Stitch markers

I made stitch markers.
About a year ago, I "won" some stitch markers.  My choice, so I choose ones with little slices of cake.  But they never came.

I have some now, that I made myself.  In addition to the cake, I made three doughnuts, with frosting and sprinkles.  And two coffee mugs with snowmen on the sides.  So cute.

Pictures!  You want pictures?  Of course you do.

This is where I grab my camera, take the pictures, and then spend several hours figuring out how to put the pictures in this post.  It will might happen.  Stay tuned.

December Madness

Yesterday, we went out to breakfast, a very unusual event in our house.  Then off for unexpected Christmas shopping, but productive.  Somehow, this two or three hours completely threw off my "schedule" such as it is, and when we returned home, I was unable to get ANYTHING done.  One of those "couldn't find the sewing machine foot, so can't work on project A, and can't work on project B until A is farther along, and project C needs something I don't have, and my book is boring, and, and, and" kind of days.  So I went to a Christmas party.

It was fun.  Ate too much, and talked with friends non-stop, and didn't want it to end.

So I am still working on several little projects, but none completed.  And one big project is nearing completion (but that was the one the foot was missing for).

So now I'm off to look for a sewing machine foot.  I'll keep you posted.

Keep on enjoying the Christmas spirit.

Forgotten - Fabric pumpkins

I forgot a project.  I can't believe I forgot.

Perhaps because it wasn't something I did solely by myself.

Perhaps because I got the idea, and the fabric, so long ago, and then it sat there, year after year, waiting for the chance to become alive.

Anyway,  here's what I did.  I made pumpkins.  I made four large felt pumpkins.  I had bought the fabric when a local fabric store went out of business.  It was one of those sales where, at first, everything is 10% off, then 20%, and so on.  When it got to the fifty, sixty, and seventy percent reduction, I was lured in by the sale-fabric fumes, and  purchased a number of items, most of which I have entirely forgotten about.

The five or six yards of bright orange and yellow felt that I had bought to make pumpkins lived in a laundry basket in the bottom of the closet in the craft/sewing room for lo-these-many-years, and I finally got it out, cut out wedges, sewed them together, and, wow, pumpkins.

Each pumpkin is made up of eight wedges, and each wedge needed to be about four times longer than it was wide.  And each wedge needed to taper at each end to a point, with a forty-five degree angle at the top, (8 times 45 = 360), although I have to admit I didn't figure that out until I had all the pieces cut out, and sewed together, and it was a bit wonky on the top and bottom where the eight wedges met.  But what pumpkin is perfectly formed anyway.

I managed to think it through, and leave one seam unsewn for most of it's length, just sewing at the very tippy top and very tippy bottom.  Then I sewed on buttons, and made loops for button holes, so that the pumpkins could be stuffed with old plastic bags, old clothing, smaller sofa pillows, blankets, or whatever there is lying around the house.  After Halloween, the pumpkins are then unstuffed, and stored until the next year perfectly flat, and not taking up nearly as much room as they would have stuffed.

I figured my four and six year old grandsons would be delighted to play with these pumpkins.  That was, as I said before, a number of years ago, and it turns out that thirteen and fifteen year old grandsons are not nearly as excited by stuffing pumpkins with whatever they could find, adding faces with smaller pieces of felt, and organizing a display of these pumpkins.

Fortunately, (for me at least) seven year old grandsons are still interested in such items.  One out of three isn't bad.

[Aside.  This is one of the reasons it is so frustrating to not get around to doing things that I want to do.  Children grow.  I won't be able to make a dinosaur sweater for a five-year-old, or cute bunny slippers for a toddler, etc.  On the other hand, there are always great-grandchildren.  Better get started right NOW.  The next ten or twenty years are apt to slip by as fast as the last ten, and I'll be late again.]

Pumpkins, one with sad face on left, and one with monster face on right.  Sign says,
"Now he's worried because his friend's in jail."  In the picture below, sign had changed it to,
"Now he's not worried because his friend's not in jail."

Hope your pumpkins are stuffed with love all year round.

Halfway Point Report

Halfway report.

Projects:  25 (not too off track)  Blog posts: 18 (way behind)

Project update:

13-24:  Twelve Fabric postcards.  4" by 6" pictures created with fabric ironed onto other fabric.   The first four or five were just one or two fabric motifs, cut out and ironed onto a background fabric.  Then I got going, and really did some planning, organizing, embellishing, and finishing, to make a little work of art (or work of craft- I'm not sure how artistic they are, even now.)

25:  Quilt top with floral pieced curves.  I call this one "Learning Curve".  I saw a picture from a national quilt show, and liked the quilt except for the colors.  "How did the artist DO that?" I asked myself.  Perhaps, I wondered, if you take six fat quarters, cut them just so (curved), shuffle and sew them back together, then cut them again (more curves), reshuffle, and again sew together, you (I mean me, of course, as I am talking to myself) could get something like that.  So I tried it.  And I learned.  Don't cut the pieces all the same size.  Don't shuffle four or five piles in order, and one of them out of order. And, for heavens sake, DO NOT iron the pieces while they are cut apart in step five as it will distort the shapes.  And this is clearly NOT the way the original quilt was made.  But I like it.

