How A Musing

The muse has returned (she never really left) and I've been working on finishing up the sashing on Bud's quilt. I've only got two more rows to do. I'll probably be done with the sashing tomorrow. Then I need to decide on what I'm going to do for the borders. The ideal pattern will be a 3" by 4" repeat with a specific corner design. Not feathers, as they are not masculine, according to the spousal unit.

Yesterday, I took a class on making my sewing machine do some of the fun things that it can do. I learned how to calibrate the buttonhole foot after doing a software update. On the 830, I can change things that require a visit to the repair shop for other machines. On the more expensive machines, the owners can do more and on the lesser models, tech intervention is required. I like having more control over my machine.

Monday, I started reverse engineering a pattern for a liner to go into a tote bag. It will have pockets and will button to the handles, so things don't get lost in the bottom of the tote. This is the kind of thing that could be printed up as a pattern and sold. If I were so inclined, which I am not. I simply enjoy creating things like that.

Now What?

After setting out on a contract, they hired my replacement after I'd worked there for 6.5 days. Just lucky, I guess. Anyway, I'm back at home, waiting for the offers to come pouring in again. My resume is out there, but it's a holiday weekend.

My Bernina is idle for the moment. I spent time working on Bud's quilt, I've set William's quilt aside for a while, and Ashley's tote bag is finished. I'm not in the mood to trace off the pattern for Josh's pajamas. My current list of projects does not include things for me. I did throw a small snit and embroidered a set of 6 napkins for the house. Not specifically for me, but nobody else in the house seems to take notice of things like that.

I've been creating order in my studio, since I don't feel like creating things. Eventually, I'll feel like creating things again. I'm not off on a quest to track down my muse. My muse isn't hiding, lost, or fled. I suppose she's on holiday weekend, too.

Where is the Reward?

The Mariner's Compass quilt that I'm making is going well. I'm being reminded of why I enjoy sewing.

The method of cutting fabric that is taught in this pattern wastes fabric, but saves time. I cut yards of fabric into strips, then cut the strips into shapes, then trim away fabric from the shapes. The strips are larger than the shapes, so I cut fabric away to create my shapes. And the shapes are larger than they need to be. Why? Because when you are working quickly,  you can't be accurate.

If I enjoy what I'm doing, I don't want to rush through it. Saving time means that I don't spend as much time doing the things that I like. I'm finished quickly.  I don't want things done in a hurry. I'm not being rewarded by the finished item alone. I'm also rewarded by the task itself. For me, working quickly takes away some of my reward.

If you love what you are doing, you don't need patience, you need more time to do it.

Paper Piecing

I'm using a technique where you sew your fabric to a piece of paper with the pattern printed on it. You don't need to cut the pieces of fabric accurately, you trim off extra fabric after you sew each piece in place. In fact, you don't want to cut your pieces accurately, as it makes it harder to deal with an already fussy task. A little room for error is a good thing.

However, I'm wasting a heck of a lot of fabric. Not only am I cutting pieces with a 1/4" seam allowance, I'm also cutting them with at least a 3/8" extra allowance on top of that. Sigh. The frugal heart of me is offended. The technique calls for some fabric waste. I understand that. But I can't get comfortable with the amount of fabric I'm going through completing this pattern according to the directions. At least I'm getting this figured out on a set of pieces that are small. The actual amount of fabric that I'm wasting is not that great. By the time I get to the larger sections, I'll have figured out a better way to cut my fabric before I sew.

In addition, there is a slight chance that I should ignore the exact line on the paper and sew to one side or the other of it. See, fabric doesn't fold knife sharp. The bulge of fabric that rolls around the seam can cause the precision of my sewing to be just enough off that it will show up when I least want it to.

There is also a potential problem that the fabric won't be perfectly flat when I'm sewing it to the paper. When I remove the paper, I'll have created something that will be too large and won't match up with the other pieces that I've created. I don't think William is going to care. All he really wants is a quilt that he can sleep under that is large enough that his feet don't stick out. He won't care that it isn't perfect. Really, he won't.

