So about this drawing thing…

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I think it probably will motivate me to keep working so here are a few pages from one of my sketch books. I am using several books and the web site drawspace.com to try and improve my skills. I am also lucky enough to have a couple of friends who can draw who can offer suggestions. I think this multi pronged approach is good for me. I get bored and frustrated very easily but this way I always have something else I could try. When something isn’t working I can give up and do something else.

The first picture is the kind of sketch I usually use. It is enough to remind me of an idea of something simple I have seen. At the moment it I see something more complex I have to find a camera, and that is something I would like to reduce. I would live to be able to capture the essence of what I see with just a pencil and a piece of paper. This sketch will probably become a quilt at some point, but it hasn’t entirely settled as an idea yet.

The second picture is the result of someone (or something) telling me to just draw what I have to hand. I always have plenty of spools of thread to hand so that is what I chose. It also didn’t look too scary. I enjoyed actually looking at how the thread was wound onto it and I think that was the crucial feature of it. Piles of fabric had also been suggested as a good thing to draw, so while I was in bed with a cold I drew the dressing gown hung on the door. I see now how fabric does have very clear light and dark areas but I am not too sure about drawing the light places. I suppose I have to leave the light bits but draw the medium and dark?

Finally the face is from the drawing lessons at drawingspace.com. If you are interested bug me and I will dig out the proper URL. You have to join up (free) to access the lessons and you can only view them online unless you pay money, but I think they are pretty good. There are some I don’t really get but I seem to be finding harder lessons easier than the easy ones so I guess I must be learning something. I am hoping that having put these up I will be encouraged to practice some more and draw better things so I can show you how it goes, so feel free to bug me if I don’t put anything up for a while. I would also appreciate any feedback and tips from those out there who can draw or are in the process of learning.

Oh, and of course I got round to it today to avoid clearing up my desk. It is all a case of what you are not doing.

Linus quilt done.

I really love doing these Linus quilts. They do have their challenges, this on the back is almost bigger than the top and I have had to wait a while to know I was going to be able to make it work. But no matter how tricky they are, they are great to do. I can play and do fun work on them. I can use threads that I wouldn’t normally and at the end of it I know it will end up with someone who needs it and will love it (probably to destruction). It’s just a win win situation. On this one I tried a new to me pattern, I wanted to come up with a couple of quick all over patterns that are fairly dense. Something good for utility quilts. I think is has worked rather well. I guess all these things come with practice and as I have one more Linus quilt left to do I may try and work on another all over design. I think the quilting shows better on the front of this quilt, so I haven’t bothered to put in a picture of the back. The backing could be described as loud. It is lime green with wavy patterns on it. It would have hidden a multitude of sins, so ofcourse my tension was perfect throughout the quilt. I bet the next thing I do where I need good tension turns out to be a nightmare. That just seems to be how these things work. Hmm now what to do next. Do I work on some designs? Prepare the patterns for my next nude? Quilt the other Linus quilt? Maybe tidying my desk would be a good start I don’t think I will ever be a tidy worker.

Online Quilt contest.

If you haven’t yet been to the AQS online quilt show there is still time. Although it may have got trickier to vote. You now must have Flash 8 (or higher) installed to see the quilts. On the other hand if you know the number you want to vote for I guess you could still manage.

I finished a quilt yesterday and dutifully delivered it, without taking a photograph. Doh! On the bright side I am pretty certain I will see it again so I will ask if I can take a picture then. It was a really interesting quilt to work on for me. It was so different to anything I would make. It was made with a range of delicate floral fabrics, in a sort of Irish chain pattern. In each of the of the spaces between the chain I put in a patterns of four loopy hearts interlocking. Delicate and pretty but not really girly. The chains were just a single line of squares which I stitched through the middle of to outline the spaces between. There were three borders, two quite narrow, which I just stitched in the ditch, and one wide. In the wide border I used the ruler to put in a trellis. The border is full of roses, so to me it clearly asked for a trellis. The best bit, it’s owner loves it. Even better there are more to come. I am quite excited about the next one. It is the one that is talking to me most. It wants lots of swirly suns/flowers depending on how you see it. Next time I will remember to take a picture straight away so I can show you all as soon as the customer has seen it, assuming the customer will let me.

Today I am planning on doing a Linus quilt. I want to do something fun and easy, and these really fit the bill. Knowing that the end user will love pretty much whatever you do is very liberating. I also have a couple that will nicely use up big offcuts of wadding, it’s a win all round.

Research, thought planning and design

I wish I had more pictures for you but this weekend has been another planning and thinking session. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the next class coming up, which will all be done using the Square in a square ruler. It looks to me that we will end up with quite a lot of blocks by the end of the day and I need to think of a way to make those into one finished item. This has meant trying to fit many different sizes of block together into a design. It is surprisingly difficult. I think if I was just doing it for myself I would make the blocks and then lay them out on the bed in a design. This would show up some areas where I need filler which I would then just cut on the fly. This probably wouldn’t please other people as a solution though so I will have to some up with a fixed design. I am also a little concerned by my fabric choice. I really want to make the sample in the Ginko fantasy fabrics I have, in black red and gold. They look great but will it put people off?

