Blogtober Round Up

Back at the beginning of October, I decided to do a 'blogtober' challenge of sorts.  I planned to blog every second day during October to get me back into the habit, motivated and enthusiastic.

So, how did I do?

I should have written 15 posts.  According to my blog list, I actually wrote 12.  Not too bad.

I had 1,475 people view my posts and 37 comments on the posts themselves (and more on Facebook, when I cross-posted).

My most popular post by view was Piwakawaka in Dappled Light (that quilt sold at KOAST by the way), and the post that generated the most discussion was The Big Snip on cropping my quilt, 'Dawn Contemplation' (which so far I've taken off the binding, but not actually cut it yet.)

Those are the numbers, but how did I do in terms of unmeasurable stuff?

I'm definitely more enthusiastic - because after all, I need to update you on when I do finally cut up Dawn quilt, and what I do with my favourite piece of fabric!  And having a conversation and interactions with other people who love fabric and stitching is such a great motivator and inspiration.

I think I've also created more of a habit.  During Blogtober, I knew I'd made a commitment to post, so I just did.  I didn't angst over whether I had something relative to say, or whether anyone would read it, and in not angsting, it all flowed easier.

I love to blog.  I've been doing it now for years, and it's awfully interesting (and sometimes just awful) to look back over the years and have a record of what I was sewing, thinking, gardening, child rearing etc.  But sometimes it gets a bit harder than other times.  Everything in cycles I suppose.

Just for giggles, my most viewed posts ever are:

Mat and Ruler Bag, with over 6000 views.  I really should make another one and write a pattern or something.

Batting the Old Fashioned Way.  I still do this occasionally, but it does make your quilts heavy, and I seem to have run out of old woollen blankets, they are really trendy right now, with people making anything from cushions to jackets out of them.

Shibori Folding Techniques - Tutorial (hmmm, maybe I should have a shibori session when I'm next in the dye studio.)

How to joint a rabbit (chopping up dead animals - vegetarians beware,) Yes, I used to raise bunnies for meat!

And lastly,

Gwen Marston Class - Small Sketches (and I believe this will be much more about people searching for info on Gwen Marston, rather than because I wrote anything scintillating!)

So, to sum up.  Yes, Blogtober was a success and hopefully this has reinvigorated me for another while yet.  See you soon!

Deadlines and Blogtober

I've been pondering ways to reinvigorate my blog, trying to find ways to make blogging a habit again and it came to mind that we have hit October.  Have you heard of Blogtober?  It was a challenge thingy that ran for at least a couple of years - the rules of the challenge were pretty simple, bloggers would blog every day in October.

I don't know if there is a Blogtober thing happening this year, but I thought I might hold my own personal one.  I know I'll fall over if I try to do it every single day, and it's already the 2nd of October, so I'm making it my goal to post every second day.

So welcome to my first Blogtober post!

I'm working towards a deadline at present.  It's amazing how great a deadline is for motivation, and because this deadline is an exhibition of sorts, it's also been amazing how great it's been for my creative output.

I lead a busy life.  I'm a mum to two growing kids, a midwife, an artist, and a wife to a busy man.  We've moved house twice this year, sold our boat, I've moved out of my studio, we're renovating the house we are in, we're tackling the horrendous garden on our rental property, and now we are in the process of selling my husband's shares in his two businesses.  

So I could easily make excuses.  And sometimes I do.  But excuses do not make good art.  Ever since I read about Jane Sassaman making art on her kitchen table for years and what she achieved using whatever tiny space she had, I've known that if I want it badly enough, I just have to make do with what space and time I have, and just do it.

But a deadline sure helps that 'just do it' attitude!

My deadline is the KOAST art trail.  Kerikeri holds a very successful art trail over Labour weekend every year.  I can't take part because I'm not physically in Kerikeri, but this year they've invited me to be one of their guest artists, exhibiting at a shared location.  I'm really excited and honoured to be chosen and looking forward to the experience as I've never been a part of anything like this yet.

If you want to make a long weekend of it, you can use the contact form here and order a KOAST trail guide.  Kerikeri and The Bay of Islands has great accomodation if you are from out of town and want to make a weekend of it.

So there we have it, my first Blogtober post.  It wasn't so hard.  And now I must get back to making art.

