Considering my words

While I plod along with the hourglass project I am beginning to consider Ann's AHIQ challenge to make a piece that includes words, so I thought I'd stick down some of my thoughts.

I love words.  I love to talk (and talk, and talk), I love to read, I love my dictionaries, I am pretty fond of a nice list. No surprise then, that I have already included words in some of my quilts.

I have realised as I made these pieces that my interest is, specifically, in using words to add an extra layer of rhythm to what I am doing, rather than to convey any overt message. I like the challenge of including text but don't want the words themselves to distract or become the main focus.  I don't know if I achieve what I am aiming for every time, but that's the general idea.

This means that the ideas I have stored away fall mostly into two categories: names and descriptions.  The lighthouse quilt is an example of the way names might work, and the quilt that became At the Edge was build around dictionary definitions of colour.

In Yellow Birds, the words I chose were intended as descriptive, but also, in the end, contributed to a quilt with quite an optimistic, upbeat feel.

Using words in this way generates loads of possibilities: I might, for example, add labels to my little butterflies (though I don't think I'm going to).  I have a favourite photo of plant labels with botanical names that I have often thought was the starting point for something; I have several dictionaries/word books which provide fruitful pickings; I have more lighthouse-related ideas I'd like to get to and then there's always the weather...

Of the three quilts I've done so far, however, At the Edge was the only one where I planned to include words right from the beginning; in the other two it was more a case of 'I need something extra, what can I do?' So the interesting (maybe difficult) thing for me will be to start with an idea of the words and then see what else needs to go with them.  I am telling myself that if this proves to be a right royal pain in the neck I can always go back to making something and seeing what words might fit, but I'd like to start with the words if I can.  

First finish of the year

First finish of 2017 - hooray.  If I'd applied myself more diligently this might have scraped in at the end of 2016, but I didn't.  That's the way it goes sometimes.

This had a working title of Circles, but given that I've used this for at least three quilts recently it needs a better title, so I am calling it At the Edge. This is taken from a quote by A.S. Byatt, in an interview on The Art of Fiction for the Paris Review.  You can read it here and it's well worth the visit. It's a long piece and the section on language and colour is quite a long way through it, so I guess if you didn't want to read it all you could just scan through for the relevant section.  Anyway, she says "I think the names of colors are at the edge between where language fails and where it’s at its most powerful".  I like this a lot in itself but it seems particularly appropriate given that I started this piece with a desire to use the colour definitions from Webster's.

Crumbs - that's the most long-winded justification I've ever written for a quilt name!  

As is the way of these things it's making a half-hearted attempt to snow right now, so I was faced with the thorny old problem of how to get a picture.  This is the best I can do right now 

Here's the back.

And a slightly closer view, just because I like the patterns the quilting has made on the back.

A little bit of binding.

And here it is on a bed.  I should point out that this is an extremely large bed, so the quilt would come down the sides on a standard double.

The details:

Size 85" x 70"

Pieced entirely from Oakshott shot cottons and Kaffe Fassett striped fabrics. Binding: more of the stripes.

Wadding is wool, probably Hobbs Tuscany Wool, though I honestly don't remember.

Quilted using a selection of Sulky 12 variegated cotton threads - I just used what I already had, which turned out to be quite a lot.

I started piecing this on 13th January 2016, finished on 1st April 2016.  Started quilting on 16th October 2016, finished today, 10th February 2017.

Linking up with TGIFF, this week over at Lisa in Port Hope, Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop, Whoop and NinaMarie for Off the Wall Friday

Looking back, looking forwards

2016 was the first time I ever set down even vague quilting aims for the year ahead but it has proved to be an interesting exercise and since Yvonne is encouraging us to share our plans for 2017 I thought I'd use the opportunity to reflect and maybe lay out some tentative goals.

It has been a bizarrely productive year for me: I have completed 5 quilts, which I know doesn't sound like much to many people but is a lot for me, and made another 5 tops which are now waiting their turn in the quilting queue.  

