Basted? As in “basting”? If you are not into sewing, you might think I am referring the culinary process of basting (moistening food with a liquid to keep it soft, such as when making a roast). I promise you, as much as I love quilts and quilting, I have not started eating them (smile).
I am referring instead to the process of sewing down a quilt sandwich (again Tierney, what is up with the food references?) – the quilt top, the batting, and the quilt back – using large/long stitches to temporarily anchor it together. A quilt is basted to hold everything together while you add the final smaller machine (or hand) stitching.
The Dilemma
In several older posts, like Progress and Fear, I discuss dealing with a large backlog of quilts, received from the long-arm machine quilter, that I needed sew binding on and finish. I have many of my quilts (especially the large ones) professionally quilted by a wonderful long-arm machine quilter. This is not free to have done. Normally I can handle the reasonable fee my long-arm quilter charges.
However, “Terry the Quilting Husband” was very prolific in quilt making this past spring and summer. As a result I had a lot of new quilting turnover and expenses all at once.
My long-arm quilter, who is also a dear friend, was very sensitive to this and offered on one of my next quilts, that she would baste it on the long-arm machine for me and charge me for that service and the batting, significantly less than a full professional long-arm machine quilting. Then I could quilt it myself with my regular sewing machine without the struggle of trying to baste it on my own in a domestic machine.
A couple weeks ago I got the quilt back from the long-arm quilter, all nicely basted. In the photo below you can see the large/long basting stitches.
The Basted Quilt…
The Temptation
Yes. You guessed it. I am tempted to say: “This looks good, this will work, I can just put the binding on and call it good”! I have been struggling with temptation. The temptation not to quilt it myself and just have a basting as the final quilting (the quilters reading this part of the post are either gasping in horror or nodding their heads in understanding).
For the time being, I am just letting it sit in the corner and I am sure I will eventually quilt it myself.
Every rejection is incremental payment on your dues that in some way will be translated back into your work (James Lee Burke)
On my page Textile Adventures for the July 2015 Entry, I mention that I am working on entering juried show. Since July this year I have been submitting entries for juried art and art quilt shows and I have been received a rejection letter on all my entries.
Nearly two years ago I read an article by an established professional art quilter, Carol Ann Waugh, in the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) Journal, on how to become a Professional Artist. One of her tips was to enter juried art shows in order to build your resume.
I have been lucky enough for a couple of my art quilts to be accepted to several juried shows in the past. However, the shows I have submitted my work to this Summer and Fall, I really wanted my work to be accepted. One of them was a show that I daydreamed about being in. Alas, my work was rejected.
Yesterday, I did have one of those moments where I thought “Well I am just not good enough, and I am not sure my art quilts will ever be good enough”. The work I see in the SAQA journal is fairly intimidating.
Some days I wonder: “If I did not have to work and could focus full time on my art quilts would they become more ‘show worthy’?” However that is not my reality and we have to all work within the reality we live.
I am continually reminding myself of all those famous quotes (paraphrased) – that it took Thomas Edison a zillion failures before the light bulb; that this famous author/that famous poet had numerous rejections until they made it; and etc., etc., etc.
However for now, I think I am just going to be sad a little while longer about the rejections and then move on and get back to creating.
This post is really the “Part II” of the previous post: “Creative Inspiration: Where I Started…” in which I discuss my inspiration to create series of small recycled clothing quilts based on the first quilt book I owned: Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! (McClun & Nownes, 1998).
The “Big Magic” of Creativity
I am currently listening to a wonderful audiobook by Elizabeth Gilbert, read by the author – Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (2015). In the inspirational book Gilbert proposes that Ideas are entities unto themselves that move among us searching for a home/host to bring them fully into existence.
If an idea visits you and you do not grab onto it, it will move to someone else. She also discusses the concept “multiple discovery” (simultaneous inventions by different individuals not aware of what the other is working on). She proposes that when an Idea is ready to “be born”, it will visit numerous people to find someone who is going to bring it into existence. This is all part of the “Big Magic” and mystery of creativity and the creative process.
The Ohio Star Idea (magical “multiple discoveries”?)
In the previous post, “Creative Inspiration: Where I Started…“, I share my recent experience of being in a thrift store with friends and having the idea to do some traditional pattern small quilts using recycled clothing for The Wardrobe Meets the Wall collection.
