Holidays... ugh. Crafting blues

I will start this off by saying that I am not really a holiday person. I like them in theory, but in reality they stress me out - I know I am not alone in this. It's the television showing Christmas movies that all end like a fairy tale, it's the songs everywhere EVERYWHERE, it's the ads trying to sell cars for Christmas in a Winter Wonderland that isn't real. Nothing about Christmas feels real any more.

Yes, I head 'home' for the holidays. Except it's not really home anymore - I've spent more time away than I did there. I'm in Texas - snow and cold weather and all that is right off the menu. There's so much worry in my head about getting the right gifts for the right people, the hope that they won't hate them, etc. etc. etc. It sends me into a tailspin on top of the usual anxiety and depression. So. I have lists upon lists upon lists of things that need to get done before I can drive to Christmas and spend time with the family.

Do not mistake me for someone who hates holidays. I don't, and I refuse to take the enjoyment away from those who do. There is a certain nostalgia, sure, for the probably-false memories of anticipation and simpler times - things seen through a cloudy lens, showing me what I want to see. When my grandparents were alive and we would go there for Christmas, or (since my parents were teachers), we would take a trip somewhere - the whole family. When the whole family was more than 6 people in total. I remember those with fondness because they were experiences. I have no clue what gifts I was given.

But this is not an anti-holiday screed. This is the crafter in me wishing for some of those "simpler times" ornaments - I have some that my parents hand-painted on precut wood forms. I have plastic canvas ones that my grandmother made, as well as clothes-pin reindeer. I have 60's felt ornaments, with most of their sequins still left. The small stockings that my great aunt made and stuffed with poly-fill and glued little pieces of plastic holly to. Things that are not 'retro'. Things that even hipsters look at with disdain.

Those are the things that I miss. The hand-made aspect of Christmas, that added to the anticipation and the festivity. The things that, in my 20's, I said "I don't want those. They are soooo 'crafty,' with air quotes around the "crafty" like it was an insult - reminiscent of slate blue wooden cut out geese wearing hats, and ducks with signs around their necks - that country crafty style. I still don't want the ducks or the geese. But the ornaments... yeah... I'd like to have some of those.

Lifesaver Yarn Elves on the tree.
Plastic canvas 'boxes' that held Hershey's Kisses.
Tiny crocheted wreaths.

I want simple. I don't want a house lit up so brightly it can be seen from space. I just want...  I don't know.

So of course, what is my crafter's brain working on? Not Christmas, that's for sure! Rag rugs, a knitting loom scarf in a pattern I've not done, my next quilt for piecing (Ballet Folklorico), and my next quilt for quilting (Clipper Ship).

I am so unfocused I feel as though nothing will be accomplished. I know it will - it just takes list upon list to get organized and pointed in the right direction. I know that this time of year carries stress. It always has - just like it does for a lot of other people.

My list for tonight includes:
1. Update the big chalkboard list of major things to do
2. Clean the upstairs
3. Find a goose recipe, because I want to try goose for Christmas
4. Cut strips of 2.5" fabric from scraps
5. Finish the folded ornament I did start
6. add seam allowance to Ballet Folklorico pieces and run some color tests
7. Dinner
8. Wash dishes
9. Make sure roomie doesn't fall over (she's been sick, and is still off-kilter)
10. Work on scarf
11. Research history
12. Shower and bed.

I just don't know if I can manage it all.

Do others experience this? What do you do when it happens? I'm single, and more inclined to holidays than the roomie really, which says something....

Oh, and I have 4 stories going.

*thud*

How do I slow down???

The other things I do

Because a girl can't have enough hobbies... right?

I also sew costuming. Mostly for myself - because I can always fit myself.

 Here we have one of my favorites - a modified Saxon gown in teal, dressed up and made a little more formal. It was meant for the dress of a Danish sheriff.

The character was stiff and strict, and so the formality of the outfit matched her personality very well. This was round two of the costume - round one had a train and was less formal in appearance. I prefer this one. It was worn with a massive hat.

I try very hard to match outfit to character personality. It's easier if the two match - it's easier for people to know how to interact with the character. (This is all for a Renaissance Festival, by the way). For the sheriff, people expected her to be a little more serious. Which she was, other than the book she was writing. We won't go into that here, though, because that was sheer silliness.





