The Slow Comfort of Painting a Quilt

Small comforts.

These days that is what we take, what we can find. Whether that be in the consumption of something, Or, as it would be more likely for readers here, the creation of something.

A cup of tea or a glass of wine, candles lit, a ruler and a quilt book close at hand. Don’t forget my now trusty watercolours. I had no idea when 2020 started they would become familiar, comforting. It took me some time, but I’ve brought them to my quilting. Rather, I’ve brought quilting to the watercolours.

Meditative to make, these paintings are an exploration of traditional quilt patterns. They are significantly more detailed than the cards I made back in September. In a way, they are my opportunity to play with precision piecing without having to actually precision piece. They serve to try out colour combinations, as if I was sewing with solid fabrics, also something I don’t do that often.

I can’t say that I want to go out and make these quilts now. They are comforting to make, but aren’t necessarily inspiring me to sew. At least each one only takes me a few hours to make. Much faster than a quilt with fabric!

Each one starts with a sharp pencil, a block pulled from history, and a ruler. I draw the whole thing with pencil then start painting. Painting is a multi day/evening process as I like to have the paint dry in between. It’s watercolour so I don’t want the paint to bleed. Once the colour is all done I go over the seam lines with a black marker, to highlight them. Without that last step it feels a bit unfinished. Kind of like me adding the quilting stitches to a flimsy.

These aren’t fine art and I have a lot to learn yet, but the comfort it gives me is divine. A quiet, slow moment in a noisy world that wants to reach in and swallow me whole.

And maybe this way I can convince my husband to put a quilt on the wall?!

10 Observations from an Online Quilt Teacher

Are you Zooming?

While I admit that I shunned Zoom, Skype, and most online meeting grounds in the spring and summer - I was just done with being online after schooling with my son and what little work I could get done - I have fully embraced online teaching. In fact, I am relishing the opportunities to be with guilds, stores, and students again. I am also highly respectful of groups choosing to meet this way over putting people at risk.

My corporate background is really coming out now - I can make a killer slide show! So maybe my graduate degree and 10 years in the energy sector weren't all for naught when I became a professional quilter? I do have 10 years of experience as a pro in this quilting community too. These sets of experiences combine to make me now and I appreciate it all.

In the past few months of teaching online I think I have learned and improved as well. I’ve also made some observations in my classes. Talking to other teachers has given me some additional insights. I will admit, that I haven’t taken any classes myself, so there is more learning to do. With all that, I’ve got some observations I want to share with you.

10 Observations from an Online Quilt Teacher (Teaching Live)

1. Just like in person, there are good teachers and there are not great teachers. Honestly, it might be the same on any given day. We’re all trying and for some, learning a new platform is not easy. You still have to keep your students engaged, perhaps even more so. You can’t just give everyone a task and then leave them be for an hour. This is an interactive experience. How that works exactly will be different for each teacher and each class.

2. Not all classes translate well to an online, live environment. You’ve got to examine flow, interactions with students, and how the time will be spent. For example, people sitting in silence sewing in their own space is kind of boring online.

3. Have either 2 cameras going or pre-record segments. When you want to do a demo of something specific it really helps to have a close up and/or overhead shot of the work. Being able to switch between these angles makes for a much better experience for the student.

4. Don’t force anyone to be on camera or talk. Keep the invitation open, but respect the wishes of people. Also. no one has to sew or participate if they don’t want to, their level of participation is up to them. This is the student’s advantage to taking the class on their own. They might just want to hang out or they have their reasons for not participating as you anticipated, it’s all good.

5. Take advantage of students being at home - get them to play with ALL their fabrics or supplies they may not have brought to class otherwise. Many students tell me they LOVE having access to all their stuff during a class so exploit that.

6. Own up to glitches and be quick to fix things as best as possible. We are not all IT gurus and things will go wrong. Take the time to learn the platform as best you can and work through anything that is going on. Your internet connectivity is up to you, the teacher. The student’s is up to them.

7. It’s hard to be running a live class AND manage the technical side of things. Using the guild or store’s account and having them manage entry and questions means you can concentrate on the classroom experience. If you are running your own event consider having an assistant or trusted friend managing the back end of stuff for you.

8. People seem to be MORE engaged at home. Honestly, I was shocked at this. I think I’m a pretty good teacher but even I doubted people’s interest in a 6 hour online class. But it works! The comfort of being at home and choosing your commitment to the class, not to mention access to all your stuff, is a huge advantage for students.

9. Recording classes delivered live is not okay, especially if it is done without the teacher’s permission. If we wanted to have a recorded class we would offer a stand alone one to buy.

10. Build in both breaks and chat time. For one, the teacher needs to go to the washroom if it is a long class. And secondly, by making them formal, students don’t feel they are sneaking out of class. At the same time, adding breaks in your active teaching so people can chat enhances their experience.