The traditional quilt pattern “Ohio Star” popped into my head. I mentioned to my creative partner on The Wardrobe Meets the Wall my idea of making some recycled clothing/garment manufacturing samples quilts based on the Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! book. I did not mention that the traditional pattern, “Ohio Star” had popped into my head.
At first she hesitated on the concept and then remarked: “An Ohio Star done with the recycled silks would be interesting”.
The Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! book does not contain the Ohio Star pattern. It was like we both just came up with the same idea at the same time! I was completely overwhelmed that she randomly mentioned “Ohio Star” when I was thinking it at the same time. There are so many traditional quilt block patterns – why did “Ohio Star” pop into both of our minds.
The Ohio Star Silk Experiment
Of course, I had to try and make a small recycled clothing quilt with the Ohio Star quilt block pattern! I found an image of an “Ohio Star” on the web and reverse engineered it.
My challenge: The quilts I have made so far from recycled clothing materials, such as silk garment manufacturing samples, have been using free form, intuitive piecing techniques. In order to create a traditional Ohio Star block, I had to use more accurate piecing techniques.
Using a special interfacing, I backed on the thinner silk pieces to stabilize them for cutting into specific small shapes (such as triangles). Silk is not as forgiving as cotton when piecing a block and it was a new experience to try and make a traditional block with silks!
On the design wall photo below, you will see I have completed the basic Ohio Star block. I am working on an inner border and outer border for this piece. I will post the completed small quilt top in the future.
Ohio Star, recycled silks (in progress on the Design Wall)
I consider this experiment a warm up for the project to make a series of small quilts from recycled clothing inspired by traditional quilt patterns from Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!!
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we where we started and know the place for the first time.
– T.S. Elliot
This post continues my series of posts on Sources of Creative Inspiration.
I was wandering a thrift shop today with some friends, and came across the first official quilting book I ever owned: Diana McClun and Laura Nownes’ book Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! The Complete Guide to Quiltmaking (1998). I bought this book in the late 1990s, I still have this book in my personal collection, but I have not looked at it for years.
I have been struggling to find a new source of inspiration for my next art quilt made from recycled clothing scraps/manufacturing samples for The Wardrobe Meets the Wall Collection. Since completing Abandoned Structure, I have been “bereft of creative inspiration” for my next piece (and if you see my previous post Terry the *Not* Quilting Husband, I am thinking about letting the sewing machine rest awhile and working on paper craft projects!)
Seeing the book Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! The Complete Guide to Quiltmaking (1998) suddenly creatively inspired me!
IDEA: I am going to do a series of small quilts made from recycled clothing based on patterns from this book.
I am going to return where I started for awhile, traditional quilt making, but with my art quilting medium: recycled clothing and silk samples from garment manufacturing (which is ironically, the true traditional medium: utilitarian quilts were made from worn clothing in the old days!)
I will post pieces from this series, more to come…
Photo credit: Amazon.com
Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s Schnauzer Snips page for her updates…
Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s musing on her Schnauzer Snips Page
His Sewing Machine Grows Cold
In previous posts I have talked about Terry “The Quilting Husband”. He began quilting last fall and has spent the past year working on projects.
Currently he is “Terry the Not Quilting Husband” and has put the sewing machine away and taken a hiatus from quilt making. Instead of sewing, he has returned to an earlier hobby – historical miniature wargaming and is currently working on painting Napoleonic era figures.
I was briefly worried that he would forever lose interest in quilting; and then I remembered that it is fine to take a break from one hobby and work on another for awhile.
This got me thinking about taking a break from quilt making for a while and working on other hobbies like my semi abandoned card making or beading hobby.
Today, I started leafing through and organizing my neglected card stock from my days of handmade card making and I am toying with the idea of giving my sewing machine a rest and working on handmade holiday cards!
Quote Currently Stuck in My Head
This may seem random but I wanted to share this wonderful quote I came upon today and have been mulling over in my head.
Mark Twain said:
The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.
I have been with Etsy for 2 years and I have been blessed to have had 73 sales. Not all my sales were for handmade items, this total includes my vintage Barbies of the World collection that I cleared out as well as well as fabric by the yard, fat quarter sets and a couple “jelly rolls” (rolls of 40 pre-cut 2.5 inch coordinated fabric strips).
Recently I removed all vintage items from my Etsy shop and I am only focusing on handmade items, and some carefully curated fabric offerings. Eventually I would like to only offer handmade items. I do not want to be areseller, I want to only offer things that either I have made or “Terry the Quilting Husband” has made.
