Quilting

I have always been a strong proponent of journaling. I get a lot of benefit out of writing my thoughts down on paper – it helps me get perspective on things, helps me remember things and helps me keep direction in my life. Lately I’ve been thinking that I need to start a quilting journal. I’ve got so many ideas right now that there’s not any way I can make them all. I’m not even sure I should be making them all, not sure all of them are worth of the time and effort, but when they are stuck in my head, I can’t figure that out.

I’m thinking I will just take a graph paper notebook, and start with a basic sketch and some dimensions on each idea. If I leave enough room for each design, I could later come back and figure out things like number of blocks in a quilt and size of a quilt. I could also add notes if I actually sew that design about how it went together and any issues that I might encounter on the way.

A second benefit of journaling would mean that for projects that are WiPs for a long period of time, I would have more detailed notes about what I’m trying to do and where I’m leaving off. I rarely use a pattern any more, or if I do, the pattern is just an inspiration and I make a lot of changes, and honestly I don’t always remember exactly what direction I was going with something.

For the swaps I do with my friends, it would also be a much better way of keeping up with my swap notes and progress. I’ve been using sticky notes and honestly, those are not working for me. (Photo credit is one of my current swaps)

I know this would take some discipline and would take some effort to keep up, especially on the projects that are on going but I think it would be worth it. I’ve got a lot of ideas and a limited amount of time, so I’ve got to find ways to really focus my efforts and make the most of my quilting hours.

I’m sure I will also need a quilted notebook cover for my quilting journal too, so there’s another project….. I really need to start today.

I took a couple weeks off from life in general for a vacation. That’s a good thing, to recharge and refresh, and I also took a couple weeks off of posting on the blog for the same reasons. I’ve been posting regularly for a year and I need to recharge and refresh for the coming year.

The vacation was lovely – a river cruise on the Rhine and Mosel Rivers, starting in Amsterdam but spending most of our time in Germany. The trip gave lots of opportunities to stop in little towns, exploring their old town and shopping areas.

I go to Germany regularly, and over the years one of my favorite things to do is to seek out shops for makers: wool shops, fabric shops, embroidery shops. Back in the 70’s and 80’s the stores were common in most towns. I loved seeing the difference in craft styles in each area, and see what people were focused on. I distinctly remember in 1996 when my favorite shop in Salzburg, Austria put patchwork quilting in their shop window – I was so excited.

The recent years have not been kind to the crafting store. In 2010, I went back to Salzburg and was disappointed to learn that the big fabric store I loved so much was closed. The lady I talked to in the button shop (yes a whole shop devoted to nothing but buttons and closures) lamented the fact that young people didn’t do much and the shops were closing.

This trip, in three different villages, I found yarn shops that were either closing or had recently closed and were just trying to sell off inventory in a neighboring shop. In Cochem, I had a lovely chat with the lady who ran the yarn shop there. The shop had been in the same location for over 125 years (the cover photo for this post shows the ornate iron sign in the shape of a skein of yarn that hangs over the store). She motioned around the tiny space and noted that the real estate was getting more and more expensive, while she did not have the space to carry a lot of inventory. She noted that most of her customers now buy yarn on line because they can find anything they want at their fingertips on the keyboard. I told her we were seeing a similar trend in the United States – rising shop rents and the ability of the internet to provide so much inventory that physical shops are closing down.

I understand that there is a rhythm to all things, and I know that I actually shop on line for a lot of stuff, especially yarn. It is so easy to sit in my big chair in the living room and browse through color ways. I am familiar with the brands of yarn that I like and I know what the quality is, and photos are good enough on my iPad that I can be confident of the colors that I’m purchasing. I know that every time I buy on line, I’m contributing to the push for on line sales, but at the same time, I don’t have a lot of local shops from which to choose.