Bud, my mechanic spouse, doesn't understand why I dance around a project, looking at this and that, poking at it, measuring pieces, testing things, and not leaping to get started right away. I'm not dealing with an industry that has exacting requirements based on crash test reports, recall notices, and government safety standards. I'm dealing with folks who majored in Home Ec in college. If they even went that hard core technical. If not Home Ec, then they are Art majors. Engineering, beta testing, and quality control? Not so much.

Self Discovery

I was testing out a disappearing 9 patch pattern using some inexpensive fat quarters I'd picked up to play with. I kept having to force myself to make them after I grasped the concept. Anyway, I laid them out with the plan of putting them together with some solid color sashing into a quilted top for a floor pillow. I'd used a variety of colors and patterns for contrast, with a black center square to anchor them.

Oh, ugh. I hate the 'scrappy' look. Hate, hate, hate it. These test blocks are in the recycle bin. I don't want anything more to do with them. If I could put everything I don't like about quilts into a single set of blocks, this would be the set. The faster I get rid of them, the happier I'll be.


In terms of quilts, I prefer central designs, with some visual plan laid out. The matching set of identical blocks in rank and file does very little for me. If there is a second block making a specific pattern, or even better several different blocks creating an image, I'm all for it. Do I want an incredible Work of Art on the bed? Nope. Just something that doesn't give me nightmares when I look at it.

My Studio

The image for this blog heading is my old studio in Virginia. My studio space in Florida doesn't photograph as well. I took over the living and dining room of this house and laid out my studio to have space for paper, computer, sewing, and embroidery. I ended up putting in a space for my grandson to work on his projects. Paper is the northeast corner, embroidery is the southeast corner, sewing is southwest, and reading/grandson space is the northwest corner. He gets the square coffee table and can sit on the floor.

There are five bookcases. There are crates, boxes, and tubs. There is storage under the paper crafting tables and under the cutting table. I have my grandmother's sewing cabinet, my mother's sewing cabinet, and my grandfather's curio cabinet. Storage, as they say, is non-trivial. There are also six tables for workspace, not counting the ironing board.

While ten people could not all work in here at once, there are ten separate work zones. Cutting, sewing, ironing, reading, kid, computer, embroidery, diecuts, paper and stamping/beading. I use lots of local lamps as the living room has no ceiling light. The dining room has the chandelier, that I got Bud to loop up high enough to walk under. Neither window gets a lot of direct sunlight. That's a Good Thing down here. Direct sunlight = hot. 

I put up a folding screen to block access from the butler's pantry and a dog gate to block access from the front hall. There are toxic things in my studio that would kill Jack if she were to get her teeth into them. Jack would not still live Some of them are stored well within her reach. Even my grandson is not allowed in if I am not in here with him.

Even with this incredible workspace, before I quit working, I didn't feel like making stuff very often. Now, I'm getting back to work in a big way. Each day I either make significant progress on a project or I finish something off. With all that, I have only  started my attack on three years of round tuits.

Sketchbook

I needed some inspiration lately and I sat down and looked through my book of sketches for layouts and layout ideas. I have some rather detailed sketches and a few very good ideas for projects in there. Now all I need to do is figure out when I'll actually have time to do some of those projects.

The Creative Mind

I spotted this in a Martha Stewart magazine and decided to use up some of my stash of black paper. Everyone who has seen it thinks it turned out pretty well. It makes me smile when I walk up the stairs. I'll store the infestation of rats to use next year, too.

I was talking to my husband about this. He thinks it's incredible how I come up with ideas. I don't come up with ideas. I got this out of a magazine. But he said that he would not look at a magazine and see a possibility that he could do that. He'd look at it and think that it was neat, but he wouldn't think that it was something that could be done by him or in his house. His brain just doesn't work that way.

