Cutting, cutting, cutting

After finishing my Daughter-in-Law's apron, I pulled out a bin that holds holiday fabrics. It gets to be such a mess after I dig through it looking for whatever is in my mind to do. I don't have a new project going for the contents, but just wanted to reduce the bulk of fabrics. This helps.

I've said it before, cutting scraps down to usable squares reduces the bulk in a bin, yet, it is as boring a task as white bread. After standing and cutting for a couple of hours, this is the result of my work. Whew. It seems so little for the effort, yet I know that its like any sort of behind the scenes prep work. Its got to be done and someone's gotta do it.

I put on a movie and just kept cutting for a good couple of hours. The wider strips are simply folded, and will be just set in the bin, not because I cannot keep cutting, but just in case they can be of a greater use sometime as a bigger piece. In one way, it wraps up the last of the 2014 projects and allows for storage space once the 2015 quilts get started and end up with scraps of their own. 

I want to make a Lego mat for my younger Grandson, and it takes WOF (width of fabric) strips pieced together as a circle, so some of these uncut strips will get used in it.

I've been hollowing out another one of those book safes. Can't say it got easier to think of destroying all those pages, so I tried to think of it as re-purposing. I've actually never known anyone who has one or if they do, perhaps the idea of it is not to tell people. I am not sure what either of my Sons will use them for or if they will even think they are of value. My 3" square ruler fits into the hollow and provides the line for me to use. I hold my bracing hand well off to the side and cut pressing downward with my other hand.

It still shocks me as my box cutter blade cuts through the paper and creates shred all over the table and floor. The blade is dangerous on its own, and the force it takes me to cut into the book makes it even more dangerous if it were to slip. I've been trying to be mindful and to work completely focused. All along, I have wished for a proper workbench and a vise to hold it secure while I cut.

Its given me a renewed respect for my skin, my hands and fingers. I know that a forceful & accidental cut would create a lot of pain and be messy...bloody messy! I think I have about 1/4" of depth to go on it, and then this is the last of the ones I will make. It will need a final coat of the glue on the inside hollow, and then be pressed over night to have it all hold together. 

I am glad to have followed through on this non-quilting project just to say I did them. If I were to recommend them to someone, I would suggest more safety. The tutorials all showed it done this way on a table without the vise, but that doesn't make it really safe.

The metaphor that cutting is all about reminds me how hard it is to cut things from my life. I used to think it meant cutting off or out what no longer serves us. However, in this case, clearly the lesson is about cutting TO serve, to organize and to make use of something.

Cutting has always been the designated Crone archetype work represented in many cultures. The Maiden gets the Spinning; the Mother gets the Weaving. The imagery presented to us is that the spinning and weaving have more importance in creating the fabric of our lives than the cutting part. Cutting is ending, is final, makes everything done and over and finished. In most pictures, the Crone is seen almost receding and darker with less energy. 

Not so. Cutting is creative and vital to every process. If anything, cutting takes more energy, more attention to detail, and is the less safe of these actions. Is there more to the time of our lives the Crone represents? Maybe.

Aprons

There is quite a history to the word and garment 'apron'. It seems they have been enjoying a resurgence in the last few years. However, they are not cheap to buy nor cheap to make. And in fact, they can be relatively complex to make.

The two fabric shops in town are participating in "Shop Hops" and....shaking my head...I just spent over $30 in each store. Not much I suppose, however, it is for my budget.

I bought seasonal fabrics and an apron pattern. Easy, it says, and so far it has been. One of the volunteers had this apron on & it looked cute on her. I know that I still have a lot of different fabrics in my stash that range from larger pieces to scraps, so when I purchase new, I try to match what I remember having for my next potential projects. I wasn't thinking aprons.

This is going to my Daughter-In-Law whose birthday is the end of November and often on Thanksgiving weekends. The focus fabric is wordy and the coordinating fabrics, well, coordinate. It could be reversible but isn't meant to be. I fell in love with the heart-shaped leaves. The back is a sort of feather print and works as the third piece. And there will be buttons. Two buttons.

I've seen many aprons worn in my family. One of my Grams used to do a cross stitch over gingham for hers. They always looked so fresh. At the time, I never asked for one as a memento. The other Gram wore those white kitchen-chef utility aprons from the restaurant they owned that always went into a very hot wash probably with bleach. I have a Winter Solstice apron that has hung in my kitchen for as long as I can remember, and I have used it as a pattern to make others for gifts. But I am the type of baker who uses hand towels. I want to change that and start putting on an apron when I am in the kitchen.