The piece is wonky.  My grandson agreed with my assessment, that the individual blocks needed frames.  I put on frames  (sashing) for each block as I sewed the blocks together, added a couple of borders (all with stash fabrics, double bonus points) and am ready to get out batting and backing and quilt it.

I like it!

I still don't know if it is "art" or "quality" or just a fun thing to throw over one's knees on a cold day, but that's fine, isn't it.

Postscript.  In a previous post, I discussed blockage, and asked myself why I wasn't able to get on with a particular quilt.  I am happy to say that I did get the borders on, I created a backing, I layered the backing and batting, and I am quilting it.  Ah, this is the fun part.  And the light at the end of the tunnel is very bright.

Blog Post Update:

Don't bother to read further, dear reader.  You will be bored.

I think podcasters who apologize about being too busy to podcast are silly.  I want to write to them (many of the podcasts I have read have had an apologetic episode about their busy lives, and why they didn't podcast), and say, "It's okay, dearie.  We like to hear from you, and if it is important enough, you'll podcast.  We'll understand, and - for most podcasts - we'll miss you, but get on with the podcast.  Skip the apologies, okay!"

The blog posts have not been kept up to date, since I haven't known what to say.  I have been struggling with "what is art", "do I care",  "what exactly do I want to do with the rest of my life (which starts today, amazingly), and have not wanted to turn this into a complaint-fest or "woe is me" blog.

I'll start with the last item.  Is my goal to become a known artist, to make money with art, or to just fool around and fill in time until I die?   What am I trying to accomplish?  and why?  What does it all mean!!.  You have probably heard by now that it takes 10,000 hours (or five years of full time work, at 40 hours per week 50 weeks a year) to become an expert.  I could become an expert quilt-maker, an expert knitter, an expert spinner, an expert designer, or some other expert.   Do I want to become an expert?  Is that even my goal, or do I want to dabble in lots of things, make postcards, quilt quilts, spin some yarn, knit hats and cardigans, bake cookies, work crossword puzzles (any maybe learn to create them), dye fiber, take classes, visit some cool museums, walk in the woods, live in England for a month, well, the list goes on and on (and onnnnnnnnnn).  Or do I want to become an expert in one area, and dabble in the other things in my spare time?

And do I have to decide now?

I haven't decided.  I haven't even decided if I need to decide right now.

As to whether I care, I have been thinking about it enough to respond, apparently I do.  And here's why.  I am having trouble with organizing my day so that I feel that I am completing what needs to be done.  Without deadlines, without the threat of losing my job, without a schedule imposed from without, suddenly "someday" is now, or could be.  "Someday" I want to knit hats for the grandchildren, someday I want to visit all fifty states, someday I want to learn to spin nettle.  Picking one thing to work on this hour (or minute) means I can't be doing something else in that same hour or minute, though.

See, all of this is so obvious, does it really need to be said.?  At least in this blog.  Aren't you, dear reader, bored silly by now?

I will continue anyway.  You don't have to continue reading.  Check in next blog entry to see if I have resolved anything, or gone off in an entirely different direction.

Anyway, if I spend a day in my pj's, curled up on the couch working crosswords, and napping in midafternoon, at bedtime I am apt tell myself. "Self,  you have really wasted today.  Do better tomorrow."  It doesn't take many days like this (about .7 if you want the truth) to get myself really upset and cross with myself.  "You could have been working on that quilt," I yell mentally, "You could have cleaned up the garage.  You could have dyed that yellow yarn.  You could have made bread, and soup, and planted a garden, knitted a sweater, and GOT SOMETHING DONE."

I'm not very good at defending myself against this inner critic, since she is absolutely correct.  And it's not even that I didn't want to do those things.  I did.   I do.  But those other choices involved  throwing off the blanket that covers my legs, getting up off the couch, finding my shoes or slippers (one of which has wondered off in search of adventure), organizing my thoughts to plan the steps I need to take. . . . Oh, that's the problem, or one of them.  I am busy solving crossword puzzles, and a five letter word for minds is nagging at me, leaving little brainpower for thinking of what needs to be done with what and where.  Just deciding what items in my vast to-do list are the most important right now, takes (FILL IN HERE).

Here is what I am doing.

1)  Each week I note the five most important items to accomplish this week. (works moderately well if I do it)
2)  I've started leaving the current project in a state of readiness to begin the next step when i must quit for the day.  (too soon to tell)
3)  There is no three.  There must be other things I can do.

I think, maybe, once this year is over, I will take a class in art.  All those big universities with large art departments must surely have a professor or two who knows what art is, and how to recognize it.

So I hope you find yourself with very few unanswered questions, and lots of finished things to enjoy.

We are camping.  Yesterday, I took my morning cup of tea out to the picnic bench and worked on a project for about an hour.  I was sorting and organizing the various scraps of paper I have accumulated relating to quilting and knitting.  There are pictures cut from magazines depicting potential projects, notes on techniques, patterns and parts of patterns from magazines and classes.  There are pictures that inspire me.

