Fabric!

 

After every big project, it's only normal for there to be a letdown. I've had two big highs lately - the renovation of my bathroom and Julie's visit - and I'm experiencing the letdown. I can't seem to get much of anything going. Or I can start, but I can't seem to generate the steam to continue any one project.

Let's face it, I've expended a LOT of energy in the first part of the year and I've run out of "gas." I need time to recharge. So I've been doing a lot of resting, reading (more on that in a bit) and not too much else.

I did, however, do a little bit of fabric shopping. I've got a pink bird quilt I'll need backing and borders and binding for, and there was a sale...

I told you I was reading. Victoria Finlay has written several books - about color (the history of pigments, not how to use it), jewels and now fabric. I'm very much enjoying the journey.

I may not be doing much sewing, but I have been doing a lot of THINKING. I want to update my tutorial about using fabrics - Making Your Fabric Work For You (aka MYFWFU). I know everybody thinks color is the most important thing, but I think if you know how to use fabric, with all the print and pattern, then you can get a lot more bang for your buck. A lot of it is how you see your fabrics (Julie and I had a very illuminating text exchange this week about that) and I want to expand and improve that idea, so I have been doing a lot of THINKING about what I need to say and how I want to say it. Don't hold your breath, it's going to take a while.

Lastly, I really have to write the Story of Millie, and how she changed my life. Many of you know the whole story, but a lot of you don't. Millie's story is amazing, and I want to tell it. If it wasn't for Millie, you wouldn't be here. So I have to think about that. Millie's blog is still up, and if you have a lot of free time, you can start at the beginning and read forward. I promise you will be astonished, that you will laugh and cry. It starts in August 2006 and ends in February 2022. In between is The Cat of a Lifetime.

What I Will and Won't Do

Yesterday, what I didn't show you was this photo. I didn't show you because I didn't like it. Readers told me they liked the beige.

Well that's nice, but it just doesn't work. For one thing, do you think that beige looks strong enough to hold up that barn? Nope, it "reads" as a hole." It is too wimpy. See that window over on the left? Does it look like the background? Like you are looking THROUGH something? It does not. The beige is too insubstantial and not strong enough. Not physically strong to appear to be sitting on the ground and supporting the roof and other elements. It looks flimsy. You can disagree all you want. You will still be wrong. Don't bother trying to convince me otherwise.

It's kinda funny. I tell folks that I have no interest whatsoever in making pictorial quilts because dammit, if I want a picture I will paint one. Because, yeah, I can do that. And I know how to draw too. (See the photo of one of my drawings on this page if you don't believe me.) So I balance a fine line when I choose to interpret a real barn in fabric. Intellectually I know it won't match what's in my head, but when what comes out in fabric doesn't match reality some part of me rebels.

I will tell you that I have no interest in making a 100% accurate representation of my brother's barn. And yet, I want to come close, but I don't want this barn to look like it came out of a kid's coloring book. (I like to think I'm more sophisticated than that.)

It occurs to me that I have never spoken about two (ok, three) absolute rules in my quilts that I always follow.

1. Use the fabric as it is. Which means I will use fabric I can buy somewhere. I can fussy cut it or use the wrong side, but I will not dye it or otherwise tinker with it. That makes it all the more challenging. If I run out of something, I will search through my stash to find something else that can work as well in its place, not whine that I can't finish because I need more of the exact same fabric.

2. I will not paint or dye my own fabric. Why? Because, what the fart? If I want to paint, I'm gonna PAINT!

(begin rant)
 Frankly, I feel that a perfect patchwork pictorial or painted quilt is a misapplication of the medium. What that means is that I think it's a waste of time and materials. Because if you want a picture, paint one. I cannot tell you how many pictorial quilts I see (and many have prize ribbons hanging from them) that have bad drawing mistakes. Mistakes in proportion, in shading and composition. Bad, bad, bad. And I am not impressed with a quilt that has been traced from a photo, hand colored and quilted. Again, so what? Don't bother arguing with me about this either.
(end rant)

3. Patchwork only. No applique, no embellishments. Frankly, limiting myself to patchwork is more challenging, more technically demanding and more interesting. I love the Baroque style, but I hate the Rococo. If you can tell the difference, then you'll understand. Applique and embellishments are just too much. Yeah, I know I go overboard with ideas, but I don't go overboard with frou-frou busy junk all over my quilts. (My apologies to all you talented applique artists out there. You do great stuff, but it just isn't my thing.)

4. I quilt by check, which means somebody else quilts my quilts. Which means they do what I want. My patchwork is the STAR OF MY SHOW. I don't want somebody else to muck it up with cutesy crap. I do not ever want anybody to look at one of my quilts, and think the quilting is the best thing on it. That's like saying the frame is better than the painting in it. So "threadwork" is a no-no in my quilts. Are you making a quilt or doing embroidery? Make up your mind. They both don't belong in the same place.
(Yeah, I know this is four. I can count. I'm an artist, not a bean counter.)

Opiniontated little sh*t, aren't I?  Yeah, I know.

So where does that leave my barn? Well, this is what I am currently leaning toward...

.
here is a closeup

and that comes from this...

Yup, I cut 1-1/2" crosswise strips of this fabric and then sewed them so the stripes did not align.

I originally planned to use this as the shingles on the wall above the barn door, but they were too busy for an area that needed to be dark.

This is the kind of thing I keep talking about in my Make Your Fabric Work For You tutorial,
how to pay attention to what your fabrics can do for you by looking at them in fresh ways. Like I tell my students, "don't be so literal" when choosing fabrics for your barn block. Just because you see fabric that looks like siding doesn't mean you can ONLY use it as siding or fencing. Stripes and ruler fabrics can work just as well.

WELL!! I certainly didn't know ALL THAT was coming when I sat down to write about where I am in this barn block. You'll see more, because my self-imposed deadline is to have this barn block panel finished to show at the next Build A Barn class at Quilted Threads in Henniker NH on July 22. That class is sold out, and there is a waiting list for another class that will be scheduled later.


But hey, you'll get to see all the steps from now until I get something I like, and as usual, I'll tell you what I am thinking, and how (and why) I get from point A to point B (and B-yond).

(I love a good pun.)

Making Your Fabric Work For You

My new tutorial, "Making Your Fabric Work For You" is almost ready. It should be ready later tonight or tomorrow. In this tutorial I pinpoint the ways I use fabrics to do the "heavy lifting" in my quilts. Fabrics can enhance shapes and designs and reinforce ideas  in your quilts. Understanding the many ways fabrics can be used can help you get the most out of your fabric purchases and make your quilts more interesting and fun.

 Here's another sneak peek from the Tutorial

And oh.

I am on Instagram as quiltinglynne.  I haven't posted much, but that will change. Follow me there and keep up with what I am doing.