Quilts are getting ahead of themselves
September 2, 2007I am finding it very hard to concentrate at the moment. I have two quilts that are trying to get attention out of order. I have to plan when I am going to work on which piece to have them ready for the shows I think they best fit, so I always have a few stacked up in my head, but two of them are rebelling. They want to be done now and I really don’t have the time. It’s vary hard to concentrate on anything else though. I have tried all my usual tricks to deal with these disobedient ideas. I’ve drawn up the designs and in one case printed up test patterns but still they won’t leave me alone. I may go mad before the end of the month.
To further help I spend a very inspiring couple of hours with some friends children yesterday. I now have a new and exciting design idea I want to work on. Unfortunately this one seems to go against a lot of advice I’ve been given, that I tend to trust, so it will need some thought before I start on it. It is so cool though I have to find a way to make it work.
Now about that quilt for the Hever show….
When show quilts retire…
August 30, 2007Lying in bed last night I thought I should show you some pictures of my retired show quilts. I am often asked what I do with such big quilts, well the answer is I use them. Once they finished the tour of duty some of them go into service on our bed. Some obviously are only designed to be on the wall and others are waiting to be sold, but the rest get to work. As soon as ‘Burning Chrome’ Came back from the NEC it went on the bed. I can assure you it is a very good bed quilt, works a treat. It had been the quilt I was going to show you but the cats had other ideas. It is in the washing machine after someone failed to keep hold of their breakfast this morning, but that is really my point. The quilts are pampered and fussed over for a period of time, them they come back to Earth and are really loved and used. This is why I am quite happy for people to touch my quilts when I do talks, these are working quilts they take far worse on a daily basis.
Here you can see ‘Ginko Typography’ undergoing some serious sleep testing. It is looking promising though as three experienced testers find they can sleep quite well on it.
As ‘Burning Chrome’ is indisposed (well actually in di spin right now) ‘Ginko Typography has stepped into the fray. You might have seen this quilt at Sandown 2006, it was the only show it went to because it is so heavy I couldn’t afford to ship it anywhere. Sandown I can deliver by hand. As you can see it is on the bed and being appreciated by my cats. Looking at it I think I actually prefer the lived in look. I think the quilting looks a lot more interesting after the quilt has been washed and dried a few times. This is because I don’t pre-wash my waddings and this quilt has two layers in it so have very clear quilting now. Maybe we should have a show category for most successful bed quilt that can only be entered by well used and loved quilts. I think it would be great fun to see what is really out there working for a living. In fact if you put up a picture somewhere and let me know I will post a list of real working quilts here. I am sure I am not the only one who wonders what is on peoples beds and sofas.
Here you can see my most critical judge taking a closer look at the quilt. Of course the fact that he is even on it shows this one has potential. For some reason my cats are pretty good at identifying my successful projects very early in the process. If the cats don’t go near it then it has problems. It’s odd and I don’t claim to understand it but I take more notice of it that I used to. I do wonder if it is something about how I am interacting with the piece that attracts or deters the cats.My quilts at the NEC
August 28, 2007
I’ve 
been trying to sort out my pictures from the NEC, and I have decided I really need to make quilts that are easier to photograph. Still here is what I managed to get, so far.
First is a close up of ‘Guide me’. This is a wholecloth, all the colour and pattern is quilting, unfortunately none of the pictures of the whole quilt came out. Maybe with a lot of work on the computer we might be able to get one, but don’t hold your breath. This is a perfect example of a difficult quilt. I guess this is one I need to get photographed professionally.
The nude ius also tricky. It always seems to come out a bit dark, but when I try to lighten it it never looks quite right. If the camera screens were accurate, a couple of people did manage to get great pictures, but I wasn’t one of them. Oh well. Hopefully one of the people with a good picture will send me one and I will share that.
