The Words We Use

This week my husband and I were on our way back from camping and we stopped by a local quilt shop.  As I was browsing through the fabric there was a 30 something mother and her daughter, who looked like she may be a 5th grader, shopping for fabric.  The daughter picked up a bolt of fabric to which her mother said, 'Is that the fabric you want for your quilt?"  To which the daughter said, "Yes, it isn't the only quilt that I'll ever make."  I chuckled and chimed in, "That's right! There will ALWAYS be more quilts!"  The mom then told me her daughter was picking out fabric for the first quilt she would make all by herself.  "Good for you!"  I told the girl and then went back to shopping.

It was a small quilt shop.  It would be impossible not to hear the conversations around you.  As I shopped the mother tried to guide her daughter in her fabric choices. Her language was laced with, 'you have to', 'you should', 'you can't', 'you always', 'you never', etc.........    As the fabric choices continued I could hear the young girl's voice get less and less interested.  Please don't think I am being critical of the mother.  I know the mom was just trying to make sure her daughter would have a pretty first quilt.  I've said those words myself to my daughters when they were young, and honestly I wonder how much I quashed their desire to sew.   I know that mom had the best of intentions it was just the words she chose that were meant for good but were laced with negativity.

It got me thinking about the words we use when we guide other's in their quilting journey.  There are so many debates out in the quilting world....quilt shop fabric vs big box store fabric, press seams to one side vs. press seams open, prewash vs not prewash, dense quilting vs just enough quilting, modern vs traditional and I could go on and on.  The world of quilting is so big and varied and every technique has it's positives and negatives.  I think it is important that when people ask for guidance in their quilting journey we use language that helps them find 'their' technique.  We need to present the advantages and disadvantages and present the good options that we are aware of and admit there might be other better options that need to be researched.  Then we need to stand back and let them find he one that works for them. We then need to encourage by being happy with and for them as they are enjoying their quilting journey.  It all comes down to the words we use. Encourage with options, praise without negating, leave room for experimentation and mistakes.  It is all part of the process and craft.

Jumping In with Both Feet

Last year I began making quilts in what would be called Modern quilts.  It started with my 20 something daughters each wanting quilts and each of them picking out Amy Butler patterns (yay! they were free!) and modern color palettes and fabrics. (The quilt in my first post was the one I made for my younger daughter)

To be honest I wasn't that excited but wanted them to like their quilts so began picking out 'those wild fabrics' and colors.  To my surprise I really enjoyed working with the fabrics. Things that I thought would clash really didn't.  I loved the patterns with the simple design that let the focus be on the fabrics or design vs the fabric.

Then, a friend invited me to join her to a trunk show given by Victoria Findlay Wolffe sponsored by a local quilt shop.  My reaction was, 'sure, sounds like fun'.   Honestly, I didn't think much would come of it.  I had looked at her book on line and thought...'oh, crazy quilting used in quilts'.  Then I saw the quilts live and in all their glorious color.  I came away from that trunk show, combined with the quilts I had in progress, thinking that I might like 'Modern Quilting' after all.

So I began perusing Pinterest, pinning all the modern quilts I could find.  That led to finding Camp Stitch A Lot sponsored by Pink Castle in MIchigan.  My friend and I went and our instructors were Jacquie Ghering, Amanda Jean Nyberg and Daniel Rausch.  The focus was improvisational piecing and I WAS HOOKED!!!!  I've been off to the races ever since.  (My husband says he has lost me to a sewing machine)

So what does that have to do with the quilt in this post?  Well.....this quilt is an accumulation of my first year of dabbling in and learning about modern quilting.

• I was inspired by Virginia Findlay Wolffe to make 'made fabric'.  The star is 'made fabric' from five different fabrics (one of them being a, 'why in the world did I buy this fabric' purchase).  
• Dan Rausch had taught a slab technique at Camp Stitch a Lot for making made fabric. It is his technique that I used to construct my 'made fabric'.  The benefit of using his technique was lots of interesting angles without having to do Y seams!  Yay!  
• The quilting inspiration came from Jacquie Ghering's Craftsy class on Creative Straight Line Quilting with Your Walking Foot (a great, great Craftsy class).  
• Prior to making the quilt I made a mockette of the quilt to test how it would look, an idea I got from taking Week's Ringle and  Bill Kerr's class on Designing Modern Quilts (another great Craftsy class). 
• The Free Motion Quilting in the star is a modified quilting design from Leah Day.  

It has been a fun year and I have learned tons and have much more to learn.   I hope you enjoy all that I learned last year rolled into this quilt....I call it Crackled Barn Star.

Best Quilt I Ever Made

Over the time I have been quilting I've made about 25 quilts.  Considering I've been quilting since the late 90's that's not that many.  Of those quilts, 11 of them have been made since July of 2013.  A year ago I decided I really wanted to get good at quilting and the only way to do that is to quilt......a lot!  I do have to say the quality of my work has improved over the past year.  This being said the quilt that will now stand out as the best quilt I have ever made and probably will ever make is the one in this post.  It was made two years ago for my grand daughter's crib.  There was a time where I thought there were tons of thing I'd change if I were to make this quilt again and then recently I learned there is nothing I would change for it is the best quilt I ever made.

