Samsquanch - A Bigfoot Quilt

Samsquanch

90'' x 90''

Take one Legendary pattern, multiply it by five, add in a family of five sewing, and you get one crazy quilt.

Our family winter project is finally finished. We took a jaunt to the mountains yesterday to capture the quilt in the wild, in some truly squatchy country. It's already made a debut at a local quilt show and is in good use on the odd chilly night in the basement. 

I quilted it with a combination of thread and techniques. The white background is done with a walking foot and using a white Aurifil 50wt. The trees are straight line with the magical olive green from Aurifil. The Bigfoot herself (we decided she was female while making her) is done with a brown variagated in 40wt from Signature. She needed fur and a face so my free motion skills got a lot of practice - once my BSR was replaced!

To make the face my husband and I spent far too much time researching Bigfoot art and representations. Then we compared them to primates and sketched and resized. Total nerds. I gave myself a chalk outline and went at it contour drawing style. Thank you Melissa Averinos for teaching me that!

The backing is a mishmash of greens and leftover browns from my stash. The only fabric we bought for this quilt was the binding. I simply had nothing at home that worked so the girls picked this ombre and it's perfect. 

It really was an incredible project to work on together. From picking fabric to sewing together I had fun. It's easy to get annoyed or stressed when the kids are sewing, but we learned to go with the flow - and their enthusiasm. I gave in to all the requests when my little guy wanted to help, including having him on my lap while doing some FMQ! We had fun stomping through the trees for photos, complete with photo bombs and blurry pictures from laughing. 

It's summer now so there isn't much couch snuggling going on. And Hubby rightly pointed out that the white background is more wintery. I had hoped to shoot this in the snow, hence that white background. But believers know, Sasquatch is always out there...

And one word on the name. My husband is a wildly sarcastic man with a unique sense of humour. He likes to make up words and stories to mess with people, the kids especially. So in our house it isn't Sasquatch or Bigfoot, it is Samsquanch. 

Rainbow Blocks for Pride, for Orlando

Because I am a quilter, because I think in fabric, because I didn't know what to say. Frankly, because I still don't know what to say.

In the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando this week I felt compelled to sew in that most symbolic of ways. The rainbow flag has been a part of my life for over twenty years, when I learned of it's history and became part of the LBGT community in university. I learned far more than my suburban upbringing showed me. I felt love and developed friendships with some amazing people from all walks of life. Whereas I'm not sure I'd heard the word gay before other than as a thing you called someone you didn't like, I learned that love is love is love.

So, on Sunday, I sewed. I hugged my kids and did some yardwork. I sewed. I talked to my husband. We reminisced about gay bars we'd been to together and separately. We spoke of friends, of family, who could have easily been at Pulse that night. I sewed. I sewed rainbows. I want to keep sewing rainbows. 

See, as a quilter, one of the ways we share love is through quilts. (I'm also Ukrainian and so I show it through food, but that's another story.) I'm putting all the extra love into these blocks. I have a plan for them. Then my daughter gave me a really good idea after I explained the symbolism of the rainbow. Either way, this quilt is going to have so much love.

You too can sew these rainbow blocks. They are very easy and I did all the math (it was so hard) for you.

You will need:

• 6 fabrics: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
• Neutral thread
• Rotary cutter, ruler, and mat
• Sewing Machine and Iron

For a 6 1/2'' x 6 1/2'' block:

• Cut a 1 1/2'' x 6 1/2'' strip of each colour.
• Sew together and press.

For a 12 1/2'' x 12 1/2'' block:

• Cut a 2 1/2'' x 12 1/2'' strip of each colour.
• Sew together and press.

For a 18 1/2'' x 18/12'' block:

• Cut a 3 1/2'' x 18 1/2'' strip of each colour.
• Sew together and press.

For my blocks I am playing around with colour and value. I dug into the scrap bins and the stash. I'm trying not to repeat a fabric. Because no two rainbows, like snowflakes, are alike.

If the rainbow blocks aren't up your alley or you want to do something directly for Orlando, check out the actions of the Orlando Modern Quilt Guild. They are collecting blocks and completed rainbow quilts to distribute to families and survivors of the Pulse shooting. They ask contributors to use this tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew to make heart blocks in all the colours. Keep posted on their blog or social media for donation details. 

Maybe making rainbow blocks isn't your thing. Just remember that love is love is love. And frankly, I believe the best way to counter any hate, any fear, is to spread love. So if you are a quilter or a maker or a creator, spread the love the way you know best. 

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.