I sorted all this stuff into a notebook.  Using plastic protector sheets, I organized some smaller pictures into groups.  Larger pictures and patterns I just three-hole punched to fit in the notebooks.  I have two notebooks, one for quilting projects and one for knitting.  I am feeling very chuffed (to quote some British podcasters) about my accomplishments.

I am noticing that I do not feel as anxious, pressured if you will, on this trip.  Since there is only a limited number of things to do, I am carefully working on them.  When I was getting ready for this trip, I was worried that I might not bring everything I needed to complete a project.  I did think that I could just bring a bunch of books and spend this ten days reading.  Nick thought that was a brilliant idea.  So I brought just a few projects.  And ten books.

My desire is to work on projects.  After yesterday's tea and organizing session, Nick and I went on a 10K volkswalk, here in the park.  It was amazing.  We are truly fortunate to have this beautiful little piece of Oregon to call home for a few days.  We went to the grocery store for a few items, made dinner, and watched some TV.  So there was not a lot of time to "do stuff", but I'm finding that I want to.  Hooray.

Today was the first day of Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (OFFF), the reason for being here at this time.  Nick didn't go.  I saw some alpaca and some sheep dogs.  There were lots and lots of vendors and lots and lots and lots of fiber, yarn, spinning tools, and books.  I spent most of the time in the outside vendors, as it was really too hot inside.  If I return tomorrow, I will spend more time visiting the vendors that have indoor booths.  About half of the booths are set up outside, which is wonderful, expecially on a hot (mid 80's) end of summer day.  The only things I bought were some magazines on sale and a kit to make a little needle felted sheep.  It is sooooo cute, and I made it.  Plus I got some instruction on how to needle felt.

Now I am all fired up to start some of my knitting projects.  I may just cast on two or three items tonight.  I brought yarn.

I did not bring the fabric I need.  Our quilt guild is going to make fabric postcards at the next meeting.  I have been looking for items to include, and found some wonderful leaves.  My quilting friends gifted me with some fabric cut outs, so I can make a couple of cards.  But I didn't bring any Halloween themed fabric.  So taking a break from the heat at OFFF, I visited the local quilt shop and bought some fat quarters with Halloween themes.  And a half yard of dark green for the only other fabric/quilting project I brought.  

I want to start this RIGHT NOW.  So as soon as this post is done, I will be plunging into this project.

Please find something that excites you and start it right now.

Blockage

Although I have not been posting, it is not because I have not been sewing.  Actually, I was considering putting a list of works in progress up, as I have so many right now.  Only nothing gets finished.

I am experiencing some difficulty in working on projects.  It seems as if I am blocked in one way or another in all my projects.  This one needs a different sewing needle, this one isn't going together the way I envisioned and I need to figure out a new way to put it together.  That one needs some fresh ideas, that other one needs a practice session lest I ruin the (Excellent so far) work I have done.  And the BIG BLOCK, yes it deserves capital letters, is the big quilt, which I have almost completed.  I just have to sew on ONE outer border, just one.  And I have it all cut out, and have been meaning to do it daily for over a week.  It sat for a while on my sewing room table, waiting to be finished.  Now I have moved it downstairs and it sits on the kitchen island.  Unfortunately, it is growing used to being there, and starting to blend in with the furniture.  In another few days, we won't "see" it anymore.  My eyes will just pass right over it.

I don't even know why I am so blocked on this particular step.  I had thought that it might be because as soon as I get this done, the next step will be to put it together with the backing (already picked out) and batting (already measured out) and quilt it.  I thought the thought of quilting a big quilt might be the hang up, but I am quilting a slightly smaller quilt, and it is coming out okay.  (I have to practice more.) ( But I guess I'm no longer thinking that I am scared by the quilting.)

I had hoped that writing this post would help me to realize what the hang up is.  Or perhaps I just need to "Just Do It".  Just Do It, Suzie.  Just do it.

Hope you don't have anything in your life stopping you from doing what you like.

Plugging Along

One of my fears as I started this was that I would not have enough ideas for small quilts.  That, fortunately, has not been the case.  If anything, I have too many ideas, and don't focus enough.

Just as an example, right now I have "Log Cabin", "Trail Snacks", and "I Love Forists" on the design wall, waiting for time to work on them.  And more ideas running around in my head than I know what to do with.

I started a felted piece, "Lafayette Lake", but I think I'm going to restart it, as this is the first time I have worked with wet felting.  And I have a couple of other ideas for that.

I did finish a skein of yarn, in lilac and navy, that is lovely.  Just need to take a picture of it.

Hope your summer is so busy, you don't have time to finish anything either.

July recap

Although I haven't posted since July 9, I have been busy.

