Plotting and Planning

 I have a couple of quilt tops in progress here in The Magpie's Nest, and others ready for the actual quilting. But lately I've been missing activity in another sector of my creative endeavors. There hasn't been any needlework for quite a while (partly due to the pain I was having in my wrist and hand). I don't seem to have any desire to pick up the needlepoint projects I started at various points in the past. I want an excuse to use the pretty threads I've been collecting. It's hard for me to make something that doesn't have an end use or purpose, to just pick up needle and thread and put stitches in fabric. Believe me, I've tried. I doubt that I'm the only one with this particular issue but I do feel a bit of an oddball. 

I've been watching Susan Taylor Brown* on YouTube and occasionally drop in on her Facebook group. She advocates making things "Just Because" it makes you happy to do so. Easier said than done in my case, even though I know it's good for my soul. I think I've shared one or two things I started under the influence of her encouragement. After the most recent live stream on YouTube (16 November) I had some new thoughts to ponder. 

I've also been aware of creative challenges offered to various types of artists via YouTube videos. While they rarely feel like a good fit for me there are aspects that have appeal. To that end I had a go at creating my own personal challenge. I've decided to call it my Monthly Art Project - my "MAP" to a place of happiness. I've tossed out parameters like a standard format. I'm going to try to do a small hand sewn project every month but I will allow myself the leniency of two months given potential days of poor health. The key to this challenge for me is going to be my "toy box." 

Over the years I have collected things that can be sewn down onto fabric that will make great focal points. And hopefully, great inspiration triggers. 😊 I have pulled some of those items from the stash and put them in an appropriate box:

Each month I will choose one item from the box, then close it up and put is aside until the next month. 

I will let the chosen item dictate color scheme, the size and shape of the project, and just let the spirit lead me down the garden path (which is my favorite way to work). I'd like to dedicate only a couple of days a month to each project but we'll see how that goes. I reserve the right to tweak these plans at any time. 😁 What I need now is accountability. I'm hoping others in Susan's Creative Circle will play along. And if there's anyone out there with a blog who cares to join in you are more than welcome!

*No relation that I'm aware of.

Scrap Happy in March

 I've actually done some scrap piecing! 

Tanya McGuire posted an ugly fabric challenge on her YouTube channel a couple of weeks back. From what I've seen, she primarily works with paper, making journals of various sorts. Somewhere along the way she came across yardage of a navy and white double-knit houndstooth print hat she declared was the ugliest fabric in the world. While I cannot wholeheartedly agree with her on that point - I've seen prints I consider much less attractive - I decided to take her up on the challenge to do something interesting with that ugly fabric. I emptied out one of my bags of smaller scraps and set to work on the 8.5" x 11" piece she sent out, using the back side of the challenge fabric as a foundation for some intuitive piecing. 

My overall plan was to make a book or journal cover. I chose to piece on the back side of the fabric so the challenge print would still be visible when Tanya receives my entry. 

I kept to neutral prints, trying for those that might mimic things that would be found in one of her junk journals. I also worked on the two halves of the cover separately so there would be a back and a front for the eventual book.

That floral strip down the middle is a piece of binding, giving me a finished edge where the two halves came together. I used a variegated thread to topstitch that in place and then zigzag around the perimeter of the cover.

I was reluctant to put a more finished edge on the book cover as I'm not sure how Tanya will end up using it. It did not come out to a standard book size. She may even choose to cut it up and use bits as pockets or embellishments in her work. Speaking of pockets...

I simply folded a couple pieces of leftover muslin and stitched them to the inside of each end to create pockets into which the back and front cover of a journal can be inserted. (Turn the photo horizontally in your mind's eye.)

I'm probably one of the last in this link party to post what I've done with scrap materials this month. Scrap Happy is open to anyone who would like to share how they've used or repurposed leftover materials. Not everyone posts every month but you'll always find something interesting on their blogs. If you'd like to participate just contact Kate or Gun from the links below. Welcome to Bear and Carol this month! Hopefully you'll see me again next month with something new I've made from the abundant scraps in this Magpie's Nest. 😉

Kate, Gun, Eva, Lynn, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn,
Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin,
Vera, Nanette, Ann, Nancy, Dawn 2, Noreen,
Bear and Carol

The Final SAL for 2020

 I had to laugh at myself when I reread my last SAL post, from the beginning of this month. So far from having my #12pagesofChristmas book nearly complete, I barely touched it between then and now. Christmas you know. You can see the little hearts I stitched up for the eldest granddaughters in the previous post. There were other gifts made, and shopping to do online and locally, gift wrapping, and well, you know the drill. I'm quite proud to have completed two of the remaining five pages. 