Here we have one in progress - 16th century Russian. It's not entirely stitched together, (the trim is just pinned at the top, and it's still missing straps for the dress). The overcoat will be trimmed and have faux sleeves attached, and then I will consider it done.

This may wind up being a one-shot - we'll see. At the very least, after the first wearing I will take the coat apart and line it so my seams don't show, and find a little more of the snazzier fabric for the dress, because right now the back (which won't be seen), is a cotton that MOSTLY matches the front.







Oh, and how lovely - you also get a sneak peek into both the studio (the top pic) with plant life in the background (studio doubles as a greenhouse when it gets cold), and my bedroom! (please excuse the mess).

S

 
 

Quilting and Writing

I've been so busy on the quilting aspect of life that I haven't posted much about the writing part of my life.

I've been writing little snippets and bits, chucking out the dross that clouds up my mind so I can write some decent stuff again.

Still searching for an agent for Choosers, and one for Weasel Montgomery and the Devil of Dallas, and soon will add Twa Corbies to the mix (once I do a leeeetle re-writing to take out one of the worst scenes I've ever written).

Mostly, it's quilting.

Boston Molasses is done, Black Widow is done, and Heart of (Lime)Stone is almost done. I have more quilts planned, but since this is the year of finishing UFOs, the new ones will have to wait.

This one is high on my list, though.... this is the roof of the Japanese Tea Pavilion in the Sunken Gardens in San Antonio, Texas. I WILL make a quilt of this.

Y'know... after I make Sandstone Variations, Ballet Folklorico, and, and, and.

*need more time in the day*


S

Autumn in Texas and Mesquite Trees

So much is said about how the south doesn't have an autumn. How it goes from summer to spring without anything in between. That's silly, obviously. Our trees go dormant, a lot shed their leaves, and so on. It's just not so flashy or showy.

We make up for it in other ways - bringing a stereo-typical northern autumn into our homes and jobs as much as we can, as though we can cast some sort of autumn-summoning spell through sheer volume of FALL AUTUMN FALLING LEAVES PUMPKINS SCARECROWS, like the five points of a star in a summoning circle. (No, this paragraph isn't getting out of hand, why do you ask?)

I cannot claim to be any different. I get sucked into the whole "FALL" summoning stuff. This is my first entry for the year. It started as "What can I do with these strips?" and turned into a wall hanging that celebrates autumn. It's nothing grand, but I like it. The quilting is of falling leaves, of course. (What else could it be?)

And also of course, one quilt inspires another. Unlike a good many people, I love mesquite trees (aka Devil trees... very dramatic). They are survivors. They have massively long taproots, and actually return nitrogen to the soil, instead of removing it, like most trees/plants. Combine my love of mesquites with autumn in Texas, I want to make a mesquite quilt.

Growing up, we had a mesquite in the front yard. It stabbed all of us in the feet repeatedly, and picking up limbs and branches before mowing wasn't terribly fun. Outwardly, a full-grown mesquite isn't terribly attractive to most people - a rough and harsh black bark, a trunk that splits low, and heavy creaking limbs that stab and grab. Oh, and the beans. Sometimes it's like mowing over a rock.
But the inside is gorgeous. A beautiful red-brown with a clear grain, that dries evenly in all directions, and ends up strong - enough to be called Texas Ironwood.

My father offered to make me a quilting frame out of mesquite. Of course I said yes! OMG YES YES YES!  And I want the first quilt to be quilted on it to be an homage to the mesquite tree. Blacks, red-browns, and several shades of green - from the bright spring green of early leaves, to the darker, almost olive-y green. So I guess it's on to the planning stages for YET another quilt.

In other news, I've finally started working on Heart of (Lime)Stone. It seems that I am slowly amassing a list of quilts about Texas. *shrug* So be it!

S

Finishing

This is the year of finishing things. I hope.

But since I have already finished Black Widow and now I have finished Boston Molasses Flood, I'm going to call it the year of finishing things! I took one other quilt to a professional quilter, so I am counting that one as well, quite frankly. There are just some that ask to be done professionally.