The next step for this project is making the ties, which are laid out next to the apron body. Its the tube thing, which I suck at so, once again, another opportunity to practice something. Then, everything is top stitched and done. If it turns out ok, my plan is to make two more from the fabrics I have here and use what I make as gifts for Winter Solstice.

Serpentine Stitch

As I did the hand binding on Bob's quilt, I came to see how the edges of the back fabric let me know that it was a cotton/poly blend. It would not be a fabric of choice for me normally, but just makes his quilt so wonderful.

I decided to run a Serpentine Stitch next to the binding as a re-inforcement. It is almost invisible. I feel better about it this way because if the edge frayed, I would never know and they would end up with a quilt that stressed them out, thinking it was their fault.

It only took me about 20 minutes to run it through the machine. I couldn't get much closer to the binding edge and still have it all go through the machine, and yet think it is fine.

My next step with all the quilts is to lay them out and go over them on both sides to ensure that the threads are clipped and seams solid when I pull on them. It is a wonderful feeling to be on time with all of them and not feel pressured to finish.

This year has been an exciting experience that included successful accomplishments as well as challenges that invited me to go back, to repeat lessons, and to do things differently. 

I became more gentle with myself too, and allowed myself to take things off my to-do list so that there was less pressure. Right now, I 'could' finish up two quilts for my younger Nephews and give the quilts to them for the holidays. I could, however, I would like to quilt them with more skills than I have right now, so want to wait.

Doing Bob's quilt with some different stitches was really good practice for me. I know I said I wasn't showing my Pay It Forward projects, and this didn't start out as one. The practice I got doing this was huge for me. 

When I first saw a pattern that used a horizontal fabric, I was ecstatic. I love these Santas and Birdhouses. They remind me of my Daddy whose name was Nick and who loved feeding and watching birds. The funny story about Bob and my younger Son is that when Bob named his first Son Nick (after my Daddy), my Son told him that Nick was our family name and he should name all his kids Bob. That still makes me smile.

The quilt was fun for me to make, and will have a good home with Bob.

Binding Bob's Quilt

The quilting went surprisingly fast on this one.

It simply needed a different stitch than the diagonal one first planned for it. The layout made it easy to do. But its going to be heavier than I thought because of the backing. It was a piece of fabric that just fit and came from Lee's estate. I am not sure what it is nor what she had planned for it.

In her final years quilting, Lee was in the process of making quilts for her Grandsons, so my guess is that this dark taupe piece either was going to be a part of one of them or was a leftover. The binding was also a piece of fabric from her stash and gives the back a bit of interest. The quilt is folded over on itself several times. The front is such a busy piece that it needed to have a solid back. As it lays on my loveseat as I type, it just makes me smile.

The binding is attached and pinned in place to hand stitch it. Usually it will take me three nights for it, so two more to go after this one. I am in no real hurry to finish it as it will get shipped about mid-November with the others. I really enjoy having the quilts lay over my lap as the nights get chillier. 

Sure, I could close the windows against the night air, but this is why quilts exist!

Naughty & Nice

I finished the mug rug that I made from an idea I saw online. I thought it would be fun to make one that was reversible and discovered how difficult it actually was to line things up. Its a bit early to ship it off so it will sit around here for a couple of weeks.

Each side is embroidered with either Naughty or Nice on it, and then the three main parts are flipped too so the quilting would work on them. I put a pin at various corners so that the machine lines would cover both sides. It makes me smile that being dead-on-accurate is less a value than I realized. For me close enough is good enough. Yet, in the last couple of days, I have come to realize that other people clearly see it differently and hold to a different standard.

A couple of things make my camera-eye dance as I take these photos...the white with color and then also the red and white pin stripe. I took several pics before just settling on these. After awhile, taking photos of the object became less important to me. And again, the sides of the MR are not as wavy as it shows maybe just from the MR leaning on my love seat arm.

This camera does have that shake-setting and it still gets blurry. I know that the longer I try to focus, the less steady my hands get. I am simply not buying a better camera to take pictures for this blog. 