I followed Anne's lead closely for page seven. The brief was 9 circles. I stitched mine down essentially same way she did hers.

I did ad the star stitches between the central circles though. All my circles were cut from one batik print. I chose that print because I thought all the lines going in different directions would make them more interesting. 

The next prompt is for a pocket on a page and a tag to go into the pocket. I've skipped that one for the time being. Page nine is supposed to feature mini hexies, English paper piecing. I don't do regular size hexies, never mind mini jobs. So I've spent countless hours trying to come up with a work-around for that prompt. I decided to go with pieces of English paper instead of English paper piecing. 😉

My papers were cut or torn from a magazine out of Britain and are simply sewn down with machine sewing thread. The castle tag is off a piece of clothing. I made an attempt at an embroidered rose to fill an empty spot. So, fairly simple in the end. 

Over the next three weeks I'll be working on that pocket and tag page and hopefully one or two others. I still have to figure out what I'm going to do about a cover too. A couple of participants, Anne included, have had their book turn out too bulky to fit into the tin they originally chose for storing it. That could happen here too. Meanwhile, Anne is planning a new project for 2021. Not sure I'll be playing along but I will certainly be watching. 😁

To see the progress others in the group have made in the last three weeks just click on their links below. It's fun to see the variety of projects in the works.

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, 

Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, MaryMargaret, Renee, 

Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Jenny, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen

Advent Challenge Project

Last month/last year I decided to participate in Susan's Advent Challenge for the first time ever. The goal was to make a block for the quilt of your choice each day of December leading up to Christmas and then to assemble the blocks into a top between Christmas and New Year's Day. I chose a simple block in only two colors (two blue prints and the ecru background) with the idea to use them around a Nativity panel I'd had in my stash nearly forever. 

I did not make a block a day but I did manage to make six blocks per week. Between Christmas and New Year's Day, however, I don't think any sewing of any kind took place. We had the grands over for our gift exchange on Boxing Day and then I watched the Rose Parade on New Year's Day before we began our annual movie marathon. Those are my only two official excuses. There must have been other extenuating circumstances, I just can't remember what they were. 😉

I finally got my act together the other day and put the blocks back up on the design wall with the panel. I really wasn't sure what the final layout would be. Kate left a comment when I first showed this project that caused me to put the panel up in the corner of the prospective quilt top rather than centering it as I would normally have done. 

I knew I would need to come up with compensating blocks or some other method for filling in the gap (wherever it ended up being in the layout). Nothing I've thought about for an alternate layout has taken hold. I want to make partial blocks to fill in that empty space you see on the wall but I'd run out of two of the prints featured in the blocks. Fortunately my LQS still has it in stock so that purchase has been made. All I have to do now is get those small cuts washed and pressed, cut some squares, and we'll be good to go. You may not be able to see it in the photos but that's a medium scale blue holly print in the center of the blocks. I'm planning to use four inch strips of that to border the whole top to make it a bit bigger. I think it's going to finish around 60" x 72" in the end. 

While it feels good to finally be doing something with this panel I've been reminded that controlled palettes are not my thing. It was fine to have mindless sewing to do in the run-up to Christmas but now I'm having to push myself to keep this from becoming a UFO. I'd much rather be building a scrappy quilt. I cut a bunch of background patches for scrappy Ships to sew up between seams as I assemble this top. That will help. I also have a couple of other piecing projects I've begun that I will have to share in the days to come. The trick will be to not let them take over before this top is complete! 

Stitch at Home Challenge

I learned about the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design (what a mouthful!) a couple of months ago via the Fiber Talk podcasts. I was especially intrigued by their Stitch at Home Challenges because, obviously, stitching at home is what I do most - as opposed to taking classes in public or traveling or anything much outside of my home. I couldn't pull anything together for the challenge that was in place when I first learned about the School although I did have an idea I would have liked to have brought into existence. The new challenge, however, is right up my alley. The theme is Healing and Reflection.

