Retreat

I was lucky enough to attend a sewing retreat almost two weeks ago, sponsored by the American Sewing Guild. There are other retreats offered by groups that I belong to, though often the retreats are full before I know about them, or there is a scheduling conflict. There was some prep work done in the week before, which ranged from cutting hundreds of squares and triangles for the Large Christmas Quilt (stacked neatly in a plastic box) to stuffing likely scrap strips for a string quilt into a bag.

I started with simple projects: two quilts that needed bindings - a small Christmas tabletopper or throw and the Woven quilt. My usual technique is to sew the binding to the top, then pin excessively, and sew the back side down by machine as well.

Next I started a stash quilt, using a dark navy sea-life print in the center of each block and green and orange accent fabrics. Unusual colors, but they were pulled from colors in the print and had patterns reminded me of waves, snails and coral.

Then another stash quilt, using six blocks from a Halloween panel. I kept it simple, with a sash and cornerstone around each block, and a stronger print for the border. The panel had been stored longer than I care to guess, and when packing for the retreat the original sash and border fabrics were jettisoned for the ones that made the final top. Late Saturday night I started on a String quilt for charity, using tracing paper as the foundation rather than muslin as on the last one. It was finished up Sunday morning.

A couple of simple projects (new napkins, cloth shopping bags) were left at home, which forced me to start on the Large Christmas Quilt. Usually if I look at a quilt pattern carefully, and count that a single block has 49 pieces, I find a similar, but simpler block and substitute. However, when the fabric was purchased four years ago, it was for the amounts the pattern suggested, and I just went with it.

First I made one complete block, to assure myself that I could make accurate half-square triangle and quarter square triangle blocks. The sub sections were pressed in the direction that made sense to me, and the pattern didn't specify. And it worked very well, with just a reference note on pressing the hourglass blocks in a specific way. All of the sub-sections (20 per block, plus 5 plain squares for a 5 x 5 layout) were completed at the retreat, much more than I expected. And I still love the fabrics! I had been thinking about giving this quilt to a friend when completed, but I delivered the Woven quilt to her yesterday, so will just wait and see how I feel when the quilt is finished.

Moving Towards Journaling

I am a list maker. Long lists, short lists, tiny diagrams with notes. Part of it has to do with having a visual memory. I can remember something I saw in a magazine by the position on the page, and usually which side of the page it was on. Writing something down gives me that visual memory connection, and usually I don't have to look at the list again to remember things. However, I have stocked my purse, sewing box and portable project bags with small notebooks for creative reinforcement.

My library queue has The Artists Way by Julia Cameron on it, which I've read before, and probably should just buy the book. Ideas come to me at any time, and don't always get recorded or acted upon. Last week while quilting a dense but pretty climbing daisy pattern, I realized the design would work well as an applique pattern. In the continuous quilting pattern, the vine, leaves and flowers are all connected, but it would work well with the leaves and flowers floating or just slightly overlapping the vine. Journaling would pull up some of these flashes of inspiration, and help me develop them further.

My project list is mostly sewing/quilting related, and it should probably be integrated with my Ravelry knitting/crochet queue, just for a reality check. Unless I'm working on a specific project with a deadline (for a gift), I let my projects that are worked on guide me, and I'm OK with several things in progress at a time. Usually.

Working on projects that aren't coming out well usually cause a flurry of new project starts. I started a Corded bag last week, which isn't a happy project. I kept telling myself it was almost done, but after a small sample of crochet using the same yarn (Noro Daria which is more of a cord than a yarn), I started a sample with some CotLin yarn, and then purchased Boo the Bat from Mochimochi Land and actually completed all of the parts in one evening. It's my way of putting off ripping out the Corded. Boo is coming out great, so in a way it is encouraging me to make a better finished product with the Daria yarn.

My creative process is often a start in one direction, then turning a different way for an outcome that wasn't expected, but better than the original idea. Journaling will help me make those changes more freely.