In Praise of The Humble Stipple

I don't know why stippling (or all-over meandering) gets such a bad rap.  It's a free-motion quilting pattern that has got a whole heap going for it and we really shouldn't knock it like we do.

I was thinking about the stipple because I decided to use it, and using it reminded me of why I like it. 

Here's why I'm celebrating the humble stipple today:

• Stippling fills an area quickly.
• The pattern gives a really nice overall texture.
• It's the type of pattern that looks good stitched out big, small, or anywhere in between.
• Stippling is an excellent practice stitch because you need good 'flow' to get it nice and smooth, and there is no sharp corners, which can be traps for newbies.
• I find it easy to use to travel around the quilt top.

My art quilt pieces tend to use more organic patterns - not even patterns really - just lines to indicate texture and so are often uneven and kind of random.  But when I'm stitching a more traditional quilt, the stipple gets a look in.

Here's a detail from one of my art quilts with a 'texture' quilting pattern to indicate the tree line in the distance.

Our quilt guild makes donation quilts - we call them community quilts - and most of them get given to Women's Refuge (a women's shelter to help women and children trying to get out of violent situations).  The one below was made and basted by several other group members and I've taken on the task of quilting it.

So I'm using it as a bit of a practice piece, with the intent of filling every block with a different free-motion filler.  And of course, where do you start when looking for free-motion quilting fillers?  But with stippling of course!

The next pattern I chose was curlicues.  Another nice pattern, but compare it with the picture of stippling above.  What do you think?  The stipple gets my vote for evenness of texture.

Sure, if we use any pattern too much it gets boring.  We need to be sensible and incorporate stippling with other patterns to add variety and places for the eyes to rest and move to.  But don't discount stippling just because everyone does it.  Everyone does it for a reason - it's an excellent, and very useful quilting pattern.

So here's to you, Humble Stipple!  May you live on long in the hearts of quilters.

The Tale of a Quilt

This is a bit different from my usual posts, it's written for a different audience, but I thought I'd share it with you too.

The Tale of a Quilt

By Charlotte Scott

I’m putting the finishing touches to my latest quilt.  Doing the binding, thinking up a name, stitching a label.  These are the bits that you know you have to do, and you’re glad you’ve done them when they’re done, but getting around to doing them?  Well, it’s a bit of a drag.  I think it’s because I get so excited about the making of a new quilt that the finishing bit makes me sad that that excitement is over.

I mostly make quilts designed to be hung on the wall rather than used on a bed.  People call them art quilts, but either way, they’re still quilts.  Three layers, quilted together with stitches, made with fabric and telling a story.  This particular one started with paint.  I’d always wanted to try printing with plant material, so one day I just did.  I picked a branch from a weedy bush outside, rolled some textile paint on it, laid it down on white fabric and pressed it down.  It made such a fabulous print that I literally clapped my hands with glee!  Such a great beginning.

I’m always trying to get a sense of light into my quilts.  It’s harder than it looks and I’ve had many pieces that turn out flat.  But since I’ve started using translucent silk organza, layered up to get depth, I’m getting better results.  So once my flora prints were dry and heat set, I used layers of silk organza over them to build up an image, to discover what the quilt wanted to tell me.

Playing with silk organza is like playing with fabric and playing with paint at the same time.  I’m trying to learn the theory behind how layering the different colours influences the final overall colour, but it doesn’t seem to follow many rules.  You’d think that yellow organza plus blue organza equals green, but it’s not always so.  I hand dye my organza so the subtle changes across one piece alter the final result, as does which order you put down the fabrics, how deep the colour is on each piece, what base fabric you are putting them down on and so on and so on.  It's an endless process of experimentation, auditioning and decision making that delights the creative part of my soul.

Dusk Moth by Charlotte Scott

I cut out some moths and a silk moon to use as focal points for what had turned out to be a dreamy, dusk-like background.  Was that my subconscious talking?  Dusk and dawn are my favourite times of day - beginnings and endings, and always such perfect light.

Then it was on to the final big step.  The free-motion quilting is a meditative process that transforms the flat plane of a quilt to a wonderfully textured surface.  It’s like we get another chance, another opportunity to add a layer to the story that is the quilt.

And now it’d ended, the quilt is made, the story wound up.  I’m a little sad, but I know another quilt, another story, will start again soon.    

Directionless

This is MV Cerego's compass.  It's a cool old thing, set on gimbals (swivelly, ball thingies that make it level no matter how the boat is sitting) and I love it.  I also thought it was an appropriate symbol of how I'm feeling at the moment.

We are living on the boat - we've been here for about five weeks or so, but I'm still not settled.  We finally have a boat builder working in our forward cabin, building our bed and storage units, but in the meantime Hubby and I have been sleeping on the couches in the kid's playroom.  I'm getting over that very quickly.