Exploring New Option for Offering Handmade Items
I heard that Amazon was going to start a handmade marketplace. I am mulling over the idea of selling instead (or additionally) on Amazon at their new “Handmade at Amazon” (still under development).
Today I applied for an invitation to be a vendor on Amazon’s Handmade at Amazon. I await the outcome of their evaluation as to whether they want tierneycreates (and its handmade products) as Handmade at Amazon vendor.
An appealing feature of Handmade at Amazon is that unlike Etsy, you do not have to renew your listing (paying a renewal fee each time, which becomes tedious). The listings are permanent until the item sells.
It never hurts to explore new opportunities; and I will update you all on what happens.
A while back a dear friend, who is not a quilter, whom I was trying convince to follow my blog, said: “But your blog is about quilting, and I am not a quilter…”
I replied: “My blog is about a Quilter’s Life” (which is of course more than just quilting).
So on this blustery autumn Saturday afternoon I have decided to just share some random happenings in my Quilter’s Life! (Hope you are not too shocked over the wild life I lead, wink, wink).
Fabric Scraps, Well, Um, Yes Thank You
I hope I do not lose credibility with my readers, but in my very recent post A “Humane” Way to Eliminate Fabric Scraps, I pretty much vowed not to accept any more fabric scraps from friends. I have broken this vow, but if you are a quilter you will understand. I had lunch today with a couple of friends at our favorite Thai restaurant downtown and my friend Susan had beautifully packaged up some batik fabric scraps for me – how could I refuse them?
How could I turn these beautiful batik fabric scraps down?
Junk Drawer Under Control!
I am still working through the lessons learned from reading Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (2014) which I discussed in the post The Space in Which We Live. Recently I took on the infamous “Junk Drawer” (I know you all have one) and now have it under control. I was going to do a post just on organizing my “junk drawer” but I was pretty sure that would put you all to sleep as “organizing a junk drawer” islikely one of the most boring topics imaginable to devote an entire post. Thought I would share a photo and that is the end of talking about my “junk drawer”!
Ta Da – a semi organized “junk drawer” (I am actually able to find stuff without rifling through it too much).
Let’s Pretend this is a Culinary Blog (Just for a Moment)
Since I began blogging two years ago I have become addicted to reading other blogs. I never knew what I was missing – there are so many wonderful posts, ideas, stories, life experiences, and photos that my fellow bloggers share.
However, there is one type of blog I am completely intimidated by: Culinary/Cooking Blogs. Their photos are so beautiful, their blogs are so organized and well-written, and the recipes and cooking tips – sigh, I shudder with envy and intimidation.
For fun, I will pretend for a moment this is Culinary Blog and I will share a wonderful tip I learned from my friend Ali (who is a wonderful Home & Garden writer) who learned it from a chef she interviewed for an article:
A QUICK WAY TO DEAL WITH GARLIC CLOVES (eliminate the tedious peeling of garlic skin)
Separate the cloves
Take a medium-large stone (like one from the beach or your garden) that has been scrubbed clean, and firmly press down on the garlic to break it open.
This will make removal of the garlic skin very easy – remove the garlic and chop, grate or mince it for your recipe!
No worries, I am not going to start a blog “tierneycooks”!
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and….
(By the way, did you notice that the photo above, from the section on a quick way to deal with garlic cloves, is not a very good photo? In culinary blogs their knives in photos are always very clean and very shiny while mine looks like it was smeared in mysterious goo. This is why you do not have to worry about a future “tierneycooks” culinary blog).
In my post Shared Bounty, I discussed how a friend had shared the “fruits of her labor” in her garden this past growing season. Today she gave me the last of her parsley, purple sage, and rosemary and suddenly I have the traditional English ballad “Scarborough Fair” (made famous by Simon & Garfunkel) stuck in my head. The only thing missing is “thyme”.
“Are you going to Scarborough Fair? Parley, sage, rosemary, and thyme; Remember me to one who lives there, For once she was a true love of mine.”
I love cooking and I am pretty excited by this last batch for the season of fresh from the garden herbs and plan to make them part of several stews and soups!
Parley, Sage, Rosemary…but no Thyme (but we could still head to the imaginary Scarborough Fair!)
Well I know you all are exhausted from reading about my wild Quilter’s Life, so I will close here, as I now need to find something else to organize or a new project to start and not finish!
If you have followed my blog for awhile, then you know about my addiction to fabric scraps. This addiction seems to be incompatible with my desire to downsize and minimize my possessions.