The other design problem I have been kicking around is the Transformations challenge. It is very good timing, I have been looking at transformers recently and saying I wanted to make a quilt based on the idea. Now I get the perfect opportunity do you think I can come up with anything, of course I can’t. I think the problem is I want the transformer design to move of do something, maybe even be three dimensional. The challenge requires something more two dimensional. I guess I will have to keep thinking. At least I have some fairly simple quilting to work on today so my brain can work on these problems while I do something else.

Art Quilt Class – Patchwork Corner

The art quilt class is the Saturday 18th of November form 10am to 4pm. I am not certain of the price, but I would guess it will be in the region of 22 GBP. If you would like a place in the class you can book by telephone on 01442 25900. Hope that covers everything. If not I am sure you will let me know. Hope to see some of you there.

Class samples – Art quilts

As promised here are the samples for my Art quilts – Quilting by numbers. These designs will be what the students will make during the class. Hopefully they will be pretty much completed during the day. They were very interesting designs for me to work on. The rose is technically easier. It only needs three colours and most of the areas are quite large. However my lack of knowledge of flowers meant I had to really think how the petals would look. It was particularly obvious when I was quilting it. It took me far longer than the swan even though it has less stitching on it. Who would have thought it? On the other hand the swan was really easy. I know where the feathers are and so for me it was a lot easier even though it should be the trickier design. Just goes to show you can never really predict these things. Still they look great hanging in the shop, and hopefully they will encourage people to fill the class. Oh yes, the rose has indeed run. All the fabrics were pre-washed but still they ran. I used run remover and got it clean again. I pressed it to nearly dry and blocked it overnight. There was just enough moisture for it to run again! Red really is a menace.

The ‘Nude Triptych’ is now hanging in the workshop at Patchwork Corner. So if you are in the area (Hemel Hempstead) and want to have a look it will be there until the 18th of November.

Online contest or getting to know your friends.

Now please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve realized that the outcome of the online quilt show is fairly unimportant. It would be great to win, but the prize won’t be as good as what it has already given me. I have had so many emails from friends who have offered their support, I’ve had comments on this blog, and I can’t begin to tell you how great that is. Not one person I’ve talked to about this has been anything but incredibly supportive, I am really overwhelmed by you all. As well people have sent me notes about what they are doing and what is happening in their lives, they probably wouldn’t have done otherwise. I can’t reach you all, so please give yourselves a hug or a pat on the back from me, whatever you feel comfortable with. You’re great.

I have been working recently, even though I have been rather quiet. I am getting the samples finished for my class at Patchwork Corner next month. It is based on the technique I used for the red nude in the triptych. I am hoping to cover some design ideas and techniques for converting a photograph into a pattern for a quilt. It’s tricky in a one day class but I will see what I can fit in. I’ve decided to stick to just two design options to make on the day, a rose and a swan. I was going to offer a third but the requirements list was getting too complicated. I am hoping by keeping it fairly simple everyone will get a mostly complete art quilt by the end of the day. In the next day or two I will have the pictures up. Also for those in the area who wanted to see the nudes again, they will be at Patchwork Corner as of next week publicizing the class. If you are interested in taking this class I believe there are still a couple of places left.

Innovative Imagery – Digital Rainbow

Well I am going to assume that silence means my quilt didn’t make it into the C&T book on digital images on quilts. Bah Humbug. On the other hand this does mean I can photograph it in detail so you guys can try to guess what the pictures are. Yay. My biggest concern is did the entry pack arrive, and on time. It should have done according to the post office but when I tried to track it it never showed up as delivered. I think I might look into it, after all if it didn’t even get there I would quite like my postage costs back. They can’t compensate for it not making it into the competition but at least I wouldn’t be out of pocket.

On the flip side I had another booking today for talking about my quilts, so I don’t think I can really explain. Although it is amusing that as I child I said there was one thing I would never want as part of my job, public speaking. I hated it. Funny how talking about something you love make it OK. At the last regional day, one lady doing show and tell said how nervous she was and that she didn’t think she could talk. She did and she was great, really animated and enthusiastic, at the end she commented on how surprised she was. You never know until you try.

Nude in Online Competition.

I’ve entered my blue nude into the AQS online quilt contest. I would have like to enter the whole triptych but they don’t allow multiple parts or frames. Still at least I put something in. The contest is judged but online viewers, so if you feel like voting for me I would very much appreciate it. If you live in the US I think there are prizes for the people voting too. The quilts can be seen here, mine is entry number 1352. I think they are shuffling the quilts to make it more fair, which is something that had worried me when I first looked at entering. I found it really interesting looking at the range of styles represented in the competition. I suspect there is inspiration for most people there.

Yay, back in the workroom

Finally I’ve managed to get something creative done. This is a sample for a class I am teaching next month. The class is based on the technique I used for the red nude in my triptych. I don’t want to do that in the class, it needs too many shades and will take longer than one lesson to complete. I am hoping the rose will be quicker, especially as I have it in two sizes. Tomorrow I will get it onto a background fabric, layer it up and quilt it. I really enjoy quilting pictures now, especially on the longarm. It feels so good having done this today. I am really not happy when I am not making things. Having finished the rose I think the gold flecks in the darkest red make it read lighter than it is. I think I will leave it as something to talk about with the class, so if any of you are taking the class you will be able to pre-empt me. I am planning on making two other designs so there is a choice, but I don’t think there will be room to display them all in the shop, guess those will be a surprise on the day. Now to bed and to think about how I will quilt it.