Restoring Order

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I like it when things are in their place. I’m not obsessive about this, but when things are where they should be there’s a sense of calm in my world. Recently, in the book shops, I’ve picked up a book called the life-changing magic of tidying up: the japanese art of decluttering and organizing. It’s a pretty book and a nice size too. It’s a New York Times #1 best seller, written by Marie Kondo. So, why don’t I buy the book and find out what the magic is? Mainly because it seems to me that it would just add One More Thing that I’d need to declutter.

Three weeks ago I had some dental surgery done, and was instructed/ordered not to exercise for a week. That week ended up being almost two weeks and then, just when I thought it was OK to get out there, I got a nasty cold. Minor stuff, but I listened to my body and just hung about. The benefit of this little break was having lots of time to clean up my sewing room and finish some niggly bits and pieces.

I got down to the bottom of my ironing bucket. I finally sewed a hanging loop on my jean jacket. Honestly, it took less than five minutes and I’ve put it off for two years! I sorted fabrics that are leftover from three different quilts. I put aside fabric and notions that will be donated or swapped. I put hanging sleeves on my wall quilts so that they can actually hang and not spend their days in a pile on the floor. Everything is labelled now.

This quilt, which was started over two years ago, was promised to Project Linus. It will be my second donation to them. Their donated quilts and blankets go to a transition house in North Vancouver.

It’s free motion quilted with different patterns on each block and then a meander on all the white. I hope that it brings comfort and joy to someone.

There is one more UFO, (unfinished object), waiting to be quilted and I’ve just ordered some thread for it. I’m sticking to my goal of not buying any new fabric as my collection is full of wonderful pieces that are calling to be used. And, this afternoon I began working on a lined linen blazer. That fabric’s been around for a while, but linen is timeless, right!?

Yesterday marked five weeks until my Half Ironman race. I’m definitely not where I’d like to be as far as training distances. Three weeks off, at this point, isn’t recommended, but I had a good solid base and should be able to build up the mileage.

My mind and my sewing room have been decluttered. Order has been restored and I can get excited again about new projects and spending time in the water, on the bike and on the road.

Thanks for reading.

Start To Finish #6 – Done!

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The picture above was taken at sunset, from the roof of Colonel’s Retreat, a wonderful place to stay in New Delhi.

Previously I posted that I’d started quilting on the Indian – inspired quilt. It took several sessions and sometimes I had to make myself take a break. It really was fun and seemed to go quickly. You may wonder how one would quilt something 6′ x 7′ on a domestic sewing machine. A few months ago I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but it is.

I have a table with an opening that my machine fits into. The machine is then flush with the surface of the table. Behind that is another large table that supports the quilt as it moves away from me. Finally, I move my large ironing board to my left and lower it so it’s level with my table. It supports the quilt at the side.

The quilt ‘sandwich’ was pinned together with more than 400 pins. Then I mentally divided the quilt into four quadrants and worked on one quadrant at a time. Starting at the quilt centre I stitched vertically towards the bottom edge in approximately 8″ sections. When the quilting was finished, I squared it off and added the binding, which was finished by hand.

I used a size 14 topstitch needle, switching in a new one at the half way point. The thread, both top and bobbin, is Superior King Tut ‘Shekels’, not ‘Sunflowers’ as I’d said earlier. The backing is Moda ‘Grunge’ in colour Mustard. The binding is also from the Moda ‘Grunge’ collection and is colour Gris Fonce. The finished size is 74″ x 82″.

My thoughts, now that it’s done? It looks just liked I’d hoped it would. The colours are bold and bright, yet I don’t think it’s garish. I love the backing and how it shows the swirly quilting. And, in spite of all of the quilting, it’s really soft and cuddly. I’m pretty sure that this is the quilt that I’ll enter into the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Showcase in August.

Oh, I’m still trying to come up with a good name for this quilt. But, in the meantime, here are some pix.

Delhi Dreams

Namaste!

