Thank you...

Thank Yous usually come at the end of blog posts, but I'd thought I'd break precedence and start off by expressing my gratitude to you, the loyal readers of Laurel's Quill.  In the three years since I started this blog, I've only accumulated 64 official followers, but the rest of you who tune in every now and again are among my most treasured and loyal "following".  In the three years since January, 2010, Laurel's Quill has had almost 9,500 page views, which means somebody must be interested. Though you may not be "official", I appreciate you and every person who visits or claims "I love your blog" or tells me "I love reading about the stuff you do".  Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.

If I don't fall off the fiscal cliff, I plan to write, photograph and otherwise continue to document the "Stuff I do" in 2013. The project list is long this year and includes some "finishing stuff I do" and some "starting new stuff".  I hope you tune in, and leave me a comment or two...it pumps my ever needy ego...LOL!!!

Wait for it..................

More of this... sewing for Dress a Girl Around the World...why not join me at a sew fest??

I want to continue to challenge myself with more of this....

My furniture is pushing it's limit after 18 years, so why not do a little reupholster this chair...just not sure what color or pattern, but I'm pretty sure it's NOT going to be that hideous Emerald Green that is supposed to be the NEW color for 2013.

I WILL finish this art quilt, I promise....I actually tried it out in the family room...it's going to be a great addition to the Southwest thing we have going on in there.

I hope to take some stuffing out of Colette this year...maybe the Paleo diet?

Let's pay off some of these in 2013...in case the drop off the cliff is higher than we can all imagine...

And I think I will create the second volume of Laurel's Quill in hardback at the end of 2013. I used My Publisher to make a coffee table book of my favorite blog posts since the beginning of my blog.  It is important to preserve some of my writings, so I'm thinking I'll create a new volume every year...

My hubby is an avid reader of Laurel's Quill, so I thought about adding pictures of things that I'm putting on HIS HONEY-DO list for 2013...like the weather stripping on the front door, the window...never mind.  I better stick with my own list. 

Love you all, and THANK YOU AGAIN FOR READING LAUREL'S QUILL!!!

Happy New Year, and may all your dreams come true!

Laurel.  It's going to be a great year!

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Inside Out...

You're making your way through a rack of clothes and you come upon a jacket labeled "Reversible".  Even though it's semi-ugly, the word triggers an automatic response - you can't resist taking it off the rack just to check out the inside. More than likely, if it's tacky on the outside, it's a given that the inside won't be much prettier. Perhaps it's the thriftiness in me, or the creativeness, I'm not sure, but I will always look at the inside, even though I have no intention of buying it. To me, "Reversible" usually means "bulky", "unattractive", or "I would NOT wear THAT on the outside!"

Some things are okay with their insides showing.  I spotted a knitted cowl in a yarn shop that I thought was kind of cute.

"It's reversible", the sales person said, like that fact alone was going to make me want to make it. I took a peak at the inside, and sure enough, the inside actually looked the same as the outside. Bonus! So I immediately purchased a nice soft turquoise wool and sure enough, it's going to be lovely...and reversible!

Some things are meant to be reversible...like a quilt.  When experts judge a quilt, they look at the back of it, just to see and judge the quality of the stitches. When you make a quilt for a bed, the back needs to be just as pretty as the front. I've only made one real bed quilt. I loved designing and sewing the quilt top, but hand quilting turned out to be not so much fun.  My Mom finished it for me. 

The back of an art quilt, on the other hand, doesn't usually show. It just hangs on the wall.  However, the art quilt aficionados will ALWAYS try to lift the quilt to see the back.  The intricacies of the quilted stitches and thread painting are what make art quilts "works of art".  I'm presently working on my second art quilt, inspired by the colors of New Mexico. I am using a multi colored thread in the bobbin, so the back of the quilt is quite interesting on it's own.  I have a long way to go!

Some things are not meant to show their insides...like drawers.

Certain things are sometimes prettier on the inside...like people.  Unfortunately - or maybe not - we often hide our "inside" self to the world, only trotting it out for special people. We are basically vulnerable people, exposing our underbelly to those whom we trust, those whom we love.  We live on the outside, editing our words and curbing our actions to fit in, to be liked, to be okay.

Often, who we are "on the inside" has far more value than we ourselves believe.  In truth, we are complex and messy creatures...a wonderful mish-mash of beauty and ugliness, intelligence and stupidity, grace and clumsiness, generosity and selfishness, creativity and indifference, calm and angst, confidence and insecurity. Inside and out, we are "fearfully and wonderfully made".

Praise the Lord...we are reversible!

Laurel.  Inside Out.