I don’t have any answers, but I was saddened as I left the little shop and stepped back out onto the crowded street. My love for visiting craft stores in foreign countries is getting more and more difficult to enjoy. We stopped in Cologne where there is a lovely patchwork shop (in Europe, quilting is called patchwork) but it was well outside of the city center, and without a car, I was not able to get out there (a taxi ride would have been extremely expensive). A way of life is changing and it saddens me to see it go.

I’ve had an idea about decorating my house with seasonal quilts for a while. Probably most of the time that I’ve been quilting, I’d like to have things around the house that I change out regularly. I’m keeping the idea small right now, I am very aware that I won’t have a different quilt on the bed every month of the year, but I would love to have a unique quilt for the table and the coffee table for every month. They would be easier to store as well, and I have a decent theme figured out for every month except August and September.

I’ve already noted how moving has really restarted my sewing mojo, especially as I unpack and find stuff that I’ve had for ages. It’s been really fun working on things that I find as I open boxes, and I find myself suddenly with a Halloween themed quilt on the back of my recliner and a fall table topper on the dining room table.

At the end of September, I attended a class at my LQS that had a Halloween themed project. I came home and kept thinking about it and how it would look really nice on the dining room table. I worked a little bit each evening last week and finished it up and put it on the table on friday.

I’m a long way from having something for every month, but for right now I have some seasonal quilt decorations that I made for myself and just getting started makes it feel like I’m well on my way to having the decorations that I want in my home. I’m really hoping that if I keep at it, I will have a nice selection over the next year.

I’ve been quilting for almost 30 years now and I learned a long time ago that it goes in fits and starts. Lots of starts. Lots of fits. Very little finishing, though that has been improving the last several years. One thing I have learned in all this time, is that my quilting mojo tends to ebb and flow.

The last couple of years have been difficult ones, some major health issues really sapped my strength and majorly affected my quilting mojo. I did a lot of hand piecing because I could do that sitting in my recliner but sewing at my sewing machine in the evening virtually disappeared in 2017.

Earlier this year I upgraded the software on my long arm and got a real boost as I got some quilt tops quilted that have been waiting a really long time, but then the house building got going full steam and I had to put all my effort into getting packed and moving.

I am moved now, and I’m mostly unpacked, and much to my surprise, my quilting mojo is coming back! I’ve actually been sewing in the evenings after work. I think there are a couple of factors at play – I have a new sewing room which is exciting. I still haven’t unpacked absolutely everything which means I can find stuff. Well most stuff anyway. I no longer have a two story house, so wanting to sew means just toddling down the hall way, no more trying to carry everything upstairs in one trip and then have to go back downstairs if I forgot something. That part is just the bomb. This house is smaller, and I do miss having more fabric storage, but man getting rid of the stairs sure was worth it. I think I can ‘hide’ a lot of fabric in the guest room once I’m unpacked and have that setup.

So for any of you out there, who have found that your hobbies have taken a back seat, life is a big cycle and your mojo will come back too, it always does.

More thoughts on unpacking, where I have noticed a very interesting trend. I keep finding projects that are about 90% complete and shoved in a box. They cover all range of sizes and hobbies. I have always known I am a sprinter. I can do just about anything, very intensely for a short amount of time. I suck at doing anything with the same intensity long term. What I find most fascinating about this is that I have both large and small projects that all came to a halt around 90% done.

I got two things done this weekend, a knitted shrug that just needed a few more rows and binding off, and a small table topper in fall colors for the kitchen table. Probably didn’t take me more than 4 hours to finish both of those projects, yet they have spent the better part of the last 10 years in a box.

I have been getting consistently better about finishing things. I like to wear things I’ve knitted and I like to sleep under quilts that I made, and both of those experiences require finishing. I’m not nearly to the level of output that I’d like to be, but at least some stuff is getting done. I’m curious to see how many more projects are this close to being done as I unpack and if I can put in just a little more time to see them finished.

This post is short because a large part of this weekend was spent doing yard work. I’m enjoying being outside, and I know I will enjoy it even more when it is not a bajillion degrees outside. Ok honesty it’s only a half a bajillion now, since it’s fall in Texas, but you get the point. There’s just the barest hint of cool in the morning air. I know in a few short weeks, I will have to bundle up like the Michelin Man just to stand outside with the dog, so I should be glad for whatever kind of fall we get this year.