First of all, I finished the "Cats Quilt".  This is a small quilt, originally designed by DG1, DG2, and DG3 (for Dear Grandson, of course), and fabrics chosen by said grandchildren.  I asked them to pick out from my stash six sets of two fabrics each, and they chose lovely combinations that I would NEVER, in a thousand years, have chosen to go together.  But they work.  Then I had them cut each set into wacky nine patches, so I could sew them back together.  These twelve squares weren't enough for a whole quilt, so I asked them what to do to make it larger, and they all said, "Add cats", so the Cat Quilt was born.  I am taking credit for it, because a) I suggested that they pick out the fabric, b) I suggested that they cut the nine patches, and c) I designed, planned, and pieced the cat squares.  So I think enough of it is MINE that it qualifies.  Besides this isn't a competition.  It is my blog, my rules, so it counts.

I think I started the above project about two years ago.

When the grandkids came for their annual summer visit in July, I and they wanted to tie-dye some  t-shirts.   Rather than plunging right in, I decided to practice on some muslin first.  So I soaked it in water, we wrapped the fabric, and then next day, we dyed the fabric in a package of Tulip dyes from a JoAnn tie-dye kit.  The results were amazing.  Just a few drops of dye, a few rectangles of fabric, and we have amazing fabrics.  Wow.  I was very pumped.  Second project.

Next day, I soaked the t-shirts.  We tied them.  And the fourth day, we dyed them.  Well, the DG2 and DG3 dyed their shirts.  With really amazing results.  Who knew that a seven year old and a thirteen year old could produce such great art work.  I'm totally taking credit.  I bought the dye.  I got the t-shirts.  I washed them.  I got the worksurface arranged.  I organized the project.  I get credit.  Woohoo.

Then the last day, DG1 decided to dye his shirts.  By this time, we had used all the Tulip dye, so he dyed his shirts in indigo, which seems to be a neverending pot of dye.  They also came out great.  I have really super talented grandsons, don't I?  Third project for July.





A couple of days after the boys went home, I went to a guild meeting.  The topic was dying fabric, using shaving cream to hold the dye in place (and distribute it into patterns).  We each dyed four little samples of fabric (about 4 inches square).  Only three of them turned out.  I would like to make them into another project, but haven't yet.  It was suggested in this workshop that one could use this method for dying socks.  I wanted to try it again "at home", so I got some socks, and tried it again.  The socks are fantastic.

So there are four projects for July, finished.  I will try to add photos soon.  (ETA Photos Aug 9, 2011)

Hope you can finish some good stuff for yourself, too.

Pizza for dinner

Today I made homemade pizza for dinner, from scratch.  Yeah that's right, yeast, flour, salt, water, knead, bake, etc.  Just cheese pizza, with a little tomato sauce (left over spaghetti sauce, but hey I MADE THE CRUST).

Long time ago, in a different lifetime, when I still had the idea that I would learn how to cook someday, I got myself a pizza stone.  You know the heavy stone thing that sits beside the refrigerator, falls down and has to be retrieved when we move the fridge, that pizza stone.  Well, the recipe I had called for a pizza stone, and an oven set to 500 degrees, yes, 500 degrees.  I though I was going to burn the house down.

But I didn't.  Some of the directions for calzones (which I looked up because I got the pizza all folded, and ended up making essentially a calzone rather than a real pizza, but still....). Anyway, some of the calzone directions called for putting parchment paper under the calzone to facilitate transferring it into the oven, I think.  Should have read that before making the pizza itself,  shouldn't I?  The pizza/calzone got folded in the attempt to transfer it from the cookie sheet to the parchment paper to the oven.

But the next pizza crust, sans topping because there is no way we need to eat three pizzas, which is what the recipe made, got transferred via parchment paper just fine.  I cut away most of the excess paper before baking, and next time I will cut away all of the excess, because the parchment paper is only good to 420 degrees and the oven was 500 degrees.  I didn't know it would go that high.  Part of the parchment paper which extended over the edge of the pizza stone got singed somewhat, but it didn't affect the pizza crust at all.

Tomorrow, more pizza with the second crust.  Oh, and I used the third half (why yes I was a mathematician in real life, why do you ask?) to make pan bread?  If that is what I mean.  I just cut it in small pieces and cooked it on a skillet on the top of the stove, and the part I inadvertently kept at about 4 on the dial came our real nice, but the part the got heated up to the 7 or 8 on the dial was a bit, shall we say, toasty.

I have more yeast, and more flour, and more salt, and more muscle (for kneading).  I want to make more bread.

BTW, I also made a bowl of knitted fruit (the bowl is knitted too) and here it is.  Remind me to tell you about it someday.

Hope your life is a bowl of cherries.

Results of Crafting while Traveling

 Don't try it.  Doesn't work so well.

I am speaking mainly of traveling from motel to motel, now, not the "take your own stuff with  you" motorhome style of travel.  That is a different story.  This is car to motel to car to sightseeing type travel. 

I took lots of projects with me.  I worked on them all, well almost all.  I took some beads, but never opened up that box.  Too much work to schlep the stuff into the motel, open it, spread it all out, decide which bead, etc, etc, etc.  I did work on all my knitting projects.  This is what happened.  I started several projects.  I finished one project, the green spring teeshirt.  The rest are in various stages of waiting to be finished.