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"I am NOT a Type A"

...this I have vehemently denied from the first time I ever read about personality types. Type A people are intense, over analytical, obsessed with busyness, obsessed with everything and probably weird.  We always point to "those" people and mutter behind our palms "she's SO Type A!"

Myself, I am not a Type A, but rather an overachieving artist, I'd like to think.  That is, unless you look closely at the things that I have a penchant for tackling. What idiot would agree to making a soccer banner, creating a bride's necklace and designing the groom's mom's wedding attire? Hmmm...sounds like a duck, acts like a duck....

Here's the deal...the real problem is that these creative opportunities come in cycles. By cycles, I mean all at once. Before I know it, I'm in over my head, even though I am ever confident of my capabilities.  And, I want to do them all! If it weren't for the other projects that seem to beckon me, whispering softly "here Laurel, work on me this morning" I would be fine.

For instance...that beautiful, maddening lace scarf that I mentioned a few posts ago? I finished it.  I was obsessed with working on it when I should have been working on the bride's necklace.

Done. (Check that one off the list).  Wait, it wasn't on the list...

Type A? Heaven's no! Challenging yourself is important.  I get impatient (that's not a Type A trait, is it?) with people who claim they can't do this or they can't do that, and I just ask "Have ever tried?  Challenge yourself...you might be surprised!"

When the Coach asks for a soccer banner and the Coach is your favorite daughter-in-law, what can you say? So let's go for the most elaborate design you can find, Laurel...it's your normal M.O. Forgot to take a picture but it looks something like this image...The letters were murder...thank God my daughter helped with this one.  Done in time for team pictures!!

 



I also finished the bride's necklace and earrings this week, but I can't show you the whole thing (Bride's like to keep these things under wraps. The pearls are exquisite.

In case you're wondering, I haven't touched the art quilt for a couple of weeks, but at least I have started on the free motion quilting...I had to put it aside while I worked on the banner.  And Colette is waiting rather impatiently for attention as well. Come to think of it, I believe that she is definitely Type A - why else would she be in my face all the time???

 

Laurel. I heard that! I am NOT weird.

 

Art Quilt 2...

Let the Games Begin!!

Got batting...check.

Got backing...check.

Cut fabric...check.

Complete sandwich...check.

Set up the Viking...try to rmember needle size, presser foot, etc...check.

See if you can remember how to work the quilt through the machine...check.

Practice...check.

Adjust your light source, find your tools....check.

Freak out, turn everything off and go to the Mall.

Laurel.  I'll start tomorrow.



Colette and the art quilt

My mini-me Colette has been languishing in the craft room waiting for some attention. I had picked up some nice fabrics in Dallas and Santa Fe to make her some nice frocks, but they remain in a pile in the guest room. Last night, Project Runway Season 10 started and after watching the designer contestants roll out some pretty bizarre pieces, I heard an audible sigh from Colette.

She has good cause to be frustrated. My brain and fingers have been centered on my sewing machine, but alas not for outfits for her.The lure of the new art quilt relegated her to second fiddle again this week, as I worked to finish the applique portion. Despite her quiet glare behind me, I trudged onward. I am pleased that it is completed.

Even today I've made some minor changes since these photos were taken. I will be starting on the "sandwich stage" next, probably using a light cotton batting and a solid backing...then listen for my little Viking purring long into the night doing the machine quilting portion!

So back to Colette...because I felt so bad for her today, being naked and all, I made a little knit top this afternoon out of one of my Dallas fabrics.  This silk knit is feather light and was a little difficult to manage, but the result was good.

love the color...looks so great with turquoise... 

Smile Colette, you're a STAR!!! And because Mommie started walking this week, she may end up ratcheting your boobs down a notch or two in a few months!

Laurel. At least you can actually wear my stuff, Project Runway!

These mountains are killing me!

Re: Art Quilt No. 2 -

I have stared at these mountains for three days.  I have dreamed about them.  I have laid awake for hours wondering what's wrong with them and how I could fix them.

"Painting" with fabric is a challenge. You can't always find the fabric you like, much less what you need in order to complete a particular area.  I have even tried bleaching some of the cotton batiks to achieve the right coloration, to know avail.  Isn't it funny that if you accidently splash bleach on your pants, you have a white spot?  Not so on this fabric - I don't know how they dye them, but the color is there to stay.

At any rate, after another few hours of messing with them (again!) this morning, the mountains are starting to take shape. Think the clouds and sky are still too vivid...I see some acrylic paint in their future.  It's going to be a long summer!!

Laurel.  Think I'll go knit for a while.

One thing leads to another: Art Quilt #2

It's funny how one trip to New Mexico and Arizona can inspire my artistic leanings. I absolutely loved all that Terracotta colored scenery against the blue skies.  We visited a Native American Pueblo in Taos, as I was on a mission to do an Ancil Adams photography shoot of my own.

