Showing posts with label Spin Drift. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spin Drift. Show all posts

Saturday, June 12, 2021

I'm Teaching at Quilter's Gathering at Berlin 2021




Early in 2019, I was asked to teach at Quilter's Gathering at Berlin 2019. Then Covid took center stage in the world, and all our lives were put on hold. 2021 slowly opened up, infections continued to go down, and plans were made again. The site went live the end of May with my class for Spin Drift. Yes, it was very exciting to see happen after the long wait! It's time to live again.

Monday, March 23, 2020

Spin Drift: 13 From Quilts to Socks


Scattered, Yet Focused

Everyone is saying the same thing. "Focusing is hard right now, and I rip more than I sew." We sit down to do something, and our mind wanders. Is our family okay today? Should we check in with a friend we haven't heard from in a few days? Our phone pings. A text, an alert, a message about someone we know who might be sick. We want to keep on top of what is happening in the news with the spread of Covid-19, but we also need to stay occupied. Some of us have hopped on board with free quilt-alongs, but it's not for everyone. It's terribly hard to follow through, and even with a plan we feel lost in our typically sacred work spaces.

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Spin Drift: 12 One More Day



The Marathon Continues


Custom quilting requires many times longer than an edge-to-edge, and at present I have stacks of quilts waiting. In spite of the back up in the quilt room, the pandemic took priority, and I took a few days off to get our lives in order. We have the things we need to keep us comfortable and safe, but we're not stockpiled. The kids have helped us find some alternative methods to buy food locally, hurrah for that, and I will say there is a momentary peace of mind of sorts. With that taken care of for the moment, I really want to get my quilt done and off. Today.

Friday, March 13, 2020

Spin Drift: 11 Custom Quilting



It's All About the Numbers
or
Custom Quilting Takes Forever
or 
The World Feels Very Crazy at the Moment, 
and This Project Will Never End

Nearly every quilt I look back on has some weird tangle of emotions and events. "Oh, that's the one I hand quilted through the winter when the power kept kicking off," or "I bought the fabric for that when so-and-so was with me." The whole quilt is a mixture of memories of fiber and thread, of people, and life events. I think it's glorious when they are happy memories, but it can ruin a quilt when it's something else. I don't want this quilt to become The Corona Quilt (even though they are very spatially similar). Therefore, I'm taking measures to keep my head and heart above water, and not bring the anxiety to my work space. And, I'm hurrying to get it done now. The clock ticks between things escalating on the world front, and how quilting much my darned tennis elbow will allow in a day.

Monday, March 9, 2020

Spin Drift:10 The Quilting Begins



Together at Last

The minute I had delivered the Bountiful Baskets quilt I was hard at work putting together the last blocks of Spin Drift. 

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

Spin Drift: 9


Reach In and Touch Them


Don't they look alive? Like you could feel they're cool, rubbery leaves if you swept your fingers across the fabric. I love this digital print! Maybe it has something to do with my fettish with succulents. They're like collecting Beanie Babies. Each slightly different, and low care. I find I can winter over dozens under fluorescent lights, and my world is still green on gray days. 

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Spin Drift: 8



Cornerstone Dresden Plates

Shall I admit that I have rarely, if ever, made a whole quilt from a pattern created by someone else? As I sit up late at night writing to you--I slept for hours, and am now awake having thought street tacos were a good choice to eat late, I am working to remember. Okay, oh, yes, Moda Modern was one except in prints, and I believe two more patterns over the years perhaps. But none that I even loosely followed someone else's color scheme as well as the pattern. This must be my first, and admittedly, I have enjoyed following without leading. Not recreating the wheel, a friend tells me. There is joy in that when the rest of our lives are a bit helter skelter. Just follow the directions step by step.

Friday, February 21, 2020

Spin Drift:7



A Friday Sneak Peak!

I just can't stand it any longer. I'm not really good at secret projects, and have been dying to show you how this quilt is coming together. Dang! Isn't this a fun quilt!? The litmus test is when you put a section together on the wall, stand back, and giggle. I've laughed out loud many times, and admittedly photo bombed several friends with this marathon project. My studio has been my happy place!

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Spin Drift: 6




Mixed Media Fantasy


Have you noticed how many more digital prints your local quilt stores are carrying this year? They're everywhere now. I stood in a shop yesterday watching people's reactions as they walked by a long rack of them. Several quilters paused longer to look at them, but none reached out to touch them. Interesting, I thought, but why? 

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Spin Drift: 5


How Tweet It Is!

We feed the birds throughout the fall, winter, and spring. Sure, on the edge of a large woods they can forage for food, and especially during such a mild winter as we're having, but we feed to draw them in. We want to see the red cardinals, graphic woodpeckers, little gray juncos and titmice, yellow-green false canaries, brown sparrows and wrens, and even those nasty blue jays color our world when most things are gray. It's been a green winter here, but still the birds add so much color.

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Spin Drift: 4




Memories of My Garden


My garden is not particularly planned. It's more of a jumble of plants I've bought or been given. Many have to be heeled in quickly, and quite often I have to move one after the fact. It might not like the sun or wind in that spot, or maybe it spreads enough to block another favorite. It may appear messy to some, but most often there is a sense of order in my mind. It's controlled chaos at best.

Monday, February 17, 2020

Spin Drift:3


Oh, the Romance of Rome!

As they say, "All roads lead to Rome", but have you ever been to Rome? It was many moons past for me, but it is a city still etched in my memory. Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, St. Peter's Basilica, and a shabby pensione that overlooked a courtyard fountain. I was 16, and backpacking across Europe--yes, I had a young, daring spirit even then, not to mention trusting parents, and Rome was--hot. Don't laugh, but that was absolutely one of my most vivid memories. There was a heat wave, and I was carrying an overloaded pack. See how I can bring a romantic travel experience down to a base level?

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Spin Drift: 2


Dresden Block #2

I decided to show you the blocks in the order I made them. It's interesting how we intuitively change our fabric choices as we progress with a pattern. If one block is high drama, the next might be toned down, and so on. While we can only have one princess at a party, quilts can handle more than one, but not all. 

Saturday, February 15, 2020

Spin Drift: It Begins



Spin Drift

Pattern by Michelle McKillop 
for Jen Kingwell Designs


Are you ready for a few weeks full of quilter's eye candy? Then stayed tuned each day as I roll through all the blocks I've completed for this quilt. They are gorgeous because the pattern was made for the fabric! "What?!" you say. Well, this pattern was made especially to use those large scale prints we all love, and have to buy a little of, but struggle to use in our quilts. I was dying to get mine into a quilt so this was a heavenly match. It was like having the Oreo cookies, and finding cream filling!