Some of my resolutions fell by the wayside pretty quickly but the one I stuck with best was my resolve to 'green' my stash as much as I could.  I had a brief moment of panic about what the implications of Brexit would be (prices have gone up and my favourite fair trade fabric source is closing down) but apart from that I have concentrated on organic lines.  This has its disadvantages (lack of choice, especially if you don't want lots of 'look at me' prints or cute stuff) but also an unexpected upside, which is that I have definitely bought much less fabric.  I looked a lot, to start with, and then talked myself out of things, but after a bit I didn't even look.  It has also pushed me to use the bag of old shirts I had accumulated.  

The other aim I expressed that has worked for me was to keep looking for opportunities to interact with other quilters.  Last year I tried Stash Bee; this year I had a go at joining in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, but gave up after about three months. I love the idea, but the reality was that my scraps just didn't seem to work - not enough of them for a start, so I acknowledged defeat.  Quilty 365 on the other hand really sparked something. I didn't imagine at the start of this year that I would spend an entire 12 months making circles, but look at the tops completed this year - there's definitely a bit of a theme going on.

So, aims for 2017:

• Work on finding rhythm.  I've been productive this year but somehow it has often felt scrappy and haphazard and sometimes downright unsatisfactory.  It's down to me to work out how to juggle things (time and space)so that this feels better.
• I will try to keep up my approach to fabric buying.  I can't bring myself to completely give up on non-organic lines, but will keep up the focus on organic, fair trade, and recycled stuff. 
• There are a couple of things I've done this year that I would like to revisit or rework.  I've thought this before and not followed up the idea, but maybe writing it here will encourage me. 
• I still like the idea of finding ways to collaborate/link up with others. If anyone out there has the inclination to play around this idea with me, do feel free to get in touch.   I wish I could find a satisfactory real life option, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. 
• Finally, I just aim to keep going, keep trying, keep recording what I do, keep learning through my interactions on this blog and by seeing what other quilters are doing.

A final note - the AHIQ linkup will happen next week, just in case some of you are still sewing.  I'm secretly hoping I might sneak a bit of time in between now and then!

Still handquilting my circles...

Mind you, given that this is the first of three circle quilts this year, I may be able to use that as a post title until sometime in 2018.

I've not posted about this for a while as I'm trying to avoid endless pictures that all look pretty much the same, but I have been quietly making progress.  I have spent ages worrying about whether I like the way I am quilting this, but have reached a point where I just have to let that go; I have done far too much to reconsider.  It's the blank areas I'm not keen on really, so if push comes to shove I can go back and put in some extra stitching at some point.  

It would look better laid out flat but there was a cat lurking, and I just didn't want to have that argument today!

For the first time in a few weeks I'll link up with Kathy today for Slow Sunday Stitching.

A year of circles

If I'm going to be precise, my year of circles is not up until Monday, but I know I'm busy this weekend, and want to get my post done in time to link up with Audrey, so I am going, uncharacteristically, to complete ahead of time.  

In fact I have already finished my last lot of circles.

Of course the eagle-eyed among you will spot instantly that this is nothing like 366 circles, so to recap:  I started last November 8th, making denim squares with blue circles appliqued, but somewhere along the line (132 days in, to be precise) I got a bit bored so took a break and turned them into this.

So these two tops amount to 299 circles in all - not a year's worth exactly but not bad, I think.  However playing around with circle-y ideas also led directly to this one.

I can't really count it as part of Quilty 365, as I did way more than a circle a day when piecing it, but in my head it kind of belongs with the other two.  

To sum up then, I don't think any of what I have done is exactly in the spirit of the original challenge as laid out by Audrey, but it has been a very interesting exercise for me and I'm glad I participated.   Focusing on one simple shape has sparked off loads of ideas, so I may not be done with circles yet, but repeating the same basic unit every day for a year is definitely not for me: I started off with good intentions but have moved further and further away from this as the year has gone out and have ended up making the last circles in big batches.  I still like the idea of something more diary-like (like Cathy's Marginalia) and might feel drawn to try that at some point, but I'd have to find a way to keep myself going!

In the meantime I have to figure out how I turn my little shirt circles into a quilt - I'm not making more circles now so that will be my next task after I finish piecing my red, white and blue.  

