January, 2022
One of my personal themes for 2021 was “do it or drop it”, so I was particularly mindful of Works in Progress. At the same time, I had the chance to start a lot of new things, and learn a lot of new techniques from teachers I have never had access to before (yes, a COVID silver-ish lining).
Several months a go I took a class in curved piecing from Carolina Oneto, and left with a pieced square that was my first experience with this modern adaptation of English Paper Piecing. At the same time, it was a chance to experiment with transparency – something I’ve done a lot with paint, not so much with fabric.
After the class I got a little ambitious and finished another 11 squares (rectangles, actually), then puzzled a little over what to do with them. Finally, just before the end of the year, the setting strategy fell into place. I ran out of time and batting to get the quilting and binding done before the end of the year, but the batting is arriving this week, so hopefully the momentum will carry me forward.
December, 2021
After all the talk you can find about how to sit, that is hardly the only option. Do you want to lie down? Then lie down. The only real reason not to do it is that you might find it harder to stay awake. Well, there is one other thing, at least for me. I don’t think there are many of us that are perfectly symmetrical, so when I am down on a yoga mat or the floor for an extended period of time, my body tends to react like a building settling and shifting on its foundation – sometimes gently and sometimes more aggressively. It can be a little distracting, but I’ve actually come to enjoy it, a break from holding myself upright is just the thing some days.
There is actually a whole kind of practice that is sort of a cross between meditation and yoga called yoga nidra. That one is practiced while you are flat on the floor, and a teacher talks you through a progressive relaxation – you can find in person classes, but you can find it on YouTube and other channels as well. It’s the one where it doesn’t matter if you fall asleep, in fact I’ve practiced in group classes where the teacher called it nap time for adults – doesn’t that sound great?
November, 2021
November has been our digital nomad month for several years now, one of the perks of both of us being self employed, which we remind ourselves of often. We have to, because many days we remind ourselves that being self employed is the same thing as waking up unemployed every day if you don’t put the right spin on it.
Our retreat of choice is the Panhandle of Florida, specifically a 30 mile stretch between Panama City and Destin that is blissfully devoid of many highrises. It’s a quiet time, at least until Thanksgiving weekend, but the perfect place to replace our urban walks with beautiful beach walks, and lots of time to work or play on the comfortable balcony.
I’ve written this month about the curated collection of project I brought along – here’s summary of the progress made:
- Quilted table runners all bound and threads clipped – they could still use some extra quilting
- Changed my mind about the pattern I wanted to knit – cotton yarn can be tricky – but I found a new one and am about 70% finished, well maybe 50%
- Two malas made except for the final attachment – found out my tassels didn’t have the top loop I prefer, but I’ve ordered up replacements, so that will be a quick fix. Two more fully designed but not yet in process
- Some water color and collage play, even some sketching, but no where near the daily practice I still hope for
- Paper pieced curvy blocks all finished – next step will be pressing and blocking, then figuring out the setting
All in all, not bad.
Also made a trip to the local quilt store – trying to support the local arts economy – and found out they are closing their bricks and mortar in 3 days! Not sure if it’s the economy, or just a desire by the owners for a more manageable day to day life. As a lifestyle entrepreneur myself, I know that exit strategies aren’t always clean.
I’ll miss this place, and have fingers crossed it will be available to us again next year, and we will be available to take advantage of it. Grateful though, for my Chicago home to get back to that still gives me light and a view of water all the way to the horizon.
November, 2021
Two great views, and another great way to keep on creating even when I’m away from home. I am beyond blessed to be able to spend November in this beautiful place, and this year the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. The atmosphere is certainly a bit less fraught than it was this time last year, though to be honest, “isolating” in an oceanfront condo isn’t much of a hardship.
As the last post showed, I packed quite a variety of playthings to bring with me, but I had another plan in mind as well. A couple of month ago I enrolled in the Process and Possibilities e-course by Cordula Kagemann (@cordula.kagemann). She is a collage/mixed media artist from Germany that I have been following for a while. Her work is layered but feels calm, elegant and almost spare. It was quite a treat to sit on the beautiful patio by the beach and watch these well-crafted lessons. You might be able to see from the title card that her surroundings couldn’t be more different – the rural German countryside, which serves as her inspiration. The large oak trees frequently appear as image transfers in her work.
The course is a relatively new offering from Fiber Arts Take Two (@fiberartstaketwo), one of many platforms to emerge and join with more established on-line portals over the past couple of years. I do love an in-person workshop, but I’m so grateful for this upside to the whole pandemic downside – teachers and inspiration I would otherwise never be able to learn from.
November, 2021
We’re roadtripping this month. Lucky me, I’m spending November at a beachfront condo on the Florida Panhandle between Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach. Ed and I are both self employed, so we figured out a few years before COVID even was a rumor that we can throw the computers in the trunk and work from anywhere.
After so many years of mostly air travel, it’s a treat to be able to load up the trunk with art goodies to use, especially since once we get there, we’ll be staying in place. Still, there’s a limit, right? I mean I still have to have room for clothes, that work stuff, even some pre-cooked food to keep me out of the kitchen.
How do YOU decide?
I always have a lot of projects and wide focus, but I got it down to these two bags
Here’s what made the cut (you can see the photos up above)
- Three table runners pieced and machine quilted from my holiday fabric stash bag – just need quilting threads tied off and binding hand-sewed.
- A new knitting project with some yarn that’s been in my stash forever, plus examples of roll-up placemats with appliqued veggies that I’ll demo online for my quilt guild’s monthly meeting
- Those beads and stones I’ve been meaning to string into new malas since the spring
- Some nice watercolor paper and my travel kit
- A mixed media pad and a couple of buckets of markers and colored pencils and whatnot
- Twelve blocks prepped for an English Paper Piecing project, a modern curvy version based on my class with @carolina_oneto
What’s missing? Supplies to work on my #paperpalscollage projects or my #handmadebookclub projects – meaning collage ephemera, bookboard, papaer, paper, paper, maybe a sewing machine, I could go on and on but you can’t have everything and hard choices had to be made! I’ll catch up on those next month when I’m back home in Chicago.