Over the past week our grandchildren were with us for the week.  Whew, what a whirl wind.  I had forgotten how busy two children under the age of 5 can keep a person.  Every moment of the day is filled.  It was the end of day two and we had had a busy, busy day.  All morning out in the woods hiking.  Throwing rocks in the Lake.  A trip to an ice cream shop after dinner.  Baths to wash off all the after dinner stickiness.  You get the idea.  We were busy!

 After their baths I was helping my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter put on her pajama pants and she pointed down to her crib quilt which she had brought from home and asked, 'did you make my quilt grandma?'.  I absent mindedly replied, 'yep, I did' as I concentrated on getting her foot through the right leg hole.  Then I felt her little hands on my shoulders and her lean up to my ear.  "Thank you grandma", she whispered.  I can honestly say my heart stopped with love for just a moment.  

So you see, the quilt in this post, no matter what other quilts I have made since or will ever make, will always be the best quilt I ever made.

I was SO wrong!

Over the past year I have been collecting fabric in solids of all colors.  One of my thoughts in doing this was it would be easier to design and construct a quilt without having to worry about coordinating print styles and scale. I wouldn't constantly be on the hunt for the last final piece of fabric that goes with everything else.  I honestly thought working with solids would be easier.

So, with much excitement and confidence I started my first project using solids.  I had a short deadline for completion of this quilt so I didn't want a complicated block design.  I decided a quilt of assorted half square triangles sewn together in pleasing color combinations with some neutrals thrown in would be perfect.  I knew laying it out on the design wall would be the time consuming part since I really didn't have a plan for lay out.....I was going to wing it.  I mean how hard could that be....right?  Famous last words!!

First attempt to lay out the quilt in a design that made some sort of sense was many, many hours of arranging and rearranging blocks.  To be honest the first arrangement was horrible!  I woke up the next day, shook my head and thought, 'what was I thinking?!?'.  Then I broke down and went to my Pinterest boards for inspiration. Honestly I had been resisting my urge to peruse my pins as I wanted to do this 'all myself'.  But for heaven's sake, that's why I do all that pinning.......for inspiration!  Fortunately the ideas I had pinned sent me off in a direction where I could come up with my own design, one that had order vs chaos.

During the whole process I learned that making a quilt with solids is actually (for me) more challenging than with prints. Below is what I learned.

Solids amplify everything! If your cutting or piecing is off it will show, especially if the pieces you are joining are contrasting colors.  Degrees of variance won't be obscured by the print.

Designing a multi-color scheme in solids takes more thought.  With print fabric the amount of any one color is scaled for you.  The fabric may be predominantly one color but the manufacturer has scaled all the other colors in the print to the right proportion, the right hue, the right intensity, etc......  With solids, you have to choose the proportion, shade, tone, hue and placement of each color.  It takes a lot of thought.

Because there are no prints to absorb quilting errors or bobbles, the quilting needs to be well planned and well executed.  Thread color will need to be well thought out as the quilting will be a more predominant design feature.  Should the thread be a unifying single color? (That's what I went with and have decided I love light grey!)  What about the parts of the quilt where the thread will be more contrasting?  Am I confident enough in my quilting plan that I think those areas will look nice?  What about variegated thread?  It will alternately blend and contrast depending on where the variegation happens.  Since there isn't a print to absorb those changes, how will that look?

Binding color becomes more of a design element.  Will it compete with the other colors of the quilt?  Will it skew the color balance already created?  Do I want it to stand out? Do I want it to blend in?  Hmmmm....scrappy....no!  :-)

I'm sure there are many more elements to consider that I haven't realized yet. What I do know is that I have a greater appreciation of Amish quilts now.  In their simplicity there is a lot of unrealized (and unappreciated) complexity and design!

I really enjoyed my experience working with solids and look forward to doing some more quilts using just solids in the future.

Here I go again!

It was a nice Summer, Friday afternoon in my car on my way home from work, caught up with all the tourist traffic heading up the North Shore of Lake Superior.  Now honestly this time of year is the only time there are traffic issues where I live. While I was slowly making my way to my turn off song lyrics came into my head, 'making my way back home......'.  I thought to myself that'd be a great blog title!  It's specific enough to tie into the things that a person makes but vague enough to also fit personal ramblings not related to making something.  I mean aren't we all just 'making our way'?  As I end my fifth decade with my sixth decade right around the corner I seem to be reflecting more and more how I have 'made my way' and will 'make my way'.

So heck, why not!  I'll try this blog thing again and see if I can truly keep up with it.  For now it will be a place for musings and for sharing the sewing I am doing (mostly quilts).  I'm no expert in anything.  Just another person sharing their thoughts and life.  But hopefully it will be interesting.