Quite a few people are still circling, or like me are coming to an end.  Audrey's link up is a great way to see loads of different interpretations of this idea.  

I'm also linking up to 

TGIFF and Finished or Not Friday, 

which are both at Busy Hands Quilts today.

It's been a slow week all round

...and looks like next week will be too, but I am happy to say that I am completely up-to-date with my circles. I thought I was there a couple of days ago but then realise that I hadn't done any for the week I was currently in, but I pulled my socks up and here they all are.  Of course I need to do one for today, but that should be a piece of cake (!) There will be 16 more little blocks, to get me up to my 365 completion date of November 16th, but I won't make any more after that; I'll just see what I've got and go from there.

I've done a wee bit more hand quilting too, and am aiming to make some progress today.  A couple of people mentioned the thread I am using, so here's a gratuitous shot - all of these are in with a chance of making it into the quilt as I'm just picking up what seems like a nice match each time I start a section. Sulky 12wt Blendables, one and all.  

Circles in the sun

Knowing that my machine would be packed away over the Easter weekend I had prepared lots of circles for basting and applique, in the hope that I might end up with enough to finish this top off.  And I seem to have done the trick.  In fact I have a few still waiting to be done that will be surplus, though I'm thinking I'll do them anyway, just to give myself a bit of wiggle room when I'm laying things out.  

Of course when I come to start work again I can't remember exactly where everything was before I packed it away so I spent half the morning moving circles about trying to decide what I liked.  And yes, I had taken a photo, but when push comes to shove I often can't be doing with trying to recreate in that way, preferring just to do the job twice.  

Anyway, I got quite a lot done: another big chunk pieced,  a couple of smaller bits and I have a good sense of what I need to do to finish this.   While I worked the sun came out and was streaming onto the floor - hence the slightly dodgy photo, but on balance I'll take the trade off.  I think you can still get the feel of things from the picture.

Close up of the left hand side, all done except that bottom row.

I spent the afternoon printing more strips, no photos of that, but I did take one of the stamps after I'd finished, just because I like how they look.

Not far to go with this one now.

AHIQ - share your improv #7

I am still plugging away with the circles: I think I probably have enough big ones now and the smallest size are prepped and ready to go.  Doing all these extra steps, the applique and the stamping, means that working on this quilt has had a different rhythm for me, with much more focus on those small stages and maybe less of an overview, but suddenly I feel like the end is in sight (though you can remind me of that in a month's time when I may still be saying the same thing!)

Yesterday I was working on what I think will be the bottom left-hand corner:

Unfortunately the return of better weather means I have lost the conservatory as a place to work (people actually want to use it as a living space - how unreasonable!)  The upshot of that is that I can't get the whole piece laid out somewhere so have had to fold what I have already done so that I can see at least the piece I will be joining on to, if not the rest.  This isn't ideal, and I might have to jig things about once I finally get some space, but I'm trying to make it work for now.  Taking this photo, though, I see that maybe the central square on the bottom line is not quite right.  

In any case I had to stop piecing to go and stamp some more strips, but that is done now so I can go back to tweaking.

I really look forward to these improv link up weeks, especially in months when I haven't done so much myself, so without further ado...

No sense of size

Honestly!  How long have I been doing this now?  I was laying out the next few circles this morning, trying to get an idea of how many more I thought I would need to prepare, when it occurred to me to measure what I already had.  As it stands the piece I have sewn together is already nearly 70" wide and I think only needs two more rows of circles to make it a sensible length.  Somehow in my head it was much smaller.  

The big upside of this is that I have almost enough of the largest circles already: I think I will need maybe two more.  I need a lot more small ones, but at least I now have a realistic idea of what I am doing. 

So, I have joined on the left-hand side piece that I put together yesterday and starting laying out the next section, though it will have to wait for the baby circles again now.

Here's my nice little pile ready for basting, with my wonky hand-drawn circle templates.

A reminder, also, that next Tuesday is AHIQ link up day.