Accountability

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The good thing about publicizing a goal is that it makes one somewhat accountable. The bad thing about publicizing a goal is that it makes one somewhat accountable. Several years ago I joined a marathon training group in Oakville, Ontario. The leader urged us to shout to the world that we’d signed up to run a marathon. By doing so we’d become excited and it would explain why we were going to run hundreds of training miles, often in terrible weather. More than that, because everyone knew about the goal, it would be very hard to slack off and/or miss workouts.

From 2005 to 2007 I trained with a group of seven gals who were all, like me, training to complete a first Ironman race. We called ourselves the FAB’s, or Fu**ing Accountability Buddies. Feeling lazy? Too bad, they’re waiting for you. Partied too hard last night? You should have thought of that, because they’re waiting for you. Of course they were also there if you got a flat tire, struggled on a hill or just wanted company on a long session. That group has changed; I moved away, some found other interests and one sadly lost a battle with breast cancer.

This past weekend I had a minor, really minor, spill off my bike at the end of a 70km ride. I got some bruises, a sore neck and a couple of slightly sprained fingers. Oh, and a lot of wounded pride! I spent a day wondering whether it was time to pack in the training and just not race this year, or maybe ever.

Then I remembered how much I enjoy race day and the level of fitness that goes with getting there. I’ve hit the reset button and will continue to train as hard as is appropriate on a given day. Who knows what race day will bring? My plan is to be there at the start line to see. I no longer have Team FAB, but I feel accountable to myself and know that giving up isn’t an option.

Related, in a way – I posted last week, while I was watching Jordan Spieth at the Masters’ Golf Championship. While I was writing, Jordan was far ahead of all of the other golfers and seemed destined to win his second straight Masters’. Things went south for Jordan and, try as he might, he couldn’t recover; he tied for second. As a professional athlete Jordan is accountable to sponsors, media and fans. Ultimately, though, he’s accountable only to himself – at 22, tough to grasp. He’s still FABulous in my books!

As always, thanks for reading.

Start To Finish #5 – Quilting

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I wasn’t going to write any more posts about this project until it was all done. However, today was such a great day that I just had to share. Let me back up a few days to last Wednesday. I made use of our large kitchen island to pin the top, batting and backing together. The quilt right now is approximately 84″ x 90″ and I needed 400+ pins to pin baste it together. That’s about 2 hours of pinning!

While I was buying the pins, I picked up a spool of Superior King Tut thread in colour ‘Sunflowers’. I’d planned to go ~~safe~~ dull, and use grey thread, but when I saw this variegated yellow I just knew it was the one. It’s so cheery!

The other day I read someone’s blog post, (can’t remember whose), and there were terrific instructions on how to quilt something so large on a domestic sewing machine. I followed that method and it was a breeze. My machine loves the Superior thread and there were no tension issues – for me or for the machine.

Because the quilt is so linear I wanted the quilting to be curvy and decided to try a paisley pattern. After practicing on a small sample, it was time for the real thing. It took a while to get into the groove and lots of the paisleys look, well, not like paisleys, but they’re fine. The quilting is one-quarter done and it’s really been fun. Honestly, if it hadn’t gotten too dark in the sewing room, I’d be up there all night long. Here’s a sneak preview:

Thanks for reading!

Waste Not, Want Not

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My mother was ‘green’; reducing, reusing and recycling years before it was the thing to do. We washed and reused foil, we reused paper lunch bags until they were ragged. The oven only got turned on if there were several things to bake, lights were flicked off when we left a room and the dishwasher had to be really full before it was started. We had a huge, braided circular rug that Mom made out of strips of wool yardage.

As a surly teenager I didn’t appreciate the importance of all of this. In fact, I probably thought it was pretty uncool. However, as soon as I left home, I tried to be as responsible as I could. I use fabric shopping bags, favour products with minimal packaging, take the bus whenever possible, make my own granola and, yes, I wash and reuse foil!

When I got interested in quilting I said that there would be no ‘stash’ of fabric. I’d only have what I need for the current project. That didn’t work so well – the stash is excessive and now I’m back to buying only what I need for a current project.