At first I found this theme a bit overwhelming. There are so many possibilities, so many facets to this topic (which is why it makes such a good theme I suppose). But it wasn't long before I was rescued by something I've done nearly every day for the past 18 years: Morning Pages.

If you've read The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron you'll know what I'm talking about. Her book is basically a self-help manual for stuck artists or those who don't think of themselves as artists but are besieged by creative urges. A friend of mine introduced me to the book and suggested we get together with a couple of other like-minded friends to work our way through the book. This was back before my MCS diagnosis. We were a small group, only four of us consistently as I recall. It was very helpful to have the group though. Without the accountability they provided I would never have done some of the exercises suggested at the end of the chapters. But by far the most valuable thing I took away from my time with Julia and her book was Morning Pages. 

Essentially Morning Pages is 30 to 40 minutes spent writing, by hand, first thing in the morning. Before there's been any input from the outside world to influence your thoughts or feelings. It can be a difficult practice to establish but I've come to rely on it for a variety of reasons. I write three pages a day in a cheap, 10.5" x 8" spiral-bound notebook. I vent anger or frustration, I come up with ideas for new projects or solutions for current efforts, I confess my fears and anxieties. There are days when it's hard to come up with anything to say and days when my pages are full of gratitude. Not only have Morning Pages and the Artist's Way helped me to feel more confident in myself as an artist, it's helped me to come to terms with my circumstances. In short, I dump or dream on the page and am healed in so doing. But how to represent that with fabric and thread?

I decided to make a textile book, a sort of replica of the notebooks I have filled over the years. There may not be a lot of needlework on the pages but this is one place where I don't feel the pressure to do more than is necessary. I have selected text prints from my stash to create the pages for my book.

Each print is symbolic of one way Morning Pages have helped me to heal. My intention is to use embroidery to clarify or label the pages.

Obviously I've used some ribbon and trims too. Most of the decorative needlework will be on the cover, I think. Right now I'm not sure what the cover is going to look like. That will come in time. Probably when I've finished with the pages. 😉

First SAL of September

Seeing as how it's the very first day of the month I'd say it's a safe bet there will be another Stitch Along posting in September.  😉We check in every three weeks to share our progress on whatever needlework we have underway. That would make it the 22nd according to my calculations. But don't trust me, I have a screaming headache at the moment. 

As I prophesied in my last post, I don't have anything to share this time around. There's been absolutely no progress on the embroidery projects I have designated for this SAL. What I would like to share, however, are a couple of opportunities that may be of interest to the other members of the group. They are both offered by the San Fransisco School of Needlework and Design. One is a challenge to use your favorite needlework techniques to make a piece inspired by your thoughts on healing, art, and reflection. You can read the full prospectus here. The second is an invitation to make a section for what they hope will be the World's Longest Band Sampler. The information about that project can be found on this page of their website.

But also be sure to check out what everyone else in this SAL has been working on!

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, 
Cindy, Helen, Linda, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, 
Deborah, Clare, Mary Margaret, Renee, Jenny,Carmela, Jocelyn, Sharon

And hopefully I'll have some stitching to share the next time we meet. 😊

Basket Reveal - Gwennie Inspired QAL

I'm so excited the day has finally arrived to show you the baskets I made for the liberated medallion quilt along. Plus we've been given the challenge for the next step. More about that later...

If you hop over to Humble Quilts there's a link party wherein you'll be able to see the variety of baskets that have been made for this quilt along. So far most fall into what I would call a country or primitive style. But not all! Mine don't clearly fit into that category either. ;- )

There's been a lot of applique happening to make the various basket blocks. I don't applique (except under duress) so of course my baskets are pieced. I also chose to make two so I would have a rectangular format for my eventual-quilt.

Or maybe I just had so much fun making the first one that I made a second one to go with it! (If you're going to piece one basket block you may as well piece two.) My baskets are filled with roses. They were fussy cut from a skull and roses print. Now you may have a clue as to the choice of bats for the background of my blocks.

