloth, if you prefer) it is for all your floral needs when out shopping. The idea for it came to me as I loaded groceries one day. There I had all my reusable shopping bags filled with Market goods. Then I placed my paper and plastic wrapped flowers on top. One of these things is not like the other...

I immediately went home, sketched a bit, then drafted a pattern.

There in lies the first spot I get my ideas: NEED.

Identifying a need or a gap in the creative register is sometimes the spark. When looking for an answer to a frustration or struggle the solution may be found in your sewing room instead of a product that may or may not exist.

On the day of the photoshoot for the Floral Wrap I took my wrap into the florist and picked out the flowers. When I handed the Floral Wrap the florist she had the same reaction as my Mom. This may be my one moment of genius in life, I better run with it!

Other moments of inspiration come from shop windows, like the colours in Hugs and Kisses or the design of Sherbet. Sometimes it is from a need to just take something traditional and do something different, like in Pinwheel. It isn't always a visual that inspires either. I've been inspired by words, stories, or even concepts.

You won't always know the moment the idea hits. But if you leave yourself open to it and have a means to capture it - with a sketchbook, a camera, a scrap of paper, a cell phone - then you can hold on to it. In fact, there is even a section of A Month of Sundays that talks about capturing your inspiration.

So when it comes to getting ideas, I think the best advice I've got, and my answer when people ask me just where I got that idea, is that I was simply open to the inspiration. And you do this by embracing creativity and opportunity. It is so easy to get caught up in the minutia of daily life, of motherhood, and even of quilting. Take the time to play, to try something new, to slow down, and the ideas will flow.

What will you do today to open up for inspiration?