Here is the "thrown over a chair" picture of Boston Molasses Flood. I am proud of this one - even though it took somewhere along the lines of 4 years to complete. At least and at last it's done! Woohoo! It is hand-quilted with variegated brown thread in waves, to symbolize the waves of molasses that flooded part of Boston in the early 1900's. The shape (as I may have posted before) is based on a map of damage done by the molasses. Each piece is one of many shades of brown. The overall effect is much more pleasant that I expected.

That's not to say it's going to any competitions! It's not that good - and I see all the errors. But I am concentrating on how nice the whole composition turned out. Even the binding complements the whole. Originally I was going to make binding and do a traditional binding. Instead, the borders are wide enough that I could trim the back and use the front as binding. I bound it front-to-back, leaving the brown to "run" around to the back fabric.

Next up on the quilting block is Heart of (Lime)Stone. I've got to pin it and hoop it, and then away I go again.

And on the piecing block... Ballet Folklorico. (I'm terrified, really I am).

S

Quilt is Life is Story

Last night I dreamt about quilts.

This isn't a real shock to anyone, I am certain. However, the trappings of the dream around the quilt made it more important - important enough that I remembered it when I woke.

I was in a... well, for convenience let us call it a cave or tent that was covered on the inside with animal skins. I was sitting on furs and working on a quilt. The quilt I was working on was only one of a stack, and the rest were unfinished - no bindings, rough edges like I'd stopped working on them in the middle. I was bound and determined to finish the one I was working on.

Someone asked me why I was working so hard. I replied that I had failed on the others, but this one I was determined to get done. They asked why the others were failures. My answer was "I don't belong there anymore." It was a bit gloomy, but resigned.

Another voice asked "Why not? Were they not part of your life?"

"Sure. But they don't want me anymore."

"But they were part of your life."

"Yes."

I looked down at the quilt I was working on and realized that as soon as I finished the quilt I would be dead - I was making the quilt of my life. The other quilts were parts of my life that were no longer current - things and people that had fallen away or left, or I left behind. I realized what the voice was telling me. My quilt of life isn't done. More, the old quilt pieces are part of the quilt I am working on now. They are all part of my life, whether I like them or not.

"But how do I join them?" I asked. "How do I quilt them together?"

And people filed into the cave/tent. All of them with fabric and needles and thread. All of the people I have known, past and present, and probably some that I haven't met, or those that I had an impact on without knowing it. They settled around me and started to work, pulling out the old quilts and starting to piece them onto the section I was working on. They joked and exchanged stories about me and each other, pointing out pieces of fabric that represented them.

It felt lighter and brighter in the cave/tent. I felt lighter and brighter. The colors of the quilt I was currently working on changed from browns to bright colors. There were darker patches and browns still, to be sure, but the whole was brighter. I could see where the sections joined, they were now adorned with embroidery and even conductive thread and LED lights so areas lit up. I forgot about binding off the section I'd thought complete and started to share in the quilting bee of my life.

*digression* In college, I had a professor who interpreted dreams. I asked him if he could help me interpret a dream (as in, do it for me). He shook his head and said "I can only interpret my dreams. You must interpret yours."

*back to the point* I think this is a fairly obvious dream. :) I get so caught up in the minutiae of life, like all of us do, that I forget all the other parts of my life. Not all of them were fabulous, no. But they make me who I am. They changed who I was into who I am. Regardless of whether I see some of the people from my past again or not, they encouraged or helped me along my way. Some of them may not have even meant to, but they did. They moved with me down my path, added pieces to my quilt of life.

I have been thinking about this all morning. I would like to make a quilt of my life. It wouldn't be a picture... not really. There would be patterns, and maybe the eye could pick out a picture from far enough away, like those photo montages of Abraham Lincoln. What would my quilt contain? What fabrics would I choose for people? Can you boil a life down into a quilt?

I think I will start. I know what I want to do. It won't be a fast quilt - nor should it be. It will be a work in progress. A work that lingers, to be bound by someone else who can bind around the rough spots and the curves of a rounded edge, to be laid over me in the coffin, to be used to shroud me as I am lowered into the ground or taken with me into the urn.

