Discipline

Last year, I selected "discipline" as my word for the year.  I didn't do too well at incorporating it into my daily life.  However, I'm working on it.

This week has been frustrating.  Partly because I thought that since it was my week free of chemo that I would have energy.  That didn't prove to be the case.

The other point of frustration is that I have been trying to find the big box of beanie babies to send off to Afghanistan....only I can't find them. I have looked for hours and I'm hoping that perhaps they are in the attic.  I know WHAT the box looks like...I just can't lay my hands on it.

Then, I intended to finish up my quilt for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge...I have the greatest design and I'm really excited about it.....but I decided that it REALLY needed some bobbin work.  I have two extra bobbin cases for my sewing machine, one for monofiliment thread for the bobbin and one for doing bobbin work with larger threads such as the variagated perle cotton I intended to use for this project.  I can't find the bobbin work bobbin case.  I looked...and I looked....and I just can't find it.   I tried to use my little light weight Brother sewing machine which has a drop in bobbin....and I did, for about 1/4 of the way, then it started making horrendous sounds...I think there's something in the bobbin area but my eyesight isn't good enough at present to clean it out.  Heck, I can't even see the regular thread!  I looked for 8 hours for that bobbin case before giving up and going on to the month before's Fast Friday Challenge which I didn't finish either.


It is infuriating how much time I spent looking for things.  I could have been using that time to create instead.  Just a couple of days earlier, Lyric Kinard wrote about this in her newsletter.  I encourage you to not only read it, but to subscribe.  I'm enjoying it completely.  Take a look here.  Her article is something that Vivien Zepf and I have talked about in the past...how some quilt artists such as Lyric and Natalya Aikens are able to quilt, teach, write, AND be mothers.  They have the same number of hours in the day.....

I determined back in March when I realized how bad my sewing room had become and how I hated my office that I would start following what I knew to be true.  Put things where they belong and clean up each time...you'll save both time and money because you won't have to buy duplicates and you'll be able to get right to work.  Lyric asked in her newsletter how we're going to exercise discipline.  I have vowed to handle things once...putting them right where they belong not setting them down to get to them later...because later often comes when there is a mountain to deal with which then takes days....and just serves to frustrate.

I've also vowed to unpack bags from classes, etc.  This came after I discovered 6 pots of Stewart Gill paint int he bottom of the bag I took to Carol Taylor's class at NQA in Columbus last year.  I had been looking for those pots! 

I am also labeling boxes and containers so anyone can find what they are looking for in my sewing room.  That way, I won't be stuck going "now what did I do with that?  Which box holds that little wonder???? 

It will take time.  It is, however, markedly better than it was just a month ago.  Big thanks go to Chris Landis and Beth Ann Miller who came and helped by labeling putting things in while I directed.  What a great thing!...now, back to working on the very fabulous design. :)

The Sketchbook Challenge

I am sorry that I haven't been posting for the last couple of days. I've found that with all the things I have to do to get ready for Christmas and the fatigue I've been having, I just couldn't bring myself to write. However, if you've stopped by, you probably noticed the big "SKETCHBOOK CHALLENGE" badge.

A couple of weeks ago, Lyric Kinard, Jamie Fingal, Laura Cater-Woods, Carol Sloan, Melanie Testa and a slew of others totaling 16 artists issued a sketchbook challenge. The challenge is to sketch daily in a sketchbook following a monthly theme. The "leading artists" will post their pages and the followers are encouraged to post on their own blogs as well as on a flikr group site. You can find out more about it here.

I thought about this for a while. I have a sketchbook which I sketch in periodically.....and I find that sitting in doctors offices help me to do it more now. I don't do it religiously and it is more like an artist journal than anything else. I started it with Jane D'Avila and Elin Waterston's Art Quilt Workbook "class" we did with the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network. I put in thoughts, ideas for themes, photographs (both mine and others) and all sorts of stuff....including notes I took at the SAQA Ohio meeting in Columbus last month, so it is an eclectic thing. I know that drawing is the bones of art as well as being part of the process of good design. Like most things, you can't expect to get better if you don't practice. Daily. Without fail. The same can be said for quilting.