A lot of scrap is created during the making of a quilt and I’m trying to find a use for all the bits and pieces. Here’s a wall hanging that is made from the selvedges, or bound edges of fabric:

The selvedges are always cut off before using a piece of fabric, as they are tightly woven and would cause the project to pucker. Also, as you can see, they have writing on them – the name of the fabric, the designer and the mill where they were made. For someone who loves words and language I find these fascinating and will continue to collect them. This little hanging is about 24″ x 24″ and I named it ‘Salvaged Selvedges’.

I’ve also begun saving scraps of fabric, thread and batting and plan to use them as stuffing for a dog bed. Still working on the logistics of that one, but I hope to have it figured out soon. Tug thinks it’s a good idea!

I’m happy to say that the Postage Stamp Quilt is well under way and it’s such fun to pick up and work on for an hour or so. The finished size will be 64″ x 72″, or 4,608 pieces. I’m really loving this project and it’s using up lots of little bits. Here’s one block that is 16″ x 16″:

It’s going to take a while to whittle down my stock of fabric. I look at some of it now and wonder whatever possessed me to buy it. Those pieces will go to a fabric exchange or to the Salvation Army and someone else can enjoy them. Nothing new will be purchased and I’ll be left with an uncluttered place to create.

After I hit the ‘publish’ button on this post I’m going to spend some time organizing the 8,000+ photos on my laptop. It’s a perfect job to do while watching the amazing Jordan Spieth as he heads toward a back to back win at The Masters. Incredible golfer with such poise, and he’s only 22!

Thanks for reading.

Start To Finish #4 – The Back

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I have such trouble with the back of a quilt. The front comes from an idea or a pattern. I have fun putting it together, and it almost always works the way I’d hoped. The back is hard because I feel that it should be as good or as interesting as the flip side. It should be worthy of being seen, not ‘just the back’.

My current colours of India quilt is exciting, vibrant and bright. I was thrilled to find three fabrics for the back that I thought would be complementary. They had an Indian feel; with paisleys, swirly flowers and gold threads. I washed and pressed them and then fooled around with a layout. It was all carefully measured and well sewn/pressed. But it was awful! Almost so bad that I don’t want to share it, but here it is:

: The three fabrics on top of front of quilt.

: Pieced together.

What’s wrong with it? There’s too much going on. Any one of the fabrics on their own would be fine, but not all three. The orange with gold flower would have been awesome. Also, it’s pieced that way because I didn’t buy quite enough length – because I didn’t have a plan. (This is a mistake that I’ve made before and hope not to make again.)

Here are some backs that I’m happy with:

Back of Newspaper quilt

Back of Night For Life Gala quilt

Back of Read Between the Lines

Back of Kohala Koi quilt.

Back of Collaborative quilt.

There’s some interest, but they don’t steal the show. If the quilt ended up folded over or upside down it wouldn’t be a bad thing. The piecing is necessary because fabric isn’t usually wide enough to back anything more than 40″. Adding bits and pieces disguises the seams.

Returning to the quilt of the moment – the colours of India. I bit the bullet and went in search of all new fabric for the back. I had great help in one of the local shops. The clerk and I found the perfect fabric, but when he went to cut it, we found a flaw ran through the entire bolt. (I was shocked when the manager said that she knew it was flawed, but was prepared to sell it at full price, without flagging it as flawed. hmmmm.) I had better luck at another shop and made my purchase. It’s been washed, dried and pressed. Tomorrow I’ll piece it and then, with Blake’s help, I’ll pin the top, the batting and the backing together. Then it will go away for a bit while I decide how to quilt it.

I’ve just reread this post and feel a need to add a disclaimer of sorts. The back of this quilt won’t have different colours or fabrics. It will be all one fabric with seams that won’t be disguised with bits and pieces. What I’ve chosen just feels like the right thing, all by itself. There won’t be a third attempt.