The fabric scrap addiction began innocently enough – friends would give me their fabric scraps at quilting retreats. I would go for a “sew day” at a fellow quilter’s house and leave with some of her fabric scraps. As if that was not enough, I began to actually BUY scraps.
Yes, BUY FABRIC SCRAPS, you read correctly. There is a wonderful quilt shop in Central Oregon called The Stitchin’ Post and occasionally they would sell scraps bags of their beautiful high-end quilting fabrics. I bought numerous bags from them.
Beautiful scraps or not, still I was buying fabric scraps.
In my post “Creative Inspiration: Organization???” I shared my new organization of my favorite fabric scraps by color. Although I had organized scraps by color I still had a GIANT box of remaining fabric scraps.
I knew I had to do something. I needed to let go of the fabric scraps I did not completely and absolutely love. However, I did not want to throw them away or try to convince another quilter to adopt them.
So I packaged them up into 30 bags and organized them into two baskets and DONATED them to our local Humane Society Thrift Store to sell! (How do I know that the Humane Society Thrift Store sells fabric scraps? Do you want to take a guess? Yes, because I have bought fabric scraps also from several thrift stores include the Humane Society Thrift Store in the past).
The Humane Society Thrift Store Volunteer accepting my donation seemed pleased that I had packaged them up for sale. I like to imagine if they sell each bag for a couple dollars or more each that could be over $90 – $150+ profit for a wonderful local animal shelter! Some of the bags are packaged by color and some are random – so many options for the Humane Society Thrift Shops’ customers!
A “Humane” way to let go of excess fabric scraps!
When I buy fabric from quilt shops in the future, it will be actual whole fabric (fat quarters or yardage). I still have plenty of fabric scraps and my fabric scrap collection contains only scraps I truly love and plan to use…eventually.
POSTSCRIPT
I am still working through the lessons from the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo that I discussed in the post “The Space in Which We Live“.
We can complain because the rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses
I have just finished a wonderful audiobook, The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life by Janice Kaplan (2015).
In her book, Janice Kaplan shares plenty of meaningful quotes, like the one above, as well as wonderful stories (personal and of others) about living each day filled with gratitude. The author also provides lots of social science/research (aka “Malcolm Gladwell” style) that supports why true happiness and peace comes from living an existence soaked in gratitude.
A very inspirational and very joyous audiobook listen.
Photo Credit: Amazon.com
One of my favorite quotes in the book is one by the Greek Philosopher Epicurus:
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
I was invited to speak on Blogging for Art Quilters at our October SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) meeting, as the featured presenter.
In my “pay the bills” career in the health care industry, for the past 20+ years I have done numerous training and workshops for those in staff and in leadership positions. So my first thought when accepting the invitation to speak was: “No problem, I have done like a zillion presentations and I can give any group ‘Death by PowerPoint'”.
I once even did a presentation for “the dead”. Or people I thought were dead (I mean a long time dead, they just hadn’t started to smell yet). I was the head of Medical Management for a Worker’s Compensation carrier and I had to do a presentation for the management group of a large retail organization.
When I got up to the podium and saw a sea of very blank and disengaged faces (basically they all looked “dead inside”), instead of having stage fright, I thought “Screw it, I am going to have fun”!
I removed the microphone from the podium, walked into the glassy-eyed audience and began to work the crowd with my presentation like I was a nightclub act. They suddenly came back to life and I had a blast (and maybe they did too) giving the presentation!
So I have little fear of public speaking as I have overcome some challenging audiences…that is, little fear in the health care industry…
Fear Creeps In…
So our local SAQA group contains nationally and internationally known quilters, teachers, published book authors, and some seriously talented (like mind blowing-ly talented) art quilters. This was my first time ever presenting/speaking in the art quilting industry (I am usually thinking at each SAQA meeting “so what I am doing here with these people?”).
One of my friends in the health care industry said to me when I told her about the upcoming presentation: “Well Tierney, if you lose them you during your talk on blogging for art quilters, you could always start wowing them with your knowledge of medical cost management!”
Additionally I am no expert on blogging. I started in 2013 and I have been learning as I go and continually reading tips from other bloggers. My only saving grace was I knew I could put together a nice “Death by PowerPoint” for the group!
The Actual Speaking Engagement
The SAQA group was wonderful and it was easy to engage them, I had no need to be worried.