Okay, I forgot,  I did finish two of the Cats in Balls project.  But then I started another one.   And the head was too small, so I ended up with one (incomplete) cat and one head without a cat.  To be finished later.  I did not get the cat complete, as by that time I had stored my tapestry needle somewhere and couldn't find it.  It was difficult sewing stuff together in the car.  So this meant schlepping all the stuff into the motel room to work on, then schlepping it back out to the car the next morning.  UGH.

Next time I travel this way (which will be never, if I have my way) I will take one large project, and just work on that.  Perhaps a hooded lace cardigan on size two or three needles.  That way, I won't have so much stuff to schlep around. 

I started five or six projects, or continued working on them, but got stuck on every one, mainly because of the issue of it all being shoved in the back seat of our car.  I did accomplish things, but it is not the best way to go.

Hope you find the right way to go for your projects.

Visiting Amana, Iowa and other crafty places

Amana Iowa is a small town that was settled in the 1800's.  Actually, there were five or six towns, East Amana, West Amana, High Amana, Amana, South Amana, and Homestead.  (Yeah Homestead doesn't really fit into the naming pattern does it?)  These towns were settled by a German immigrant group who wanted to pursue a self-sufficient life style.  One of the things that appealed to me is that until the 1930's, the groups ate meals at a communal dining room, meaning that those who wanted to cook, cooked, and others could pursue other interests, such as making clothing for community members.  Sounds like a great idea to me.

They have turned now into normal towns, but retain their historical significance and have opened a number of touristy attractions, such as gift shops and restaurants which cater to tourists by serving German-style meals.  Anyway, there were several quilt shops.  One of them was really remarkable.  I just wanted to go home, toss out my entire current stash of fabric, and start over using entirely the gorgeous, amazing, beautiful fabrics from this shop.  There were also many many patterns, especially patterns for bags.  I guess bags are very popular now.  This shop showcased some of it's fabrics in the bag samples, and I wanted to make every single one of them. Maybe I could get a job making shop samples for this shop.  It was really wonderful.

I should also talk about the Des Moines (Iowa) art show which is happening this weekend.  The walk Friday went right down the street but we were walking too early and the booths were just being set up.  This is a fairly large show, and very lovely.  So I returned after the walk and strolled past all of the many booths.  There were three fiber artists that I took particular note of.  Two of them seemed to be similar- I had difficulty remembering the first one and how she differed from #2.  (#3 was very different, I'll comment below.)  Anyway both of them used what appeared to my unartistic and untutored eyes to be rather simple designs and simple color schemes.  Both of them created small quilt tops, or perhaps quilt top fragments would be more descriptive.  The largest for both were maybe three feet by four feet, perhaps even 40 inches by 50 inches, but not really big enough to be a lap quilt.  Not that the items were quilts, as both artists framed their work, or prepared it for framing, and neither included any sort of backing or batting.

The first fiber artist seemed to have things like a framed "swatch" or fabric samples.  Here, how do these fabrics coordinate for the bedroom, Mabel?  The three fabrics were stitched together with a zigzag stitch, then framed.  $75.00.  Ouch.  Other works included circles stitched to squares, then lined up into a two by eight rectangle of squares, each with its circle in it.  Then framed.  Finished!  For sale!

The second booth featured a larger bargello quilt top, about 40 inches by 50 inches.  As I remember it, the colors were greens and yellows, maybe some gold.  The best thing she had to me, as well as the biggest.  The quilt top was framed, (edges left raw if I remember rightly) and the price was $4500 or something like that.  I did not make a mistake when I typed two zeros in the price.  Clearly the Monday Morning Quilters are missing the boat to put so much effort into batting, backing, and binding their quilts, as most of their quilts are far more appealing to me than these from the art show.

I thought the colors were uninteresting in both booths.  Are my eyes perhaps going?  Are the cataracts getting worse all of a sudden?  The second fiber artist advertised "Hand dyed" fabrics used in her projects.  I wanted to tell her that any bigbox fabric store sells plain colored fabrics, but perhaps she couldn't find the colors she really liked.  There were a variety.  None of them popped, none of them spoke to me.  None of them vibrated or sang or even hummed a tune.  They just all sat there on the walls, and in the bins of "matted, ready to frame" artwork, and quietly waited for a purchaser.  It wasn't me, obviously.

The third fiber artist created "art" using felted wool, that she processed herself, making the felt from "raw" wool, (I wasn't brave enough to ask her if she washed it first, but of course, making felt uses lots of detergent or soap along with water in the felting process, so I suppose prewashing is a moot point.)  She then painted it with acrylic paint, cut it into narrow strips, and glued it into groves in boards.  She cut the grooves and finished the boards herself, and they looked very good  The finished product was quite interesting.  Her colors, many of them, popped.  I just couldn't see buying something like that to hang on my wall.  Oh well.

So much for my recent forays into crafting.   I've been looking, not doing.  And wanting to start over.  And not really knowing where I am going.  At least with this blog, and the 52 projects goal, I might know if I get there.

Hope you get where you are going, too.

