The Journey

One of the many books I read while on hiatus was Slow Stitch: Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art by Claire Wellesey-Smith. For a while now I've been studying various methods of art quilting to learn more about it, but also to navigate where I'm going with my own needle work. Last summer for the first time I made an improvisational art quilt with eco-friendly, sustainable fabrics and threads that really challenged me, and put me on a different path with my quilt work. This book added a lot to that shift in my thinking as well.

Claire is a textile artist from Yorkshire, UK who doesn't churn out perfect quilts from patterns that a thousand other quilters use. She dyes her own fabrics and threads using seasonal plants that she sources locally. She has an enduring emotional connection with her work and materials, and hand stitches her projects, two things I also feel strongly about as a quilter. She supports using traditional methods in quilting and patchwork, like Kantha and Japanese boro, which are sustainable. The one thing she doesn't do is hurry.

This book is not about utter perfection, over-productivity, or finish line races. There aren't endless pages of complicated projects that you'll never master. In fact, I doubt there's a single straight line of stitching in the whole book. What Claire does is steer textile artists toward taking more time and thought with their work, going green by using recycled materials, and finding inspiration from some lovely traditional methods. She does so with a quiet, elegant honesty that really spoke to me. The slow stitch mindset is very natural, and more grounded in what quilting is for me. Her goal is not to help you finish ten projects in a month, but to find the pleasure in the making of one -- however long it takes.

I highly recommend this book as a wonderful guide and companion for any textile artist who wants to get more out of the journey.

Sew Me

When I wasn't writing in 2017 I was sewing -- a lot. I wanted to complete at least one project every month, learn to design more patchwork, and dabble a bit in art quilting. I also documented everything I was doing over at my Tumblr blog, which helped keep me on track.

Here's some of what I got accomplished:



I started the year with a small patchwork pillow project to use up some scraps.



I bought a vintage quilt top at the annual county quilt show and made it into a new quilt for Skye's kennel.



I practiced some new embroidery stitches and techniques on this crazy quilt tote.



I tried working with modern fabrics for the first time to make this black/white/gold lap quilt.



I designed and made my first bargello quilt.



I experimented with new types of hand quilting stitches to make this little tote.



My big project of the year was designing and making this quilt from fabrics and some patchwork sent to me by a dear friend.



I made my first official art quilt out of recycled linen remnants and eco-dyed fabrics.



Another lap quilt I made, inspired by a lovely linen from my friend's fabric.



This was the month my sewing machine started to die, so this cute tote I made from orphaned patchwork blocks I purchased on Etsy was done largely by hand.



A winter table runner I made for an art swap.



A pillow I made from an old cutter quilt piece.



A table topper I quilted and embroidered for Thanksgiving. On Black Friday I did venture out to buy a new sewing machine, too.

I still have one more quilt to work on this month, and a table runner I want to make for New Year's Eve, but I think I did okay with my non-writing projects in 2017. One very positive side of doing so much quilting was that I kept my creative energy high, which really helped my writing. Next year I'm probably going to do more art quilting, as that's the bug that bit me most often in 2017, but I'm also constantly finding new inspirations, so we'll see.

What creative projects did you finish this year? Let us know in comments.

Mini-Project #3: Book Bag

For my final Spoonflower mini-project I decided to make a book bag, and for the design a free pattern I could find available online. I chose this Hip to be Square pattern posted on Craftbits.com because it was a good size, looked different and came with a free .pdf of the pattern pieces I could print out on standard paper.

At first I didn't bother to register with the site to get the printable version of the sewing instructions. It was a little bag; I thought I could figure it out from the pattern pieces. (we'll call this Major Mistake #1. Print out and read the instructions before you try putting it together.)

Originally I had picked out a pretty embroidered organza to use for the front panel, but on closer inspection I found that even lined it would be a bit too delicate for my application. Fortunately I am an abstract batik junkie, and among my stash I found a pretty remnant that almost exactly matched the background of my swatch. It was thin cotton, but I figured I'd just double up on the batting (yes, I also decided to bat it to give it some substance versus using a heavier textile as the pattern maker suggested. Major Mistake #2.)

I started cutting and sewing, and quickly discovered that I wasn't putting it together correctly. I'm stubborn, of course, so I ripped out the seams and tried two more times before I finally accepted that no, guessing wasn't going to get the job down, and went back to register with the site to get the printed instructions (registration is free and all they want is your e-mail.)

Here's the finished bag:



I did make some adjustments to the pattern. I intended to use the opal tower swatch from Spoonflower as a patchwork inset, but it was the right size to make another pocket, so I made it into one and added that to the outside of the bag. I used contrasting broadcloth for the handle on one side, but it was such a pain to sew in place I decided to just run a satin stitch around the edges of the handle on the other side -- and in the end I actually liked the look of that better than the handle.

Because I didn't bother to quilt any of the component pieces I also had to constantly pin and repin the batting to keep it from bunching up while I was putting the tote together. To avoid this problem if you want to bat yours, definitely quilt the pieces before you assembly them into the tote.

The things I love about this pattern are that there are no handles to attach; they're built into the bag. The size is good -- almost more like a purse than a tote -- but not so big that it feels like you're carrying luggage. It has a roomy inner pocket you attached to the lining, but you can probably add more to suit your needs. In fact if you're good with altering patterns you could probably make this work for more than just a book bag; with some resizing and different fabrics and notions you could probably use it to make a gift bag, a smaller make-up bag or even a clutch purse.

My final Spoonflower project will be the quilt I'm planning to make with the yardage I designed. I haven't started that as some other fabric I need won't be arriving until next week, but as soon as I have it done I'll post some pics and tell you how it went.