OH. And I started another project this weekend. Want to see if I can keep at it and see this one through to completion. This year.

So everybody knows I’ve moved. I’m unpacking. I’m fascinated at how this is playing out. First of all, does everybody know about the 80/20 rule? I’ve heard it a lot in business but I find it applies in all kinds of things. Basically it says you take 20 percent of your time/effort to do 80 percent of the work and the remaining 20 percent of the work takes 80 percent of the time. Unpacking follows the 80/20 rule, the problem is that last 20 percent of the unpacking is the sewing stuff. Sigh. Usually at this point I just moan about ALL THE FABRIC.

I did keep a number of projects packed as projects, but I haven’t run across a lot of those yet. The rest of the fabric is a frightening jumble of boxes and plastic totes, and I know I will have to touch every single piece to make any sense out of it at all. That strikes me as a very daunting task that will absolutely take 4 times longer than it took to unpack the rest of the house. Sigh again.

Two things happened this week that make me think I might have some decent unpacking karma at least. Two completely unrelated projects needed fabric. I wanted to do both of them from my stash but I had no idea how I was going to find the appropriate amount of fabrics that would go together without unpacking all the fabric.

The first project was a notebook cover for a game I’m in. I wanted to use Japanese fabric that I know I have, but I knew there would also have to be some coordinating pieces. In the same box, I found some of the Japanese fabric, and 3 other pieces of fabric that were purchased at a different time and had nothing to do with the Japanese fabric but coordinated beautifully and was enough to do the notebook cover. Interesting.

The second project is a mystery quilt. I had the fabric requirements but I wasn’t sure how I was going to find fabrics that I would like that would lend themselves to the mystery. In unpacking a box, I found a project kit I purchased about 5 years ago, that I never started, that had just the right amount of fabric in it for half the mystery. A second box with background fabrics that I had already unpacked and Bob’s your Uncle, I have all the fabric for the mystery quilt out of my stash.

I’m going to take all of this as a sign that my unpacking karma is going to be pretty good as I weed through the remaining boxes for the sewing room. There’s a lot of work ahead of me, but I keep telling myself that there will always be lots of work, I need to make sure I include time to work on some projects – all work and no play makes Martha a grumpy quilter.

That’s an old saying. I read it in a book when I was a kid, and my mother used to say it. Enough is as good as a feast. If you have enough, having more than enough is kind of a waste is the prevailing wisdom of previous generations. Then the 1970’s hit and it was all about me. The 1980’s were all about more more more. Our culture has become more and more disposable which also leads to more and more.

A couple of years ago I started reading on the subject of minimalism and less is more. I’m seeing friends who, as we get older, are downsizing. I’m reading articles that say “your kids don’t want all your crap after you die” and I’m thinking I don’t even have kids so I’m sure the world doesn’t want all my crap after I die.

For those who don’t know, I’m building my dream home and getting ready to move. My dream home is smaller than the house I live in now. It’s enough. It’s not over the top, but it’s enough. I’m now trying to sort through all the stuff in my current house so that I only move what I really use and need, and this has really been an interesting experience.

I am the child of depression-era parents. The phrase “you might need that someday” was used a lot around our house, as a reason to hold on to all manner of things. I remember my dad getting very annoyed when cereal boxes started to use a plastic liner instead of waxed paper, because he saved the waxed paper to use later, and the plastic wasn’t useable. When I moved out on my own after college, I took EVERYTHING with me, because my parents didn’t want my stuff at the house, they had enough stuff of their own.

Thirty years on and I don’t even know how many moves later, and I am finally ready to jettison the overload so I just move enough. I will never downsize to the point of living in a tiny home, I mean I have a long arm sewing machine that has a foot print of 4’x14′ just for that, but I would like to fit comfortably into the new house, be able to find things and more importantly, be able to put everything away. What a concept.

