"Workshop in Progress"

Workshop in Progress - March 24


First off, let me address last week's post on the Workshop. Even if there is only one post out there with someone asking for advice, a second opinion, or even showing off a challenging piece, I will share it with you.  My goal is to encourage more of us bloggers to share things throughout the creative process, to open ourselves to the opinions and insight of others that we might get if we were taking a workshop together.

So, I will continue to do this until I'm no longer interested. Or the posts really, really dry up.

I completely understand the chaos and demands on our schedules through work and family, beyond our creative pursuits. Blogging on demand, as the Workshop may make you feel is a necessity is never fun. I'm not immune to it myself.

Going forward, I will continue to post on Wednesday any posts I see from the last week, not just those that come out on Wednesday. It's okay if you posted on Friday and have maybe even moved on in some precious hours in the weekend, I still want us to share and collaborate. Even if the opinion is moot, it is good food for the next time around. If I miss your post, or you really want to make sure I see it, send me a quick email. It will get up. 

Take the time to explore, to share, to discover new artists, techniques, and questions.  Enjoy the Workshop today! This week seems to have a theme on names. 

Many of us find naming the finished quilt a very tough thing. Felicity is struggling with the name for a very calm but striking green quilt. I keep feeling moss from it, how about you?

Cindy at Live a Colorful Life is embarking on a new adventure - an online store devoted to selvage goodness! But she's debating names.  I know my favourite, what's yours?

We'll see you next week in the Workshop!


PS I couldn't leave you without a picture, so here are my brand new moccasins, courtesy of Darlingtonia on Etsy.
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Workshop in Progress - March 10

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Isn't this lovely? It was a surprise gift from a surprising person. More on that story another time.

But what I want to do is handstitch it to some grey linen. I've never done that before so I'm looking for advice. How much tacking down do you need to do? Do you match the thread to the yarn? What sort of prep work needs to be done? Is it better done in a hoop? Anything you can share would be appreciated.

Elsewhere in the workshop today, Elle, as always, is at it with another exciting project. Having known her since before her daughter's wedding and the birth of her grandchildren, I know the challenge she has in getting a quilt done for her. But yay, it's time for binding. With so many colours in the quilt, what do you think she should go for?

Beth over at Love Laugh Quilt has the prettiest pink and brown quilt on deck. The only challenge is that she's set in on point, so she needs some help with picking the right fabric for her setting triangles. What do you think?

Do you avoid certain colours? What happens when you are faced with a challenge to use something that maybe isn't your taste? Andrea at Millions of Thoughts Trapped in My Head is struggling with an exciting use for forest green. My gut tells her to match it with peach, but that may be because my childhood bedroom was that combo. How very 80s of me!

What about the rest of you? If I missed your post, let me know.

Workshop in Progress - March 3

There are a few of us back to sewing this week.  Some of us even got to go on a few retreats. Lucky gals!

Elle has moved on to a completely different project, some simple placements. This lady can go all over the place - traditional, modern, and art. Isn't is great.

A few weeks back Katie shared some scrap ideas with us. Check out her finished quilt at the Salt Marsh Path.

I love what Lesly over at Pickle Dish is posting this week. She's taking a traditional block and exploring ways to change it up. From a distance they look the same, but look closely. How would you add your twist?

This post didn't make the weekly round-up, so you may have missed it. But I still want to include the discussion and the final quilt top. Nanann's Woogies turned out a really interesting string quilt, but I loved looking at all her design options.


On my end I am the workshop in progress this week. We've come to the rather painful acceptance that my knee recovery is something that is months, not weeks away. Hard enough to face, but with two little ones, a full-time job, freelance work, and a still slightly broken husband it is pretty hard. I am trying to stay positive, along the lines of my efforts at choosing to be happy. Along with bending my knees it is quite the challenge.

My typical stress relievers and ways to keep anxiety at bay are quilting, keeping the house tidy, and exercising. Well, I've finally figured out some projects to keep me busy with quilting, although it certainly isn't at the same production level that I'm used to. As for tidying, let's just say there isn't much spring cleaning happening at our house! And when you spend most of the time parked in one chair looking at all the clutter the problem is expounded. And aside from my physio exercises, any sort of a work out is still out.  I think I miss that the most.

So, for the Workshop this week I'm asking for your best stress relievers?  Does anyone meditate out there? How do you choose positivity in your life?

I'm also taking on a personal challenge of some self portraits. As the key photographer in my house there are never any pictures of me. But I find that seeing myself in a photo helps me see myself a bit better.  Kind of like testing out quilt layouts through a photo. I could pick out a handful of things I don't like about this picture, but it's honest. Right down to the ice cream I'm devouring.