New Round Robin

So the guild that I just joined in September has started a "Self Round Robin".  We pick an orphan block (like I have 20 of those--should put 'em all together into A quilt).  Each month the executive gives us a directive for that round.  For the first month, October's meeting, we had to put a stripe on our block.  That was it.  Because we've only been in this house just over a year, I still don't know where all my sewing stuff is organized.  It is all organized, but I just don't always know where I've organized it!  Anyhow, upon opening one of my three Ikea dresser drawers where I thought I might have stashed that pile of various blocks from retreats to guild projects to rejected blocks to blocks I made one of after seeing an episode of "Simply Quilts"... The first place I looked yielded this beautiful appliqué block I made in a hand appliqué class I took...about 14, maybe 15 years ago!!  The stitching is beautiful, so tiny!  I think I'd need a magnifying glass to be able to reproduce that minute of a stitch today.  I decided rather than spend ages sifting through the blocks pile, which I did find, I'd stick with this first one.

I thought about simply sewing a striped fabric around it, and I auditioned a couple and let them stew on the design wall.  In the end, I spent another chunk of time hunting down the original fabrics I'd used in the appliqué (oh yes, I still had them!) as I'd also had another idea pop into my head: to make my own striped border using those fabrics.  I added one other green that I think looks really good, as I couldn't find the leaf fabric in my stash.  Here is the first round:

I was sick with a bad flu bug all Tuesday, so I didn't even make it to my guild meeting to show it off!  And I don't know what the directive is yet for November...  Yes, and I didn't even get to hand in my placemats for Meals On Wheels, although I know there is still time as the final due date is November.

DSM vs LA

Maybe it's just me, but I am seeing a bit of a dividing line in the quilting world of late.  There is the school of machine quilters who uses a longarm, aka LA, and there is the one who uses a domestic sewing machine, aka DSM.  I get a feeling that there is a thought in some places that one is inferior to the other.  I liken it to the school of thought from years ago where machine quilting was believed to be inferior to hand quilting, kind of a "you cheated" belief.

Well, I have FMQ quilted for 10 years on my Bernina 180. Prior to that, for 7 years I quilted on my beloved Elna, still alive and stitching her heart out today, but kicking up her wheels (ha ha, bad pun) in sunny southern Florida.  About 8 months ago I purchased a used Avanté.  I have taught myself using books and mainly Leah Day.  Leah quilts on a DSM.  Her wonderful, wonderful designs, videos, as well as her first FMQ book and DVD were all my resources. Now I've purchased two Craftsy classes, one of Leah's and one of Angela Walters' (LA quilter) and I have to say I love them both.

I do not see the difference, really, in the finished product between quilting on a DSM or a LA; the key is PRACTICE. Watch a video on YouTube or one that came with a book, read the book carefully, study the design, draw it on paper; the muscle memory is really the same for the shapes. The tool is different whether it is a pencil, a machine or moving the quilt sandwich.  I still feel, probably because I'm still quite a novice on the LA, that I have more control when I'm quilting on my Bernina.  The Avanté skates along at times; at others I think there is a bump in the track (and I've looked and run my fingers along it SO many times, all to no avail...maybe the floor is slightly uneven which makes it jump or grab in usually two spots along its path, ugh.)

So why did I switch from DSM to LA?  My main reason was that I thought it would be easier to maneuver large quilts, as my Bernina doesn't have that large of an area from needle to arm of the machine, aka the throat plate, I believe it's called.  My other reason was speed; I thought I could finish more quilts faster.  So far this has not proven to be the case - I've completed 5 and have #6 on right now.  That is within the past 8 months.  Well, that isn't counting 2 quiltets, 36X42" muslin practice pieces.  And I also thought I could start a quilting business.  This has not come to pass, nor am I actively pursuing it right now, although I haven't totally ruled it out.

I want the freedom to be able to do both, and I was so happy to find I could easily stitch out some of Leah's designs on those placemats using my Bernina.  It's all good.  :-)  Now off to sew for a little bit before bedtime...I visited a terrific quilt shop (with a great online store, very dangerous) in Detroit, well, actually in Berkley, Michigan today,  called Guildcrafters.  Confession: I bought a kit to make an adorable summer quilt.  Ya, I know summer's over, but the colours--!!  And it's a snap to sew together, nothing but squares with they key being fabric placement.  Basically, mindless.  And it's going to Florida with me next month to stitch up there, where it's summer pretty much year round!  They do the neatest kits ideas.  The display quilt is on the wall, and under it, sealed in cellophane usually WITH the pattern enclosed, is the quilt.  Most of the quilts are very simple in construction, with the fabric all or mainly chosen from one line.  Many are their own patterns too.  I could have bought 3 for sure, maybe more!  This is when I am so happy to have my little yoga job as there is absolutely NO GUILT in spending the money to sew up a quilt.  Well, the negative nancy I have hovering over my left shoulder did sneer that I could easily sew something up like this using my PLENTIFUL stash, but I slapped her and stuffed her back down in her jack-in-the-box style box, and picked that puppy right up and did not let go until it was paid for!  Off to sew!

