Questions & Answers, Part Two

Yesterday I shared some of my responses to comments about my Early Autumn quilt. Here are more.

Jean wrote, "Since you like to be closed in by evergreens, you should enjoy western WA or western OR. Over the Cascade Mountains on the east side we seem to be able to see forever!"

This is Mt Hood in Oregon.

Actually Jean, I have family in Hood River Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. It's one of my favorite parts of the country. Driving east along SR14 on my way to visit the Maryhill Museum, I got a glimpse of those vast expanses you mentioned. And being able to see Mt Hood from... everywhere? Priceless.

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Robby wrote, "[You] got me thinking about light in the forest. If you make one of those background trees in that block lighter or partially so, will it look like the sun streaming into the forest?"

Well Robby, the answer is a big "maybe." Look at the picture above. Look at it QUICKLY, then look away. What part of it did your eye go to first? It went to the lightest white tree in the middle right part of the picture. You can argue you didn't notice it first, but you are MISTAKEN! It is the way the BRAIN works. You have no control over it. Your eye (anybody's eye) will be drawn to the area of highest contrast first. Artists know that, and they use that to manipulate what your eye goes to first when it looks at something.

There's one tiny problem though. A very bright area surrounded by much darker stuff can occasionally look like a hole. That is bad. So the artist has to be very careful with the placement of "the lightest light" in a piece of art. In my quilt, I wasn't interested in how the light looks as it is filtered through trees in a forest or the woods. I simply wanted green and color. I was not interested in creating a three-dimensional space either. I just wanted to play with the repeating tall triangle shape of the trees and the colors of fall to suggest "Early Autumn."

Notice I said "suggest." I didn't want to hit you over the head with it. I wanted to capture the feeling of the woods in early autumn. I didn't need the "gimmicks," the pumpkins, corn stalks, or cabins in the woods. That would have weakened the graphic quality of the quilt and made it "cute." For the record, I hate, loathe and despise "cute" (except where small children and my granddaughter are concerned). I do not make "cute" quilts. Cute is for six year olds and I am not six.

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Three days into my work on this quilt, Rita commented, "I love tree quilts very much. When I look at this one it is, I'm afraid to say, depressing. It is the colors; the trees are mostly dark..."

Rita was right. It WAS mostly dark, but three days into this I had not yet found my feet, and did not know where this was going. My immediate reaction to this comment was, "Rita, gimme a break, I haven't got started yet." Sometimes there is a point in the creation of a piece of art that it just looks like crap and doesn't seem to have any potential whatsoever. That's not a bad place for me, because it's at that place where I do my best creative thinking. My breakthrough came three days later.

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 Alice wrote, "I do hope you will do a tutorial on this one. Will put it in my "definitely want to try."

Dear Alice, making free pieced trees is pretty easy and I'm betting you could find a how-to on the internet without too much trouble. After making this quilt and hearing how everybody likes my overlapping trees... I think I will write a short tree-making tutorial that will include how to make overlapping trees. However, do not expect full blown instructions on how to make the entire quilt.

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 Yesterday Sue asked, "If you use it as a tablecloth do you use batting? And is it flat enough to put glasses and such on it?"

Yes, Sue, The quilts I use as table covers all have batting and are quilted and finished like normal quilts. I have one of those plastic flannel backed tablecloths underneath the quilt, to protect my mahogany table from spills. Sometimes I use coasters underneath glasses and I have been known to use placemats on top of the quilt if I am really worried about something spilling or staining.

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On the very first day I blogged about making a tree quilt, my pal Julie wrote. "I am VERY sure that your tree quilt is going to be a knockout!"

My first thought was how nice it was that my best friend had such faith in me. Then I thought, oh hell, how am I going to that?

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I love reading all your comments. They tell me whether what ends up in the quilt is what I had in my head when I conceived it. Just because I think it's there doesn't mean it really is. I need to see it through your eyes. Thanks.

I Love My Readers

Oh dear Readers, how do I love thee?

I love you LOTS, let me tell you! You never let me down. I wanted your answers and you were wonderful enough to take the time to share them. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've got a lot to say about them and it may be a bit disjointed, so bear with me.

