First Finish for November

I got that first intention out of the way, with a day to spare. 

I'm calling this one done! I thought I wanted more quilting on it, but have decided to leave things alone. This was a paper pieced Impatiens, Judy Niemeyer pattern,  that I appliquéd onto an improvisationally pieced background.   

And here it is with a flower sitting on top for added interest. 

This was going to be my entry into a President's challenge with my quilt guild. We drew envelopes that contained three color chips. 80% of your finished piece was to be those colors. You could add up to 3 other colors. It had to be a minimum of 30" on each side. 

My color chips were represented by the yellows in the flower, mottled jade in the background, and the pale green in smallest inner border. I added brown and fuschia. I think I hit the 80% criteria. 

Then it was time to quilt and bind it. Something went wrong, very wrong! I have learned my lesson, I need to stabilize the quilt top to maintain the dimensions. It doesn't meet the minimum of 30" on each side. I could add something to make it larger, like giant rick-rack or prairie points. But, to tell the truth, I'm ready to be done with it. I really liked what I did, but it took so long that I've lost my enthusiasm for it. It is time to send it off into the world. Giving it away gives me the most pleasure anyway. 

Hope your projects get finished before they become boring. Luann

Call and Response Challenge

Back in May, I handed to each member of Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild this little grouping of 'stuff'. 

Brown paper sandwich bag, cd, and pieces of fabric, yarns, threads, lace, and a section of a panty hose leg where the beginnings of our challenge. That was the 'Call' portion. Everyone was encouraged to be inspired and create. No other perameters were given. 

More will be coming in but these were the 'Responses' shared on Saturday. 

I know some members weren't up for this, but that's ok. It was meant to get some creative energy happening. 

Bev L. brought in her Dancing Diva, Freida Friday. She would receive the 'Best Last Minute Effort', because Bev told us it got done the night before! Way to 'rock on'!  

Next is Susan I., owner of Fabulon Studio. She takes the 'Early Bird' award. Her's was finished back by our June meeting! Obviously, she was inspired early on. 

Here is Angela's Flower Garden. She used everything but the bag and cd. The panty hose?, yep they are her stems. This one gets 'Best Incorporation of Materials into Another Piece of Artwork'. 

Kathy B., our President this year agreed with me that so many ideas kept running thru her head until she finally decided to just 'do' something. I think this is her rendition of those kitchen witches from the past. So her award is, 'Better Done Than Not'. Front and back. 

This next one from Sandy H. gets the 'Most Inspired' award. She didn't use any of the items that she was given. However, she told how the variety of them inspired her. To my best recollection she said: There were shiny and dull surfaces, thus her choice of yarns

The insertion type lace led her to make the open work area where the drawstring goes thru, and

The 'strings' gave her the direction for those drawstrings. There might have been more, but my memory only has so much space,,, oh, I think we can safely say the brown 'bag' is represented, too. 

Finally here are my two pieces. A little something for my sewing room wall. And the bookmark/note pad I used for keeping track of all those July finishes, etc. I get, 'Everything and the Kitchen Sink' , the only piece you can't see is the fabric strip and that was used on the backside of the bookmark to hold everything together. 

The 'Call and Response' challenge was something I read about on someone else's blog. I don't remember who, so if you read this and it was your blog, let me know and I'll put your info on this. 

I recall it was a Jazz term where one musician would play a 'rift' then another musician would respond with their 'rift', and on it would go. 

So, I hope this encourages some other creatives to put together 'goody bags' and challenge your friends to be creative. 

May God bless you with inner peace and joy. Luann

Perseverance Paid Off

 

Yesterday, before and after Yoga class, I was in the sewing room. I decided that I should be able to figure out why my machine wouldn't do the free motion quilting and thread sketching that it was capable of. I started by going back to the beginning,,,

First I set my machine up as though I was going to be piecing a block together. This meant changing the foot, lifting the feed dogs, changing out the thread, and removing my Supreme Slider. I even changed the needle to a different brand entirely. And as you might guess, I was back into sewing nice even stitches and straight lines without any thread shredding, skipped stitches, or broken needles!

Then I proceeded to change one thing at a time. In the end I was using a different free motion foot and a different brand of needle. Things looked like they were going to move along as desired. And they did!