The challenge that has been given us for the next month is to think on our childhoods, or on childhood in general, and use that to direct our design decisions for the first border around our baskets. I truly hadn't anticipated that curve ball. But now that I think about it, my goal when I selected the skull and roses print and then the bats was to allow my inner child to finally play with these prints that bring a smile to my face. They tickle my funny bone, they make me happy. I'm not quite sure how that will manifest in the next round but I'm looking forward to finding out! :- )

Scrappy Saturday

Last year about this time I was inspired by soscrappy's annual rainbow scrap challenge. It took on a life of its' own however, and became my Grandma's Box of Crayons quilt.

I have been looking at what QuiltDivaJulie has planned for her scraps this year and what she's done so far and I have become inspired again. I'm not going to go whole hog the way Julie is but I thought this would be a good way to try to use up some of the cuts of fabric I have that have become too small to put back in the stash. In the end I decided to make Ohio Stars rather than the Sawtooth Star Sampler blocks Soscrappy (I've forgotten her given name!) has designed for us.

The color for January was to be a medium blue. I had a little trouble coming up with scraps that fit that description but I have three blocks that I think qualify. The fourth is a little dark perhaps. My intention is to make three blocks per month for a twin size quilt at the end of the year.That dark block was made early on which is why I've ended up with four blocks this month.

The color for February is pink. I may have a hard time stopping at three blocks again, but just because I have so much pink in my stash!

From Where I Sit

This was the view from my chair in the studio today:

I brought a bunch of daffodils into the studio early last week and my Dear Husband brought the tulips to me yesterday. {happy sigh} Lovely.

I had the anniversary/tea towel challenge quilt out today to put some more beads in while DH was at church. I'm just filling the red areas with red seed beads at this point. I still don't know what I'm going to do with those hearts, if anything. I have decided that I'm willing to give him an unfinished quilt however. After all, I'm still waiting for the quilt rack I was promised from his hands a year ago last Christmas!

I made these four Scrappy Trip blocks for my Grandma's Crayon Box quilt this week:

This was the first block I made out of my yellows.

It didn't work for me for this project so it will go into the Parts Dept. for later use. I've also made some six inch blocks for the Parts Dept. out of scrap patches.

I've been wanting to give the Contrary Wife block a try. Here it is, on the top row, in six inch blocks out of scraps. I'm going to have to make more to really get a handle on how best to use the values in that pattern.

I also cut some larger patches and made 9" stars:

There are two Ohio Stars in the set and four Twin Stars. One of the Twin Stars was made out of my flying pig print from years ago:

I don't think this will go into my When Pigs Fly challenge quilt but it was fun to play with the print in a single block.

Let's see, what else? Oh, there's a friendship block for a guild member at the very top of my design wall.

The pattern I had was for the 6" flower. The friendship request was for a 9" block so I created a bud and added a strip of background at the top (which I seem to have cut off in the photograph!) and the additional foliage at the bottom.

All in all it was a pretty productive week!

Anniversary Quilt Progress

I've slowly been making progress on my Tea Towel Challenge quilt, which will double as an anniversary quilt celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. The first step was to cut off the calendar portion of the towel. If it had been from the year of our marriage I would have left it in place - or tried to anyway!

I was able to cut off the side hems but took out the top hem before trimming that edge to make it easier to get a straight cut.

The design I'd come up with for the rest of the quilt involved making some heart blocks. My first thought was to make a heart for each of our children. We have three, but not really one for each year of our marriage. More like all three in the first ten years! Which led me to consider where we were in each decade. The first ten years were spent in Texas...

I had to use two different prints to make this four inch heart.

In the next decade we moved up to the state of Washington, specifically the Skagit Valley. Unfortunately, this photograph is rather blurry. What it features in a small image of tulips and the words 'Skagit Valley' on the right half and 'Washington' on the left. These were cut from a print made for the Western Washington Shop Hop a few years ago. So glad I still had some!

We're still in the Skagit Valley so I was a little stumped as to what to do for the third decade. DH has been working in Seattle for about that amount of time (a 60 mile commute each way - yuck). In the same Shop Hop print I found an image of the Space Needle, not too far from DH's current office, and a mountain that could be Mt. Baker. It might have been meant to represent Mt. Rainier but I think it can work for either. DH loves Mt. Baker and gets to see it most every day on his way home. So there's the third heart!

I originally wanted to include this beautiful monogram from another towel in my quilt:

This was going to be the layout:

But it didn't look as good as I'd hoped it would. Nor could I figure out how to make it work. That's when I went back to my first idea and made a heart to represent each of our children.

