Sewing Machine Quilt Reveal!

Sewing Machine Quilt 

50'' x 50''

It feels like I should have a more creative name for this quilt, but that's exactly what it is. Truth in Advertising. I'm so excited to share this with you. And the news that the pattern for this quilt should be coming in the next month, if all goes well with pattern testing and printing. The pattern will have both improv and precision piecing instructions.

I owe a lot of credit to this quilt for bringing me out of a long slump. For months I was down and not terribly excited about sewing. Sure, I was still sewing, but it was like going through the motions rather than fun. I met my deadlines and plugged away at projects, but I wasn't feeling a lot of joy. But with this quilt I felt joy and excitement. I may have jumped up and down a little even.

A friend of mine pointed out that it was telling that it was quilted sewing machines that got me excited again. You know, I never thought of that! It's so true though. I'm not generally one for symbolism, but this can't be ignored. The sewing machine is how we do our work, where so many of us find peace, and the main tool of our craft. For me to get my mojo back via a sewing machine is about as perfect as it gets.

I revealed this quilt in The Modern Quilt Guild's Webinar I delivered: Improv With Intent. In the presentation I went into great detail about the process for creating this particular quilt (and another one I'll share next week). Look for the Webinar to be posted for Modern Quilt Guild Members on their site later this week.

This quilt was done quite quickly for me. From start to finish in a month. I can't remember the last time I worked so fast! But

when that inspiration takes over

you have to run with it. It helps that

I had long arm time booked

and a desire to play with that new tool. It also helps that Le Tour was on when I had hand stitching on the binding to do.

Because this is an improv quilt each sewing machine is a bit different. That's the joy! But it does become a challenge to make them all still look like sewing machines and to solve any little glitches on the fly. Perhaps that's why it got me so jazzed, the little blips in sewing that improv provides are tiny little hills that you have to push yourself just a little bit more to get over. They aren't frustrating, only motivating. And you are always rewarded with the results!

The block below is one of my favourites. Most of the fabrics I chose are favourites, but this one especially so. I've got quite a bit of it hoarded and pull it out often. So glad it is in here.

Don't be afraid to tackle a new idea. Get your fabric out, sketch out the idea, cut and get to sewing. Even if you never make more than the one block you will be rewarded!

A Big Push

I did it and no one else made me.

Confession: I have a hard time really pushing myself physically. There were various times in my youth when, as a competitive athlete, I was able to push my body and mind to exertion. But once the competition was gone I found little motivation. Even when I injured my knees four years ago I was rather complacent about my therapy. It was enough to go through it to get myself to the point of full extension and walking without a cane, not to get back on my mountain bike or on a ski hill again.

Now I am faced with being the mother in a very active family. My girls will give me a pass on activities because I'm big and my knees are bad. And it kills me every time. They mean no harm, I know it, but it stabs at my heart when they dismiss my physical capabilities. Mostly, because they are right.

On the weekend we took a family trip to Revelstoke, BC. Last year we'd spent a few hours at the

Sky Trek Adventure Park

on our way through. Ever since then the girls have been bugging us to go back. We ended up there with my brother and his family, as they were returning from a road trip of their own. The kids ran around the jungle gym like maniacs for hours, they did the kids version of the high ropes course, they climbed and climbed and climbed the tower climbing walls, and they screamed with delight the entire time. And while they spent the first few hours doing all this my SIL and I watched them, watered and fed them, and took loads of photos.

Well, she mostly did that as I was stuck in the car with a napping toddler and hand stitching.

And for the first few hours my Hubby, brother, and one of my nephews did the high ropes course. When they finished I would have been fine to let the kids do their thing for a bit and we all could have gone for an ice cream cone. My SIL had other plans.

She made a very valid point - why should the kids see the men do the scarier thing while we didn't? What message were we sending to the kids, especially the girls? Don't we owe it to ourselves to push the limits, and show them that we can do it to. And, she wouldn't have done it alone.

I was so unprepared for this challenge that I only had sandals. So I had to borrow my Hubby's kicks before I could even start. No excuses now.

I'm not going to lie, I was filled with anxiety the entire time. The pain in your chest that makes you wonder if that's what a heart attack feels like kind of anxiety. I am not afraid of heights really. Rather, I am afraid of falling. So, I can be high upon the CN Tower, but the glass floor induces panic. I can take in the

Glacier Skywalk

, but feeling the movement freaks me out. It is the fear of crashing down that gets to me.

(Tied very closely to this fear is a fear of failure, but that's a discussion for the therapist's couch.)

