In cooking, a Sous-chef must plan and direct how the food is
presented on the plate, keep their kitchen staff in order, train new
chefs, create the work schedule, and make sure all the food that goes to
customers is of the best quality to maintain high standards. I don't think there is a job title for that work in quilting.
In quilting, usually all these roles are held by one person. Those who achieve a bit of celebrity, have a staff to do various tasks. For instance, Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company co-owns and founded the company with her husband, Alan. Their daughters, Sarah & Natalie, and son Alan, various friends of the family and people from their community stock the warehouse, create patterns & tutorials, as well as performing administrative work that runs all aspects of their business.
Not in my studio. Here, I manage my own mini-'warehouse' in my closet, purchase supplementary fabrics, find and use patterns, even adjusting them when needed. Here, I budget for supplies and shipping costs. I even advertise, seeking folks who might want a quilt. I do my own time management, my own everything. Sometimes I fly through the projects. Sometimes not.
Today, I traced 4 sets of appliqué patterns for the remaining La Befana pillows. Rolling my eyes. For as many scraps as I use, there are SO-O many in this stash. I have to keep working to use them, have to keep them organized, and in truth, enjoy every minute. I also cut batting to fit the pages of the soft book. I didn't turn on the machine because this day is dedicated to prep work.
Prep work is part of what I thought a sous-chef would do in the kitchen. No glory in it, but vital to the finished product. At one time, even Jenny did all her own work. While I do not plan to have a staff here in my studio, I will keep doing what I can.
I bought 6 pillow forms with the intention to make and give one to each of my Grandchildren. The leftover red from the Blessed Jets quilt is cut perfectly for 12" pillows.
While each is made from the same pattern, the look of the first two is different from each other, and the pattern. They are the same & yet not. Obviously I will learn from each one I make. It is my hope to make them all red representing the Roman Red used for the Empire's flags, its military uniforms and many of the dresses and togas. Then her hair is gray. There is a scrap of it, and with luck it will extend to all 6 pillows. Or not. I found 2 squares for the face pink, used buttons for eyes. Then there is a poinsettia cutout for the hair flower. It does sort of blend with the background so will take careful placing. The dress is a pink with white dot and the collars will be what scraps are here. I'll try to make three and three of them. I machine stitched the smile and nose on the first one, hand embroidering the second version. I re-did it with the black, and now it pops much like a cartoon image.
After finishing the scrappy back for the 90" square Solstice to Solstice quilt top, I wasn't sure what to start on first.
There is a soft book for a Nanny that is a panel and takes batting scraps. Ok, wait on that one until the next two quilts are basted. There are always scraps cut from the sides. It will be the third one I've made and they are quick.
Then there are six 12" pillows with a holiday appliqué. I've sorted colors and the process might also go quickly if they can be done in assembly fashion.
In my recent sorting, I've found fabrics suitable for backs. One is a lovely orange batik that is perfect for a Hallows quilt with blackwork squares alternating with pieced blocks. It is for next year; first I want to work on those pillows. Here is a link to one of the You Tube tutorials. I will watch a few of them to make sure I know what I am doing. I need to do the appliqué first and then make the pillow envelope or cover.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LJnPEvjdDo
The original pattern for this is by Sally Hutchinson. It was exactly what I wanted to make for the 3-year-old-boy in the family. He loves all vehicles and I wanted to make him a big boy quilt rather than one he would outgrow.
This pattern does it. At first I thought I might add more borders to it. While I have more of the jet-gray, and red from the back, I decided its perfect as a lap quilt, perfect for a growing kid to drag around the house, with him in the car and maybe outside. It will work the way it is. The red for the back needs to be color set before it gets added, so it took 3 washes and the Color Catchers still ended up pink. Grrrr. As much as I love red....
So now, I need to move onto other projects.
I measured larger scrap pieces, I thought about next steps. And that was my day. I've moved into a different phase of my life where I want to work part of the day and speculate, muse, dream, plan the rest of the day. Its working for me. I was able to get flannel scraps the size of the Solstice to Solstice quilt. They are assembled quite randomly and took all day.
I saw a quilt working with a BOM that is a dark blue background with white snowflakes. I joined the group and printed off the pages. It is a challenging project I would like to do next year. I am entering the project in on my sidebar so I don't forget. I'll start it in January and maybe try to find fabric on sale for it.
Meanwhile, the Rainbow Bargello is washed, folded and set aside for the birthday. It actually turned out okay. However, its not a pattern or style I want to work with again.
The rest of the weekend was spent watching videos, measuring pieces for the Solstice-to-Solstice quilt, and joining pieces of the Blessed Jets top. I did decide I want to bring out my Twister templates and use up scraps with that pattern.
The pattern gives the primary instructions for a larger quilt. The lap size, which I am making, only takes 21 Friendship stars. I was almost stressed when the count I had was 13-18-then 21. I went back to the pattern and read with relief that the 21 count was correct.
They are pieced and pressed. The next step works with the Jets as templates and the starry blue fabric making triangles around the various pieces. This pattern might be easy to follow, just tedious with all its many steps. I've had to pay close attention to the difference between the sizes. I've been thinking about how to quilt it and want to do more of a wavy line in channel stitches going vertically to carry them up in the air. I know this is early to consider, yet, being mindful is imperative to all I do.
The next step was easy. A simple HST - Half Square Triangle, cut to make wings for 4 jets. The pattern was meant for the larger quilt & a few things were eliminated on the lap size version. Instructions for the larger version did not translate into the smaller one, so it became confusing for me. As I have said often, I am pattern-reading challenged. As it gets closer to assembly, I make do. Rather than to follow the written text, I am following the visual. And that works.
The Rainbow Bargello is finished, drying and ready to go in the bin, saved til the end of January when it ships.
The Blessed Jets quilt has so many steps to it. Yet, when all is said and done, it will be a sweet quilt for a 3-year-old boy who is growing up every day.
This part of the quilt makes up 66 Friendship blocks. It started with 264 - 2.5" blue and white QST for the star rays. That part was marking, stitching, cutting, pressing and ensuring that they were to size. The Friendship block itself is a 9-patch assembly. That means joining 3 squares across for 3 rows. I actually ran out of pins while working on this step, so will finish for the day with the rows pieced, and then press them to get ready for joining into the block.
This is the kind of quilt that cannot be put away and must be worked on until the top is completed. Rather than make notes-to-self on it, I've been checking off the steps on the pages of the printed pattern. This is page 3 of 8. Yikes.
Sometimes I wonder what I get myself into. However, when a challenge appears, I guess it is something to keep me active, alert and going forward with a purpose. Every morning that I wake up, I feel a sense of gratitude in the sunshine of the daylight shining in my room. I know I made it through the night and have been given the grace to do it all again.