Knowing this doesn't mean following through. Last year, I swore that I was going to be disciplined as I feel like I have artwork ADD. I flit from one project to another without finishing stuff. I also procrastinate...and that's fodder for another blog post as the reasons for procrastination are somewhat surprising. I joined the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge to try to force myself to practice the habit of art quilting on a REGULAR basis as well as to explore new methods and perhaps a theme.

Well...that one sort of flew out the window. Many of the problems this year were with my health....falling and breaking my arm while photographing mushrooms for one of the FFFC challenges sort of threw me for a loop. Finding out I have breast cancer mets to the bone again also put me back into the treatment/doctor's appointment/testing loop, as well as the extra energy necessary to push when pushing was needed. I'm still a mom of a daughter who is presently a senior in High school with all that entails (cross country, track, college visits, applications, etc.) who also has had some health issues this year (a tonsillectomy, wisdom teeth removed...blah blah blah). So...these are excuses. Lyric Kinard is able to do this in spades--she has more kids than I do.... I need to be able to do this AND keep a house and a garden....the garden is important to me, but I AM downsizing a bit and trying to make it work easier. But I still need to make a list of priorities and goals and mark down what I need to do to achieve those goals.

In addition to the prioritization, I need to look at the time eaters and make sure that they do not consume the time in non-productive ways or ways which don't help me meet my goals...and yes, having a reasonably well-adjusted daughter and clean house as well as gardens are also my goals. But, I need to make sure that I also work on progressing with the art quilt ends.

The first image in this post is of an egret. I took the photo in Florida the last time we were there. On the right is the sketch I made for the first entry in the Art Quilt Workbook's mini quilt. It has yet to be quilted, but at least it is committed to fabric. This second one is the abstraction (not very abstract I admit) of the image of the caged rooster I took at the Miami County Fair. Yes, I need to work on being more abstract. I'm afraid I'm very much of a realist, although I really appreciate abstraction.

In addition to actual sketches, I also do some doodle like things. I tend to make patterns very large and do sketches in which one image takes up the whole page. I think I would be better served to make smaller images and then be able to compare right on the same page what design works better. That's what I was doing here.




Sometimes, those sketches actually turn into finished pieces! Miracle of Miracles! This was the first FFFC piece I did. Since I was in Montana at the time, I finished it ON TIME (I didn't have many other responsibilities other than to help with the cooking, visit my family, and drive food and trucks around during harvest). One of the reasons I joined FFFC was so that I would NOT turn every piece into a large endeavor. I am afraid that I'm not very good at that. Ever the eternal optimist I always think I can do more than I can....I keep on thinking that I've hung up my wonder wonder woman cape...but I keep on putting it back. You can see the finished piece and the process here.

I am adding this challenge, plus I am going to try to work my way through Lyric Kinard's Art Plus Quilt by myself as well as try to be much more disciplined in other areas of my life as well. Things are going to be hard and I am going to have to struggle to keep my goals in front of me. But I am going to try to do it. I always said, Aim for the Mountain top, as you might just reach it. Aim for the middle and you'll never get beyond it. It's sort of like what Jamie Fingal said on her post introducing herself and her method. She used the following quotation: "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. " (unknown). You can see her whole post the sketchbook challenge blog here.

So what's this last page? My daughter and I were flying somewhere...I think Montana and in the airport restaurant we ate in, there was a rope of chilies. I sketched it...then I started messing around with abstracting it. I was supposed to be doing something for MVAQN which used triangles....this sketch is as far as I got, but at least I'll be able to go back to it and fiddle around some more and perhaps commit it to fabric.

Quilty days and hot stuff

This week is a very quilty week. Friday, we hung a show of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network's work at the Glen Helen Nature Center, 405 Cory Rd., Yellow Springs, OH. It's a small show, but it is a fun show. m At left is a grouping of coneflower quilts done in response to a challenge. (Far left: Diane Boley, small framed and large quilt is Ann Diller's work, and the one with squares is Joan Sterr who calls this one "Move Over Andy") . Sunday, we had the opening.