I think the best answer is to set up a page on this blog and devote it to things like "Straight of the grain - why you need to pay attention," "Oh those damned seams in the back!" "Positive and Negative" "What the selvage is (and isn't) good for." Then I can simply refer readers of the tutorials to those pages, which frees me from having to repeat myself.

My niece, who, one-handed, learned to make free pieced letters faster than anybody I've ever met.

I don't like the idea of classifying my tutorials as "Beginner," or "Intermediate" or anything. I feel that if students think something is "too hard" they'll shy away from doing it. So I don't like to prejudice them. When anything you want to do or learn becomes important enough, you'll find a way to do it, come hell or high water. I WANT my students to take giant leaps into the unknown, and that takes a certain amount of courage, or just a lot of faith.

Seriously, it's not rocket science. It's not brain surgery. It's taking two pieces of fabric, slapping them together and then sewing a straight line to join them. This is not life threatening stuff. So you might waste twenty bucks of fabric. Big whoop. What is that, fancy coffee for a week?  You should go read this post, titled "If He Can Do It..."

You all know I believe in what I call "Quilting Without a Net." I would love to get rid of patterns and templates and anything paper pieced. I love to see students take risks, because I've seen how when they take them wonderful things happen. If you've been in my class you've heard me say, "Look, I'm pretty sure you all got yourselves dressed this morning without any help. You can make successful color choices on your own."

Anybody who's ever been in one of my classes knows I'm a "take-no-prisoners" kind of teacher. I will pester and cajole a student any way I can to get them to let loose and put those "little gray cells" to work. And I don't molly-coddle my students either. In my class, you WORK.

I often ask, at the beginning of a class, "Do you want me to prevent you from making a mistake, or do you want me to let you fail and learn on your own?" They always ask me to prevent them, and they claim it's due to the time restraint of a six hour class. They all know if they screw up on their own they will DEFINITELY learn that lesson, but hey, nobody wants to fail, at least in public!

The back of Snow Day, once I finally figured out how to press those seams.

 I didn't say so on the blog, but the slab triangles I made in the first two Scrap Slab Triangle quilts (Fruit Loops & Treasure Trove) had way too many pieces in them and pressing the rows of blocks was a royal pain in the butt, and frustrated the heck out of me. Treasure Trove was particularly painful, with those points matching. Even Snow Day gave me trouble, until I figured out I should press the seams between the blocks open, and we all know how much I like THAT. (Answer = Not.)

Some part of me thinks anybody who wants painstakingly detailed instructions just wants a crutch. My eyes just cross and glaze over, but then, I've read a LOT of badly written instructions.

OH! And whoever said to one commenter, "Are you a slow learner?," deserves to be shot, in my book. What a thoughtless thing to say to a student. Everybody learns differently and it's a [good] teacher's job to be able to explain it so every student can understand, even if the teacher has to explain the same thing twenty different ways. It's the TEACHER'S job to teach, dammit.

I've read that if a middle-aged woman had to learn to walk she'd never do it, that the fear is too paralyzing, and I think that sounds about right. What the hell is it that happens to us as we get older? Fear of failure? I see it all the time. Over-thinking? Damn, I see that all the time too. Sew the seam already! The faster you make your first ten thousand mistakes the faster you learn your first ten thousand things.


And ask any damn question you want, no matter what the price, no matter how silly or fearful you feel about it. When you ask questions, I learn something. I'll learn it, then I'll share it.

Ladies, and Gentlemen, Put that pattern down. Toss out that kit. Get rid of all those foundation papers. I'm here to tell you that you can make spectacular quilts, and I'm here to show you how.

Have I told you all lately how much I love you?

Questions... I Have Answers...

It has been the most ridiculous summer. I haven't had much time to just settle down and sew. I am teaching a letters class on August 13 at Quilted Threads and will be speaking at the Soo Nipi Quilt Guild in NH on August 18. So instead of sewing, which I would really much rather be doing, I am preparing for those two events.

Now, for the questions and answers...