It might be that I am more in a place of accepting my own fragility than I am needing that perfection. I clung to perfectionism far too long in my life and sometimes think I set too high a standard for myself. Its probably just as true with anything we set out to do that spending time doing things is more pleasurable even if we don't win first place at the activity. Its not that I want to put out anything substandard or do less than my best at what I do, but somethings are simply less important.

Making that MR was more important to me than taking the perfect picture of it is. 

How Disappointing

My October block partner emailed me to say the block I sent her was only 12" and she couldn't use it! It just threw me to the curb to think that I sent it off without checking the measurements, which are supposed to be 12.5" square. 

I found a pattern that I've made before and cut out what I had left of the reds. I was most careful to measure twice to cut once. And it came together beautifully. However, it was 1/4" too small!!!!

What I learned is that my needle was moving a thread either way and giving me larger than 1/4" seams that are called for in most patterns, and in some cases the needle was actually wavering on a line. 

My reds were all but gone, so I dug into my greens to make this version, which is laid over a cutting mat to show that it is exactly 12.5" on both sides.

My first response to her post was shock, but then as I got into things I realized that once again, there was more to learn. Just the other day I wrote about liberated quilting, and yet to do this kind of work, it really means being on the far side of the requirements to get it correct.

Some swappers depend upon the accuracy of their partners and some, like myself, are ok with joining them in creative ways. There is room for both ideals in the quilting world.

My computer is back now and just needed a good cleaning. Its an IMac, so had to go into the shop and be taken apart with their tools and the right setting. Hey, this goes to show how much I depend upon certain things as being accurate, dependable so that it continues to bring good service. When I take the quilting machine in for servicing, I will ask about this traveling needle setup and see if there is something to be fixed. Meanwhile, I am keeping a closer watch.

Around the World Blog Hop!

I was tagged for the Around the World Blog Hop by Zenia at http://aquiltedpassion.blogspot.com/. Thanks for the tag Zenia! If you haven't already visited her spot, be sure to do so.

The Around the World Blog Hop is kind of like a chain letter except it's w/blogs on the internet.  It's a great opportunity to meet and learn about other bloggers.  When tagged, the tagee has to acknowledge who tagged them, answer 4 questions and then tag different bloggers.

So here goes...

What am I working on?

I've been doing a number of smaller projects that include mug rugs, embroidery projects, some applique, a book safe, a money tree & a tote bag.

I've pulled out the 2015 quilt projects and am starting with my Nephew Jacob's next.

Right now, its a 53" square and with some creative additions for borders, it is my hope to extend it to more of a lap size quilt of 57"x73".

Also, I will be basting the last quilt of the year today and then be ready to machine quilt it.

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Most of my quilts are made from scraps and supplemental purchases. I think it is harder to come up with the finished quilt than if it was started with all new material. There is a lot of time needed to select fabrics and make sure there is enough to finish the work. Scraps are hard to measure. I've seen a trend in the quilting magazines that offer more patterns and options for folks who do scrap quilting, so maybe there are more out there like me than I realize.

Why do I write/create what I do?

This is really a two-part question. I've been a writer for as long as I can remember, however, have been quite private with what I think and how I express myself. I still am even in this venue. Its hard to be transparent with thoughts and feelings, and with the way I've set the blog up to be public, its even more difficult to know who reads this. I keep that in mind, quite honestly, and tend not to be as revealing as I might if I knew the audience.

I've had a harder time believing in my abilities as an artist of any nature. Fabric arts are no exception. I encounter people who want exact measurements, exact fabric choices and exact outcomes. I don't encounter a lot of folks who like to work outside the box. If I were to give myself a number on a scale where 1=total structure and 10=total liberation, I think I am more at a 6 right now.

How does my process work?

Well, interestingly I like structure as a learning tool and so want to be sure I know what I am doing and then step out of my comfort zone. I have lists that keep me on track; I keep my fabrics in specific ways according to color, size, and seasonal/pattern function. I read a lot of quilting magazines, listen / watch You Tube videos, and communicate with other quilters.

Feel free to browse my blog and leave comments about anything. I will get back to you as soon as I am able, so leave your email address.

Next, you are invited to hop on over to my friend Rex's blog at http://crowcallingwoman.blogspot.com/
and see what she is up to. 

Thanks for visiting. Enjoy this fabulous season and do good things.