Morning Make - February 2020

As the granddaughter of the quintessential Ukrainian Baba it might have been inevitable that I would embroider something at some point. I won’t lie, I’ve avoided, even resisted, embroidery over the years. That was Baba’s thing, not mine. When the girls played around with it I could support them, but stayed out of the way. Mostly, it just never appealed to me.

For February I decided to face it. A new stitch or motif every day for all 29 days. No commitment to finish a designed piece or fill a space. Just pure experimentation and play.

I did not account for really enjoying this.

To start, I fused a stabilizer (some random one in my drawer) to a piece of linen. I dug out my Baba’s stash of embroidery floss, colour sorted thanks to one of my daughters plus my stash of Valdani threads. I found a few videos on You Tube and a couple of books on my shelf to begin. Using basic stitches like back stitch, stem stitch, lazy daisy, and a running stitch I got the first few days in. Then I looked for more things to do. The more I looked, the more I wanted to try! There are a heck of a lot of embroidery stitches out there!!!

My one stipulation was that I only use one thread per day. A couple of times it was a variegated thread so it looks like more than that though. This limitation kept me from making intricate designs, both a good and a bad thing. Good because this was about learning stitches and experimenting. Also good because I only had my 20-30 minutes in the morning and more detailed work takes time. Bad because I would get really excited and start thinking about things I could do with the stitch and patterning if I could just add another colour or alternate stitches.

This is ultimately the point of these Morning Make exercises - to see what you can do with your limitations and open up your mind to creative possibilities!

I will confess, that part of the reason I wanted to do this was to see if I could find some potential quilting stitches. You see a lot more hand work beyond the perfect quilting stitches and cliche big stitch out there. Those are great, but could I do more than plus signs/Xs? Here is the back of the piece - what do you think?

Here are some of my favourite resources for technique or inspiration:

S is for Stitch by Kristyne Czepuryk
Handiworks You Tube Channel

@kim_broidery on Instagram

Now on to March! I’ve started the month with the flu so have chosen some relaxing Colour Meditations by Lisa Solomon via CreativeBug. They’ve been a lot of fun to share with my son, who is also sick.

Euroa Quilt Update - Passed the Halfway Mark

When I passed the halfway mark a few weeks ago I must admit that I had conflicting emotions. On the one hand, I was thrilled that I’d made it this far. On the other, I’d only made it this far?

My trip to Australia was nearly 4 years ago, and that is where the original inspiration for this quilt came from. The threshold to a cafe in a little town called Euroa. Turns out that tile was pretty common in Australia as I’ve heard from many people since that they or their grandparents had it in their house. I made the first block… let me check now… in April of 2017.

It took me almost 3 years to get halfway.

I do recall not touching the blocks when I had a bout of tennis elbow. That was months and months of no hand stitching (completely solved by getting a new pillow, by the way). Some weeks and months the work is constant in any down the or pool deck or outside the dance studio time. Then I may not touch a block for a few weeks.

So yeah, I may be a bit bummed that it’s taken almost 3 years to get this far, I can fully acknowledge and appreciate that life is life. Also, I am doing this entirely by hand. That’s a lot of work adding up to something glorious. Well, I think it’s glorious.

In the end, I have no doubt that this will be a special quilt. For the memories of the inspiration, gratefulness for the moments of making, gratitude for my hands and body being able to bring this together, and pure love for the beauty. If it takes me another 3 years to finish, then so be it.

All I know is that I wold love to go back to Euroa when it is done to take a picture in its inspirational namesake.

For those curious…

• Each block contains 16 pieces. I can print the templates on a piece of card stock. Indeed, I designed the templates so that they could be printed easily, that’s why each block is 8’’ square.

• I pick the fabric for each block in a way I would refer to as controlled random. I have a stack of fabric and try not to have the same fabric too close to itself. Otherwise, I am not too fussy about it.

• Each block gets prepped by cutting apart the template, picking the fabric, glueing the template to the fabric with a dab from a glue stick, then trimming excess fabric.

• Thread basting works best for me. It is the most portable, a must have option for me. Also, it’s a great way to use the bit of thread left on a bobbin or spool that would otherwise be wasted.

• Once I have all 16 pieces basted I stitch them together with a flat back stitch.

• 4 blocks together become a mega block. 5 mega blocks become a column. There will be 5 columns in the finished quilt.

Summering Part 2

Well, it turns out I was completely burnt out and I didn’t know it. Taking copious amounts of fresh air, friends, and family and the subsequent actual relaxation I felt made me realize that. Huh, who knew? Any quilting I did was because I wanted to or only to play. So before I totally jump back in to the chaos and and schedules now that the kids are back in school let me linger in summer a little bit longer.

Camping on the Sheep River with friends.

Still tried to swim for exercise, back is improving.

Met and visited with Katja Marek at her gorgeous store in Kamloops.

Mount Robson, the start of our road trip.

Ferry rides.

In Cowichan Bay with the bioluminescent plankton after the sunset.

Catching a winter supply of salmon.

Parksville beach. Those tides!

Solitary morning walks.

Trying something new!

My ballet boy at the Aga Khan Gardens.

The two projects I worked on it August.

I realize that sharing these is kind of like watching someone else’s slide show. But maybe I can share a deep breath with you and it can carry us all through the busy month ahead.

Summering

Like most self employed parents, summer is a twisted evil. Yay for free time! Oh crap, how am I going to get anything done? This year I’ve prioritized the family and the family business. Which has meant odd hours of working and as much play as we can fit in. It’s meant cabins and camping and fancy hotels. It’s meant friends and cousins and celebrating.

And only a little bit of quilting. I won’t lie, it’s been nice to take a break from the churn, from the need for More. Content. Now.

Morning Make with the kids, quilting when I can figure out my tempermental machine, hand stitching by the lake or on a plane, storm watching, getting our feet dirty, eating as many cherries as our bellies will hold, milkshakes in the afternoon.

Summer so far…

Johnston Canyon Lower Falls

Castle Mountain

Sunset swim (plus moonlight and all the day swims)

Best friends on the beach

Euroa on the beach

Vegas pool views

Actually went to Vegas to work (Woodworking tools trade show - a little bit bigger than Quilt Market)

Plugging away at quilting this scrappy beauty

Here’s to summering where ever you are. Or wintering, for those in the Southern Hemisphere. Either way, let’s raise a glass to enjoying each day and prioritizing what is right for you right now.