I think I am finished with these. Made quite a few over the years. Sold most of them. There was a formula here that was calming, teachable, and they made terrific use of tiny “precious bits” of fabric. But, no more! Even if I find a half finished strip in my studio, I may let it go.
What a concept – letting go… not just of an activity, but maybe also of the compulsion to finish a thing begun.
My flickr site features some of these creations: Felt and Denim Huts and more general house-themed work here: Houses & Roofs.
Here are a few older ones.
The “Purple Moon” at top is for sale. $150. I will list it on etsy by weekend’s end, or you can email me if interested.
Tag Archives: etsy
shop update
Another shop update… some items are already listed and some will be tomorrow (clothcompany). It has flurried here all day, and now, at 4:20, it is nearly fully dark. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We enjoyed our trip to Montreal, where it ALSO flurried a good amount of the time.
Holiday sewing
Just listed these items in my Etsy shop — clothcompany. I already have some wonderful balsam-filled sachets to list, so look for those – and there will be at least two Christmas Kitties next week, and — dare I say? — a batch of finished dolls.
We will be making these simple and yet charming tree ornaments in the December “Sewing for The Holidays” class at the New Art Center [Newton, Massachusetts]. Class meets for three successive Saturdays — Dec 1, 8, and 15 — from 12:30 until 2:30. There’s still time to sign up!
Lining up
I keep going back and forth on this project. Should I complete it as intended (roughly 7′ x 4′), or break it into sections and move the thing along?
This little section (photo above) floated upstairs today and looks complete to me.
But I’m not quite willing to give up the big design yet.
Because I am not a planner, at this stage of production I often find ‘log jams’, or areas where the rectangular pieced sections are not lining up and where I am not willing to chop or add to accommodate completing a rectangle.
Once I pinned up some green grosgrain to divide sections, it suddenly seemed (seamed?) do-able. Note to self: remember that this is a visual process and that you have a visual sensibility (“DOH”).
There have been quilts that undergo enormous changes at this phase… quilts where I find myself swapping out some of the larger chunks. This has been partially in service of making the rectangles fit (think “Tetris”) and partially because it can be fun to see how things look when the design is a little less conscious.
This particular piece, however, has been in formation for well over a year and I am eager to get to the final stretch. And, I am feeling a strange loyalty to the design as I have constructed it.
The edges will pose problems. My plan is to use some of the cool-toned patterns (the Anna Maria Horner large blue floral and a shimmery green near-solid) to fill in and frame the edges where I need another inch or two. I will TRY to avoid the temptation to keep piecing/adding complexity.
What will be fun is to create a slide show of the quilt in its many phases and see how it has changed over four seasons.
For the finish — instead of using a whole cloth back and pinning the entire thing up and shoving it through my Bernina with a great deal of cussing, I think I’ll quilt it in sections. I plan to use some overlays on the back, perhaps even with raw edges, to connect up.
Given that one of the problems with this piece is its scale — I really don’t love working this large — then it is obvious that if I want to continue producing pieces of this size, I have to figure out how to do it in a way that works with my style, studio space, equipment, and temperament.
Which reminds me that my word for 2010 is ‘congruence’.
I am so, so eager to find both the style of working and the subjects & images that really line up with who it is that stands with the needle in her hand, with the scissors at her side, and with her particular demons at her back.
November Sunshine
Well, back to work, it is. I’m going to bind this Village Quilt with some of the pretty African fabrics that my friend Sarah recently sent me — the one with the red, to pick up the accent color.
I’ll be showing (and hopefully, selling) at Newton Open Studios this weekend —
November 7 and 8
at Newton’s Cultural Center (on Nevada St.)
11 am to 5 pm
FREE.
But, since I have more quilts than I could possibly show in the booth space allotted, I think I’ll post this one in etsy tomorrow (link on sidebar).
Along with this little friend —
I STILL can’t believe I found these nut ornaments on sale last January — they are the perfect scale for my felt mice!!