Wandering circles

Another chunk has gone onto the circles quilt and now it looks like this:

Some time in the last couple of days I realised that I had been getting stuck with this because I kept wanting all the big circles lined up.  Now, my original little sketch wasn't all neatly boxed off like that, but I think because the first chunk I put together happened to work that way I became too fixated on keeping it going.  And that gets hard - or it did for me: firstly because once I'd decided on those vertical runs of the medium circles they threw the whole thing out but also because I kept wanting to do other things that would mess up that perfect grid.  Anyone who has watched me work for more than about 5 minutes knows that I am not normally a perfect grid sort of person, yet I got sucked in.  I am glad to say, though, that I have given myself a stern talking to and will not be obsessing about this any more.  The one circle that isn't lined up (top right corner) seems to me to work fine, so I will be letting others wander a bit too.

Circling again

I have decided  that for now I am going to ignore all the things I haven't done (365 circles and purple scraps to name but two) and just pootle on with my stripy circles and a bit of quilting.  It's not that I don't want to do the other things, but I find I am kicking against the idea (entirely self-inflicted) that I am "behind" with things.  Tell me I've got to do something and I dig my heels in!

The circles, though, are moving on.  This is where I was mid-morning...

and this is now.  

Quite a big chunk is sewn together (3 circles high by 5 or 6 wide), the rest is just sitting there on the floor while I consider it.  I am liking the vertical line of medium circles better now that I have repeated the idea in other parts of the quilt, so it can definitely stay, even though I've located the seam ripper.

No getting away from the fact that it all comes down to making the basic units again now, and printing more strips (though that's lots of fun). I started off just making them willy-nilly but now, especially with the biggest circles, I am trying to look at what I have and think a bit more about what will work best in the gaps. 

Coming up for air

Well that was not a lot of fun; I can't remember the last time I didn't even pick up a needle for two weeks.  I'm slowly getting back into things now, though that is presenting its own challenges.  I am finding that the enforced break has slightly thrown me off my stride, so when I went back and looked at this:

which had just been sitting on the floor where I left it, I wasn't very happy with it, though I couldn't put my finger on why (my brain is still a bit woolly I guess).  I definitely wished I hadn't added the vertical line of medium-sized circles down the right hand side, and would have taken it off again, only the seam ripper has gone walkabout.  Instead I have decided to leave it there, but to change other bits around.

This is feeling better, so I am leaving it on the floor while I go to print more of the colour definition strips and prep the next batch of little circles.

More than enough for one Sunday

At the moment I'm spoiled for choice when it comes to slow stitching: I don't have much on the go that doesn't involve sitting with a needle and thread.  So, today, I will be basting the next pile of circles.

Once those are done I'm going to add a bit more to my jacket - I have some pieces pinned in place and keep catching myself on the pins (the jacket is on the back of my sewing chair) so I want to get rid of them before I do some damage.

After that, if there's time, there's quilting to be done.

Squeezing in the circles

So, I have stopped grouching.  I have also accepted that under current circumstances working where kittens can get is a non-started, so am utilising the conservatory, which is unheated and therefore pretty much just storage space at this time of year.  This means I can lay my circles out and leave them.  It also means if I want to spend much time in there I need a coat.

I'm not sure if this is at all edifying but here is what is on the floor right now.

In this version what I have been thinking of as the top left corner has become the bottom left.  Who knows where it will end up?

And, just because, here's the view if I zoom out a bit.  Sometimes I pile everything in one corner to take photos but today, honestly, I am full of cold and really can't be bothered!

I learn the hard way, if I learn at all

I'm still plugging away with these stripy circles and in fact the pace of the whole project is being dictated by the speed at which I can get the basic units done, which is to say it's slow!  At least I have one good sized chunk actually sewn together now and am starting to look at the next one.  

Those of you who followed the last quilt will remember that I whinged a lot about being bored while I made my basic 9-patch units: well I'm reaching the same sort of point now, which is to say I really like how it looks, don't so much like making the bits.  This leads  me to wonder why, for the second time in a row, I have chosen to make something in this way ie with lots of repetitions of a simple unit. I keep trying to think of ways to switch things up a bit, just to divert myself, but nothing remotely feasible has occurred to me yet.  Short attention span? Me?  I'm not so sure I'm keen on this quilty self-knowledge; I prefer the idea that I am endlessly patient, but there you go.