Placemats

We have to bring two quilted placemats 12X18" to our next guild meeting in October to donate to Meals On Wheels.  I had leftover fabric from my "Cloud 9" quilt that I thought would make some pretty ones; I could envision the teal quilting showing up on the reverse (I'd already decided on black).  Three things happened: first I saw something on a shop wall in the Quilt Sampler Fall issue, second, making those hotpads gave me an idea as to how to finish the placemats with that self-binding, and third, seeing a quilt on Quilting is More Fun Than Housework just made all those thoughts gel together.  Great news for these menopausal scatterbrained-melon days!!

So they are both finished today and ready to take with me to Tuesday night's meeting.  :-)  Now the only other "to-do" for the meeting is to put a stripe on my orphan block.  Here are the placemats:

Round Robin Quilt

So first off, I have to get this out there: I hate this quilt.  Always have done.  I'm still not sure if I've totally stopped hating it, but I think I have.  In fact, when I pulled it out of the dryer the other day and plopped it on the hardwood floor, my first thought was, 'Oh! I love it!' It had crinkled up so beautifully and the feathers just popped, and some of the fuchsia quilted designs also popped...looked at it a few hours later, and was back to disliking it intensely.

So here's the story of this Round Robin quilt.  I took part in the Round Robin in the guild I belonged to at the time, 1999.  I had been a quilter for 4 years, and of the four women besides me in the RR, 3 were pretty amazing quilters.  One was a founding member of the guild, another was renowned for her beautiful hand quilting and appliqué, and the other was quite the designer.  I was feeling more than just a little trepidation at agreeing to be a part of this.  However, I like a challenge, and I always feel that I learn so much when I push myself.  I had discovered Bethany Reynolds' Stack 'n Whack method on Alex Anderson's "Simply Quilts" HGTV show, (yup, I'm dating myself) had made a sample block, and taken it to the guild where no one had seen the technique yet, and they were AMAZED and excited.  I'd bought her book, and so I decided to make my centre using one of her patterns.  I loved my centre!

Here are my contributions to the others' Round Robin quilts.  On the first round, I did a flying geese and stars border.  This was my first experience with making borders fit, so I was on a fairly steep learning curve.  I had been sewing garments, crafts and so forth for over 20 years, though, so I wasn't a total newbie.  For the second round for the next person, I did some paper piecing and turned the person's quilt on point.  On the third round, I did a very intricate, template-using border from Gail Valentine's Mirror Manipulations book, actually, the one on the cover.  I had to modify the corners to make it work. Then for the last round I did hand appliqué.  I was pretty proud of the level of work I'd put in; one of the "master" quilters of the guild was the moderator of the RR and I felt my work had to pass her inspection, sort of!  Well, when we got our quilts back, 5 months later, I was more than disappointed.  I felt I'd been cheated out of the level of workmanship and creativity I'd put in to each girl's quilt.

So what exactly did I hate (and still do) about my quilt?
1.  The first round has four strips of fabric sewn to the sides of my block with a pair of diamonds in each corner.  Like it took half an hour of work.  She didn't even trim the little dogears off the diamonds and I did not notice that until I was quilting that area; the burgundy shows through the white fabric.
2.  The second round is a fairly intricate seminole-pieced border, but there was no attempt to make it fit properly, so the corners look stupid.  Stupid.  It irritates me to no end.  She also used PINK THREAD to sew on white fabric, and it still shows even after I've quilted the damn thing!  Are you kidding me?
3.  The third round is the mountains, and although they aren't always lined up, it was a lot of work.
4.  The last girl did an amazing amount of work on everyone's quilt except for mine.  When our quilts were unveiled, she even apologized to me in front of everyone, stating that she'd gotten tired of the project, and had lost steam because she put in so much effort on the other three.  I got the border strips and friendship stars in the corners.  Whoop dee doo.  And the points of the stars were even cut off! Here it is at the unveiling in December 1999:

Now I need to let go of that negativity!  I do like this quilt now that it is done! Here it is fresh off the quilting machine, October 5, 2013:

Here you can see the centre block that was my starting point (the centre star and 4 batik "flowers"):

And here it is all bound, October 8.  (I disliked it so much that it is the first quilt I machine-stitched rather than hand-stitched the binding down with a simple straight stitch.  Actually, I did do one once before but I used a fancy machine stitch on the binding because of a time crunch.  It has crinkled up nicely, and looks cuddly!