I am very unskilled in FMQ. Same is true for my thread painting. I just know that I enjoy the process and that I am making this for myself! I only finished off the center printed block, but I'm happy with it. 

 

My background fills will get better as I invest time into this process. I don't have a stitch regulator on my machine so stitches to the inch is variable, which doesn't bother me at all. And the darning foot that I ended up using was a closed toe and I had been using an open toe previously. 

I also noticed that the amount of stitching has drawn the piece up a bit. I was able to press it flat, but I know it will want to 'shrink' back. So, I will be doing a fair amount of stitching on this piece, hand and machine, before I consider it done. This is where I wish I had a machine designated to this work, and another one for piecing. I picked up an old Singer awhile back. It weighs a ton. I need to put it into service and see how it performs. Maybe it can become one of the designated machines. 

My favorite section, so far, has to be the tree roots I put into this area.

 

I am so glad that God has given me the patience to keep trying to figure things out. 

I was ready to take the machine in for a check up, when all it needed was a change up!

God has certainly blessed me,

Luann

Busy Week Over and Busy Week Ahead

This past week has been a busy one, indeed!

Monday was the usual routine of laundry and general cleaning.

Tuesday brought a full day of artsy stuff and an evening with our Ladies Ministry group at church. We had Secret Sisters last year and this was on the apron Julie gave me,

Wednesday included decluttering of the Art Studio. I tend to save a lot of "stuff" that can be recycled.

Thursday had Jennifer from Farm to Table Delivery stopping by with our produce, dairy, and meat order.

Friday morning I went to ABC at 9:30 to introduce myself to the With These Hands group of stitchers.
That afternoon I also connected with a stitcher in my neighborhood and was invited to join another group.

Saturday, the Palmetto Fiber Arts Guild met at the Charleston Museum for a behind-the-scenes tour of some of the lovely textiles they have available for study. Maria Louisa and Maria introduced me to Puerto Rican food afterwards. I had steak Mofongo. Getting to know these two ladies was definitely the highpoint of the entire day. 

Sunday came and off to Cornerstone Baptist Church we went. Salmon on the grill was George's offering for our lunch. Also took care of getting the menu planned for the upcoming week and did the grocery shopping.

AND now for the upcoming week's activities:

Monday- laundry, general cleaning, install driver for new printer, haircut (?), prepare Sangria dye solution and do the first testing of it, Playday if Fran can make it, and all the other things I have on my "routine"

Tuesday- first day of a new Bible study group, lunch with friends, spend some time in my sewing room OR dyeing more things if I like the Sangria color

Wednesday- I'll be meeting Vicki and the group of stitchers at the clubhouse nearby for a morning of stitching and lunch with them, hopefully I will be in the midst of some dyeing or deconstructed screen printing

Thursday- Leslie's Birthday, should do a full system backup on my computer, and I'd better get some progress done on the Challenge #1 piece I've been mulling over for too long

Friday- will be checking in with Carol at the Antique shop for an update on my consigned items, set appointment for health insurance conference, Challenge #1 piece! ! ! !

Saturday- George will be away for the weekend so this would be a very good time to work in my sewing lab or art studio and order food delivered????

Sunday- March 1, time to tweak the plan and decide on weekly focuses

I think that's a pretty full week coming up. I'll let you know how well I do at staying to plan.

Let's Create Today,
Something that brings us joy and contentment.
Luann

Challenge Due March 1st

I have a challenge piece due March 1st. It is with the Just Use It group on Stitchinfingers.ning.com

The challenge is to take a piece that I rec'd from one of the swapping members and "frame" it. Now it doesn't mean it needs to be conventionally matted and framed, just "framed" in some way. We are doing these to encourage one another to use, not just collect, all the lovely pieces rec'd over each year. I think I received over 100 pieces during 2014. 

It wasn't easy to chose which one to work on first, but Hazel's wisteria piece won. 

It was done on a white damask napkin. I totally loved it, but the white was too stark for what I wanted to do with it. I used some weak dye solutions and a method that Ellen Anne Eddy taught for coloring the background. The lace insert pieces on the left don't show their color very well, but they were done at the same time. 

I know where I want to take this, I'm just not settled on my method yet. I will keep you posted. 

So,

Let's Create Today!

Luann