We are all hungry for connection. Guild meetings, hanging out at the store, taking classes together are all ways we quilters are used to connection. Switching to a solely online environment is new, difficult, and even scary for some. It’s one thing to be a chat or Facebook group, it is entirely different to be trying to learn and actually hang out together online. As a teacher I see my job as a facilitator of this connection, regardless of the class I am teaching. At the same time, I am privileged to be invited in to the shared space. It isn’t a responsibility I, or any teacher, should take lightly.

What about those of you who have taken classes? What would you add? What are some of the good and bad things you’ve seen in your own Zoom experience? How do you like Zoom compared to a prerecorded class? Add your thoughts to the comments section. We would all benefit from the shared experience.

Morning Make October 2020

On October 1st I had a grand plan that I was going to make this symbolic improv quilt. A stylized version of the date, counting up with an interruption of a different colour every time a kid in the house was affected by Covid in terms of learning or having isolation requirements of their own. On October 2 I scratched that plan and decided playing was a lot more fun than getting symbolic with a quilt. Especially now.

Especially now.

So each day I woke up and padded to the sewing room, with the sole purpose of making an improv doodle. This isn’t totally new to me, as long time readers will know, but my approach this time was definitely different. Instead of making a block each day AND THEN figuring out how they might all work together, I decided I would make, compose, and build the quilt as I went. Each day the block was sewn next to the previous day’s block. After 5 days I had a row. After 10 days I sewed the two rows together. And onward.

None of the rows are the same height, but I did get them all the same length - some with trimming and some with additions. The height of the row was determined by where I stopped sewing with the first block, then all were made the same.

Composing on the go like this is a definite challenge. I just didn’t want it to look like 31 distinct blocks or have a grid. I can look at the finished quilt top and see some things I would change. Oh well. But I did eventually get in the groove and could see lines I might extend or places where it would be fun to change directions. I repeated a few motifs and the whole thing has multiple techniques used again and again.

I do think it finishes with a fairly well balanced composition, so that makes me happy.

Watching the quilt grow was indeed a marker of time. It marked an improvement in my mental health as opposed to a marker of my stress, which would have happened if I stuck with my initial plan. That also makes me happy.

I’ve got a plan in mind for quilting already and found the perfect fabrics in my stash. I almost basted it last night too, more welcome distraction in very stressful times. Hopefully it will happen in the coming days because I am in the mood to quilt! Plus, I am not sewing for November Morning Make so I need to get at my machine!

Rocky Road to Kansas With a Vibrant, Modern Twist

When you don’t have enough fabric to make a quilt you make pillows.

When you have an idea that won’t get out of your head you make something.

Back in September, when I was painting traditional quilt blocks fo Morning Make I painted one particular block: Rocky Road to Kansas. It’s quite a cool design. Even Barbara Brackman doesn’t say much about the block’s particular history, but it does have a long one. The block is seen in quilts nearly 130 years old, in variations more like a crazy quilt or a string quilt. It is definitely a block that can read extremely modern too. Like most quilt blocks, it all depends on the fabric you use.

In my case - once the idea borrowed itself in my creative consciousness - I went with a collection of hand dyed fabrics and some charcoal linen. The hand dyes came from two sources. The vibrant colours were a gift from my husband and daughter 5 years ago. At the culmination of a epic road trip to Whitehorse they came across a quilt store and shockingly, went in for me. They came across some vibrant fabric that was dyed by a local. Well, that local, it seems, now lives in Fiji so I think these tropical colours make a lot of sense now! The rest of the fabric was a collection of precious scraps from Debbie Aruda. I met Debbie teaching at The Workroom. Using natural dyes she was manipulating fabric in gorgeous ways and she gifted me with some. The combination of luminescent and subtle colours works so well together, I think.

To make the quilt block I drafted a freezer paper template. That way I could get nice, crisp lines and, hopefully, matching points. It was also useful as I was working with a limited supply of fabric. Each block is actually a four patch. Together they make a 24” square.

I probably had enough fabric to make a total of 10 corners. Of course, I could have augmented the blocks with other stash fabric too. At one point I entertained doing a whole deconstructed thing. You know, one block with 4 corners, one with 3, one with 2, and then just 1. That would have got me a decent size quilt. it would have also got me a quilt top that likely would have sat for years before being finished. So, pillows it is.

My husband actually hates decorative pillows on the bed and I hate laying in bed for anything other than sleep and well, sex. But these pillows are on the bed and they look pretty good there too. I guess they will be purely for show and I am not complaining one bit!

In March I played with making marks with watercolour. That led to further watercolour explorations. That led to sewing these blocks. This project is a perfect example of creativity begets creativity.