Stay tuned for the next post, which should be the final one for this project. It could be a while. In the meantime, I’m trying to think of a name for this quilt, other than ‘Colours of India’. I like ‘Memories of India’ but President’s Choice has a line of marinades – ‘Memories of Korea, Szechuan, Tuscany, Argentina’ etc – so that won’t work. I welcome any suggestions.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Easter!

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I hope that you’ve all had a pleasant Easter weekend. It’s a funny one, what with different people getting different days off. Looking around our neighbourhood it’s obvious that there are some family gatherings happening, maybe some Easter egg hunts??

Good Friday saw me out early for a bike ride. It was kind of a shake down cruise as I’ve not ridden much since 2013. Well, I did try to ride on Thetis Island, at the quilt retreat, but one of my pedals snapped after about 15 minutes. Lucky for me, I was at the top of a hill and managed to coast most of the way back! Stanley Park is an amazing place to go for a bike ride. There’s very little traffic early in the morning. The road surface is smooth, there’s one good hill and the view is unbeatable. It’s a 10km loop, so I did two of those, plus there and back from home, which totalled 35km. Now that I know the bike is in good shape I will venture out for longer training rides.

The other fun thing that happened on Friday was the start of the 48th annual Southern Straits Yacht Race. It’s put on by the West Vancouver Yacht Club and the start is directly off the pier at Dundarave Beach. Hundreds of spectators turn out to watch. There were bands playing, pancakes for breakfast, free coffee and the Easter Bunny was there too. Here’s a photo of the first start with the bigger sailboats.

Saturday was an indoor cycling workout, followed by chores and sewing for the afternoon. The highlight was dinner out with Blake’s brother and girlfriend at Arm’s Reach Bistro in Deep Cove. Fabulous food and a wonderful setting.

It’s now just before noon and I’m excited to say that I knocked off a 15km run this morning. I’ve not run that far since 2013 and it was awesome. (I set out last Sunday to do that distance, and just wasn’t feeling the love, so bailed at 5km!)

I had my good playlist and just chugged along listening to tunes. Have you seen the Academy Award nominated movie Selma? It was nominated for Best Picture in 2015. It deals with the black struggle for the right to vote in 1965 and is a powerful film. The song Glory, by Common and John Legend, is from that movie and is one that I could listen to over and over. It came on during my run and, as always, it moved me deeply. Is there a song that does that for you?

I wish you all joy and peace today and every day, wherever you are and whether you’re alone or with family and friends.

Thanks for reading.

Start To Finish #3 -Assembly

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In the last progress report, on the colours of India quilt, I had cut out what I’d hoped were enough 2″ strips to make a quilt top that measures approximately 80″x 80″. Those strips were set aside, waiting to be stitched together at my annual quilt retreat.

Retreat began last Monday afternoon. I spent the first afternoon and evening working on another project, wanting to be fresh for this one. Bright and early Tuesday I got the pile of strips out and sorted them by colour. Then I started stitching them together, end to end. There was no pattern; I just tried to keep them mixed up a bit. The next step was to take this very large strip of 2″ fabric and cut it into 60 x 80″ widths. So far so good, and it moved along quickly. Here’s the pile of strips joined end to end:

Then came the tedious part. I paired up the strips and sewed them together, creating 30 strip pairs. Then those pairs were joined together, creating 15 quad strips. This continued all afternoon and into the evening. Each 80″ seam needed to be pressed. Throughout this process I resisted the urge to see how it was looking. It was all random and I just crossed my fingers and hoped that I wouldn’t end up with 20 pieces the same in one place. Here are the 30 pairs of strips:

By mid-day on Wednesday the top was assembled and I folded it up and set it aside for that evening’s show and tell. Honestly, I was afraid to look at it. The colours are bright and bold and I thought it might be garish, tacky or just plain ugly. At show and tell I explained that I’d wanted to recreate the colours of India in a quilt. It was well received and the comments were positive. Two of the gals held it up so that I could have a good look and I was thrilled. It was just as I’d hoped, only better. Here’s the completed quilt top:

On my way home, after retreat, I stopped at The Cloth Castle in Langford to look for fabric for the back of the quilt and found three perfect pieces. Better still, they were in the markdown section! I’ve got them washed and pressed and am thinking about how to put them together in a way that will complement the top.