Traveling with crafts

The really cool thing about traveling is that items acquired on vacation do not add to stash, really.  So if you believe this, you will totally understand my purchasing about five fat quarters of fabric and two skeins of sock yarn (well, you need two to make a pair of socks).  And a couple of books.  Books aren't stash anyway.  I already have enough books, yarn, fabric and everything.  It is just all at home, not here.

So I am working occasionally on an embroidered piece of wool, which is to become another project (not numbering it yet).  And on some knitting projects.  I am close to getting done with some stuff, and have to spend some time finishing projects.  Then I can list them here (it here?).

So off to work on projects, and not waste time blogging.  Not that writing this blog is wasting time, of course.  Just reading blogs can waste an enormous amount of time.  If you consider it wasted, since you are reading.

Anyway, here's wishing you lots of time to read and relax and enjoy yourself however you wish.

Progress from Colorado and Nebraska

It seems that I can work on projects when travelling.

Today we have Project 5: "balls of cat" two smallish balls, which turn into cats.  The balls are grey, the cats are red.  They are knitted.  The pattern is based on a pattern by Susan B. Anderson for an egg which turns into a bird, but perhaps her grandchildren didn't invent Kitty World, so perhaps she doesn't know about the wonders of super cats who live inside Borne Balls, and come out to save their world from the evil kitties.  I was able to knit on these while DH drove, and also as we were visiting DD for a few days.

Project 3:  Spring Green Tee is  also now on the list, completed, and worn!!  It fits, it is lovely, I like it.  I am including it as a "small project" because, although the overall tee shirt is not exactly a small project, and I have been working on it for the better part of a year, off and on, mostly off, but some on, obviously, I did come to the waist and think that I couldn't possibly knit another stitch.  [Well, I just had to put in a period there, although I did want to see if I could just make that sentence go on and on.  But NO, I couldn't.]

Just before we left for Iowa, I got out my stitch dictionary, and found a couple of stitches that I thought would work.  The tee was just not long enough, and I had had enough stockinette.  So I completed the bottom in a diamond shape which Barbara Walker refers to as smiling diamonds.  Mine are upside down, however, as I knitted the tee from the top, so they resemble smallish umbrellas more.  But nevertheless, I was able to complete the bottom six inches of the tee, finish off the sleeves and the neck to match the sleeve and bottom pattern.  Okay not match, but a small element of the diamond pattern is at the front of the neck, so as to tie the whole thing together.  I did most of the knitting while DH drove, as I could knit and look around just fine.  A quick and easy lace pattern that doesn't look as easy as it is.  Done, ... done done done.

So I have one pending and four completed, and this is week six, so I am only one behind.  Not bad for not knowing what I am doing, and traveling besides.

Hope all your travels result in cute little cats (or other small goodies) to love.

Doing versus blogging

Apparently, I can either do projects, or blog about them, but not both.  I have been surprisingly productive in the past three or so weeks, but haven't gotten anything posted.  I think I have three projects done.

[I have also gone through all my yarn stash, organized it into potential projects, and identified about ten or fifteen definite "cast-on-now" projects.  I put these into plastic (or other) project bags and matched them up with patterns and needles.  So they are ready to go.

I also have been working on some quilting projects.]

Now for the finished projects:

I took a class in fabric painting and used water-based paints with a brush to paint fabric.  We also used a resist to protect areas from being colored.  Although it was a lot of fun, I don't think I am going to add painting fabric to my favorite activities.  Several years ago, I took a different class in painting on fabric, using fabric paints which look very much like magic markers, only with sharp points.  If I ever want to paint fabric again, this is the method I will use.  In the class, I did produce a lovely picture of an Iris, though, to which I added batting and backing, then quilted it and bound it with a contrasting fabric.  Unfortunately, I do not have a picture available of this project as we are currently not at home.  But it is still Project #2.  It is finished (well, except for a label, does that count?)

Project #3 is taking much longer to complete than I anticipated.  See, I'm learning stuff already.  Project #4 is languishing at home, waiting for the sewing machine to stop breaking needles so it can be finished off. 

Better get busy on Project #5 now, as this is already the fifth week of the challenge.

Hope your life is not more challenging than you might wish.

Late and short

So much for weekly updates.

However, I do have some stuff to report.  The sample project I mentioned in the last post is NOT going to be a project.  It just doesn't work.  It was a test of the curved piecing for Karla Anderson's workshop, but I don't like it enough for it to be a project.

Yesterday, two friends and I had some fibery fun coloring about five or six different types of fiber.  This took place here at my house, and I had a blast.

Here is one of the projects, a silk hanky (or part of one anyway).  I dyed this up and duly present PROJECT #1 of 52:

I could put this in a frame and look at it every day.  So I think it qualifies.

GO: The start day arrives, and I begin

This was meant to be posted yesterday, May 5, 2011.  Cinco de Mayo for those of you who notice those things.  I guess Mexico was really excited that I was born.

I jumped the gun a little.  Yesterday, I took a quilting class with Karla Anderson, who is known for "stack the deck" type quilts, in which you choose several compatible fabrics, stack them up, cut them up, and reassemble the parts to make several blocks.  Anyway, I have liked this technique, and the class was reasonably priced, so I took it.