And while that last bit seems morbid, it isn't really. No one gets out alive. I am just working on my shroud well before-hand. And whoever has to wind me in my shroud will see all the people who had an impact on my life, all the people and memories that will go with me into the ground and into the unknown. When I go, I am not going alone.

S

Patchwork Fedoras and Self-Imposed Limits

I looked online for photos or patterns for a patchwork fedora, so I could get rolling on the Indiana Jones Quilter's Guild (IJQG). The patterns I found were pretty bad... and the pictures I found weren't even fedoras. They were trilbies. Different hat entirely! (I have this whole hat rant, but it's not really worth it. Suffice to say, nothing I found was accurate enough for my tastes). So for now, it's a nice plain fedora. Still looking. I suppose I could find an old one that's not in great shape and applique patchwork over it. That might be the best, really.

Finally finally finished the Black Widow quilt. Finally. (Did I say that enough?). I am now returning to hand-quilting the Boston Molasses Flood quilt. I designed the pattern, and will never sell it, because 70 degree triangles are dumb. The shape of each piece is taken from the map of partial and massive destruction from the flood of molasses, and the quilt is all shades of brown. Seemed appropriate!

At any rate, it is half-way hand quilted. I stopped to work on other things and just haven't gotten back to it. So.... my next quilting goal is to finish quilting and bind it. This is important to me because it will feel as though I am making a dent in all the pieced quilts! In fact, I have imposed on myself the rule that I am not allowed to work on piecing another quilt until I get another one quilted.

Now, two of them will go out to be professionally done. I don't know how the quilter will react to one of them, but the other should be an easy thing. I... I don't know about the first. It's a design I want to use for the front cover of a book about quilting the way you want. After all, that's what we are all about - doing things your way. We are not modern quilters. We are not traditional quilters. We are not art quilters. Or, rather, we are not ONLY any of the above. Some of the quilts I wouldn't know what to call. Except useful, mostly. But two will go out to be done by a pro, and that will knock my list down a few! (Yay!!!)

And then, I am going to tackle Ballet Folklorico. That should keep me occupied for a LONG time - I am trying things I haven't ever tried before, and I am not even sure I have all the fabric for it yet! But in my mind it is gorgeous, and I will work hard to get as close to that image as I can.


Here is the image that inspired the quilt. I love the way her skirt swirls, love the design and the movement in the photo. We shall see if I can get close to what I am looking for.

More photos to come - it's a long weekend, and there should be plenty of quilting and planning and sewing done, which means more pictures!

S

Wet Weekend

We are well north of Houston - 4 hours' drive, which in Texas is an easier way of measuring distance. No flooding here, just rain. Nothing dreadful. A good day to hang out in the studio and make things - which is exactly what we did.

I made headbands. I wear them almost daily - it seems to help with my anxiety to have a tight wrap around my head. I was wearing knit hats, but they are kinda warm in the summer here! So I switched to elasticized headbands (It also makes people ask fewer questions about am I cold in summer)!



Llama fabric! Poor beat up styro-head.
At least she gets a nice headband.
 

This weekend (mostly on Sunday), I made headbands. Eight of them. And pulled fabric for another three. They are addictive, I can tell you that!!

They are so easy! If I am not careful, I will soon have one for every day of the month! (of course, I made two Halloween fabric ones, so those will have to wait to be worn - at least to work. On weekends, I will wear the heck of them!

This started because I found some headbands that I like and bought them, and then did the thing that everyone who crafts HATES to hear. I thought "I can do that!" I didn't say it out loud, though. In fact, I waited for a while to even say it in the safety of my home.

But it got said, and I started looking around for a tutorial. I found a couple, didn't like any of them, and decided I would do it my way - this is why I am the Indiana Jones of crafters. I tend to make it up as I go. 😺

I wound up with something I like. Some are pleated, some are a bit more scrunchy, and they are all made with fabric from the stash. The backs are shorter than the ones I bought, which makes them tighter - for me, always a good thing.

I am considering an online quilters' guild - half guild, half social group. No limits on the type of quilter, no limits on age. I don't know, though. It would be nice to have other people who don't judge based on age, gender, style, etc. (yes, I have had bad experiences with guilds, why do you ask??). I think I would call it the Indiana Jones Quilt Guild (IJQG for short). We could have a patchwork fedora for a logo and a braided whip of more fabric. Hmm....