‘Winter Star’ has nearly the same problem as ‘Guide Me’, fortunately the slightly higher contrast does improve the chance of getting a reasonable picture. It doesn’t help when I don’t manage to hold the camera straight on. This is the best picture I will have of this one for a year unless someone spots it in a show and sends me that instead. Ho hum. I did take several with different setting but this was by far the best for colour which I find the hardest thing to correct.
Finally we have ‘Lily’. This one looks far better in the photo than in real life so I guess I can’t complain. I do wish it had been on a white background so that the holes showed up, but realistically that wasn’t likely. For some reason I didn’t think of that when I was making it. Given it has hanging issues I may add a white background behind the holes during the rebuild process. Given this is my best piece from the show I think it is probably worth the effort to fix the problems.
Onwards and upwards.
My bank has finally sent me a new bank card only 2 months late and I have been making good use of it today. The most positive feedback I got from the Festival of Quilts was for my ‘Winter Star’ so I am going to make something else in that line. So I’ve been buying up black fabric like it is going out of style. Hopefully it will arrive about the same time as the bulk order of black thread and I can start playing.
I looked at entering ‘Nude with Rope’ and ‘Decadence’ into the Pacific International Quilt festival, but I realised at the last minute there is a theme, “All the World’s a quilt”. I can’t see that they fit that so I guess they will have to wait for Road 2 California. I would love to have another wholecloth done in time for that too, but it will depend on when my orders arrive.
My other show decision for today was how to ship my next round of quilts to Grosvenor Exhibitions. I have one I need to finish before it goes but the others are ready now. Should I post the ones that are ready or wait and send them all together. It’s tricky. I would like them out of the house but I think I will have to courier all of them, at which point it will probably be a lot cheaper to ship them all together. I never thought I would be desperate to get quilts off to shows, but I would really like some space back. Funny how things change isn’t it.
Ooooooooh
I got strange post this morning. I seemed to have a delivery of patterns from America, which isn’t unusual, but I was sure I hadn’t ordered any. On tearing my way into the package I found something far more exciting (to me at least). My copies of Unlimited Possibilities magazine. Yes copies, when you are featured they send you some extras! It’s very odd two pages full of me and my work. I still love my globe, I will have to make more of them.
The front cover is amazing it shows the viewers choice from MQS, Turnabout by Claudia Pfeil. It is a beautiful quilt, and she is also featured in the magazine. This issues focus is European quilters. There is some amazing work being done in Europe, and I think I will have to ask these ladies where they are showing their work. I would love to see it in person.
I couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the working week. This has really got me in the mood to get on and do things. So a big thank you to Unlimited Possibilities.
So Where now?
August 27, 2007I’ve waited a week before posting to give myself time to think, but I feel I should comment on how I got on at the Festival of Quilts. I’ve just spent some time looking at my judging sheets from this year, last year, and where I can the US judging sheets for the same quilts.
No matter how I cut it, my quality has gone down, substantially from last year. Results I was very disappointed with last year now look positively glowing. Also it appears that the judging at the Festival is a lot stricter than the US judging, that was a big surprise. I assumed it would be the other way around, but we all know what assuming does for you.
So what do I do now? I thought that the quilts I entered this year were a much higher standard than last year. I thought I had got better at techniques and I thought I was a lot more picky about finish. The judges disagree, so do I try and go back to how I was doing things? I’ve been a lot more careful about squaring up, and burying thread tails, but that has made things worse. I’ve put a lot more time into design and planning but that has gone down too. I’m stumped I just don’t know how I can improve.
The real shock for me was finding out which quilt the judges thought was the best. It wouldn’t have been the one I would have expected, and from talking to friends neither did they. Lily was by far the highest scoring quilt. I can see a lot of faults with this quilt, far more than I can find with the others, so is it just that I don’t understand how quilts are judged? Do I not understand what is good and what it bad? I would love to take the judging course and find out how it all works, but I can’t afford to. I have read every book I can find on the subject, but it looks like there is a lot I’ve just plain not understood.
So does anyone have any idea how I can learn what is expected, what is good and what is bad?
