December Morning Make 2021

When November blends into December…

Hmm, isn’t that every year?

Regardless, November Morning Make trickled into December so I decided to ride the wave. I had something else entirely planned, anticipating some medical events and the necessary downtime. But Covid changed those (things got cancelled, I stayed healthy) and I enjoyed that beginning so decided to keep playing.

The first bowl came from a 3mm rope I purchased with the rest of my weaving supplies from Flax and Twine. The pattern is in her book, Weaving Within Reach. It was fiddly to start and it took me quite a bit to find a rhythm. I totally did not understand the finishing directions. What I did, however, worked but I knew I was doing something wrong. It’s still a bowl and it is still staying together!

After that I hit one of our local yarn stores for more rope. Their stock wasn’t the same, but it was still a 3mm rope, just softer. With two colours under my arm I kept going on the rope bowl fun. I even went ahead and started playing with the weaving pattern, with different levels of design success. These bowls don’t have as much structure but the weave is tighter. And I figured out what I was doing wrong in the finished directions.

It turns out I only have one real, large, round bowl. Many bowls, but in great shapes that are anything but typical bowl shapes. A lot of flat bottoms or wide openings. So all the bowls (save 1) were made from the same mold/bowl, not that it is totally obvious from the finished results. It was a bowl from Alexia Abegg.

The next batch of rope that I bought was from Flax and Twine again. This time a 5mm, so slightly thicker. And, shorter in length so the bowls did not end up as big as the first one. No complaints about that, but it is a noticeable difference.

Speaking of differences, the big difference between the rope from Flax and Twine and that from my local shop was that softness. That results in a bowl with more structure or less, so it would be personal preference. I really liked Anne’s colours at Flax and Twine as the ones at my local were a bit garish (neon pink and lemon yellow).

After a few bowls I was feeling a bit bored and a lot cocky so I decided to try something different. Anne had sent along some linen twine with my order. Twine/rope? Same thing, right? Obviously the size is different, and the texture, flexibility, and length of the spool. I ended up using 2 spools, with a simple knot to join them when necessary. Needless to say, I used a small bowl as a mold, just a little IKEA bowl. Small is not easier or faster, not at all. It took me a week to make the one little bowl. It was fiddly. I also used more warp threads than the big rope bowls so there was more weaving to do on the whole. The result was totally worth it. It is a compact bowl but with beautiful structure. As you can see, I did something a bit different with the finishing. The edge treatment is the same, but rather than weave the ends in I made them obvious with a visible knot.

December satisfied my need for meditative yet creative action for Morning Make with these rope bowls. It’s also piqued my curiosity for different types of woven bowls and even basket weaving. I’m not done with weaving yet.

Mame - The Exclamation Point Quilt

Mame

77” x 72”

Like her namesake, Mame is known for speaking her mind and living wildly. She brings her best energy to everything, even when things are awful. She speaks what she wants, even if the consequences are great. People love her, even when it is hard. People love her, but don’t always want to admit it. At home with Princes and Sailors, Mame is fierce with love and other emotions Loving Mama doesn’t always mean less pain in your life, but definitely a lot more fun.

Confusion, solidarity, mourning, exhaustion, confinement, noise, and togetherness.

When the Covid Pandemic first started we all ran through the gamut of emotions. With or without children, whether you could work from home or not, whether you stayed employed or housed, whether you lost loved ones to illness or friendships to principles, no one is getting through the pandemic unscathed. Then there are all the emotions attached to it. At the beginning I admit to relishing the home time with my family; mostly, the break from rushing from one thing to the next. Soon, it wasn’t easy at all and I became annoyed with grocery shopping, a lack of entertainment, and home schooling. I slept more and still felt tired. More than once I held my head in my hands and cried.

Anger, frustration, laughter, annoyance, stress, despondency, grief, and fear.

I screamed a lot too. Mostly into the ether, but not always. The entire household all had our moments. To channel it all I started making blocks. I wanted to say all the words of anger, call our politicians and Covidiots all the names, give space for my kids to do the same. They say that swearing reduces the impact of pain, but I wonder what they would say about sewing swears? Because I didn’t want to sew all the words into blocks I sewed what would come at the end of each word - the Exclamation Point!

(And yes, I screamed for real when I took the above picture.)

Then I gave myself the freedom to quilt all those words right into the quilt. Using cursive to quilt such strong words felt amazing! It was really, really therapeutic. The overall quilting pattern reflects the first three waves of the pandemic as felt here in Alberta. In between those lines I added the best words, insults, and expressions to make a sailor blush. By the time I finished quilting it we were cresting the 4th wave so the final stitches have some very, very powerful things to say.

While I was making the quilt a lot of people suggested I make some red exclamation points. A strong colour for strong emotions. I wanted to stick to the story I was telling - ink on paper - but knew red would make an appearance one way or another. So I added a big exclamation point on the back, set in an alphabet print of my own. Oh yeah, and a bonus exclamation point in fabric sent to me by Brenda Suderman, a writer who published a story about this project.