Highlights from my presentation “Blogging for Art Quilters”:
WHY BLOG? To have an online presence; to showcase your art; to connect with other quilters & artists; to connect with potential customers.
COMMON BLOGGING PLATFORMS: WordPress.com; Blogger.com; and Typepad.com
Kristin Shields (kristinshieldsart.com) introduced the group to an incredible website and blog option for art quilters: Square Space, This platform also allows artists to directly sell their art to customers (www.squarespace.com).
WRTING BLOGGING CONTENT: Engage your readers and get them coming back with interesting posts, “cliff-hangers”, and ongoing series; learn the blog hosting platform’s tips to make navigate your site easy for readers; brainstorm on ideas for posts and keep a journal of ideas; find your own voice and be true to yourself.
BLOGGING ETIQUETTE: (adapted from Idiot’s Guide Blogging Rules & Etiquette): Respond to and appreciate your readers they took the time to read your posts and comment; stay away from “hard sales” and controversial topics (religion, politics, etc.) unless that is the purpose of your blog; respect copyright laws.
SPELL CHECKING IS IMPORTANT (okay so sometimes I fail at this…but it is still important…): A tip I use (or try to use) is to read aloud my posts before posting to see if they are close to resembling standard English usage! (So Tierney, are you actually a “native English speaker” or did you just recently learn via online instruction?)
PUBLICATIONS: Before I started blogging or starting my tierneycreates Etsy shop I did a lot of reading. Here are some of my favorites and I thank all the wonderful authors who wrote either the books or articles I enjoyed!
• Artful Blogging Magazine, Stampington
Blogging for Creatives: How Designers, Artists, Crafters and Writers Can Blog to Make Contacts, Win Business, and Build Success (Robin Houghton, 2012)
Writers Can Blog to Make Contacts, Win Business, and Build Success (Robin Houghton, 2012)
Blogging for Dummies (Susannah Gardner, 2011)
How to Sell Your Crafts Online(Derrick Sutton, 2011)
The Handmade Marketplace (Kari Chapin, 2010)
Grow Your Handmade Business (Kari Chapin, 2012)
The Real Reason I Blog
At the end of my presentation, I shared why personally I blog: Connection.
At first my blog was to be a vehicle to gain potential customers for my Etsy shop, but then it became more than that – it became a vehicle to connect with other individuals with shared interests and discover other blogger and their blogs.
I so appreciate my readers and I now follow many blogs myself (trying to keep up with them all as best I can). I love reading the life adventures of other individuals and the experiences and lessons their share!
“Death by PowerPoint” – only 23 slides, I did not torture the audience too badly…
Yesterday the long-arm quilter, Guadalupe Designs, unveiled the quilting done on my piece Abandoned Structure, which is based on an abandoned power plant in Central Oregon that I photographed many years ago.
Once I got it home I stuck it up on the Design Wall (a sort of homecoming from where it originally was born). I have not yet trimmed the batting from the edges or put the finish on the edges, but I am enjoying just looking at the piece as it came off the long-arm quilting machine.
I am excited to add it to my collection of art quilts made from recycled clothing and garment manufacturing scraps.
Abandoned Structure (2015, in progress). Designed and pieced by Tierney Davis Hogan, Quilted by Guadalupe Designs
I started gardening a couple of years ago. Funny thing I used to live in Seattle, Washington which has a great climate and soil for gardening (you could practically throw something towards the ground and it would grow), and I was not into gardening.
Then I moved to Central Oregon where the soil is volcanic pumice lava rock of death or something like that, the growing season is short, and we have little rainfall (as a gardening bonus, ha!). Suddenly, now living in a challenging climate, I decided to start growing a vegetable garden.
Four years in, my raised beds finally had a decent harvest (for my expectations) – I had plenty of kale for many months (my $2.99 kale starts turned into like $80 in kale) and a decent harvest of cherry tomatoes…
HOWEVER, today I went over a friend’s house and saw her garden (she is a magical gardener) and left her house with large shared bounty from her harvest: giant squash, celery (I never knew someone who grew celery!), Yukon gold potatoes, tomatoes (heirloom and cherry), basil, Thai basil, rosemary, and lots of parsley.
It helps to have a friend who is an excellent gardener and generous!
My friend has really inspired me to keep on gardening, to learn more about gardening, and to try to expand the areas of my yard that I dedicate to my vegetable garden each year. I hope to be able to share this kind of bounty someday!