It has been interesting looking at how many clothes are ‘enough’. Shoes is a whole other discussion. I have a shoe problem. I also am learning I have a tote bag problem. Then there’s the fabric stash. Oh my land, the fabric stash. I’m not going to get all this culled out for this move, I’m realizing that now, but I’m making good headway. All the stuff in the master closet now fits in the master closet. The dresser drawers in the bedroom actually close without supreme physical effort. Thanks to the help of a good friend, I can find things in the kitchen cabinets that I actually use. It’s rather freeing to open a cupboard and be able to see what I have, rather than having to treat it like Fibber McGee’s closet and brace for the tsunami of crap falling out when I open a door.

Enough is an interesting thing when applied to fabric and quilting. What really is enough? Having a stash has been really useful more times than I can tell. I like really scrappy quilts, and having a stash supports that very well. But how much is enough and how much is too much. Right now I think I still have too much. I am packing as I go through things and there have been a number of “oh hey! I didn’t know I had a piece of that” moments. Too many of those moments. It’s getting to where I need to do more packing now that sorting, which means I will need to pick this up on the other end, during the unpacking. Heavy sigh. I wish I could just snap my fingers and it would be all done. Heck I’d like to snap my fingers and know how much enough really is. I do know I’m very blessed and I’m pretty sure I still have a Feast of Fabric, but I’m working towards enough.

Ok folks, I will be the first one to admit that this post is going to walk a very narrow line between social commentary and pet peeve rant. I will also be very frank and admit I’ve fallen into this trap myself recently which is what got me thinking/ranting about it. How many times lately have I (or someone) sent out information, and the conversation or work that follows CLEARLY demonstrates that the information provided was not read.

The first example was at work, an email was sent with a lot of information required to get something done. almost immediately after the email was sent, the individual called and started asking questions, ALL OF WHICH were covered in the email. I answered every question with “as noted in the email, that is blah blah blah.” Not once did the person stop and say oh maybe I should look at the email before calling up.

The second example, another email. Dealing with some parts that needed to be shipped so I sent an email that said please just send them to me and I’ll get them to the proper location, followed by my complete name, phone number and mailing address. The person replied almost immediately saying “sure please give me your address”. In the email window, I could see my address in the email below his reply very clearly. To his credit, about 15 minutes later he replied with “oh you already sent your address” but still. Gees.

I’m seeing this in my quilting hobby too. I’m following a couple of sew along projects on the internet, the instructions for which are very clearly written (in my opinion). People are complaining about not knowing what to do when the questions they ask are very clearly called out in the instructions. I noticed one of the organizers actually had to put out a plea for people to read the instructions carefully as there was a lot of information contained in the instructions and could answer a lot of questions, but people don’t and keep demanding personal answers via social media.

What I’m realizing is that we are equating the word “read” with “skim”. we get something and glance through it looking for anything really glaring and figure that as we go along, we can ask to clarify any information. I don’t see folks (me included, mea maxima culpa) reading for actual comprehension to see if they can work with the information provided before asking for more detail. When did this change and how do we correct it?

In my own world and especially in my sewing, I’m trying to adjust my approach as well. Instead of diving in with only a vague handle on the situation, I’m trying to stop and read carefully any information that I have, maybe even read it two or three times to make sure that I know what detail was provided before I start to call out any perceived gaps.

The most recent garment I made I used this approach and it went together faster than any project in a long time. I had a clear understanding of the pattern, and I even learned a couple of new techniques that the designer used, rather than just assuming it would be done the way I always have done things.

At my day job, I’m working to read emails thoroughly before starting a reply, so that I can answer all questions in a single reply instead of breaking them out into two or three replies or requiring people have to follow up with me.

I can’t tell you why this has suddenly bubbled up, or why it bugs me so much, but it does, and I don’t like it in myself any more than I like it in others. So this is my very public pledge to the world that I need to correct this in myself.