To get my self prepared, I did a practice block on Wednesday evening (May 4) and I was thinking that if I were to use that it would be cheating, since I started it prior to May 5.  But not really.  The block part is done, but the artwork part would be turning this block into something pretty, or useful, or hopefully both. 

Also Wednesday, my quilt quild had a class on beading.  We all got a sample of fabric prepared for beading and some beads.  Again, not a head start, as in the meeting, we just tried several techniques.  However, the fabric is lovely, and the size is right for a small bag, so I am going to turn it into something, and it will count. 

Off to a good start, I say.

Hope your project is off to a good start also.

Get Set: Gearing up for the Start

Added at publishing:  I actually wrote and meant to post this earlier in the week. 

Already, I want to start on one or more of these little projects.  I have ideas, I have materials, I want to start. 

So* I am trying to convince myself that planning IS starting.  I have some ideas: I need to organize them.  I have some materials: they constantly need organization.  I have a goal, and a method, and . . . .

Go buy a notebook, self.  That is a good way to be set to start.

Hopefully, you can be ready to begin when your starting line arrives.

*(changed from "But".  "But" means "okay, but not really" and tends to negate what you are saying.  As in, I would do the dishes, but I'm doing something else, or I like peanut butter, but it is fattening.  "So" is more of  an interjection, so I'm not starting out each sentence with "I".  That gets boring.

Ready: Less than a week

I realized that one of my issues with this project is, What if I run out of ideas?

Fat chance.  I realize that now.  I have inspiration and ideas galore.  My difficulty is translating these ideas into actual work, and not just ideas in my head.

I spent the last week near Houston, Texas, and came up with an idea for a series of quilts or quilt-like pictures, perhaps even knitting projects, based on a picture in our motel room.  It was a black and white photograph of a section of flooring (at least, I think it was flooring.  There was also another picture which seemed to both Nick and me to be hung sideways, which appeared to be a picture of some sort of wall.  We finally figured out that it was a photograph, up very close, of the cut end of a log.  Okay, I know what I like, and neither of these pictures would make the cut.  BUT, back to my interrupted thought....).  It could also be a roadway of some sort.  Anyway, random shaped pieces, polygons, separated by thick grout or filler which oozed up between the "blocks".  Ah, a quilt, my brain said.  And quickly came up with three related projects (bark on a tree, small multicolored pea gravel, log cabin walls, in case you are interested) and bingo, there you have four different quilt projects to make, four small, interesting, colorful interpretations of the world around us.

Okay, I won't run out of ideas.  Next roadblock?

Hope all of your roadblocks are low and easily climbed.

Getting close to lift off

I am knitting a small cowl from a pattern and from handspun yarn.  And I realize clearly that it would not fit into my "non"definition of an art project for "Suzie's 52".  I'm following a pattern, however loosely.  I'm not making up stuff.  I guess this is a craft.  I ran out of yarn, about 9/10ths of the way through.  I have been thinking about how I will finish.

Since the yard is hand spun, from a batt purchased from an independent vendor several years ago, it is not duplicatable.  The batt was made by the vendor's grandchildren, who were given leave to create some batts by tossing whatever they liked into the drum carder.  It wasn't even labeled with the fiber contents, exactly.  Oh it might have said "wool, angelina" or some such, but no proportions, no measurements, no records.  No duplication possible.

This batt is art.

The handspinning was one of my very earliest attempts.  I can even see where in the single I began to get better.  I believe I plied it back on itself, so that the very beginning was plied with the very end, and the middler parts with other middle parts.  This handspun is not art.  Just like the drawing that children do before they have learned to control their finger motions is not art (usually).

Handspinner's first attempts are often likened to "art yarn".  And we are often told that once we get better we will not be able to reproduce our first feeble attempts.  Some spinner's dislike calling beginner's yarn art yarn, and I agree with this point of view.  My father saved some of my early drawings and some of my first postcards home.  I cannot really draw or write that way any longer.  I write more easily now that I did in first and second grade. I write more clearly, more neatly, more controlled.  I hope that I will continue to improve in my spinning as I have in my penmanship.

Some art, often called primitive, attempts to mimic this early handwriting style, or the picture-making ability of a six-year old.  If you are trying to get that "primitive" or "first grader" look, and you have an idea in mind, an image you want to preserve, a message you want to publicize, an intent that this look will convey, then go for it.  But your very deliberateness, your skill, your craft, your knowledge, removes this from the "beginner" category and into the art category.

Hopefully, you will no longer have someone say about your picture of your dog, Spot, "Nice picture of a cow you have there."  Hopefully, as an artist, people will not have to be primed to say "Tell me about your picture" lest they insult you by mistaking a dog for a cow, or visa versa.

So I have not yet defined "art" for my 52, but I do think I know what it is when I see it.  And I know what I like when I see it, and what I consider just dumb.

Stay tuned, and hopefully, you will know what you like when you see it too.

Not sure

Already I am doubting myself.  What if I can't do this?  What if I get bored?  What if I don't want to make 52 different things?  What am I doing to myself?