There is nothing on the Design Wall and the sewing machine is cold…
We all have those stretches on “non-creatvity” and I am hopefully on the tail end of one of those stretches right now. I have however continued with my side project of decluttering and scaling back my life as discussed in previous posts. I decided to take on THE DARK CABINET OF MYSTERY…
Don’t be afraid to peek in (and then reach inside)…
Mysterious Dark Cabinet in my kitchenI know I am not alone – many people have those drawers or cabinets “of mystery” in which you never peek unless you really, really, really need to find something (and you strongly suspect, unfortunately, it is in THERE).
Most of the time you just throw something in there and quickly close the door without looking too hard to see what has gathered inside.
I have started working on what I call my Dark Cabinet of Mystery in the corner of my kitchen. It is an oddly shaped cabinet and has angle that reaches into…another dimension? A break in the “space-time continuum”? A wormhole? I actually asked my husband to just reach into the cabinet and pull everything out.
(I figured if something grabbed him when he reached in, I could retrieve the dogs quickly and run out of the house)
Well everything got pulled out, and my husband survived emptying the cabinet. Below is what was inside and it is obvious that I kept thinking: “oh I need to save this glass jar”, “I probably really need to save this glass jar”, “not sure if I have enough glass jars”…
In addition to a large supply of empty glass jars I discovered I had a springform (aka cheesecake pan) which I have never used since buying it like 20 years ago; and I have an electric carving knife used once or twice in the 15+ years I have owned. I also have an entire extra set of flatware.
All the things discovered inside the cabinet of mysteryNow I have to decide what to keep and what to recycle (hint the numerous glass jars) or donate. I also need to decide the future of the Dark Cabinet of Mystery…
Maybe I should just have the Dark Cabinet of Mystery professionally sealed up…especially if creatures from other dimensions find a way to slip in through a portal likely in one of its dark corners..
I just finished the audiobook CD Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits by Dr. Wayne Dyer, positive thinking guru. I did not realize until doing a little “googling” for this post that Dr. Dyer passed on August 30, 2015. What a legacy he left behind.
I loved this audiobook and his writing appears to be heavily influenced by Eastern Philosophy. In the book he discusses Lao-tsu’s Four Cardinal Virtues. They really resonated with me and I wanted to share them with you:
Four Cardinal Virtues
Reverence for all life
Natural Sincerity
Gentleness
Supportiveness
What a beautiful and peaceful world we would live in if all humans lived these virtues.
Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s latest musings on the Schnauzer Snips page; and check out the latest updates on the Textile Adventures page.
Terry, the “Quilting Husband” really got into making “log jam” style free form log cabin blocks. He ended up making over 100+ 6.5 inch x 6.5 inch blocks. We set them in 10 x 10 rows to create a quilt top. Betty Anne Guadalupe of Guadalupe Designs professionally quilted the top.
Log Jam by Terry (2015). Quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe.
The plan was to list it on the tierneycreates Etsy Shop but I fell in love with it and decided – IT’S A KEEPER! So now it is displayed on our dining room wall.
I have pieced many 6.5 inch by 6.5 inch log jam blocks myself (they are a fun and meditative way to use up fabric scraps) and I am thinking of making a Queen size (yikes) quilt with them for sale at the 2016 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. First I will have to see how many I have done and then do some math (yikes, again) to figure out how many I will need (hint: 100 blocks only made a lap size quilt…).
POSTSCRIPT
I am not sure how it happened, but my previous post Because Nice Matters, was my 100th blog post! I remember when I started the tierneycreates blog in October 2013, I did not imagine getting to my 100th post (I was just happy to be at 5 posts!). It has been so fun so far connecting with other bloggers and I so appreciate my readers and followers!
I have had this sign on my wall for a couple years, discovered at a long forgotten gift or thrift shop or maybe a garage sale: Because Nice Matters.
a simple truth
Nice does matter. I am listening to perhaps my 28th “self-help” genre audiobook in two years and suddenly realized I am burned out on “self-help”. Though the messages or how they are presented may slightly differ, they all seem to be saying the same thing after awhile…
I feel like this sign above is a summary of much of the useful “self-help” advice. Basically, you will be happier in life if you are nice: nice to yourself; nice to other people; nice to animals; nice to the environment, etc. It’s simple: just be nice.
Because nice matters.
Postscript
Being nice does not mean being a doormat, you can be nice and still have strong and clear boundaries. Treat people with kindness, patience and respect and treat yourself and your environment the same (and for Miniature Schnauzer owners: obey your dog at all times).