Anyhow, this is the floor right now:

Yet again, need to make more circles!

Circles moving forward

It feels like time to get these circles moving.  I'm still basting and sewing the individual units but want to get more of a feel for how they are going to go together.  

I have sewn together this chunk.

I liked the way the lettered strips looked en masse in the photos I took, so, although I originally envisaged using them singly,  I'm now  going to layer them up deliberately, just as long as it fits with the circle blocks.  I don't intend to go causing myself too many problems fitting this all together.

Now I''m laying out options for the next bit.  I like the third row better here than with the offset circle, and the purple strip down the left hand side may get a friend or two, but nothing more has been stitched so I can keep on tinkering for a bit.

I'm going to link up today with Em's Scrapbag for Moving it Forward Monday.

Basting and fiddling around

I am still making good (but clearly slow-ish) progress with my colour definition quilt.  I would be going faster, I think, if I hadn't spent so much of my time this week reading the dictionary.  I am fiddling around with little bits of layout, but it's pretty clear that I need to make more circles, in all sizes, to give myself more scope.  

Here's my floor right now.

I like the top two rows, but not the bottom one here; the 3rd big circle in needs to be at the same level as the others, I think.  I guess this may be put together in rows and I want to break them up a little bit, but this clearly isn't the way.  I also want to use the strips a bit more: I really like how they look stacked up so will see if there's a way to get little moments of that in somewhere.

And now, again, back to basting circles.

Still circling

Slow but steady here.  I decided to focus on getting some stuff out of the way, so have made a back for the next top I'll be quilting; I got up to date with my 365 circles; I've even tidied up a bit.  And I'm moving on with my stripy circles. 

I have sewed a few into slightly larger units: one big circle, three small ones - they are laid out like this so I could get them in one photos not because this is a layout I am considering.

Why do things always look so creasy in my pictures?  Well I know the answers to that: sometimes I have been carrying bits around, so they start off nice and smooth but get creased along the way; sometimes I have inadvertently plonked stuff down on top of them (one of the hazards if your way of working is on the messy side) and sometimes I get too excited and just sew without even thinking about my iron.  To be honest I don't notice so much in real life, but the camera really seems to show me up.Ho hum.

I've also made a nice little pile of medium sized bits.

It's quite nice and undemanding making all these circles, but I'm going to have to step up soon and start thinking about how they go together.  Maybe just another day or two or pottering first!

January? Where's it gone?

I had plans for January - an AHIQ post or two I wanted to write, a discussion I wanted to pitch into, and a whole load of sewing, but here I am, 20th of the month already and my weeks seem to have been taken up with car stuff, leg stuff, work stuff, and not nearly enough sewing stuff.  I notice too that I'm not the only one who is feeling like this: 2016 seems to be speeding away from us already.  So I will leave AHIQ posts until February, maybe keep my views to myself on a couple of things, and focus on the task in hand.  

I have hit a rhythm with these circles, which I thought would be very time-consuming.  Every day I prep a few: piece or select backgrounds, cut the circles, baste them and iron them, then in the late afternoon and evening I get them stitched up.  As a result I'm actually happy enough with how I'm progressing.

I like that this is tilted towards the greens, but will probably add a few more reds into the mix, and there is one additional element I want to try adding in, though I'm not sure if what is in my head will work in practice.  I'm hoping to play with that over the weekend, all things being equal. Wish me luck!

Staggering my circles

I'm having fun with this!

Making the individual pieces is slow, but I'm getting into the swing of it, so prep a few, then sew, prep a few, then sew.  At the same time I am playing around with grouping them.  I started off with everything in a line, but am now having a go at staggering them a bit.  I'm not really making any firm decisions, just seeing how things look, getting a feel for it all.

So here are a few blocks, in slightly different configurations.  I'm going to make some next in a 3rd size, somewhere between these big and small squares, then possibly add another element in, though I'm still on 'keeping things simpler' road that I started with the second walls piece and Quiet Quilt.