I have decided to soldier on.  I will do something.  I will start in May and attempt to continue for one year.

May the force be with you, and with me, too, of course.

The Rules

Here are my rules:

1.  It is my blog/project/artwork.  I get to make the rules.  I get to change the rules.  I get to stop completely if I want to.  If you don't like it, make up your own.  If I don't like it, I get to change it.

2.  I wanted to start with a definition of "art" but I decided that instead, I will use that as one of my goals.  The goals of this enterprise are:
a) to see what I like,
b) to see if I can do it,
c) to discover what I think art is, and what I think craft is, and what I think doesn't fit in either category,
d) to figure out what I like doing, what is a chore, and what I simply LOOOVVVVEEE, and
e) other goals as I find them.

3.  I will create and complete "52" "small" art or craft "projects" and blog about them.  52 is one a week, however, my goal is just to complete 52 in a year, not necessarily one per week.  The 52 weeks, 52 projects relationship is just to provide some indication of how I am progressing towards my goal.  If after ten weeks, I have only completed two, I may have to rethink what I am doing.

4.  Small means I am going try for easily completed, quick to do, simple projects, that will take perhaps one evening to complete.  If I was working, I would be doing this in my spare time, what there was of it, on free evenings or weekends, in between the regular stuff of living like laundry, grocery shopping, TV watching, etc.  Don't worry, I usually have nothing whatsoever to do between 2 am and 4 am so I will have plenty of time to complete these.

5.  Project means that the "whatever" is a completed item.  However, this does not mean, necessarily, that I have something now ready to wear, use, or gift.  The "project" may be the center medallion for a quilt, an interesting border quilting, fiber dyed to some "artistic" specifications to be later spun and knitted, the front intarsia portion of a sweater, or some other piece of what might be thought of as a completed project.  However, my rule is that the artistic piece of the action is completed.  IE, if an intarsia portion of a sweater, the head and neck of a kitten still missing it's body, doesn't count, nor would fiber dyed pink to which I am later going to add purple dye.  I know what I mean by completed project, but can't seem to define it succinctly (or spell succinct, sussinct?  no that is not right, succinst, no, lets go back to succinct).

BTW, designing the "page" that this blog appears on was a project in itself.  It took several hours to get the picture to show the way I wanted, the Title and Subtitle to show up on the picture background with the "right" amount of contrast, and other items to appear the way I liked.  So I think it would qualify as a "project" if I had done it within the 52 designated weeks. 

6.  Art or craft means, well, I'm not sure.  Somebody told me yesterday that to them, craft meant you followed some one else's pattern, basically, although perhaps you made slight changes.  However, I don't think this is really craft.  I have always thought of art and craft this way, that craft created useful, reproducible items, whereas art just created beauty.  I am not sure that this is a good or useful definition either, though.  I know that if I ever resort to crayon lines on a piece of paper to create my weekly project, I am not doing what I set out to in this blog.  I want to create some completed piece of art each week, but I can't be more specific than that.  Hopefully more definition will arise out of the experience.

7.  Open for later additions to the rules.

I hope that you too will be able to set the rules for some part of your life.

Climbing on the Bandwagon

It seems that "everyone" these days is doing stuff by the numbers:  10 scarves in 2010, 11 shawls in 2011, 52 socks in 2011, even 365 self-portraits in a year.  These ideas sounded intriguing to me, but none really "rang my bell" so to speak.

Then I read a blog or heard a podcast or something (I am sooooo sorry I can't credit the idea springboard for this) talking about creating 52 small art projects, in 52 weeks.  I could do that, I thought.  Her idea was to get a notebook and make 52 finished drawing, paintings, etc. to go in the notebook.  Each would therefore be less than 8 1/2 by 11 inches in size.  But I don't draw or paint, bummer.  Even, she suggested, a tiny quilt, or a piece of pottery whose picture could be put into the journal/notebook.  BINGO.  I quilt.  I take photos.  I'm in.

Since I read this in about February it was too late to start in 2011.  And by next January I might have forgotten all about this.  But the idea persisted in my head.  I didn't forget, at least during March.  So . . . .

It occured to me that starting on my birthday and finishing a year later would create a personal, useful time frame for this type of project.  And it also occurred to me that ordinary notebook sized paper sucks for most quilt type projects.  And that I didn't know what art was.  And that it was my blog, so I got to make the rules.  And that I wasn't even clear about what "a project" is, since I was not going to limit myself to notebook sized paper, or even paper.  And that I knew WHY I wanted - was going - to do this, but I was not sure I could put it into words.

So this entry is to start setting the rules for myself, my projects and my blog.  Because if you don't know the rules, you don't know if you've broken them, right?

What is art, and what is a project?  What is small, and what is finished?

Stayed tuned for the answers to these important questions, and more.  And, feel free to create along with me.  I invite you to copy what I do, do something similar, do something that my project inspires in you, OR do whatever you like each week.  AND of course, you can also just simply read along, and spend your time climbing your own mountains, figuratively or literally.  Let me know what and how you are doing, if you like.