I used the color of their birthstones to make my fabric selections. I'm still trying to figure out whether or how to embellish them. What I've done so far is to bead/quilt the background around the couple.

I'm using size 11 clear seed beads.

Before I started beading I put a layer of muslin on the back so I have a regular quilt sandwich of the top, Warm & Natural batting, and muslin. I'm using a double strand of Silamide thread. Here's a picture of the back of the quilt:

When all the bead work is done I will put a false back - something prettier - over the muslin and tack it in place discreetly before I bind the edges. The second layer of fabric will protect the beading thread and allows me to work more quickly and freely in this stage of the process. Now I just have to figure out what to use in and around the heart blocks... :- )

This and That

There's not a lot happening yet here in the Magpie's Nest. I'm still slightly in recovery mode apparently. I did make a couple of friendship blocks but didn't think to get pictures for you. Just this morning I pulled out a section of strata that had been given to me years ago. This is what's left of it:

And this is what I made out of it:

Two blocks that will finish at about 14 inches each. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet but it's possible they will become the start of a new quilt top for a child in Foster Care.

It occurs to me that I haven't yet blogged my fabric choices for the Tea Towel Challenge. Partly that's because I don't anticipate using much more than two of the towels I bought when I first signed up for the challenge. It's also due to the fact that I don't choose my fabrics ahead of time. I pull them when I'm ready to use them. I was pleasantly surprised at how much brighter my main towel looked after it was soaked in borax for several hours.

Before:

And after:

Well, maybe you can't see the difference. Trust me, it's brighter. ;- )

I'm also using the monogram from another towel:

Well, that's the plan anyway. I hope to have the energy soon to start working on this little quilt. It's only going to be about 18" x 24," to fit a specific space in our home. In case this is your first visit to my Nest the plan is to make these tea towels into an anniversary gift/wall hanging for my husband. Our 30th wedding anniversary just happens to fall at about the same time as the challenge deadline. You should be able to click on the link above to see what others are doing in this challenge.

Speaking of recycling or up-cycling textiles, C~ brought over the body of an old apron she thought I would enjoy playing with. She was right!

Aren't they cute?

I haven't a clue what I'll do with them yet. It makes me happy just to have the panel on my design wall for now. :- )

2014 Tea Towel Challenge

I was visiting over at Quilt Diva Julie's blog and spotted a new badge on her sidebar. That took me over to Sophie Junction where, among other things, I learned about her tea towel challenge for 2014. This isn't the first one ever but it was the first one I'd heard of. I'm a sucker for a textile challenge!

The guidelines are simple:

1. Your quilt must include a tea towel–it can be new or vintage.
2. The colors in the tea towel determine the color palette for your quilt. 
3. Try something new. Since this one is defined by you, it can be anything and is an opportunity to add your own personal guidelines to the challenge.

Well, my something new will be using a tea towel as the major inspiration and focal element in an art quilt!

I didn't have anything in the house that I wanted to use so I did some online browsing. New towels didn't appeal particularly. I hit pay dirt at Etsy.com though. The first towel that caught my attention was this one:

 

I like the house image - I've always like house blocks in quilts - but it was the prayer that sealed the deal.

I've never been a kitchen person. This just seemed appropriate. ;- )

Then I cam across this one:

Another building, and I was confident I could work with the farm theme. The towel is not from 1925, it was put out by Hickory Farms in 1980 or thereabouts.

But seeing these calendar towels got me thinking. About the time of the deadline for this challenge DH and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. That sent me back to Etsy to look for a calendar towel from the year of our wedding.

I didn't have much luck with 1984. But one lovely vendor had a bundle of three vintage towels for sale...

That last one made me add the bundle to my shopping cart. I don't have to use the calendar part after all, and the boy and girl on the towel are in the same style as the Precious Moments figures we had on our wedding cake and napkins.

Don't tell my husband, but the end product of this challenge will be his anniversary present from me. He's been hinting that he needs/wants another piece of my artwork. Of course he didn't start hinting until it was too late to make him something for Christmas. Turns out it was just as well, this works out better anyway!

Oh, and if anyone out there wants one of the other towels for the challenge leave a comment and we'll work something out. :- )