Monday Musing 25 May 2015

Monday Musings

I think my blog is lacking a little bit in content.  I know I've said that before, but I still don't think I've remedied it.  So I'm thinking (musing, hence the title, but I like alliteration) that I should instigate a schedule of weekly posts with some sort of regular weekly content. 

I guess I've been musing about what I want to use my blog for.  This is related to my consolidation process that I'm going through.  It's nice to have a record about what I've been up to.  And I like that it gives me a venue to publicise my work and my classes.  But now that my kids are getting older I don't write much about them, so what else can I put here?  How can I use it to be a better artist?  Yes, the podcast is fun and I'll continue to do that, but is there more that this blog can offer me?  I think so, but I've been trying to work out exactly what that is.

I've been playing with the idea of starting some sort of creative practice project*.  I think one of the ways to keep strengthening my own style is just to make lots of work.  Have you ever read that story about a ceramics tutor who divided her class into two?  One half was to be marked on volume of work produced over the term, the other half had to produce only one single pot and be marked on that.  Guess which half produced the best work by the end of the term? 

 *A creative practice project it something creative done regularly - a journal quilt every month, a zentangle per day, you've probably seen or read examples of them as they seem pretty popular around the blogosphere in recent years.

So yes, I need to produce more work.  How can I use my blog to help me achieve that?  I do post what I'm working on quiltwise, but sometimes there are constraints about what you can publish if you are wanting to enter certain exhibitions.  And large, finished pieces of textile art take a lot of investment in terms of time, who wants to see similar photos of the same quilt week after week?  

So, is there a smaller creative practice project I could do? I've been tempted to join into other people's year long challenges or projects, but just haven't found the right one for me.  Yet I think it would be an enriching experience, a way to push through creative barriers, to do many small acts that add up to something in the end.

Any finished article takes a lot of investment, but what about something unfinished?  I listened to Meighan O'Toole's podcast where she interviewed Jen Hewett, a printmaker who did a 52 prints challenge (she's onto another 12 month long project now because she found her first one so worthwhile) and as I listened, I realised that she was not making finished items, but just committing to making a print per week.  Whether it got into a finished item or not was irrelevant.  A sketch, a print, lots of things come to mind for me, but what I keep coming back to is complex cloth - surface design but in layers so that it becomes complex and almost a piece of art itself.

And then I could tie my creative practice project back into the blog.  Being accountable to myself but also to you, dear readers.  I'd use my blog to muse about the process, I'd set up reminders to blog regularly about what it is I have learnt and by the end of the project I'd not only have a body of work, but I would also have process notes and journals, and ideas and feedback from others.  

I'm going to muse more about this idea for a little while, but thanks for reading my random musings, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on creative practice projects and if you're interested in starting up one too.

Beginner Quiltmaking Classes

I'm sitting here in the wheelhouse of my boat.  It's our third night staying aboard.  I hesitate to say we've moved in completely because the majority if our stuff is still in our house.  Our plan is to collect the things we need day by day and after a couple of weeks, everything that is left in the house is either junk and can be tossed/recycled/donated or things that we won't need until we live in a house again (think wheelbarrow and rake) and can go into storage.  I think this is the lazy persons way of moving and downsizing, but it seems to be working!

So the reason that I'm telling you all that is to say I don't have internet hooked up for my desktop computer yet.  I have cellular access through my ipad, but the Blogger ap just doesn't compare for usability, and I can only upload photos that are on my ipad.  Meaning?  My blogging might be a little weird, and scant, for a while.  Bear with me.

But I did find a couple of photos on here that I want to share.  These are the table runners from my beginners classes that finished up a couple of weeks ago.

There are only four pictured as a couple of students couldn't make the final night.  But these four all got to the hand-stitching down the binding part and it was so cool to see the different runners evolve out of all the different fabric selections.  Each person had different challenges, but they all got there in the end.  Do you remember the first patchwork item you completed and were proud of?

I thought I might run a sampler class next time as everyone was keen on this idea.  Problem is, I'm not a traditional block sampler kind of girl so I'm thinking I might do a strippy type sampler instead.  I've been having fun looking at block books and thinking of the different skills each block needs and what I should incorporate.

Do you have any suggestions or ideas as to what skills you think beginners should learn?