After seeing all those adobe buildings, I decided that I would paint our fireplace when we got home.  Our house is Spanish style and I thought the colors of the Sedona landscape would perk up our den.

I love how it turned out, but as I glanced around the room, I found that the large framed print on the wall to the left of the fireplace was old and I was tired of looking at it...

Which led to..."hey, I think I'll do another art quilt".  Since this room is more "Dave's Man-Cave", I consulted with my "client" and he agreed on a Southwest Pueblo theme. So here we go...

First things first...the design on muslin.  Then shopping for specific fabrics to round out my color palette.  I work top down, so I'm starting with the sky...a storm is brewing over the Pueblo.  Not sure it's right yet, so I'll keep messing with it.

I'll keep you posted....

Meanwhile, poor Collette is staring at the art quilt scraps with jealousy...awaiting her turn to wear all the yummy fabrics I bought in Dallas and Santa Fe.

Laurel.  Being Creative means never having to say you're sorry.

California Harvest - an art quilt...

I had a whole list of things I was going to do when I retired: travel, read, sew, make jewelry, paint, etc. Upon retirement, I purchased two things that I had coveted for years - an 6' ebony grand piano and a Viking sewing machine that all but talks back to you. My goals were to take lessons on the piano and make an art quilt.  I had visited a fiber artist's studio loft downtown and was impressed by the creative way she worked with patterns, textures and colors. Her pieces were huge and in demand in commercial office spaces and hotels all over the world.  I wanted to try my hand at making a large "quilt", as is my style - to jump in way over my head when trying something new.

My hubby had planted sunflowers several years ago in our back yard, and together with some heirloom tomatoes, I created the prettiest still life on my kitchen counter one summer evening.  I wanted to capture the beauty so snapped a couple of pictures. Just for fun I started messing with the image in Photoshop, blurring the background. I loved the result and I decided that this photo would be the subject of my first art quilt.

Hurdle No. 1)  Create a pattern.

I took the digital file of the photo and entered it into a cross stitch pattern maker called PC Stitch.  The computer program converts a photo into a mass of tiny pixels and if you had every DMC floss color in the world (which I do), it would take you a year to stitch it.  So I simplified the color palette and created white borders around the shapes that I wanted to eventually convert into fabric. When I printed out the pattern sheets for the whole picture, I had twenty-five 8 1/2" X 11" pages.









Hurdle No. 2) Matching the pattern pieces

Because I decided to do this quilt in squares (not sure that was the wisest of decisions) the individual elements of the bouquet and background overlapped into multiple squares.  So each fabric piece, each petal, each leaf had to be matched with it's adjoining sections.  What a pain.

I decided that I wasn't going to use the traditional applique technique, but just pin the pieces on a white backing and use a machined blanket stitch.  That's actually a slight fib - I didn't know how to do the traditional applique techniques.  But it all worked out.  I started on one row and quickly discovered that I probably should have gone left to right and top to bottom.  It was difficult and time consuming to match the elements, especially with the detailed flowers. I changed threads on each element to match each new color of fabric. Lot's of tag ends to clip!!

Hurdle No. 3) Every quilt needs a back!

Choosing the batting was easy.  Since my squares were rather weighty and thick in some areas, I wanted the batting to be light weight.  Someone recommended a natural cotton.  The fabric for the back of the quilt was a little harder to pick.  I thought perhaps a batik with a pattern might camouflage my irregular and erratic machine quilting.  I used a multi color cotton thread for the bobbin, so the stitching on back would be somewhat uniform.

Hurdle No.4) The quilting

I knew that someday I was going to have to face the actual quilting of my project.  My new Viking was capable of free motion quilting. but I had never done it before.  The Answer - take a class! I practiced and practiced to get a good rhythm and learn how to work the fabric through the feeder foot, but I was totally stymied by the many patterns within the project.  I wanted it to look like a painting with thread, but didn't know how to get there.  I had a friend who is an excellent quilter come over and give me some ideas of stitching patterns, and after quite some time (I must have just stared it for over a month), I decided to dive in and just start sewing.  The more I stitched, the easier it became, and the farther I got, the more fun and intricate my patterns became.

Almost one year from the start, I finished my quilt, and dubbed it California Harvest. It measures 38" X 48" and hangs in my dining room. I still enjoy looking at it.

It's been a couple of years since I completed California Harvest.  A quilting friend of mine sponsored my work in a regional quilt show, and it was so gratifying to watch the  seasoned quilters gaze and admire it. It's not perfect by any real quilter's standards, but it was an accomplishment for me just to actually finish it! Amazingly, I am just about ready to try another one. I rather doubt I will use the same technique - there's got be an easier way:)

Laurel

Happy quilting!