I have been working for a while on downsizing my stuff and reducing clutter in my life (see recent post The Space in Which We Live).
As part of this process I have been working through my craft magazine collection (as a prequel to some day conquering my craft book collection – see post Craft Book Hoarder?!?!?!).
Since 2008 I have been reading and collecting Interweaves’s Cloth-Paper-Scissors Studios magazine (who’s tagline is “inspiration & ideas for your art and craft space).
In order to let go a a magazine, I feel like I have to read it again or at least skim it and see if there is anything interesting in the issue that I want to reference or stick in the back of my mind. So I stacked all my old issues of Cloth-Paper-Scissors Studios magazine and started going through them.
I came across this great article in the Spring/Summer 2009 issue by Lesley Riley: “Clutter Out Creativity In: 10 Steps to a More Artful Studio”, and I wanted to share a listing of her steps to deal with studio clutter. I think they are fairly self-explanatory but I have added a couple comments based on the article or my own experience.
Hoarding is a primitive instinct (but having a more limited selection may force you to be more creative!)
Know thyself (think about what colors and fabrics you now enjoy working with and consider ditching the rest)
Treat your stash like your clothes (in your closet if you have not worn something in a long time or it no longer fits you, maybe it is time to get rid of it – the same applies to using fabric)
It’s not “all or nothing” (you don’t have to get rid of things all at once, you can whittle it down over time)
Take your time (relax and find time to slow sort your stash)
Share your favorites (shared a little of your favorite fabrics with others)
Spread the wealth (I personally enjoy donating fabric I no longer need to the local Humane Society Thrift Shop as I know it can be a treasure to a fellow crafter who stumbles upon it and the proceeds help support the animal shelter)
Create coordinated bundles
The artist, not the fabric, makes the art
You control the fabric (it does not control you!)
After I finishing letting go of my already read (twice) Cloth-Paper-Scissors Studiosmagazine, I can’t promise I will never buy an issue again. This is truly a wonderful magazine with glimpses into artists’ studios and their inspiration.
I live in a two human household and most recipes make at least 4 – 6 servings. So I will spend a weekend day or weeknight evening “power cooking” and making up several large dishes (such as a large lasagne). When the food has cooled, I will break it up it two serving size portions and vacuum seal them and then put them in the freezer (aka “Suck and Freeze”).
So after a long day at my pay-the-bills-healthcare-work (hint: not nearly as fun as crafting), I don’t have to think about dinner – I can just pull something out the freezer and head to the studio to work on a quilt or other craft project!
More time in the studio, less time in the kitchen!
I usually keep about a week’s worth of meals in the freezer to use whenever I do not feel like cooking. Plus if I am off at a quilt retreat, I know the husband has a stash of semi-healthy meals to eat (as opposed to be being lured to fast food and frozen pizzas while I am out of town!)
My beloved “Suck & Freeze” with some lasagne servings I just prepared for freezing
I found an organic branch-like/wood grain-like tone on tone fabric from my collection of Marcia Derse fabrics and placed it between the columns and then as the border.
So now the quilt top is done!
I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like once the machine quilter works her magic!
Some photos below…
NOTE: In the last photo, the quilt top looks a little askew, that is just because The Quilting Husband is trying to hold it still for the photo while the wind is blowing.
A close up of one of the blocks with the setting fabricThe Tree Outside My Window under a tree outside my window!Quilt Top completed on The Tree Outside My Window
This post is an addendum to the post The Space in Which We Live in which I share how Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizinginspired me to downsize my unused and unneeded clothes and get rid of our second dresser in the bedroom.
Since I got rid of the dresser I used, I needed somewhere to store my socks and undies. I convinced my husband to give me one drawer of his tightly packed dresser. He groaned a little at first but realized how much space it would free up in the bedroom to only have one dresser. So he reluctantly cleared out a bottom drawer in his dresser for me.
I jokingly said: “Might I have a top drawer?” A day later I discovered my stuff had been moved to a top drawer, all neatly organized by my husband.
Surprisingly, it did not take me long to get used to living with one drawer. Then the other day, I got quite a surprise: I was opening my top drawer quickly and not paying attention and accidentally opened the drawer below it.
AND IT WAS EMPTY!
My husband, without saying anything, had somehow cleared a second drawer for me, right below my newly beloved solitary top drawer. I now have TWO DRAWERS!