Nobody asked, but my Mom and I thought last year's AQS Syracuse show (2015) was better. This year we thought there were a few quilts that were just awful that won ribbons, and a few that were so damn perfectly perfect that didn't. I really hate overquilting and overembellisment and overstuffed. There was a lot of that. There was one quilt that absolutely creeped me out. It was a trapunto and applique beast with so much stuffing and quilting it looked like bugs crawling across a quilt. Yuk.

We also think the AQS's method of hanging the quilts (in numerical order by section) did the show a great disservice. Artwork in an exhibit should be hung so the work makes sense as you move through the gallery, as ideas flow together, and compliment each other.

Some beautiful quilts were in shadow, where it was too dark to fully see them or appreciate them, and some were under lighting that was too harsh.

Quilters are lovely people. There wasn't anybody we spoke to who wasn't friendly, kind or cheerful.

My pal Julie knows I have a thing about bowls. This is the birthday present I received from her. It's sixteen kinds of terrific and I love it.

Yes Cherie, I will undoubtedly have to make the pink barn sitting in three dimensions. Of course I can do it, but since I generally hate pictorial quilts (I mean, if I want to paint a picture, I will use paint, not fabric), I have to figure out a way to do it without trying to carve too much of a 3D picture space.

Dear Selvage Fairy & Sandi, I did not get close enough to the pink barn to see what the various doors, windows, and signs might have said. The barn was on private property with a house nearby and I did not want to trespass. I shall have to use my imagination. Oh gee darn.

Ducky, in real life the WOWs don't look so bright, but when they are under a direct light like the one in the photo, it does look overpowering.

Nancy, I got the Pink Lemonade cake to go as dessert at Man of Kent. They make all their own cakes, so I went for it. It was lovely.

They never had signs like this anywhere when I was pregnant. I think it is a terrific idea.

The Grand Baby is now officially due at any time. I spoke to my son earlier and he was very specific that I NOT announce the baby's birth until my entire family had been notified first.  I listened with one ear. I'm three thousand miles away and even if I don't do EXACTLY what he wants there's not much he can do about it. I have Mom Armor.
 
Sales of the Bird Tutorial have exceeded my wildest expectations. To all of you who purchased a copy, thank you so very much. It's nice to hear the compliments. I worked very hard on it.

I'm definitely going to have to make a smallish quilt that says I AM NOT PAPER PIECED. Too fun an idea not to. Another quote on the must list includes this one: CHANGE PARTNERS AND DANCE.

I had my OB/GYN visit today and the nurse who took my information before I saw the doctor said something that would make another good quilt: GRAVITY IS A HARD THING. When you're my age with osteoporosis, it surely is.

Between planning the class and the talk, I'm going to be very busy, so I may not post much in the next three weeks. Please don't think I'm ignoring you. I've decided I've tried to do too much this year. Next year I'm not going to make more than two trips. One will be a trip to Colorado to visit my furniture-making brother. The other will likely be a trip to California. I may take smaller trips locally (less than 4 hours driving: I want to visit Kathy in Belfast Maine again), but by and large I'm staying home. You'll find me in the sewing studio.

So OK, I did the bird tute. Anything else you would like to know how to do? I'm open for suggestions.

thanks, see ya!

You Got Questions, I Got Answers

Kathy and I did some sewing. I made this pinwheel from made fabric. (After I made the made fabric.)

OK, The RED fabric is "made fabric." It was bedtime, so I just grabbed some yellow to finish the block. See, I want to make one of these...

and it's made from made fabric...

Terri wanted to know what kind of red flower was in this photo:

Kathy actually had the tag that came with it. It's a Begonia "Encanto Red." Isn't it a beauty?

Sharon asked the name of the quilt shop. It's Fiddlehead Artisan Supply.


I do not, however, have the answer to this question (and neither did the waitress at the restaurant...)

Does it really cost $54 to add tofu to any salad?

Quiz Answers

I answered the first quiz in the comments, but not everyone saw it, so I am putting the answers here.

Quiz Number One: What do these letters have in common?

Answer: These letters are all based on Diagonals.


Quiz Two: What do these have in common?

Answer: They are all constructed around a center piece of background fabric. These are among the easiest letters to make.