I’m really excited to see this one coming together. It’s joyful and brings back such fond memories of our special Indian adventure.

Thanks for following. Comments are always welcome.

Retreat 2016

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I’m sitting on a ferry, heading back to the mainland after five days at a quilt retreat on Thetis Island. This was the third year that I’ve ‘retreated’ and, like the previous two years, I wasn’t disappointed. Our retreat takes place at Capernwray Harbour Bible School and Conference Centre, during their spring break. Most of the students clear out for the break and head off to do mission work or return home. This frees up accommodation for 40 women, their sewing machines and stacks of fabric.

The school is located on a bay, adjacent to the ferry dock. The grounds are beautiful; with rolling green fields, barns, a pond, a playground and walking trails through a forest. We sleep in cabins that are spare, yet spotless and comfortable. Meals take place in the dining room and we take over two lecture rooms for sewing. The food is plentiful, healthy and very tasty.

How tempting!

You may wonder what takes place at a quilt retreat. Well, lots and lots of sewing; there are no lectures or workshops. The participants bring their own projects to work on. Take away the usual distractions of working, childcare, dog walking, cooking, cleaning, gardening and the rest and you’re left with hours of uninterrupted time to create. Some women worked on multiple quilts. Others focused on one. There were new projects and there were projects that had been started several years ago.

At times the sewing rooms were so quiet you could hear a pin drop. At other times there were many conversations going on, and every once in a while there’d be shrieks of laughter. Ideas, tips and techniques were shared. The more experienced quilters generously passed on their knowledge.

A highlight of the retreat was Wednesday night’s Show and Tell, which was attended by the quilters and several of the Capernwray staff. Almost all of the quilters got up onto the stage and showed what they’d been working on. It was wonderful to see the variety in the projects. Large, small, bright, pastel, modern and traditional, they were all there. Everyone was supportive of each other and, regardless of quilting style, we all appreciated the work involved in turning out a quilt.

I’m happy to be home and sleeping in my own bed. However, I’ve paid my deposit for 2017 and have put March 13 – 17 in my calendar and will be counting the days until the next retreat.

Thanks for reading.

Start To Finish #2 – Cut It Out

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I wanted to have my big project all cut out before heading to quilt retreat next week. There are two reasons for this: 1. I don’t want to take over the shared cutting table for an extended period and 2. I knew it would take some focus, and a room full of excited, chatting quilters might not be the best scenario for that. It turns out that this was a really good decision. It took more than three hours to get everything pressed, cut and organized.

In Start To Finish #1 I had said that I’d use a mix of 2″, 4″ and 6″ strips – something I’d been pleased with in a previous quilt. In the end I cut all of the strips 2″ wide and they will be finished at 1 1/2″. Why the change? Mainly because I wanted to make sure that I had enough fabric without having lots leftover. Most of the strips are the full width of the fabric, or about 40″ wide. The quilt will be 80″, so every two strips will make one row. I kept a running tally as I cut and fortunately I had enough fabric to make 60 rows or 90″. That’s pretty long, but it gives me flexibility to move things around and swap out rows that don’t work well. Here are the cut strips. At this point it looks like an odd jumble of random and unrelated colors, but I think it will come together nicely.

Right now I’m sitting in the ferry lineup at Horseshoe Bay, about to board the 8:30 sailing to Nanaimo. From there it’s a 45 minute drive to Chemainus, where I’ll hop onto the 12:15 sailing to Thetis Island. By 2pm I’ll have my car unpacked, my bed made up, my clothes stored and my sewing station organized for four days of sewing.

As a special bonus the torrential rain and strong winds have stopped. There is blue sky and fresh snow on the mountains-a gorgeous coastal morning. What a way to start a week!