No-Sew-Time

Do you ever have times when the sewing just isn't getting done?  I love to sew and find it therapeutic, satisfying, challenging and gratifying, but once in awhile it just doesn't happen.  Maybe I am solving a problem.  Maybe I am not enthusiastic about the next task (ripping, basting).  Maybe life gets in the way and I don't have time.  Maybe my sewing room is too much of a mess.

I found myself in No-Sew-Time this week.  I finished the background for my Phoenix, I got it sandwiched and pinned all ready to start quilting.  Although excited to get started, I sometimes set myself other tasks, which my inner genie says must get done first.  Quilting will be the reward.  So, I tackled the mess in my sewing room since I could hardly move in there anyway.  I put away all the papers and paper patterns.  I went through the memorabilia boxes, repacked them and sent them off to new residential space.  I separated fabrics and scraps that had taken over the bed.  I made swags for my bedroom windows.  I went through my closet and took a load to the Thrift Store.  Finally I did the long avoided:  I cut down three T-shirts that were too long and hemmed them (they have only waited three years or more get the treatment).  Now I have new T-shirts without buying any.  Now I can move in my sewing room.  Now I can find the bed.  Now I can start quilting tomorrow.

TIP:  Really?!!!  I found this on Facebook.

I welcomed three quilts home last week from the show circuit.  The one below spent a lot of time in the inner regions of my skull before I actually put my ideas into Illustrator.  Eventually I came up with the design and figured out how to do it.  Not every step went smoothly, but it all came together in the end.  There are some glitches and of course the judges found them, even some I didn't know were there, but I still love the quilt and enjoyed doing it.  It mirrors the beautiful designs of the Mediterranean where nearly every surface is intricately decorated.  I pieced, appliquéd, beaded and painted.  The little stars at the bottom are stenciled with gold Tsukineko ink.   I quilted it on my home machine.

Mediterranean Mélange

Up close

Sew a happy seam this week.

Egyptian Tent Makers

The Egyptian Tent Makers are from a family that has decorated tents in the middle east for generations.  Around the Mediterranean Sea almost every surface is intensely decorated with intricate designs and many colors.  The tent makers carried this tradition to fabric and they made tents that were exquisite works of art.  Today they use the same techniques to make decorative wall hangings and they are amazing.  See their website for more information about them.

The base fabric they use is heavy and thick, like for tents.  I am sure the book they are selling gives more specific information, but I passed up the opportunity to buy it so I really cannot talk about materials and techniques in detail.  Men are the artists and do all the sewing, and two of them were at the Albuquerque show working on hangings.  There were many completed examples for show and sale.

Each man had a grocery bag full of pieces of fabric.  He cut a shape or a strip with huge, tailors' scissors as he was ready to sew.  No patterns.  The only references I noted were some minimal markings on the background fabric, which somehow told him what to put where.  Using a large needle the cut pieces were appliquéd with functional stitches that were rather large compared to what we are used to seeing in our traditional quilting appliqué.  The designs are amazingly intricate, beautiful, and each one is different.  All are done by hand.

I hope you can see the stitching on this closeup

Some more examples to drool over:

It was a wonderful quilt show with lots of interesting and beautiful things to see.

Finding Designs

I design my own quilts.  Have you ever tried it?  Of course you have.  You may have used a published pattern, but if you chose your own color palette you have taken a baby step into designing.   There are many ways to design, but here are a few:

*Try mixing two standard blocks.  It is amazing what you can come up with.

*Use a one or more of a familiar block and place them creatively in space.

*Add something new and different to your block.

*Make a grid of triangles on paper and fill them in with color.  See what designs you can create.  Substitute fabrics for the colors.

*Try appliqué.  There are tons of ways to use almost any beautiful shape.

Look around you and see the designs in your environment: flowers, clouds, fences, trees, leaves, wrought iron gates, houses, wildlife, floors, rugs, wallpaper, etc.  What tools do you need?  Only pencil and paper, a sprinkle of imagination, and a pinch of inspiration.  Optional aids might be the computer and crayons or colored pencils.

I had the wonderful good fortune to take a cruise through the Mediterranean in 2009.  Every surface is heavily decorated in the whole region from southern Italy to North Africa.  There are mosaics, sculptures, frescos, paintings and architecture.  Magnificent!  I took many pictures that now reside in the quilting folder on my computer for reference, and I look at them often.  Here are some examples:

Mosaic for patchwork and border

Overall plan for a quilt.

Love the black and white detail. 

I have incorporated the black and white arch idea in the quilt I am currently working on.

Black and white and Pumpkin Seed

Look at that background.  It is a beautiful, popular FMQ design.

A bowl - whole cloth or appliqué

Mosaic compass with extras

A door with FMQ designs

Look at other peoples' work as well, but find your own way.  It is not cool to just copy someone else's designs precisely unless you buy their pattern or take their class.  You can use elements from different sources and put them together in your own way.  Caveat:  Don't mistake my meaning here.  You can learn a lot by taking a class, but take that new technique or idea home and incorporate it into your own creations.

My greatest leap into quilt design came from doing Rhapsody quilts (Ricky Tims) and Spiral quilts (RaNae Merrill).  When you design you truly start from scratch and end up with something that is uniquely yours.  It does not provide instant gratification, but it is so much fun.

TIP:  Reach out, stretch your intellect, try something new.  Grow.  You may not think you are an artist now, but you can become one.  It is up to you.