The Empty Drawer
Recently I have been listening to a wonderful book on CD from the library called The Empowering Women Gift Collection (1997) which is a collection of lectures by the motivational and inspirational speakers Louise Hay, Christiane Northrup, Caroline Myss, and Susan Jeffers. Although this CD is from 1997 most of the inspirational information is still pertinent. One of the speakers discusses in her lecture that men may show their love differently than women. Basically they might show their love by fixing the faucet for you rather than getting all sweet and mushy, etc.
I definitely consider this unexpected and unrequested (second) EMPTY DRAWER an act of love!
Continuing my series “What’s On The Design Wall” with an update on where I am in my design and piecing of a new piece that I first introduced in the post: “What’s on the Design Wall: Rescued Blocks II“.
Recently, the name for this piece came to me – “The Tree Outside My Window” as I completed 15 blocks to create this art quilt.
As you will see in the photos below, this piece has FIVE images of trees in it (the post “What’s on the Design Wall: Fabric Surface Design Experimentation” discusses how these trees were created) but “The Trees Outside My Window” did not sound right on my tongue. I believe when naming a piece, it has to sound right to you when you say the name aloud.
After creating fifteen 12.5 inch by 12.5 inch blocks from: 1) 4 inch – 10 inch blocks originally pieced by a friend (“Rescued Blocks”): 2) scraps from my friend; and 3) five printed trees from a surface design workshop, I decided to piece the blocks into 3 columns of 5 blocks each.
Now I am deciding what I want to do next with my design. I am leaning towards putting a strip of solid (or solid like) fabric in between each row and then floating it in the same color as a border. Originally I was going to use a cream batik but it did not look right. Next I thought: “Ah a brown batik with texture would work”, but alas, I only had brown batik scraps in my stash.
Then my fabric stash spoke to me (which is good because I did not want to go out and buy more fabric as I am trying to use my stash)! I spotted the perfect fabric – mono color textured design yardage from my collection of Marcia Derse Riverwoods Collection from Troy Corporation. (At one point I was addicted to this amazing collection and tried to be a sample of all fabrics in this line from The Stitchin’ Post in Central Oregon.)
I am going to leave it a mystery for now which fabric from this beautiful collection I selected for the strips between the three rows and the border. You have to wait until the next post on this piece!
Here are photos from my design wall to include some close-ups:
I am currently listening to the audiobook of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing(Kondo, 2014).
The author, Marie Kondo makes a very powerful statement when she discusses letting go of mementos from our past:
The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.
This book is not your average “here is how you organize your stuff type of book”. It takes a very different and profound approach on dealing with clutter, permanently. Getting rid of physical clutter helps free your mental clutter. I have already experienced this through starting to work through this book.
Marie Kondo approaches dealing with “your stuff” in a very beautiful way. In a way that honors your stuff and the happiness or the function it may have brought you in the past.
Her process requires that you physically touch every single thing you own and decide honestly: “does this bring me joy?”
Her process also involves thanking those things that you give up for what role they played in your life and then letting them go. (This all may sound strange but it is not, it feels very right and very peaceful).
Completed “Phase One”
I have made it through the first phase – letting go of clothing I do not need (she has a specific method and order in which you deal with different categories of your stuff). Two big things happened yesterday: 1) I took a huge carload of clothing and other random stuff to the Humane Society Thrift Store; and 2) I got rid of MY DRESSER!
Our bedroom always felt kind of cluttered with two dressers (my dresser and my husband’s dresser). My 25 year-old dresser blocked part of the area I use to get out of bed. My husband was able to make space for my undies and socks in his dresser. Everything else (including old socks and undergarments not in the best condition) was either discarded, donated or folded/hung up in the closet.
I did touch each item, determine if it brought be joy, and thanked those that did not (bring me joy) for their service before discarding them. We placed my dresser outside on the curb and 5 minutes later it was gone (I believe the Universe gave it to the person who needed next)! Suddenly with the dresser gone, the bedroom appeared to have better flow and energy. I now have room next to the bed to put out my yoga mat in the morning!
Unbelievably freeing experience, so far
You must read or listen to this wonderful book for this all to make sense, and it will. I highly recommend this book and the “Eastern Philosophy” influenced perspective of letting go of the stuff that clutters our lives and our minds.
I continue to work on letting the space that I live be for the person I am becoming now, not for the person I was in the past.
Random pretty sunflower which you will have time to enjoy once you declutter your life 😉
tierneycreates 