Commentary about works in progress, design & creativity
The last bit of the Chocolate Box I had to do was the sleeve. I made it in a short amount of time and then it seemed to take me forever to sew it on. I really had a hard time keeping the tucks out of the back of the quilt. Not sure why. Anyway, another project off my plate. Hooray!
I volunteered to go and help demonstrate quilting at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco last Friday with the East Bay Heritage Quilters. I took the Chocolate Box with me so I could show how quilts are finished. I had done this “stunt quilting” at the museum before – when the Esprit collection was being displayed at the museum. That experience was wonderful. This experience was MUCH better.
Renee and her staff treated us like glitterati. I was greeted at the door and immediately given the above pass. There was a performer’s area away from the hubbub of the event where we could rest, partake of food and drink, and chat.
One of the things some of the ladies did was work on the CQP quilts. This one was tied with the help of some interested visitors. CQP is project where the guild makes quilts to donate to children in need.
A couple of the ladies worked with visitors to lay out blocks and then sew them. Some of the children were very interested in this aspect of the work and helped quite a bit.
We demonstrated all aspects of the quilting process, including cutting. Many, many people had never seen a rotary cutter and were quite fascinated.
Two ladies brought their hand quilting projects. Jean, working on the attic window quilt, brought several of her quilts. Many of them were a lovely combination of purples, blues and greens.
This is another of Jean’s quilts in a lovely group of purples, blues and greens. She made this quilt from ties. I think it is one of the best uses of tie fabric I have ever seen. I like the combination of colors and patterns. I also like the block layout.
Edi does gorgeous applique’. She had several in progress pieces with animals, which intrigued the children. The Godzilla quilt was a birthday gift for her husband, Jay (we were both a bit confused when we met!). He designed the quilt, Edi appliqued and then it was quilted with different Tokyo motifs by Laura Lee Fritz. This quilt drew in a lot of people in. Edi and Jay told the story of the quilt dozens of times. It was definitely a lot more interesting than my binding!
This evening was one of the most fun experiences I have had in a long time. My mouth hurt from smiling when I got home. Two readers/friends stopped by: Kathy from Everyday Bliss and Lisa from LisaLizaLou. Some people who talked with me wanted to buy quilts, others wanted to commission quilts. Some were genuinely interested in the process. I even told someone my process for washing a quilt (toss in washer with Dreft and then toss in dryer on very low setting). There were a few people who were really interested in my quilt and the binding. Chocolate Box was, actually, a good quilt to bring with me. It is a pretty modern looking quilt and lots of young people were interested in the fabric and the design.
I am really pleased with the quilting on the Chocolate Box.
The whole quilt came out really well, which was surprising, since I don’t usually use much brown (as you might have noticed). I did like that brown – kind of a warm, rich, chocolatey brown.
Colleen of Sew Little Time Quilting did a fabulous job. I told her what I wanted and she executed it perfectly.
The quilting looks just as good on the front as on the back.
Now I have a total of 3, yes THREE, quilts to bind and sleeve. I had better get busy!
The Chocolate Box is truly finished now. Except for the quilting, binding and sleeve. 😉
I like the the way it came out, but I wish I had made more of an effort to keep some of the non-chocolate edges larger. Live and learn.
After finishing the back for the Purple Bullseye, I realized that I needed a bit more of an edge to accommodate the jagged edge (photo above, bottom right). Since I was in back making mode anyway, it seemed like a good time.
You can’t see the bit I added, because the back is really large and I really couldn’t get it all in. Now Colleen will be able to get it on the quilting machine with no problem.
The Chocolate Box quilt, which I talked about in the post about the retreat is what is discussed in Judy Martin‘s February 2008 newsletter. Kristin, one of her readers writes:
“I agree that there is nothing wrong with fast quilts. In fact, in the past after completing a challenging project, I would often use a fast and easy quilt as a “mind sorbet” to cleanse the mind before beginning the next project. They are nice for showcasing big or odd prints, or for picnic quilts or for kid quilts for gifts. I do think though, if we are not challenging ourselves and not enjoying the process, we are missing something.”
