Philanthropic Quilts

I didn't get much done this week. Had some personal issues at home over the weekend, along with school work. But I did work on a philanthropic quilt during the week, as well as an applique block for AVQA.

I belong to another group of quilters, the I&M Quilters. I&M stands for Irell & Manella, which is a law firm I used to work at. My current job is in the building next door, and I still have a lot of friends there, a couple of which are part of the quilt group. We are a philanthropic group, making quilts mainly for donations to patients at City of Hope and the Los Angeles Children's Hospital. Throughout the year, several of us also work on quilts for family and friends. The firm provides us with an office that we've turned into a sewing room, with our fabric stash along one wall, ironing board and cutting table under the windows, a comfortable couch against another wall, and four sewing machines set up on tables in the center of the room.

Some of the people in the group are new quilters, so we also do some classes and easy quilt patterns. These have two benefits. First, the easy patterns help teach the new quilters all the ins and outs of quilting, starting from choosing fabric, all the way through to quilting, binding and labeling. The second benefit is that these simple quilts then become our donations. Because the patterns are simple, we're able to complete and donate more quilts. Last year, we donated 32 quilts to City of Hope. The quilts are given to cancer patients. We try to do a variety of colors and fabrics, so that we have quilts for all ages, and that would please both male and female recipients.

The title of the first quilt we're doing this year is "Line Art," and the designer is Holly Hickman. Perla, our "leader" in the group, got the pattern from the Winter 2010 edition of Quilts and More magazine (from Better Homes & Garden). Here's my top:

I love patterns like this. They're simple, yet can be so fun and interesting. Each one the group is making is very different. The back will be the light pink, and I've got some strips left over, which I'll sew together to make up the binding.

When a group of quilts are done, we have a pinning party. Perla reserves a conference room, and we can pin a lot of quilts in an hour.

I also started working on an applique block for AVQA's 2012 Opportunity Quilt. I haven't seen the entire design yet, but there's the applique block and a paper-pieced block. Once I've got more than just the one piece of vine done, I'll show you what it looks like. I love doing applique, and really want to do more. I have a few ideas of quilts I want to do, well, okay, more than a few! LOL!

That's it for this week. Not a whole lot, but I did get something done!

Until next week, take care.
Michele

Looking Forward

One of my goals this year is to update my blogs and social networks regularly. I haven't done so well yet! My plan includes updating this blog weekly, whether I have anything to show or not. So, although the third week of the year is now behind me, here's the first of my weekly updates for 2011.

I've actually gotten a few things completed in the past couple of weeks. I've finished my February and June pieces for the 2010 Bead Journal Project (BJP), have started July, and pulled the beads for August; fixed a couple of tote bags whose straps were tearing; added a ribbon casing and drawstrings to a bag a friend made for me for Xmas; inserted a lining into a new tote bag purchased from my favorite local quilt shop; finished a vinyl tote I started a year ago for rainy commutes; cut all the fabric and interfacings for a new purse design; and started work on a quilt for an exhibition I want to enter in April. Whew, I've been busier than I thought! LOL!

First, here are the completed February and June BJP pieces. I can't decide which I like more, March (the orange one in my last post) or June..........


Here's the beginning of July's piece, as well as the beads I've pulled for August.



These are the two totes whose straps I fixed. I'm not happy with the end result, so I may need to do something a bit more with these. At a minimum, I may need to put a fabric piece at the ends of each of the straps............



This is the bag my friend Kellie made for me, with the new ribbon casing and drawstrings. Unfortunately, I didn't take a "before" photo. The bag held embroidery supplies, which I can always use, and always appreciate! Thank you, Kellie!



Here's the quilt shop tote I added the lining to. Again, I didn't take a "before" photo, but it was basically just a canvas tote with the blue straps and this really cute logo on the front. The name of the shop is Bolts in the Bathtub, and the story is that the owner used to keep her fabric stash at home in the tub in the extra bathroom. When you walk into the store, they have an old claw-footed bathtub filled with bolts of fabric! It's really cute. Anyway, I'm thinking of pulling the lining back out of this tote so I can add some pockets.



One of my many UFOs is finished! (Only 117 to go.) Here's the vinyl tote I started last year for rainy-day commutes. My commute to work is about 1-1/2 to 3 hours, one way, depending on traffic. I take a very comfortable commuter bus, and I'd been wanting to do a vinyl tote to keep my craft projects dry (of which I always have at least two or three with me). I started it last year, but didn't finish it because we had very little rain; it didn't seem too important at the time. This year, however, we've gotten quite a bit so far, and winter's not over yet. Though there's no rain in the immediate forecast, I can't believe that we're done for the season I'll need to use this again soon, I'm sure!