It was a tad difficult applying that binding with Bella snuggling on it, purring away like a John Deere!

I'm impressed with the improvement in my feathers, thanks to great instruction from Angela Walters' Feathers class on Craftsy.  Here is a shot when it was still on the Avanté:

And after washing, showing the feathers and two of Leah's designs, Heart Paisley and Wheat in the Wind:

Here is a shot showing some more of Leah's designs. From top to bottom, they are Greek Key, Pointy Paisley, Cubing, Television Aerial and Sea Algae:

And here are Spiral Tree, Mussel Shell, Basic Chevron, Pug Eyes, and Cracked Eggs, which to me, because of the red on white, reminds me of baseballs!  Maybe it's also because my husband is glued to the Detroit Tigers games...

This is the fifth quilt I've quilted on my Avanté since I got it in January, and with each one I've incorporated Leah's designs, and a couple of Angela's.  If appropriate, I work through Leah's designs in posted order.  Sometimes I've deviated, as you'll see when I write about the others. It was particularly challenging on this quilt because I had to fit them into a pointy house-shaped area or quilt them sideways depending which side of the quilt they were on.

So today, October 11, I took it off the spare room bed and draped it over the loveseat in the living area.  And I'm posting this lengthy composition about it! No more hiding it away, and letting the cat loll about on it covering it in cat hair!  I am going to take it to my guild meeting on Tuesday night!  It has value!  And honestly, outside of the Frankenstein mouth quilting design (aka "In Stitches", sorry Leah; it's my bad quilting) and the corner motifs I designed myself, I quite like the way the fuchsia thread looks on the white (I wanted to tone down all that white).  Maybe I'll even link up to Leah's FMQ Friday...

Okay, I think I did it right...commented on a few different blogs, added my link to Leah's post, and then added a link back to her FMQ Friday.  I think.  Hope.  Fingers crossed.

Hot pads

Finished both of these last weekend, but I just haven't got around to writing about them.  I first saw these at my local quilt guild meeting in September.  This was the first meeting I'd attended.  Although I wasn't grabbed by the look of them at the time, the quilter's words, "I found the pattern on Moda Bakeshop", a site I'd only just recently discovered, sent my quilt pattern antennae to tingling.  Got home, went online and found them!  They are created by Melanie Dramatic, whose blog I follow, and they are called Herringbone Hot Pads.

I had lots of leftover scraps from my Seaside Rose quilt, and as I just love the soft colours of that palette, I thought it would be a great way to use up the scraps.  I even sewed a couple of larger pieces together to make the back of the hot pad.  Melanie's directions are very clear, and the accompanying pictures make it really easy, even figuring out just how to fold what to where to get the self-binding folded over onto the front!  We have been asked to make 2 placemats for Meals On Wheels for the October guild meeting, and I am going to use this method of cutting the backing a little larger than the front, folding it twice, and machine-stitching it down onto the front of the piece to make mine.

Here is the front view of the mats.  The one on the right has been washed (I love the way it crinkled up!) and the one on the left has had nothing done to it yet.

Here is the back view:

I used Sulky Blendables for the quilting, a 12-weight on the pink-backed mat and 30-weight on the seashell-backed one.  I've since washed the second mat and it crinkled up just as nicely.  I've also used them a couple of times, both to grab something out of the oven, as well as to rest a hot dish on.  With the double layer of batting plus the insul-bright batting (I used some shiny silver-backed thermolam I'd bought to cover a small ironing board), they provide plenty of protection.  I think they'd be great Christmas gifts.  Melanie made hers from a charm pack, but they do use up scraps quite nicely!  I am just so excited at the quilt world that I'm discovering online!  I know it's been there for decades, but the online teachers, classrooms, this Moda Bakeshop, the blogs--I find it is rekindling my passion, not that it had flickered out, but rekindling it in new ways and new directions.  And that gives me an idea for another post!

Humility

So I'm just back home from teaching my favourite Yin yoga class, Sunday mornings, 90 minutes.  I love all four of the classes I teach throughout the week, but perhaps because this one was the first class I ever taught, the first group, I have a special place in my heart for these wonderful women.  That they accepted me, someone from out of town, out of province even(!), a newbie to teaching yoga, a new style of yoga not offered anywhere else in our town, with such positive energy and open-mindedness is so very humbling and awe-some.  (emphasis on the "awe" I feel).  I often feel this way, but today more so.  Here's what happened:

As I circulated throughout the room on a couple of different poses, helping, advising, I realized that I care about these women, that I want them to get the most out of whatever pose we are in.  I also realized how into it the majority of them are; one sweetheart literally jumped out of her skin when I softly approached to offer some advice that I thought might help her legs to relax more fully.  She was that deeply into it!  Another one, when I suggested she pull in her tummy to protect her low back, said that was very painful, just pulling in her tummy, and I sensed that she felt quite anguished about that.  So I told her, no, don't go into pain at all, and gave her a modification she'd been doing months ago after the initial low-back injury she suffered.  She came to talk to me after the class, asking me for poses that would help strengthen her low back, and telling me she'd had some blood work done indicating there were issues with her digestive system, specifically kidneys.  So interesting!  Chinese medicine says that the energetic health of the kidneys rules the general health of the low back, something the blood work supported!  I felt like, wow.  Epiphany.  I believe these theories, whole-heartedly, but to see it before your eyes...well.  Then she thanked me also for what I'd said today, saying it had really helped her, as she's feeling really frustrated with the lack of continued progress, namely the last 20% or so to full restored health.  I realized that I'd talked about loving-kindness towards ourselves, treating ourselves gently, like we would a child or a very good friend, right in the opening meditation.  This is something I continually, but even more so now that I have less stress since I'm no longer teaching school, have to work on with myself.  I can be SO HARD on myself, downright mean. Lately I've consciously started saying affirmations, trying to arrest the flow of negativity to myself at times when I notice it, turning it around into a positive thought... tough work after 40 years of meanness to my self.  But this is a topic for another post!  Anyhow, I felt humbled when I reflected upon what I'd said that would mean a lot to her, and help her, and also wowed, I guess, that these women, and the occasional man ;-) actually do pay attention to my words.

Lastly, after class, because it's cloudy here today, I said I probably should have kept in my little metaphor I got from one of my previous yoga teachers that I just love, where we raise our arms up to the blue sky and smiling sun that we know is up there, even when it's cloudy or dark, and place some of the sun's light and healing energy at our hearts.  One of the students said, "Yes! I missed that!"  This was the first class since I started teaching, July 1, that I haven't done that.  So yay, and wow, it has resonance with them.

Anyhow, I guess it goes to show that what we say has resonance and meaning with those around us who hear our words.  Yes, I know this, yes, I believe it, but it's worthwhile to be shown once in a while.  I'm new enough to teaching yoga that I hope I never take teaching a class for granted, just going through the motions, that I always give the best of myself to the students and to honouring the practice.  I know I did this over my 30-year teaching career, so I believe I certainly will when teaching yoga.
Namaste. 
Have a wonderful Sunday!

Oxymoron: Getting a Job in Retirement

I was at our Lane's BBQ Sunday evening.  What a great group of people make up our little street!  Most are retired, but some still work, and a few, like me, are early retired.  As I listened to one of the neighbours recount a couple of hilarious stories about the adorable kids on the school bus he drives, I was struck by a few things. 

Most people look forward to retirement:  a time where they can relax, do the things they never had time to do when working full-time, travel, or just do nothing and not feel guilty about it one little bit.  They've earned the right.  Many people do just that, and more.  However, there are many who, like me, find interesting little jobs that keep us active, mentally and physically, jobs that we give us such fulfillment.  There is the neighbour who has decided to drive a school bus this year, and he just loves it.  Another volunteers in a grade school classroom two days a week during their winter in Florida.  Yet another has found her calling in the ministry after retiring from teaching.  Then there is me, teaching yoga and absolutely loving it.  What really made me think, "Whoa!" was when I realized that all of these jobs are of a service nature, and none of them pay that well, in fact the volunteer one not a cent.  And it just doesn't matter.  Yet the fact that it doesn't matter, means it matters so much!  When you are doing something where the money doesn't matter, but the sense of fulfillment and contentment and "right-ness" does, I believe we have achieved a real "AHHHH" (choir singing) state.  :-)

Wouldn't it be awesome if we could find jobs that give us such joy throughout our entire working years?  I know many are lucky enough to have a job they love; I loved teaching, but not the hours and hours of prep work and marking, meetings, phonecalls, etc.  How many love all aspects of their job?  I certainly do with yoga.  I'd be willing to bet the neighbours I mentioned love every aspect of their post-retirement "fun" jobs.  It's doing something positive, making a difference in people's lives, and feeling happy and fulfilled that you are contributing to a better community.  It's doing benevolent work.   This leads to benevolent thoughts and mindset, and ultimately to a happier planet.  And, to be realistic, I'm not saying everyone should retire, although as each day comes and goes, I feel happier and happier!  But it is so important to try our best to find something in our busy lives (for me it was sewing, and my yoga, and before yoga, aerobics) to help calm and centre us when stress levels are at all-time highs.  Being in a quilt guild helped me contribute to causes we supported, and to me, that is so important in our society, that we find time to give, to help others.  And, on that note, I should go and figure out what pattern I am going to do for the placemats I am making for Meals On Wheels that we have been asked to bring to our guild meeting later this month!