Weeeee
August 23, 2007On the surface I haven’t been terribly productive today. I’ve been in and out like a yo yo all day but I think I am finally making progress and I feel ready to get back to sewing. I’ve been trying to tidy my sewing room which is where I blog, piece, cut, press and design. It was originally the front room of our terraced house and my desk is in the bay window. Well in fact it fills the bay using the window sill as part of it’s support system. As I do a lot of different things in here and basically live out of this room it tends to get a little out of control. In particular I had developed an interesting mound next to my desk that was starting to look dangerous.
The mound has been excavated and produced some interesting archeology. It has been replaced with a cutting table with storage below. Sadly the drawers are primary colours and very bright but at least they are under a board so it isn’t too bad. Given I didn’t have a lot of choice in my budget I guess I can’t complain. To reflect light onto the cutting table I have propped my white board behind it. I think I will help once I change the blown light bulb. I am sure the bulbs can detect where I am working as they always seem to blow just when I start doing something in their area.
I have a bit more I need to do before I get down to serious sewing. I have a whole load of quilts I need to put back into storage, and I want to find a way to hang my nude again, I don’t think she will like being rolled long term, and then I can get on with some sewing. From past experience I work better if I wait a little after I decide I am ready to get back to it, and of course the tidying really does need doing.
The world still feels a little off center
August 22, 2007It’s really taking me a long time to recover from the Festival of Quilts. I have a stack of work I really should be getting on with, but I just can’t focus. I have at least managed to put in some thread orders. Barnyarns have really impressed me, I ordered thread yesterday and it arrived today. Yes I have taken the advice, and yes the thread does look as good as promised. I don’t know if I mentioned it but I was alarmed to notice I was almost out of black thread just before the festival, so I am now waiting on a large box of just black thread to arrive from America. Each time I order I get a larger quantity but I seem to be using it at an even faster increasing rate.
I suppose the other reason for not getting much done is following up on all the conversations I had and the show, and those I failed to have. I can’t believe I talked to so many people and yet missed a lot I specifically wanted to see. It’s scary how many people I now sort of know.
I’ve also been thinking about some new quilt designs. I was disappointed to not come back full of inspiration this year, but after a rest ideas have started to flow. I saw a lady with an amazing knotted necklace and I still fancy doing one of the beads in quilting. If I can get my head around it I think it would be really fun. I want to do something a bit different but photographic, I have one pretty much planned and a couple more ideas that need some more kicking. I am trying to work out how to get action shots of people and cats. Some of the poses I want to do with humans would be a lot easier with the aid of wires, but I don’t have that kind of set up, or indeed the space for one so I will have to find another way. Yes I know one option would be to try and draw it from my imagination, but I can’t do that to my satisfaction. I am also considering the life drawing classes again, but they are very scary, I don’t really want to go anywhere with an art teacher, but I really want art lessons. Tricky.
I’ve also discovered that there is a shortage of cheap plastic drawer units. I’ve needed some for my sewing room for a while and this seemed as good a time as any to have a tidy up. Now everyone is out of stock. Does the world not what me to be tidy (well tidier at least).
Thank you
August 21, 2007I’d just like to take a chance to thank all the people who support me in ways big and small. From those who I keep up half the night fretting or finishing work, to the very kind man who offered me a hand with my packages in the post office today. I am sure there are times when your efforts seem to be falling on deaf ears, but believe me they aren’t. You are all making a huge difference to me, so thank you.
people people everywhere.
August 18, 2007It has been a great day for meeting peeple today. I do love catching up with the far flung people i only see at shows. It's also great to see the people behind the web hits. I look forward to seeing you all again at the next event.
I have mostly packed now and it feels odd that this time tomorrow it will be all over. I have found my routine now. I am quite dreading the drive back tomorrow might as I am sure as soon as I leave the show I will be ready to sleep. If you are visiting tomorrow and would like to meet up I will be manning the SAQA stand about 2pm and collecting my quilts at 5pm.