The last two projects I mentioned above are not showable at this time. The purse is a design I'm working on for a possible business startup; it will be on another site at some point. The exhibition quilt can't be shown before the exhibition; there's really nothing to show anyway, just some fabric basted together.

In other news, last Thursday was the Antelope Valley Quilt Association meeting. Our speaker was one of our members, Kay Hague. She showed us some of her early quilts, and some of what she's doing now. Her new quilts are too cool, and sound like way too much fun. She was going to do a workshop as well on Saturday, but the classroom that had been booked was cancelled due to the Martin Luther King Holiday. She's going to reschedule for later in the year. At the end of her talk, however, she passed out baggies of scraps. She calls her piecing technique "Baggie Solutions." It looks like so much fun, and I can't wait to put together the scraps I got. I have a bag of scraps at home that I may just have to do this with as well. Hopefully, I can work on these this weekend. I'll show you what I've done next time.

That's it for this week, or rather, these past three weeks!

Until next week, take care.
Michele

Happy New Year!

It's the end of another year, and of the resolutions that had been made, some were fulfilled, some were not, and some will continue on as new resolutions for the new year coming up.

Due to family issues, I've only been working on a few things, not very much, but a few. I've finished three more pieces of my 2010 Bead Journal Project, and should have a fourth piece done next week. March, April, and May are now done; June is almost finished; February still needs to be completed. I have the colors decided for July through December, though I don't have all the beads yet. The colors will be: July - brown, August - red, September - blue-green, October - red-orange, November - blue-violet, and December - violet.




I've also done some felt flowers. They were fun to do, and it's gotten me interested in embroidery again. I plan on joining the Embroidery Guild and the Needlepoint Guild this year.



So, what are my resolutions for 2011? More art, definitely! I will be finishing my BJP pieces for 2010. I have three photos to use as inspiration for art quilts for the Visioning Project in connection with SAQA. I plan to finish many of the 118 UFOs I have sitting in my studio and in containers in the garage. I also want to enter just a couple of quilt shows/exhibitions, just a couple.

I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year. May all your plans, goals, and desires be fulfilled.

Thanks for reading, and take care.
Michele

I've been away far too long........

I've really missed posting here. Life's been way too hectic! Classes started up again in June, and since it's a summer schedule, they're very short! Prior to that, it's been work and home that's kept me especially busy and off the blog circuit. But I have been creating. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures as of this writing, but I will post photos and more details in the next week or two. Now, where to start......

Studio: I've been cleaning and rearranging my studio the last couple of months. It's almost done. I've got a new table, and am planning on getting another one. That will give me three six foot tables along three walls. I've just recently decided (today, in fact) to dedicate each table to certain types of crafts. One table will be for mixed media painting and collage. I'll keep all my glues, paints and papers on and under that one. A second table will be for beading and embroidery; all my tools and supplies will be there. The last table will be for sewing and quilting. There's a fabulous store in the mall across from where I work. It's called "The Container Store," and that's just what it is. They have just about any and every type of container you can imagine for any and every room in your home, including the garage, as well as containers for traveling and shipping and gift giving! I love it! I've been organizing and containing everything in my studio.

Bead Journal Project: I've finished March (orange) and April (green). May's color turned out to be gray, and is about half done. June's color and beads have been selected: yellow, as in sunshine, "Follow the yellow brick road," and there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I know what I want to be doing, and I have so many ideas percolating. I haven't gotten back to February yet, but I will. I've put these aside for the moment because of deadlines in the next couple of areas......

Beading for a Cure: I've been working on this, and need to get it done. I've finished most of the beading, and will then need to assemble the purse. I've got all the materials I need, everything is cut out and ready to assemble once the beading is done. It needs to arrive no later than August 2, so I've got less than a week to finish it! I should be able to get it done.

Hoffman Challenge: Well, I didn't get this done. I actually thought I had another month to work on it, but I just checked the rules, and it's due today! Another year missed! Okay, I'm putting myself on notice! Next year, I will have a project in the Hoffman Challenge!

