"Workshop in Progress"

Workshop in Progress - May 19


Okay, I'm a little perplexed.  Or maybe not. I got my quilt back from the Invitational Show at Quilt Canada. And this label was pinned on.  Is it normal protocol to attach the label from a show to a quilt? Or do people merely hang on to these in a special spot/lose them in the mess of their sewing space?

Now, all around the web this week people have been talking process.  I love it! Thank-you all for taking on the challenge and the pledge.

Elle is busy, as always, on a sunny couple of quilts. In her post this week she is playing around with fabric choices.  It is really fun to see what's in and what's out.  Do you share her conclusions?

The inspiration for Elle's piece came from Sue. Now Sue is asking for input on the placement of design on her fantastic stripes and circles. This is a quilt after my own heart.

How cute is this? Katie completed her super family in cross stitch.  Any thoughts on whether she should add to the final design or not?

Our other Katie in the workshop is debating sashing choices this week. She's come up with some very different looks.  Which one is your favourite?

There are two other posts I wanted to share here. They really fall in line with the emphasis on process that Rossie and I are trying to encourage.

Elizabeth at Oh Fransson had a wonderful post on her thinking and process with her latest project - getting her bee blocks together.  Even for her, she admits, it was a change to step back and document her thinking.  But to see an artist and designer like her share with readers all these little steps and thought is fantastic!  Thanks Elizabeth!

And finally, I wanted to share Jacquie's experiment here. This is a wonderful example of crowd sourcing in the Quilting 2.0 universe. Jacquie asked her readers to pick a fabric and name an inspiration for her next project.  If that isn't a perfect example of modern quilting then I don't know what is.
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Workshop in Progress - May 12

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Let's change things up a little bit, shall we? The Workshop in Progress has always been about sharing our works, asking for advice/opinions. Following on the dialogue that started and you can follow here and here, I've decided we should expand the WIP to include more on process.

By process I mean sharing our ideas from inspiration to completion.  This will include things like sketches - as seen above - picking fabric, playing with layouts, challenges with piecing, and even the finishing touches.

I feel like I've been doing this on the blog for quite a while, but I am committed to a much more conscious effort on this. That's why I've included the sketches today.  I have a few commission orders on the go and these were my sketches and notes on my ideas to fill the orders. 

As you can see, sketching is not my forte. But a couple of quick squiggles with a set of markers that are just mine and a few notes and I can capture the idea as I see it. While I do have a notebook that I carry around with me for anything and everything, it doesn't get a lot of sketches into it. Most of my sketches are either like above - on office paper, made at my day job desk - or they are quick scratches in the back of my work notebook. Yes, I do seem to get most of my ideas in the midst of my day job.  Daydreaming? So I make a two minute sketch, set it aside, and resume my work.

How do you capture your ideas?

Speaking of branching out and learning something... Okay, that was a horrible segue. But we do need to share Lesly's latest quilt top.  She's brought it to the workshop before and it is great to see the progression on this piece. This time she is looking for opinions on the appropriate back - one that compliments the front and makes her feel good about the piece.

And here's a technical question for you from Nichole.  What needles do you use? (Schmetz here, size depends on the task and thread at hand.)

So, let's see your process posts.  Don't be shy. Learning how others approach their projects is eye opening and refreshing. Sharing your process is liberating.



Workshop in Progress - May 5

So, I can't decide if this is going to be really ugly or really cool. It is my values quilt-a-long quilt. I don't know, what do you think? So far I am loving Smilosaurus' PJs more.

Oh Elle, I adore how you challenge yourself. All of us should be this brave and this open with the process. In the Coop, Elle has been sharing her various challenges - both the struggles and the successes. It really is a testament to my goal with WIP and the notion of blogging. She puts herself out there, is learning from the shared comments and the challenges. Thanks Elle! Her post this week demonstrates that perfectly.

A big thank-you to Lesly at Pickle Dish for hosting the workshop last week.