Because we are missing the room and storage that our cabin will give us, I haven't been able to sort a sewing area out properly.  And I've been so busy moving, sorting, organising tenants etc, etc that I haven't had much time to quilt anyway.

I let all obligations and deadlines go so that they wouldn't stress me out.  But on the downside of that is now I feel a bit 'drifty' or focusless.

And what do you write on a blog, or say in a podcast, when you have been doing very little and your thoughts are all awry?  It didn't help that I had no WiFi - at least that's mostly sorted now.

So I'm starting with baby steps.  Like writing this today.  A small blog post, with no real planning behind it, just to re acquaint my fingers with the keyboard.

I'll be back again soon.

Bringing back the thoughtfulness into my blog.

I often get asked why I write a blog. (That sometimes follows, "What is a blog?" which catches me by surprise that people still don't know about them!)  

The last time I was asked was in a 'formal' interview situation.  I was asked why I started my blog, why do I keep blogging and what do I enjoy about it?  

My answer was about how blogging has introduced me to so many people, given me heaps of inspiration and given me a boost when people tell me that I've inspired them or helped them.

But I've kept thinking about the question of why I write - I guess I'm having some contemplative moments - and I wanted to expand my thoughts here.

Our contemplative cows.

It sort of started with this comment that I received on my blog:

Hello.
I just want to say u are a lovely woman and mother and person.I 've been reading your blog since 2010,when I Googled calcivirus and a pic of the same needles that we were giving my cat came up.I clicked on it and it turns out u ad posted it due to the disease being let loose and were planning on vaccinating your bunnies at home.
I love reading about your crafts, planting, children, u just sound like such a great woman.
I live in pretty city-like place in the States, near New York, and always wanted a mom to teach me things like u do but my mom was not around, my grandma raised me,and she wasn't interested in that stuff,NOR were her friends. 
Anyway,she passed some time ago.
I love seeing your beautiful quilts,I've always wanted a real quilt,and you seem to make them with so much care,love,and ease.
I love your little pouches too, perfect for odds and ends and, see,u could do zippers! They really are so cool.Store bought has nothing on your lovely things.
Well Ma'am, I just finally had to put this up. 
You're an inspiration to me.
Thank you for your beautiful blog,and all the nice things you post pictures of.
You are a really cool lady. 
Sincerely, With Respect, 
Crystalina

Not only is that the longest comment I've ever had on my blog, it's probably one of the most ego-boosting too!  But beyond that, it made me think.  

For me, walking and thinking go hand in hand.

Crystalina probably had no intention in her comment other than to let me know she was reading, but she prodded my thought processes.  Who is Crystalina?  How different is her life from mine?  How much have I unknowingly influenced or inspired her?  And who else has read my blog and found something to help them, inspire them, make them laugh or scoff at?  And what makes me blog different from others that she would read mine, rather than someone else's?  

I feel that over the last while my blog posts have become less thoughtful.  I think they have become more 'diary-like' and less 'journal-like'.  What's the difference?  Well, to my mind, a diary is purely a written record what you have been doing, whereas a journal is exploring the meaning of what you have been doing and thinking.  I think a diary can be useful too - it allows you to keep a record of your successes and mistakes and serve as a reminder of what works for you.  It can help you pay closer attention to your actions - like a food diary - or help you keep track of your behaviour and responses to certain situations.  

I asked some of the other 'twilters' (twitter uses who quilt) why they blogged and here's what they answered:

Jackie replied, "I started to document my quilting, finding the social aspect was a big plus and I loved it.  I didn't expect the social would become such a big part of my quilting life."

Amy said, "I began to journal and share our family experiences with family who lived far away.  Then it got crafty. :) Multiple blogs now."

Nonnie replied, "Track my SLOW progress on my projects > connect with people

JayeL responded, "I started to practice writing.  Now I use the blog to keep track of my projects.  I love my readers and their comments as well."

And Sandi commented, "To connect with other quilters and share things I've learned."

Can you spot the common thread through all of these responses?  Everyone wants connection with other people.  But for me, connection with other people means giving something of yourself to connect with. Not just a few pretty pictures, or a log of what I've done over the last week.  But pretty pictures AND what they mean to me.  Or a log of what I've done over the last week AND what I've learnt and what I'd change.  I know I sometimes hold back offering something to others.

So I'm going to try and bring some of the thoughtfulness back.  Don't worry, this isn't going to be a repository for my deepest, darkest angst!  I've never written those sorts of things here (I'll keep that sort of thought processing for a paper journal so I can burn it if it gets too horrifying).  But I am going to try and provide 'more' for my readers.  More of the mistakes I've made and what I've learned, more of my work processes, more of my thoughts about life, quilting and child raising.  And hopefully I can keep being an inspiration to Crystalina.  