The Chocolate Box is mind sorbet. I felt thick and full after working for so long on the Pineapple. I needed something to cleanse the palette and the Chocolate Box did it.That is such a great description and I hope I will be able to add it to my lexicon.
Often, I work almost all the time at one of my two jobs or dealing with other non-paid work type tasks. This past weekend, I threw it all aside, took Friday-most of Sunday off and went to a quilt retreat! Hooray! It was great! I spent Friday night, Saturday and a few hours on Sunday sewing.
I couldn’t completely get away from work, so I worked on the bookkeeping while I watched Law & Order and waited for Friend Julie to arrive. I did go visit Cabrillo Sewing, which is right next to the hotel (how convenient!). Little did I know that downstairs, in the Begonia Room, the other ladies were setting up and warming up their sewing machines. I was pleased that I did this work, however, as I felt a lot better about taking the weekend off.
As you can see, I wasn’t able to follow the directions that I originally set out for myself. The display quilt from Quiltworks Northwest that I saw at APNQ can be seen on the 2007 UFO Report. I am really not sure what happened, but as I drove down to the hotel, it occurred to me that I would rather work with rectangles.
Julie got my act together by arriving. We went downstairs with all of our stuff and set up for sewing.
Here is my mess after cutting a bunch of strips and rectangles. We eventually went to dinner; we tried to go to a restaurant that serves only ostrich meat, but we couldn’t find it, so we ended up at a little Mexican place. It was storming quite hard and they had sandbags around the doors and cloths and things stuck in the windows to keep the water out. Quite the adventure digging for change for a parking meter in the dark in the driving rain where the meters give you 5 minutes for each quarter!.
I was amazed that we sewed as late as we did – 10:30 or so, then we went up and drank Sambuca and Limoncello while we watched more Law & Order and CSI. I am such a junkie for L&O- it is what I do in hotels.
The next day we sewed all day except for a quick dash to lunch and to a quilt store called Round Robin (Portola and 38th Ave). They had nice fabrics and the place was restful and organized. I bought only a few fabrics at the two shops.
I used up about 4 yards of fabric in the quilt and didn’t want to buy more than I used. A novelty, I know, but I really wasn’t in the mood to buy fabric and didn’t see anything I had to have. The dots are nice. I hadn’t seen the one with the white background before. I went back and forth on the one with the black background as I don’t have an idea for a project. The other black-on-whites will be used for the Cross Blocks/Flowering Snowballs.
Aside from a quick dinner at a local Thai Restaurant, I sewed until about 11pm. I really wanted to get a handle on how I was going to put the blocks together. By about 9pm the blocks were finished, but I hadn’t made them perfect squares, so some figuring needed to take place. Terri let me use her portable design wall, which was absolutely necessary and I was very grateful to her for it.
I fiddled with placement a little bit, but mostly worked out how I was going to get different sized blocks together. Once I had about four done, I went to bed and let the process percolate while I slept.
The next morning, I sewed the rest of the blocks together and now have the top you see at the top of the post. I think I’ll call it the Chocolate Box.
So, one thing about this project was that it was not at all precise. I was ok with having to fiddle with putting it together, because I could just mindlessly sew whatever I wanted wherever…basically. I did have a semblance of a plan. Second, I am glad I used the rectangles instead of the squares, because it makes this project mine while allowing me to be inspired by another quilt. Third, there was enough structure to keep me grounded with enough freedom to relieve the stress of the Pineapple Problems.
I don’t have any pictures of it, but Friend Julie is taking a mentoring program from Gabrielle Swain. One thing that she does is “show up”. That means that she gets into the studio every day and works. For her, that is four hours a day. WOW! I am so impressed, I can’t even tell you. I admire her for the commitment. She isn’t just sewing, however. She is noting down her ideas in a visual journal and it is the visual journal I want. My little drawings looks so sad compared to the exuberance of her work. I look forward to seeing more of it and getting to that point as well.
Everyone should really go on a quilt retreat once in a while. Boy! I would love to do that once a month. I can’t believe how much I got done in 17 or so hours of sewing. Amazing!