The 7 principles of art and design are balance, rhythm, pattern, emphasis, contrast, unity and movement. Use the elements of art and design – line, shape/form, space, value, color and texture – to create a composition as a whole.

I was recently reading about and seeing blog posts about Quiltcon 2020 acceptances and rejections.  If you look for #quiltconreject on instagram, you’ll see many beautiful and original quilts.  I wondered how many quilts are submitted, and how many jurors there are.  How do they pick the “chosen” and reject the unchosen?  Thats when I started thinking about the seven principle of design.  Of course I couldn’t remember all seven, as I learned them back in the 80’s.  A quick google search brought up the quote above.   Its seems like a lot to coordinate into making one thing.  Some makers are adept and some aren’t. But what about the ones on the edge, like if they did one thing a little bit better, they were a little bit clearer with their composition?  What is the tipping point, where everything falls into place, and you “feel it” “get it” or even like it.  There are artists/makers who intrinsically know, and can judge all the parts/pieces/whole in a few seconds.  Do they have some kind of mental checklist?  Is it a right brained or left brained thing?  In becoming a master artist, does this list get longer or shorter, or just read faster?

This post is sort of a continuation of my  Ruminations  post about a month ago.  I would like to make another show quilt this coming year.  Maybe even for QuiltCon 2021.  Self doubt is part of what holds back those goals.  In an age of self advertisement and promotion how does one stand out?  In the days before Facebook and even before the internet, people had to self promote themselves on merit, and talent, maybe a little luck or knowing the right person.  So how does one break through the fuzzy static of a world filled with selfies, twitter and visual noise?  Seems like one of those secrets that won’t be shared, because then everyone will be doing it.  Hey! Look over here! My quilt is freakin’ Awesome!  I’m more like “excuse me, did you happen to notice this thing over here that I, uh, made?”

I had my own retreat these past five days.  My DH was out of town and I got a lot of sewing done.  I can’t really figure out why this happens, why is it easier to get this accomplished when he’s not here?  He does work out of the house, and he’s not particularly demanding of my time.  I can’t really put words to the feelings, his presence (?) distracts me?  It’s not like he hasn’t seen me in my pajamas lounge wear, but maybe not all day.  Then there’s the meal thing, I make dinner, pretty much every night, and weekends I make breakfast and sometimes lunch for him.  So when he’s not here I make things that I like, and eat when I want to.  Breakfast for dinner is not a DH thing, me however, I’ll put an egg on it and be happy.  I listened to three novels in the past few days too.  I use noise canceling head phones, which block out the world and let me concentrate on the words and my handiwork.  Kinda unsociable when someone else is around, but I can loose myself for a few hours that way.  The weather this past week has been rainy and overcast, I want to stay in the warm dry house.  I think what it comes down to is being a care giver, it’s what I do, and have done for about 25 years.  When all my “cares” are gone, I can do what I want, when I want and how I want.  It’s quite intoxicating.

I finished three tops this week, two are baby quilts, and the other is the scraps from the Honey comb quilt.  I still have enough of that fabric line to make another, but the bee themed prints are mostly used up, lots of butterflies left.  I made a lot of progress on the Oak Cardigan sleeves, and I made a hat (xmas present).  I should have finished the Poinsettia quilt, but only got a row finished.  Finished clues 1 and 2 for Frolic, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt.  I did four loads of laundry, yay!  Finished up all the Christmas wrapping, shopping and mailing, double yay!  My tree is up, though undecorated and my design wall is blank.

I think I’ll catch up on the Mrs. Miller BOM blocks that I have, months 10 and 11.  Then I’ll be ready for the next clue for Frolic on Friday.

I’m linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for ‘Can I get a Whoop Whoop?’ .  She has a pretty quilt finish to show this week.

 

This past weekend I worked on this quilt.  The pattern is called Sweet to the Soul by Jillily Studio.  I used the Deb Sprain line “Bee Inspired” to make it. I altered it a bit, to use my fabric more efficiently.

Then I started putting the scraps together to form some kind of medallion quilt center.  I have a panel of 4 ½ inch squares that goes with these fabrics and I have an idea in my head that may work.

I am diligently working on my on-line EQ8 course.  I finished Medallion centers in November and now I working on Medallion borders this month.  The classes are easy enough, but my retention isn’t what it used to be.  I need lots of repetition, but not so much of the same thing, or I get bored and don’t focus, which leads back to the no retention thing.