Safety training done, lessons in harness clips and zipline techniques, rules drilled into my brain, we went up the first ladder. It didn't take that long to finish the green course. I yelled at my husband once from a high wire, I clipped my safety harness wrong in one spot, and I learned the fine art of not looking down when my kids yelled at me. At the end of the easiest course I mustered all the power of my being not to quit.

I so wanted to quit. Screw the lesson, screw modelling the brave thing, screw it all. But then The Monster came to watch. She is a lot like me. And we struggle all the time to build her confidence, to encourage her to push herself when things don't come easy. It is infinitely frustrating for my husband, and for me. So when she asked me if it was scary I responded in the positive and moved on to the blue course. And I learned to breathe a bit easier, even if it had to be a conscious effort to push the anxiety out.

There was one point where I completely became paralyzed with fear. Quite literally, I could not take a step. Much to the dismay of the two teenagers behind me I had to backtrack and was lucky there was an easy way out from that obstacle. But I was also able to get back on the course. Assured that nothing ahead of me was any scarier, just more physically demanding, I forged on. That was the moment when it became about me pushing myself. That was when I started doing it for myself and not for anyone else.

And I did it. All of it. I'm covered in bruises and rope burns because it was all horribly awkward for me. But that's okay, and with me, to be expected. To be honest, I'm kind of in awe that I pushed myself like that. I know that for some people - like my my Hubby - something like this ropes course is no big deal. (And frankly, I do agree with him.) But it would have been my norm to simply skip it, to take all the easy way outs. To not even try. To be the mom providing snacks and ensuring everyone is hydrated but not doing anything herself.

I'm not ready for rock climbing or bungee jumping anytime soon, but boy have I learned my lesson. No one is going to make me do anything. If I want to push myself then I have to do it. And this weekend showed me that I do, I do want to push myself physically. It's time.

It's Over?

Yes, it is a question. But my slump may be over. And I have to give all the credit to my students at the recent Quilt Canada workshops.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending Quilt Canada in St. Catherines, Ontario. This is the annual big deal in Canada, hosted by the Canadian Quilters' Association and put on by a different local organizing committee. It includes the National Juried Show (which had a modern category this year) and 4 days of workshops, on top of the fun things like banquets, merchant malls, and challenges. I had three days of classes, two days being an Improv workshop.

In our small, ridiculously hot classroom we played and played with fabric. When I teach Improv I like to teach a series of basic techniques via blocks. For an audience used to more traditional piecing I find it to be a good foray into the world of Improv. When I get multi-day workshops we then get more time to play.

And oh, did the ladies in this class play. They all embraced improv with open hearts and sharp rotary cutters. As we taped blocks to the wall, brainstormed possibilities, drew out more and more inspiration, and laughed a lot the excitement grew. I was completely caught up in the energy and inspiration. I'm not going to lie, I may have even jumped up and down a little.

At the end of it I was desperate to sew myself. But I had to rush off on a plane to be home for The Monster's 8th birthday. So I found some time in the following week to play. And when I did play I felt all the same excitement in my own little basement studio that I felt in that room. I felt grounded, I felt energized, I felt creative again.

Thank-you so much ladies, I owe you so much.

Here is what I played with. In the class we covered how to take an idea, and image, and translate it into an improv pieced block. Houses, letters, numbers, mountains, diamonds, they all came out that day. We also brainstormed other shapes and one of them happened to be a sewing machine. That idea planted itself into my head.

I think I may turn this into a full pattern as my mind is spinning with possibilities. And if it wasn't the last day of school I could tell you for sure that I would be sewing more of these every day. Yup, the slump just may be over.

Sewing Room Injuries

No, things have not been that stressful in life that I felt the need for drastic action. It sure looks like it though. I just accidentally touched my arm on the iron last week. This latest burn is healing nicely. It criss crosses a previous burn. And goes nicely with the other two scars on my arm from the same type of injury. Quilting is a dangerous activity!

It is dangerous indeed. We use sharp tools all the time. Hot tools too. All while creating something soft, cuddly, and beautiful. Here are some of my quilting injuries:

... Burns, as described above.
... Dropped a ruler and caught it with the top of my hand, where it landed on the corner and dented my hand nicely.
... Sewn my fingertip to appliqué (just a flesh wound, but a dramatic look).
... Sliced off the tip of pointer finger with the rotary cutter. Pay attention when cutting and don't look away because someone called your name from the top of the stairs. Or else you might almost require a skin graft, if it wasn't for having a brother who is a doctor who can bandage you up properly. And it is nice to be able to keep cutting and do simple things like flick on a light switch with that finger.

What about you? What are your sewing room injuries?