It’s been slow going over the last two weeks. I forgot to mention, in my last post, that I started a new job on November 10th. With the new job comes disruption to my regular routine. Things aren’t so completely thrown off kilter that I fail to accomplish anything in my home life, my art quilt life; they are just new and shiny and exciting mixed with busy and longer hours at the office to learn different but similar tasks.
Coupled with a new job and increased responsibility, last weekend was spent visiting Hockey Boy at university and Lacrosse Boy, who came home for a short visit. The opportunity to spend time with my boys is one of most favorite things to do. Even my art takes a back seat to the pleasure of being with my family.
By the time this posts, I’ll be on my way back home from a business trip.
Honestly, it’s a wonder I made any progress at all!
So far, it’s just stitch in the ditch around all the compass pointsA closer look but still hard to see any quiltingSince the quilting isn’t visible on the front, here’s the back
Please stop back in a couple of weeks to see if I’ve made further progress.
Do you always find a way to keep working on your art, even if only in baby steps, when life gets busy?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved the design of a Mariner’s Compass. Maybe it reminds me of the stars or the sun, celestial orbs with radiant light. I’m a child of the moon who loves the warmth of the sun, fascinated by the interstellar glory of a supernova deep within the cosmos. But the Mariner’s Compass isn’t considered an easy design to stitch together so I shelved the idea in the back of my quilt artist brain and told myself, one day, when I’m a “master”, I’ll give it a try.
I’m nowhere near a master in the quilt art world, but it turns out there are tricks and treats available if one only looks. I came across a Little Bits pattern by Cindi Edgerton at the local fabric shop. The pattern employs the paper piecing technique. Always up for learning new techniques and, with the added bonus of finally making my own Compass, I snatched up the pattern and took it home (after paying, of course).
Using fabric from my stash, bright, sunshiny colors each, I dove in this week and created the vibrant block below. Turns out paper piecing is pretty simple once one gets the hang of it. Learning this method should come in handy for future projects, using my own patterns.
I intend to ignore the rest of the purchased pattern, discarding the idea to ring this sun with a border of flying geese. Not a big fan of geese, fabric or real. I have to dodge real geese on my way into my office building, which is true test of one’s dedication to the day job. Instead, I plan to offset the compass block on a 45 degree shift from one point in the lower right side of the quilt top. The remainder of the top will be a soft yellow to pick up the tiny hint in one of the compass points, representing the first hint of light at the dawn.
In the meantime, please let me know what you think of this blast of color.
Little Bits ~ Mariner’s Compass pattern by Cindi EdgertonJust because it’s a mariner’s compass doesn’t mean it needs to be made in ocean colorsPutting the blocks togetherThe sun shines. See that tiny hint of yellow on the tip of the 3 o’clock compass point? There’s the light of dawn
Please stop back in a couple of weeks to see the finished top and the quilting progress.
And just in time for those blustery Fall days, complete with wind and rain, to make their annual appearance.
This piece of art was the product of too many days spent looking out the window at dark, grey skies and exhaust colored snow last winter. I found myself contemplating words — synonyms — for “grey” in an attempt to take my mind off the fact that Spring was taking its sweet time in arriving. It was mid-April and still snowing. The native Mid-westerners were in agreement that the 2013 – 2014 winter was one of the longest, snowiest, and most abysmal in recent history.
All those synonyms turned into a poem (link below), then the poem turned into a sketch for a quilt. The quilt includes the spots of color that were missing from the dark days of winter.
I am pleased the finished piece so closely resembles the original sketch.
Original sketchFinished art piece. The warp comes from the grey strips. I should have alternated ends when stitching strips together – lesson learned. But I like the warp; it gives this life. The world isn’t flat.The poem labelI laid this on the bed while I was preparing to hang* it for its first photo opp. When I saw the sun fall across the scene, I had to take a photo. More light on a grey day.
*Hang = tape to wall with painter’s tape, scramble to take picture for record and blog post before art falls to floor. I really need a better system when my art is finished and ready for its close up.
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Next up: A Mariner’s Compass quilt from a pattern for the technique lesson. Come back in two weeks and see how it’s going.
Apparently I’m part of the slow quilting movement, if there is such a thing.
Over the last two weeks, the quilting has begun. The only piece that still needs to be quilted is the tree and then I can move on to binding and finishing Words for Grey.
Few words this post – mostly photos. Hope you enjoy.
The leaves were cut free hand and fusible appliqued to the backgroundThe house was quilted “stitch in the ditch” to maintain the “siding” effectThe rain keeps coming down
Please come back soon to see the finished art.
Is there such a thing as the “slow quilting movement”?
Hilary Clark Studios 