Thoughtfulness: 

contemplation: a calm, lengthy, intent consideration (wordnetweb)

done or made after careful thinking (Mirriam-Webster Dictionary)

Showing careful consideration or attention (Oxford Dictionaries)

Caveat:  I am not making a comment on how other people choose to write their blogs!  This is purely a commentary on what I want to offer, and how I have been feeling about my blog and my thought processes.  We are all different and unique and we all have distinct styles - imagine how boring the world would be if we were all the same ;)

Retreating

It seems like a week or so of hard knocks.  Life has been handing them out to many people I know.  It makes my studio woes seem laughable (which they are really).  But I'm retreating from life for a little while.  It is the weekend of our guild's regular quilting retreat and I'm going to sew, baste, quilt, piece, (probably unpick), chat, eat and drink (just a little) the weekend away.

I've finished my Old Maid's Puzzle quilt and I hope to layer and baste it this weekend.  So this morning I've been working out a backing for it.  I have a very scientific method to work out if my backings will fit.

I lay the quilt on the floor (after first pushing furniture out the way and assessing whether the floor needs a clean!) and then lay my bits of backing on top to see if they will fit.  Not very scientific, but actually pretty fail-safe!  I also have a not very scientific way to measure whether my quilts will cover the bed enough.

Just take your quilt top and lay it over the bed you wish it to cover.  Does it fit?  And there you have your answer.  It's also a good way to do a little more admiring of all your had work...;)

I have a collection of paint chips and I rummaged through them the other day matching them to the colours of this quilt.  I think I might use it as the inspiration for the colour scheme of my studio.

Anyway, have a great weekend, I know I will.  And my thoughts and love go out to everyone around the world struggling with illness or tragedy, hardship or grief.

Goals.

I’ve spent this afternoon thinking. In an abstract, distracted kinda way. Whilst aimlessly wandering around doing a little tidying, a little cooking, a little rejoicing that my daughter seems to be coming right after the last few days of vomiting.

How did I sleep through this?

It’s probably been brought on by the massive earthmoving endeavors of yesterday. They represented a major step forward in the development of this piece of land. It got me reflecting on what I actually want, where I want to head with my life, which, of course, has a lot to do with what I want to do with this block of land.

My husband owns one business and ½ owns another. The first business he bought as a one-man band operation and has built it up over the last six years to the point where he has put in a manager and stepped away. He now works in the other business and they are slowly building that one up. He periodically contemplates selling the first business, but vacillates because it gives him a decent drawing every week though it still causes him stress (admittedly a whole lot less now he has a manager). Now he is thinking about selling it again and using the profit towards a property of some description.

Stainless steel work my husband has done.

I am hesitant because it is the drawing that really has allowed me to resign from work myself. And I resigned in part to spend time on THIS property, planting an orchard, tending a large vege garden, raising animals and homemaking. Yet his plans for another block of land could either mean uprooting us from here, renting it out and starting again somewhere else, or running some sort of stock raising system that would see our weekends taken up with visiting and overseeing the other block.

However, new challenges always excite me. I think I’m very good at starting things, getting enthusiastic about things, but not necessarily following them through to the nitty gritty end. And I guess I’m a bit at that stage here. I have big plans for this place but the next few steps are hard work and I won’t really start to see rewards from here for a while. So it would be easy (in a way, because uprooting is never very easy) to be diverted by starting a new project.

I think just writing this is making me see it a whole lot clearer. I need to convince my husband that whether or not he sells his business, we need to get this place up and running before we move on or consider more challenges.

They're gorgeous when they're happy.

I was just having a little run back through some of my early posts when I began this blog. It seems like forever but I have only been blogging for seven months. And back then when I started, we weren’t even living out here. In seven months we have:

Converted a dirt-floored shed into a three bedroom house,
Finished renovating our old house and rented it out,
Moved 4 people, 2 dogs and 11 chooks from one house to the other,
Got used to using a long-drop for a loo,
Built a very large chicken run and figured out new systems of managing the chooks,
Built the fence foundations for a large vegetable garden,
Designed and organised for the building of a large shed extension and verandah,
Built a retaining wall for said shed foundation,
Bought 5 milk-fed calves and learned how to managed them (still learning!)
Sent a little boy off to school,
Planted trees, mowed paddocks, battled gorse, lugged horse poop around,
Made the decision for me to resign from paid work,
Had major earthworks done for the shed, vege garden and had a dam dug,
And all the while, done the other things that you do, like work, sleep, quilt, plan birthday parties, cook, nurse sick kids, walk dogs etc.

Hamilton Botanic Gardens. One day my place might look like this...

I guess what I’m trying to say to myself is, hey! Go easy, you’ve actually done quite a bit and even though you spend a bit of time wandering round aimlessly, you are still achieving things. Whilst you still have plenty to do to get this place to ‘dream lifestyle’ stage, packing it in and starting somewhere else is just going to put you back at square one, don’t give up now!

With that sorted out, I guess I need to look more closely at what I (or we!) want to achieve out here in the next wee while and do some step-by-step goal setting to help us get there. But I think I’ll save that for another post…..