Monday, January 27, 2020

Pillowcases for Fellow Knitter

I got an email reminder for this year’s Stitches West 2020 Show and this made me think of my knitting friend Linda in New Hampshire. I thought this knitting sheep fabric was perfect, so I made this standard size pair of complementary pillowcases for her.


The fabrics are from totally different designers and manufacturers – Timeless Treasures Fabrics, Gail Cadden for the wooly knitters and Moda Fabrics, Deb Strain for the multi-colored leaves – but I loved the way they played together, just like those whimsical sheep. Or are they lambs? Nope, they are sheep. They are wearing glasses so ewe gotta believe they are grandmas.



These next two are king-sized pillowcases. I could not pass up the teeny lamb fabric since they symbolize knitting to me. Yes, I know that synthetic yarns now allow sheep to keep their warm wooly coats, but lambs can still be the my symbolic mascot for the craft of knitting. I have had this pale blue fabric since my kids were babies and they are now 33, 36, and 39 so I could not find any selvage information. It is old so there is probably none available for sale anywhere. Oh wait! I still have some leftover...



The ¾" diameter dots are a Riley Blake Design. I thought it was funny to have dots as big as the sheep. The two fabric combination makes it appear like the sheep are stylized polka dots in themselves.


I had fun picking out the fabrics and making the pillowcases. I hope they will be fun to use.

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Painting Rock Mandalas

In visiting the home of Kathie, a quilting friend of mine, I stopped to admire an array of painted rocks in the planting bed beside the stoop of her front door. I thought they were gorgeous in their own right. They also added a splash of color and contrast not always possible with flowers. Not to mention, with my black thumb, plants often die pre-maturely, long before the lower limit of their theoretically supposed life span. When I learned that Kathie had painted them, I asked that she teach me how. This photo of her collection was taken many months ago and last week we finally got together for her to teach me.


Kathie had emailed me the links to a few online tutorials before we got together. She had prepped a several stones with black paint, which really makes the colored dots we applied pop. One of the  introductory tutorials I liked How to paint rock mandalas by Kristin Uhrig. She told me she had started doing this when she was laid up with a leg injury and found painting dot mandalas on small stones was both creative and relaxing.

Here is my first attempt using a nice round stone and trying to adhere to symmetry both in dot size and position.


My second attempt was painting on an oblong stone and so I thought I would be brave, branch out, and try two circular dots patterns of uneven size on the same stone. I was somewhat cocky and rushed a bit on the next rock so my dots were not as precise as I would have liked and as they had been on my first attempt. The two mandalas looked like eyes to me so I improvised and added a dotted beak.


For even more eye candy and to appreciate how precise dots, uniformly sized and spaced, can really wow, check out this link: Artist Turns Ocean Stones Into Tiny Mandalas By Painting Colourful Dot Patterns. I had a lot of fun with this activity and intend to paint some more on my own. Like quilting, precision pays off, and I will take my time and enjoy the creative process on my future stones.

Friday, January 24, 2020

2020 Quilting Goals

In a meeting I was at last week we were asked to pick a word that would be our focus for the new year. I picked POSITIVE with the thought that it had a double meaning – sure and upbeat.
  1. I want to be sure than any volunteer task or project that I undertake, I do so because I want to and not because I feel obligated.
  2. I want to have an upbeat outlook – be an optimist, not a pessimist
Both these views of "positive" feed into my 2020 quilting goals. Any list of proposed completions should contain items I want to do and not items I feel obligated to do (#1 above). Frankly, evaluating my performance on my 2019 goals (post 1/12/20) was a bit disappointing. Instead, I want to be upbeat (#2 above) and avoid setting myself up for failure. So rather than trying to do better on the same things I felt unmotivated to do last year, I will change the goals. Does this sound like cheating? Maybe it is. Albert Einstein is widely (and erroneously) credited with saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” So even if I am bending the rules a bit (if there are any rules for goal making), I will try this different, more POSITIVE approach anyway.

Goals for morale boosting and working on small projects were successful so I will keep them. My goal for skill enhancement must have been boring so I accomplished little of that. I will tweak "skill building" to mean reaching out and exploring something new and engaging to me. Since I did not complete any large project last year I will set myself the goal of completing one – just one – large project in 2020. Here are my three simple goals for 2020:
  1. FUN: Sew and blog for fun, not guilt; attend shows for inspiration.
  2. GROWTH: Try one or two new creative crafts; try out at least one workshop or class
  3. SATISFACTION: Complete at least one large quilt.


My daughter-in-law commented on my 2019 goal evaluation post that
Your goals and review of them remind me of annual work reviews... Even though you've been retired for almost seven years, you still have that ingrained in you.
And she is absolutely right! Sewing and quilting is not a business for me. My sense of accomplishment and satisfaction comes from the portion of my "Year in Review" post where I list and have photos for items I have made throughout the year. This pictorial history is what gives me pleasure  – not the status critiques for each year. I sat back and looked at the photos for the past years and ignored the check marks at the end: 2019 (2 quilts), 2018 (3 quilts), 2017 (2 quilts), 2016 (4 quilts), 2015 (7 quilts), 2014 (10 quilts), 2013 (5 quilts), 2012 (6 quilts). I even took a selection of these photos and made them into a rotating screensaver on my computer as a reminder. I made many items, not necessarily quilts, that were not in my goals list at all. I will be POSITIVE and savor what I did do and not focus on what I did not do! Fun, growth, and satisfaction are certainly achievable and so they will be my goals for 2020.