Tonight, I had a MVAQN board meeting and then the Monday Group met and showed the work completed on Lyric Kinard's Art + Quilt.

I didn't get any of my homework done as I'm still fiddling with the Chiaroscuro piece and my sewing room is so disgustingly awful with debris all over everywhere that I don't really much want to go in there. I made Pozole today with the last of the tomatillos and harvested some Cow's Horn peppers. I bought them on a lark. I had no idea how hot they were but the picture looked cool.

Cow's horn peppers are curved, like cow's horns. I tried to find how hot they were. Today, I found out the hard way. I tested it a little first. Nothing happened, so I didn't don my latex gloves like I do when I know that a pepper is hot. After about 15 minutes, my hands were on fire and they got worse if I ran water over them. After much scrubbing, pouring milk over them and rubbing with oil, I got most of it off and it didn't hurt. So I thought. Until just a few minutes ago when I rubbed my eye. Guess what? The oil is still there, at least remnants of it. Not a good thing.
Now, I'm sneakily putting these at the end...This is a group of us just before the opening. At left is Diane Boley, in the center is Fran LaSalle and next to Fran on the right is Cathy Barnes.

This next panel has Fran's "Something Fishy" , a small piece I have done called "Cellular Junction," below the fringe on mine is a Frog done by Ginny Crabtree, next to the fringy thing is Kate Burch's "Frog in a Bucket," below the frog is another frog by Fran LaSalle, and then my "Standing on Sacred Ground." The frogs, like the coneflowers were done in response to a bi-monthly challenge where words or techniques are chosen at random.

The Small Art Quilt by Jane LaFazio

Things have been so busy around Casa Quintana the last few days, I thought I had better review the instructional video "The Small Art Quilt" by Jane La Fazio before I lose my thoughts. Just the other day, I was fortunate to win a copy of Jane La Fazio's "The Small Art Quilt" from a blog give-away on Lyric Kinard's bog which you can find on her website.

Jane LaFazio leads you in a journey of quick, intuitive quilts using wool felt, paint, torn edge applique, photos, and embellishments. She has really great sections on finishing small quilts and one on color and texture. This video is all about inspiration, but it gives thorough instructions so you aren't just sitting there saying "OK, and how did she get THAT effect." Since they are small quilts, you don't have to devote a lot of time or space in construction. Most of what she does is 8 1/2" x 11" and can be completed in a couple of days, not a couple of years...although I'm sure I could drag it out that long.

Her list of materials is minimalist so you don't have to have a lot of money to get started and you probably have most of the materials at hand already if you do traditional quilts. The directions are clear and easily followed. She goes over how to choose a good photograph for incorporation into quilts which I think would be a real boon for a lot of people.

The spontaneity is quite wonderful...but I keep on wondering how using un-ironed muslin backings work out...I'd think that the creases would show or could give you trouble in the long run. I'm sure that not ironing is just part of her "lets get in and do it" aspect , but I think I'll iron before hand just in case I do create something really wonderful.

I found this to be a fun, inspirational and well done video and well worth the money to purchase it. Running time is 69 minutes. You don't have to be an artist...or a quilter (yet) to dive in and get going...Jane will lead you along the way and make you feel comfortable while doing it.

One of the fun things is that at the end of the video there is a "trunk show" of all the finished pieces of what she was working on in the body of the video.

A couple of times I wish that the videographer would have zoomed in and showed her hands working on the piece...or a close up or overhead shot, particularly on her section on the smooshed ribbon embellishment as well as a closer shot showing the over-all piece. Sometimes the pieces remain flat on the table when a direct shot would have been better. One other time there was a voice off camera giving Jane a direction....not loud, but present none-the-less. these criticisms, however, are extremely picayune. None of the things make the video a "no-go", but they are areas which could be improved upon.

I highly recommend this video...for more experienced art quilters and art quilt-maker wannabees, I' m sure you can find things to help you explore or improve your pieces in this DVD.

Thanks Lyric for hosting the give-away, and thanks Jane for a really good lesson in small art quilt making.

Oh yeah...don't forget, small art quilts are also easier to store, so make one today!