I've been mulling this over. Is it Nature, or nurture? I think in my case, it is nurture. My parents had several books of activities for kids. We were free to look through and pick out things to do. We were rewarded with parental praise, participation and assistance when we did. I created a forest out of newspaper in our basement once. The trees became all sorts of settings for imaginary play until I tired of them and recycled the newspaper. My mother recited, "Woodsman spare that tree..." with great drama and bad acting as I 'chopped down' the forest.

How can I not enjoy looking at idea books and attempting to create things after a childhood filled with memories like that? I still enjoy the rewards of my creations. I don't need to come up with the ideas, I'm fine with following directions.

Creating, Darkly

I finally sat down to work with the last set of 'Greetings to Go' that I got from Club Scrap back in 2008. I love the colors of the kit, Cyprus, as it is blues, with some white and gray. The inks that are suggested for use with this kit are kind of grungy. Mushroom, Slate, London Fog, and Sepia.

I'm not happy with the cards I've made so far, because they don't feel like me. They are dark, grungy, and a bit depressing. I'll keep them, but I'm going to try to perk up the rest of the set. My usual style is much bolder and more cheerful. I think silver embossing powder will work with this paper and it won't be dark and grungy.

Like Pulling Teeth!

I fought my way through a layout tonight. First Photoshop encountered an error and had to shut down, then, I had a Blue Screen of Death! The first one ever on this laptop. Ugh. And I hadn't saved yet, because I hadn't gotten the layout to a point where I was sure about anything. I'd worked on it, but I was so unsure of the end result, I didn't save it.

After the second try, I was determined to get the silly thing finished. Do I like it? I'm not sure. But it is done and it is saved. I wasn't inclined to try for the next layout, which would be a Christmas one.

Christmas this year wasn't what I'd call a great event. We were in transition, there was plenty of stress floating around and it just wasn't a time full of happiness and joy. We have pictures, but they aren't ones I'm eager to scrap.

Since I work chronologically in digital, I'm taking a bit of a break until I feel like scrapping again. I'll do a limited number of Christmas layouts and then move on.

Sketching

I'm trying to create some sketches. Not having a lot of luck. I think it's the reference that I'm using. Too basic. I can build on the ideas I'm getting, but I can't build a sketch.

On a different front, Wonderful husband got a printer with wireless ability. I just got rid of the second printer in my studio! Yay! Tonight hubby is out playing Poker with the neighbors. If he comes home early, things did not go well. If he stays out late, he's winning. Do I care? Only in that it will give me more time to play in my studio and try to come up with sketches.

Paper Sketches

I regularly download sketches from at least two sites so I'll have ideas for creating layouts. But the sketches are designed for paper scrappers and don't often translate well to my digital style. Why am I still downloading these sketches? I can't remember the last time I completed a paper 12x12 layout. At least they are free.

At the Horrible Crop last Friday, I was working on a 7 Gypsies envelope book. I got several pages completed, even though I headed for home early. I wasn't using sketches. If you are trying to work with a surface that is 4x6, a layout designed for 12x12 isn't going to do you much good. What I find helps me is a book like "My Creative Companion 2" which has ideas for details to add to a layout. Interesting things to do with embellishments are more useful. A book filled with 12x12 layouts isn't as helpful.

End of the Year Total

I wish I could say that I was uber-productive in 2009 and finished off several hundred pages, but I can't count pages because they are in storage somewhere. Sigh. I finished about 150 digital layouts, but I am counting layouts that I did several versions of. If you drop the multiple versions, it's about 130. I finished some 12x12 paper layouts, a few mini-books, and I got a lot done on the photo carousel.

Am I unhappy because I can't come up with an accurate page count? Not really. The amount I have gotten done will not change. Pages won't vanish because I haven't counted them.

Buy it or Style it?

Included in the bundled kits I've gotten recently are styles. I can put glitter on something, I can make it into a plastic item, I can make it felt textured or whatever. Since all I need to do is apply the style, I don't need to buy an element that is glittered, or plastic, or felt textured.