Red also found its home in the binding. You know I love a contrast binding! This came from fabric I dyed with kids. You know how it was, sourdough and tie dye as pandemic activities.

There isn’t a quilter out there who doesn’t know the therapeutic power of quilting. Sometimes it is just about spending the time playing or slowing down or even going through the motions to calm our nerves. And sometimes it is about processing our emotions through what we are making, quite literally. This expressive form of quilting is powerful. For me, this very personal project certainly helped me get through these past 20 months. It gave me a focus for my feelings, an outlet for the pent up energy, and. calming for being able to create something cool out of such stress.

Remember, if you want to make your own Exclamation Point blocks there is a free tutorial available.

November Morning Make 2021

Oh, what a month!

It is a very good thing we live in a small house because after a month of mornings spent weaving I am dreaming of a large loom. Just a dream though, because that small house thing. Weaving is a delightful discovery for me.

Like many of my Morning Makes, the challenge of being a beginner was there. You can definitely see the progression between day 1 and 20 in my simple coasters. Learning set up, tension, and patterns was a lot at once but the pursuit of improvement drove me. As did the meditative aspect of this. Those two things combined made this a perfect Morning Make for me.

See? Look at that improvement in technique from right to left. Learning tension was a key thing. So was understanding patterns. Some I picked up more easy than others, some still confused me at the end. There is so much more to try.

These coasters were made on the small frame loom. I bought a kit from Anne at Flax and Twine. I already had her book, Weaving Within Reach, but you can buy that from her too. In fact, everything I made came from her book and all supplies from her. It was a nice one stop shopping opportunity. She has loads of kits and video classes too.

While I could have made coasters endlessly I had purchased supplies for some other projects so moved on.

The Bento Bag pattern really appealed to me for its modern styling. I also, frankly, thought it would be easy. While it wasn’t difficult, it was a bit tedious. I do quite love the results. You can buy handles and turn it into a purse even. In the book it is styled as a yarn bag which, I think, would be quite lovely. The bag doesn’t stand up without anything in it and the fruit from our dining room table isn’t quite the right filler! I’m sure it will find a good home soon enough.

The month ended before I finished the next project so I’ve just continued into December with it. Using a rope twine I am making a basket. This is another meditative project and I can see more in my future. I am even contemplating dying some of the rope to see what happens. Stay tuned.

Elodie - A Bold Quilt of Half Square Triangles and Circles

Elodie

84” x 84”

Elodie is a lady of optimism. Sure, she’s a realist, knowing that work is always required in life and love, but she chooses to seek the sunshine in every moment. It isn’t easy and, frankly, it doesn’t always work. Elodie wasn’t always this way. Not so long ago she stayed under the covers, under the quilts, as much as possible. The world felt like a lot too much. It all changed the day the sunbeam hit her. It had been gloomy outside and in. Like most gloomy people Elodie lay napping fitfully. Then the sun broke through the clouds and hit her square in the face. Without thinking about it she breathed, nestled, and relaxed like a cat curling up in the sunbeam. Her nap became restful and when she woke the clouds had broken. Elodie could see the sun again. She vowed then and there to seek it out. Tropical vacations or moving to the South of France not being an option, she looked for ways to bring the sunshine to where she was as much of the time. Being optimistic doesn’t automatically make the sadness go away, but stepping into the light is the right step for Elodie.

This particular quilt nearly did not make it. It started from a random block, a sample made for a class. That block ended up in the donate pile that never got donated. A random rediscovery and the right timing turned that one block into a quilt top.

To make the blocks I shopped first in my scraps, using any piece in the colour story that was big enough. After that I went shopping in my stash. That makes this quilt both scraps and scrappy. (Ask me the difference in my trunk show Scraps Vs. Scrappy.)

It took me quite a bit to take the blocks - some plain half square triangles and some of those turned into circles - and find a layout that felt cohesive. I made the blocks in a colour story or orange, yellow, green and blue in 3 different sizes": 6” 12: and 18”. Some have high contrast, some have low contrast. When it came time to get them all on the design wall the challenge was evident. I tried laying it out my value, by colour, by size, and many options in between. In the end I played with colour more than value (against my usual advice) and keeping a strong diagonal component in the design. I’m pretty happy with how it ended up. And the original block found a home in it.

The quilted was completed by Phillipa Gelinas. I chose this great circle panto to compliment the design of the quilt top. Elodie deserved a fast finish. Rather, she deserved to be welcomed and used quickly. Deserved/needed.

My original plan was hot pink binding and that was before I picked out the backing fabric! When it came down to it though it didn’t look right. We know I like a contrasting binding but it just wasn’t the right thing to do here. I found this fun strip in my stash that ended up being just perfect. Like it was meant to be. Perhaps like that sunbeam?