S

And yet more ideas!

Welcome to the Deco series... currently numbering two. A third is in the works.... Here we have Deco Sunrise and Deco Eclipse. Deco Noon and Deco Sunset are in planning stages... just a matter of finding the correct fabric.

Neither is giant - or even big. They are maybe 20 x 10. I think I like Sunrise better, but we shall see when they are all done.


On other fronts, it's been a productive month so far. We've made 20 Christmas stockings, with the aim of selling them at work. If they don't, we'll donate them somewhere.

I'm working on several stories, and trying to get Black Widow's quilt done. After I've worked my way through the Avengers, where do I go? Star Wars? Star Trek? I don't know, and it's probably still too early to think about (hah!) since I've only finished two and am working on a third. (Oh, and I am only doing the MCU canon characters - oooh, I need to do a Phil Coulson quilt and a Nick Fury quilt! If I were doing comic-verses, I'd be making quilts FOREVER. Something like 100+ characters have been Avengers). Oh, and now my brain wants to make a Squirrel Girl quilt. I... might... just have to? Maybe?

Other than that, I have several more ideas, two related to the eclipse, wriggle their way into my head. If I could just win the lottery, I'd have more time for making quilts! (and buying fabric for them!)

I am beginning to see a connection between my writing and my quilting. Both are done because they are stories that need to be told, because they run rampant inside my head until I get them on paper/in a computer file or get plans made. Each one is a learning experience in precision and using exactly the word or the stitch I need.

So I may just plan out a quilt for one of my stories. Just to see what it would be. To see how iconic the characters are, to see if I can boil a character down into a quilt (ewww).

S

More ideas and More ideas!

Whilst I was working on random things in the studio, my brain decided to go play somewhere else. It did NOT want to co-operate, and instead of working on the quilt I wanted to work on, I made two Christmas stockings, planned 4 others, and figured out the Incredible Hulk quilt design.

Don't get me wrong - I like the creativity of my brain. But really... it would be so much easier to accomplish things if my brain didn't wander off under its own steam and do whatever!

At any rate, ideas are a good thing. But the problem is - how do you keep the energy up for those ideas? You can keep them organized and orderly, but what about the energy to actually later go back and work on the quilts? (or stories, for writers)

I have scrapbook paper boxes that stack that I use for project ideas and the fabrics to go with. But there are always boxes getting filled - far more than are getting emptied! How do I force myself to sit down and finish what I have before starting something new? I haven't figured out that little quandary.

While walking from my desk to the printer at work, I came up with yet another quilt idea - in the series of "Disaster Quilts" I am in the process of making. #1 - Isaac's Storm, after the Galveston hurricane of 1900; #2 - Boston Molasses Flood (look it up; it's weird and awful!); and now #3 - The Tunguska Event. (also look this one up if you've not heard of it!) I've planned it out in detail, color flow, layout, the whole thing. When am I going to have time to make this one?? I am already hand-quilting 2 quilts, have two others hooped, and five others waiting to be worked on!

This is not to say that I am succumbing to despair. That would be silly. But I wonder when (if ever) I will have time to finish all the things floating through my head. Ultimately, which would be worse - running out of ideas, or running out of time? My vote is running out of ideas would be far far worse.

Oh, and links: Tunguska  https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2008/30jun_tunguska/

Boston Molasses Flood: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Molasses_Flood

Randomness, Part Whatever

Yes, the last post was not quilting related. So be it! This quilty blog will also on occasion have a bit of writing, since that's my other passion!

Feel free to skip any entry flagged as writing related, unless it is also quilty.

I am in the process of trying to pimp out a novel to agents, so.... *wheeee*

Ain't it cute?

So what do these two things, writing and quilting, have to do with each other?

Shockingly, a lot.

When I am designing a quilt (because I am bad at doing other people's patterns), I try to tell a story in the design. There must be more than just color and pattern. There must be a plot. A story. The fabric pieces are the words I use and the design is the plot. The quilting pattern is the character(s). Together, they create a story.