This is a concept to mull over. I'm sliding down that slippery slope to creating my own stuff. If I am not creating my own stuff, then at least, I'm not limiting myself to using the elements in kits as they arrive at my laptop. And that's good.

That's Not New Product

I was thinking that a designer wasn't putting out new kits at the rate she usually does. I checked the dates of her latest two kits. She's on schedule. Several of her recent releases that have been filling up her 'new' basket are things that other people have made using her kits. Quick pages, holiday cards and the like.

I do not purchase quick pages by themselves. I'll get them only if they are a part of a bundle and I'm not spending extra to get them. And I can't help but wonder if the designer is paying the people who made those quick pages a portion from the sales of the quick page kits.

I Would if I Wanted

I was asking about kits for selling a home and moving and got several suggestions. I was amazed. At least three of them were what I call 'kid art' in that they were simply drawn and colored things like trucks, signs, and rolls of tape. The big fancy embellishments were trucks created in felt. Ummmm... I don't need to buy a kit for that. I've even got Flergs CU felt style.

OTOH, I've never used kid art style embellishments. While I could create that type of kit for myself, I'm not interested in even trying to create a few elements. They are not my style.

Breathe!

I finally feel like I can relax and not worry so much about the house. Either it will sell, or it won't. But I've done just about everything I plan to do to the house. I might get a wild hair and do a little painting, but I don't think so. I worked a little bit on a mini book yesterday and finished it up today. Nothing special, just something to get me back in the swing of creating.

Now, I'm selecting paper and starting to design a Seven Gypsies Envelope Book. The front and back covers are larger than the envelopes, so I'm doing them first. I will avoid confusing myself with different sizes of papers that I need to cut. I'm using up some of my stash, that I avoided packing up. I'm enjoying this a lot.

I've been pouring my energies into getting the house ready to show. The garage has a lot of boxes in it that I packed up in the process of de-cluttering. The house is really, really clean. I'm ready to get back to the kind of work that I choose to do.

Warnings Not Needed

I posted a request to the person who put up the photo of her dead baby to put some kind of a warning on it. The forum administrators responded and put up a little warning on the title of the thread where the photo was included. The creator of the layout was offended and wants to respectively (sic) withdraw. She also sent me a private message saying that I 'needed to work on my issues' and that she saw nothing wrong with posting a photo of her baby. She's been scrapping about it for years and has never before been asked to put up a "warning" about it. I sent a message in response. I asked her where she posts her layouts, so I can stop looking through those galleries. That's how much I do not want a repeat experience.

I've been scrapping for about three years. I've looked through a lot of galleries, magazines, books and so on. That includes books about alternative scrapping, pushing boundaries and books on scrapping difficult emotions. I never saw a photo like that. Editors are not willing to risk losing a potential sale.

Scrapping Personal Stuff

I was looking through the entries for a scrapping competition and had to stop for a bit. The challenge was to scrap what you love. One of the contestants scrapped a photo of her baby boy. Born on September 20, at 13 ounces. There he was wrapped in a blanket, with a little hat on his teeny little head. No oxygen, no IV, no nothing. At 13 ounces. His color was... very bad. Did I really want to see a picture of her baby boy? No, I did not. To say it ruined my day might be taking it too far, but it certainly put a damper on my morning.

There are some things you can scrap, and you probably should scrap. You might not want to share them with the rest of the world. And if you do, you might want to put up a warning so the rest of the world does not trip over it, unaware.

Keeping Busy

I'm doing a bunch of greeting cards right now. I need to be working in paper and seeing my results. I do like paper. Even though I've gone digital, I still have a huge stash of paper and every so often, I use it. But since I'm just working from some patterns that I already have and not creating anything new, I'm not going to post pictures of these cards. They aren't anything terrific and special. But I have made about 15 cards in three days, which is incredible for me. I don't make a zillion copies of a single card usually. I make different cards each time.