Yesterday I cleaned up my work table enough to set up the embroidery module on my machine.  I made a bunch of quick towels and two reindeer candy holders.  The Reindeer are from Emblibrary and are fun to make, but about 2 ½ hours of stitching.  The candy goes inside and shows through the cut out where the belly would be.  I like Emblibrary’s designs, they are thoughtfully digitized, and easy to follow tutorials come with the” In the Hoop” projects like the deer.  Their sister company Urban Threads is equally good, with a different theme (?) or more modern trend.  I have many designs from both companies, one of these days I will catalog them and get them all together in an organized fashion.  Luckily they have all my purchased designs safe on their servers, so all I have to do is look there, and download them.  A bit easier than looking through the multitude of USB sticks I have around here.  Funny that they have replaced the floppy discs and cds that used to populate the sewing room.  I don’t know if it is better or worse, only that I need to organize them.

I’m still working on quilting the red and green Poinsettia quilt, it’s a slow go, only got about two hours on it this week.

Linking up with Denise at For the Love Of Geese for Put Your Foot Down  #29 today.

I decided to go with poinsettias to quilt the red and green quilt with.  I found some that I had in my library from last year.  They are simple, but fit the blocks well and add a little texture, but don’t overwhelm the quilt.  There are diamond shapes, triangle shapes and square shaped flower blocks.  There are also single leaves that fill in the odd HST that doesn’t have a stitch in it.  I’m about half way done, the designs don’t take long to stitch out, but there is a lot of stopping and starting.

I can knit a bit while the machine stitches though, I’ve been working on my Oak Cardigan.  The back and one front side are finished, the other side needs shaping which requires concentration.  I started the sleeves, working two at once, they are a bit mindless, but the shaping starts soon.

Tuesday I was looking for something to do, I wanted to sew something, but all the quilts in my queue are large and involved.  Then I found this kit I had bought at PIQF.  I really liked it when I saw it there, it’s kinda weird and sewing related, a bit steam punk, victorian and spooky Halloween all together.  The fabric line is designed by J. Wecker Frisch, it’s called ‘Costume Makers Ball’ by Riley Blake designs.  It took about three hours to cut and sew together, I have some ideas on quilting it too.  It’ll be ready for next year for sure.

Yesterday, I had to stick around for plumbing people, I had discovered a water leak in the main line coming into our house last Friday.  They are currently digging trench through my yard to lay new pipe.  I needed something to do besides vacuuming the house.  I have been wanting to make this quilt, Estela.

I have a large scrap pile of red and white French General fabrics that I want to use in it.  I spent about an hour sorting though them and categorizing them.  I figured out I needed more in pink tones, most of the pieces in the blocks are small, so I ordered a jelly roll of the Chafarcani line.  It’ll be here next week.  Also starting next week is Frolic, Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt for 2019-20.  I’m going to make it, I missed last years project, Good Fortune due to non sewing related activities.  Estela may have to wait a month to be started, lots of little pieces and chain piecing.

I did start a new pattern yesterday, this is called Sweet to the Soul by Jillily Studio.  I have had the Bee Inspired fabrics (Kate Spain) for a while now.  Looking for just the right pattern.  Half hexagons and straight piecing make it relatively quick to piece.  I decided not to do the bees, They are pieced and appliquéd, and I though they would make the quilt look a bit juvenile.  Not to say that I might add one for interest.

Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put your Foot Down #27 today.

 

 

Recently I had a request for an orange colored quilt for a baby. [that started out as “orange baby quilt”- hmm]  Anyway, I thought it might be fun, so I went to my stash and found it surprisingly lacking in orange selections.  I found this cute orange with bunnies print, it was on sale and I added it on to a fabric order that was for a different project.  When it got here, I was able to find some nice contrasting and complimentary colored scraps and FQs.  The pattern is a knock off from one I saw on Instagram, I think from The Fat Quarter shop, yeah, it’s called “Somersaults Quilt”.  My version uses 2 ½ Squares and HSTs, and wider sashing/borders.

I started out with the focus fabric, the orange bunnies and made a bunch more of the four patch blocks.  The white toned down the orange a bit, but it wasn’t really working as the sashing.  I tried pink, bleh, then more orange print, too busy.

Then I figured I should just go with more orange.  I had to order it, as I didn’t have the right shade.  I have a Moda Bella Solids fabric swatch card/folder, which I got a few years ago, and still seems to be up to date.  The right orange was “Amelia orange”.  I used some of the extra block pieces for corner stones and added a print border and then it was done.  The quilting is Spring flower E2E, in orange, of course.

This week I also finished the quilting on the Seaside quilt and got the red and green fig tree scrap quilt (needs a better name) on the frame.

 

Also I finished the feathered star quilt top last week.  I’m ready to swear off Judy Niemeyer quilts for a while, especially after pulling off all the foundation papers.  It’s hanging on my design wall while I’m waiting for the inspiration to quilt it.

Linking up with Denise at For the Love of Geese for Put Your Foot Down #26.