I also mentioned Bead Dreams and Save the Planet in my last entry. No, those didn't get done either. Bead Dreams didn't get any further than the drawing board, and Save the Planet still needs to be lined and the strap added. It's a shame too. I found the perfect fabric to use for the lining at the Glendale Quilt Show. Ah well, I'll just add that one to my bag stash! LOL!

SAQA Visioning Project: I joined Studio Art Quilt Associate's Visioning Project in March. I've gotten some wonderful inspiration and encouragement from this group, even though I haven't really produced anything yet. I'm focusing on finding my voice as a quilt artist, and have come up with the idea of taking three photos and doing a series of small quilts of each. No quilt would be larger than 24" on any one side. Each photo is a bit more complex than the prior one. Each series would build on the techniques learned and ideas worked on in the previous series. I've picked out my three photos, and have enlarged the first photo to start creating my quilts from.

Online Trade Groups: I belong to three online art trading groups: Fiber Art Traders and Art 4 Mail (both Yahoo Groups), and Swap-Bot. This is where I've been doing most of my artistic work lately. I've done several embroidered pieces, some quilt blocks, my first ever dotee dolls, my first miniature quilt, and even a couple of short stories. However, I plan on cutting back on these trades for a while. Although I love receiving pieces of art from, and sending to, people around the world, I find I'm spending so much time with these, I'm neglecting my artistic vision. I justify these pieces by telling myself, and others, that I'm honing my skills, practicing my embroidery or applique, when the fact is I'm really procrastinating. With work, school, and family to deal with, I have very little time for art. If I continue to do as much with these trade groups as I have recently, I'll never get around to creating the larger pieces I have visions of. I won't give these groups up completely; they are a fascinating and wonderful group of people and artists, but I need to cut back. Perhaps I'll do one trade a month, or one every two months.

Well, that's about it for now. I will get back in next week and post some photos. I've got a mid-term next Tuesday, and a final on Wednesday, so I won't be posting anything before then.

Until next time, take care.
Michele

BJP - January Done, February Started

Wow! It's been a long time since I've blogged. School, work, and home have been keeping me really busy and interfering in my artwork. But I'm back and have finally finished my January piece! WooHoo! Yes, I said January. Like I said, life has been interfering the last couple of months. Since it's been so long, my shape is the paisley, size is 6-1/2"x4", and each month will be a different color, with one large bead within it.

January is done, and I really like the look of it. I wasn't so sure when I started (and I do think I started a little too large), but all-in-all, I'm really pleased with the end result. It did get easier the more I worked on it, so my trepidations soon disappeared. January's color is white, symbolizing for me a new year and a new beginning.

This is the beginning of February. February is blue, as I'm sure you can tell, and I really love the beads I have picked out. Blue is a favorite color, so I had a lot to choose from. I didn't have a large blue bead or cabochon, however, but I really don't want one. I was feeling really small and almost invisible that month, and I chose blue because it was truly a "blue" month. Life was just throwing all kinds of curve balls at me, and I was somewhat depressed most of the time. I'm hoping to get this one done before the end of April. With these two under my belt, I'm hoping the rest will go much easier and faster. We'll see......

I've chosen my colors for March and April, even though I'm not ready to start them yet. March will be orange, and April will be green. Before you say it, I've already been told that March should be green. However, that's just a little too cliché for me right now. If I was doing holiday-themed pieces, then yes, March would be green. But these are about me. The end of March found me fired up to work, and what better color for fire than orange! I've got so many ideas for different pieces of art I want to do, and since I can't take classes this quarter, I plan on getting as many of them done as I can! April's green represents growth, especially in my art. As I said, I plan to do as much as I can before classes start up again in June, so there will be a lot of growing this coming month!

No More Excuses

One of our guild members, Darla Hall, was our speaker at this month's quilt guild meeting. Darla has been quilting for about five years, and her trunk show was amazing. She works full time, and commutes 120 miles one way. In addition to her own quilt pieces, she has a long-arm machine, and machine quilts as a side business. She's gotten more done in those five years than I've done in ten! As I drove home Thursday night, I had a good talk with myself. I need to do more. I really spend way too much time vegetating in front of the TV. I need to get more done. With that in mind, I signed up for our guild's Quilters College in June. I knew I wanted to do something, but wasn't sure what. Well, I'll be teaching kumihimo, a Japanese style braiding. It's something I want to add to a quilt I'm working on, so teaching it in June will be perfect. I now need to get my instructions and demonstration materials together. I'm also attempting to meet a few other deadlines.