So if I have FUN (impossible not to do), GROW (exciting because it will be novel), and have a sense of SATISFACTION (comes naturally with completion) the next year will be successful indeed. 

Sunday, January 12, 2020

2019 in Review

2019 In Review
Here are my accomplishments for 2019, followed by pictures and headings only. Details are in my past posts as indicated by a clickable completion date after each name. My own assessment of how well I met my 2019 goals is after the pictures of completions.

2019 COMPLETIONS:
  • 2 quilts
  • 14 knitted items
  • 3 home decor items
  • 0 cloth books
  • 2 toys – stuffed dolls with accessories
  • 39 pillowcases
  • 10 burp cloths
  • 3 articles of clothing
  • 1 blog book
  • 4 quilt shows
2 QUILTS

Oh Boy (2/21/19) ~ 48" x 48" - given to baby Wyatt in Oklahoma

Kindness Calendar (12/3/19) ~ 40" x 58" - given to Vivian, Lillian, William

14 KNITTED ITEMS

Round Adult Snuggly (1/9/19) ~58" diameter - kept for family room

Elephant and lion hats (1/20/19) - given to Isaiah and Autumn

5 Santa Hats (7/15/19) - given to Autumn, Isaiah and Vivian, Lillian, William

5 Elf Hats (11/4/19) - given to Autumn, Isaiah and Vivian, Lillian, William

1 additional Santa Hat (12/21/19)  - given to Alex

3 HOME DECOR ITEMS

1 set - five Christmas ornaments to Oklahoma (1/11/19)

1 set - six ornaments to Oklahoma to be stuffed by grandchildren (1/11/19)

 1 Robot floor pillow (two sided) for Isaiah (6/9/19)


39 PILLOWCASES

1 pillowcase for Maxine (4/23/19)

10 themed pillowcases to renew sewing mojo (5/11/19)





6 patriotic pillowcases for Oklahoma (5/27/19)



2 bunny pillowcases for Alex's 33rd birthday (5/27/19)


2 bird pillowcases for Maxine (5/30/19)


2 more bunny pillowcases for Alex (8/24/19)

2 octopus pillowcases (8/24/19)

 2 fox pillowcases (8/24/19)

One pair of cat at the beach king-size pillowcases (8/24/19)

One pair of dog at the beach king-size pillowcases (9/10/19)

One pair of counting sheep pillowcases (9/21/19)

One pair of Christmas pillowcases for Autumn (12/25/19)

One pair of Christmas pillowcases for Alex (12/25/19

One pair of king-size Christmas pillowcases for Frank and me (12/25/19)


10 BURP CLOTHS

1 group of 10 burp cloths for Wyatt in Oklahoma  (1/18/19)





1 BLOG BOOK

DianeLoves2Quilt - Vol. 11 (3/4/19)


3 ARTICLES OF CLOTHING

Pleated posies dress for Vivian (6/8/19)

Pleated sunglasses dress for Lillian (6/8/19)

Llama skirt for Autumn (9/18/19)


2 TOYS

Cowboy and Cowgirl dolls with accessories for Autumn and Isaiah (6/25/19)



4 QUILT SHOWS

Sacramento Quilt, Craft, & Sewing Festival (3/16/19)
Brentwood Harvest on the Delta Quilt Show on August 17, 2019 (8/27/19)
Pleasanton Quilt, Craft, and Sewing Festival (10/2/19)
Alden Lane Quilting in the Garden (10/3/19)

STATUS ON 2019 GOALS

Summary:
Looks like I did great on boosting my morale and doing small projects, grades A+ and B
I did ok not great on organizing and socializing, grade C
I made progress on one large project; the other two were not really even started, grade D
Room for improvement in 2020: 
Write goals I want to do and not just say I have done.
Perhaps define better those large projects or break into sub goals


Morale boosters 6 out of 6 – A+
  • Do what excites me when it excites me, not make it wait in a prioritized queue
  • Sew for fun, not guilt
  • Enjoy my blogging and comment regularly and generously on other's posts
  • Put at least one entry in the county fair √√√
  • Share at least three times at a guild meeting √√√ (robot pillow, Santa Hat, pleated dress)
  • Continue to generate blog books √√
Craft enhancement, skill builders, inspiration 3 out of 5 - C
  • List, organize, possibly photograph the kits in my stash - consolidated and made up two
  • Consolidate my scraps gathered but not only semi-sorted
  • Review and watch Craftsy classes I have already purchased noted classes to take but only made a dent in them
  • Attend guild meetings - aim for 50%  met goal
  • Attend quilt shows - aim for one major and two minor attended 4 minor
Large Projects 1/2 out of 3 – D
Small Projects did small projects not on list  – B
  • Assemble the Stacy Hsu doll panels
    – one cowboy, one cowgirl, one elf pair, second elf pair, one bunny pair
  • Make up Renaissance Ribbon kits - not done but chose not to
    – kitten trio, bunny pair, iPad case
  • Burpcloths as needed         √  
    – of course
  • Have a knitting project going   √   √   √   √