I signed up for the 2011 Beading For A Cure ("BFAC"). Each participant signs up and sends a specified amount to the secretary for the bead kit. You're required to use at least one of each type of bead in the kit on your project. You also get to add one type/size/color of bead to the mix. Everyone gets the same bead kit, but the results are so very different. The projects must be received by BFAC before August 2. They'll be auctioned on eBay next year, and the proceeds are donated to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Association. This year's auction is in progress now. I received my beads a couple weeks ago, and absolutely love them! The color palette is one of my favorites! I have the design of the base of my piece done, and now need to design the actual beadwork. I think I've decided on the additional beads as well, but it could change as the beading is designed.

I'm also working on my piece for this year's Hoffman Challenge. I have the fabric, and know how I'm going to use it. Last week I created the pattern for the piece. Now, I need to start putting it together.

I'm also thinking about entering a piece in Bead Dreams at the Bead and Button Show. The entry deadline is April 5, so I don't know if I'll get this one done. I do have my fabric and the pattern for my base. I have my beadwork designed. I now have exactly three weeks to finish it! (Actually, I only have a little over two weeks. I have a final this week, so I won't be doing a lot of artwork until after Thursday.) I should be able to get it done. We'll see.

On my commute home the past week, I've been working on another competition submission. This one is for Red Heart Yarn and JoAnn's Fabric and Craft Store. It's called "Save the Planet", and the requirements are to use one of three types of eco-conscious yarns made by Red Heart and purchased at JoAnn's. I've been crocheting on the bus, which is fun and easy. I've got the major piece done. Today, I'll start on the smaller piece, then I just need to put it all together. This one has to be postmarked by March 31, so again, we'll see if I can get this piece done on time.

Those are the pieces I'm currently working on. I have no photos to share at this point. Some entry calls I've noticed require that the piece not have been shown anywhere prior to the competition/exhibit, even on a blog. I'll need to double-check the entries for the above challenges, before I start showing photos. I don't want to be disqualified. I have a couple other pieces, that may or may not see the light of day any time soon. A couple of them were started for deadlines that have already passed. For the moment, they are in my UFO file. They will get finished at some point; I'm determined that they will. The question now is simply, "Which one gets done first?"

Until next time, take care.

Michele

February Ends

I came to an artistic epiphany this past week.

I know I mentioned in an earlier post about being good enough. That's always been the one thing that's held me back; I'm so very critical of my own work. For me, being objective on my own work is really hard. I expect perfection, even when I know there's no way to achieve it. I was working on a baby quilt this last week, and while machine quilting I did notice that my quilting wasn't straight on the top, and that the back had a few places where the fabric bunched up a bit. I looked at it, trying to decide if I should take it out, and telling myself, "See, this is why you shouldn't be quilting." Then it hit me. This is a baby quilt. It's for a baby. I made it to be used, and I hope it's used often. It's going to be thrown on the floor, in the car, thrown up on, and washed a bazillion times. The infant this quilt is for won't care that the stitching isn't perfect, that not all the blocks match exactly. It's bright and fun on one side, and soft and cuddly on the other.

The most startling thing, however, was the realization that I will never get any better if I don't practice. And not just the quilting. Everything I do. In order to get good, I have to work at it. Thinking about it won't make me a better artist. I need to create art!

Now a lot of you are saying, "Well, duh!", but for me this really is a big deal. Actually, not just for me. I was talking to a friend the next day, and she was telling me about the quilt she was working on the past weekend. She said she was in tears, just frustrated because it wasn't good enough. I smiled, and told her my story. I think she understood. I hope she did. She did agree with me, so perhaps she does understand.

Well, I'm now buzzing with artistic endeavors! I'm furiously working on a piece that has to be in the offices of a magazine on March 8. I don't know that it will get done, especially since I haven't even cut the fabric yet! Fortunately, it's only 12" square, and pretty simple, so there's a possibility it will get done. And then there's another piece that has to be mailed before the end of March. I should have that one done, as it too is not too complicated, and is only 16" square. If I don't get either of those done for their respective Calls, I can always enter them into my guild's show in May.

Right now, I have 21 Call for Entry possibilities. A couple I've actually decided not to submit to because, realistically, there just isn't time. Four of them aren't due until the beginning of 2011, so I've got big plans for those! Not all are quilts, but they all use fabric as a base. I am after all, a fiber artist. :-}

Until next time, take care.

P.S. By the way, here's the baby quilt. Today is her last day at work before going on leave, and the shower was at lunch. She loved it!